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| Home Front: Politix |
| Mr. Anonymous leaves the CIA |
| 2004-11-13 |
| Michael Scheuer, the author and former chief of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit, announced yesterday that he had resigned from the agency so he could speak openly about terrorism and what he sees as the government's failure to understand the threat from al Qaeda. "I have concluded that there has not been adequate national debate over the nature of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden and the force he leads and inspires, and the nature of the intelligence reform needed to address that threat," Scheuer, whom the CIA banned from speaking publicly in July, said in a statement issued by his publisher. The agency allowed Scheuer to publish his book, "Imperial Hubris," anonymously, and to conduct media interviews to promote it under the name "Mike." The book became a bestseller. But he became a critic of the war in Iraq, saying it inflamed anti-American sentiment among Muslims, and eventually his name was published. After some White House officials and pundits asserted that the CIA had allowed Scheuer to act as its surrogate critic on the war, CIA officials forbade him from speaking publicly. Scheuer said in an interview with The Washington Post on Monday that he believes the agency silenced him after CIA officials realized he was blaming the CIA, not the administration, for mishandling terrorism. "As long as the book was being used to bash the president, they gave me carte blanche to talk to the media," he said. "But this is a story about the failure of the bureaucracy to support policymakers." The statement, issued in the name of Scheuer's publicist, Christina Davidson, said Scheuer criticized the CIA leadership for allowing "the clandestine service to be scapegoated for pre-9-11 failures -- failure more properly placed at the door of senior members of the U.S. intelligence community and senior policymakers, for whom, in Scheuer's view, saving lives has seldom appeared to be the top priority." The statement released by his publicist said that "after a cordial meeting with senior CIA officials on Tuesday, Scheuer decided that it would be in the best interests of the intelligence community and the country for him to resign in order to continue speaking publicly with regard to Osama Bin Laden, al Qaeda, and the 9-11 Commission Report." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #22 That too... Of course loyalty is always an issue with muslims. This means you need to start with education. Encourage and finance Oriental studies. Let a bright non-muslim woman or man study Middle Eastern Languages for free at an excellent college and take over from there. How many non muslim people perfect in Arabic (let alone the dialects) does the CIA (and the FBI) have. I bet it's a short list. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-11-13 11:57:06 PM |
| #21 TGA - pt made PLUS - you have to pay them well enough to not allow them to be susceptible to outside whiles |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-11-13 11:44:40 PM |
| #20 I think they try to recruit them there but the pay just isn't competitive. Of course nobody gets into the CIA just for the pay but if you want to attract the best you need to offer them somewhat more than the standard fare. The CIA probably needs a lot less people than in the Cold War but it needs the best. But with the current image it won't attract them. And many of those it attracts are put off by the bureaucratic ways of recruiting. FRom what I heard it takes about 2 years from the "first contact" to a full employment. Most smart people will have a well paid job by then. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-11-13 11:41:24 PM |
| #19 What TGA said. Ridiculous to think that we're still heavy with blue-eyed fair-skinned spooks when all of our security challenges come from the near and far east and when we have a deep and broad talent pool comprising thousands of brilliant, dedicated young asian-americans. Get rid of all those Leverett "Buzzy" Saltonstall jokers and start recruiting asian-americans at MIT, CalTech, Berkeley etc. Thousands of these superbly talented kids are heading into Wall Street and Silicon Valley and the top business schools each year, and almost none end up in Foggy Bottom or Langley. Long past time that our foreign policy establishment started mining this reserve of talent. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-11-13 11:31:04 PM |
| #18 The CIA needs more people who speak Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Pashto and less book writers. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-11-13 11:19:58 PM |
| #17 I trust the PWL guys more than the opposite - purge time |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-11-13 11:09:50 PM |
| #16 Well, lex's response is supported whole-heartedly by the PowerLine folks... |
| Posted by: .com 2004-11-13 10:59:12 PM |
| #15 Raze it to the ground. Start over. Also, this time around we might recruit some Indian- and chinese- and pakistani-americans instead of politicized WASP mediocrities. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-11-13 5:12:52 PM |
| #14 yeah that was kewl too ;-) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-11-13 4:47:36 PM |
| #13 True. But it found the Hunley. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-11-13 4:28:32 PM |
| #12 RC - welllllll, OK, but a non-profit org can hardly support Dirk and Al's destructive efforts and supply Sandecker's custom cigars... :-) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-11-13 4:26:25 PM |
| #11 No, it's not: http://www.numa.net/ |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-11-13 4:23:40 PM |
| #10 NIMA? Home of Dirk Pitt? oops - that's NUMA, and fictional |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-11-13 4:12:55 PM |
| #9 (why do we still need a directorate to keep track of Greek communists, for instance) So we'll know what Aris is up to? |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-11-13 4:05:03 PM |
| #8 According to a few friends of mine, there is some serious housecleaning going on in the CIA. Several entire directorates left over from the 50's are being eliminated (why do we still need a directorate to keep track of Greek communists, for instance), and dozens are being reorganized. Expect a LOT of whining and carrying on. Most of my friends are in NIMA, or whatever it's been renamed to this time, but they keep their ears open. Blood will continue to flow inside the Langley building for months to come. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-11-13 4:00:26 PM |
| #7 It's been time for a purge at CIA to get rid of the politicized wienies. |
| Posted by: SR71 2004-11-13 7:49:27 AM |
| #6 Thanks, Dan - that would, indeed, be the first stop for a dedicated Camelot II Klintoony... sans justice and living up to one's oath and obligations, something his ilk doesn't fathom. And, amongst the ex and soon to be ex CIA employees, I'll bet there are some excellent sad puppy, lost kitten, and dead baby duck tear-jerkers to come, too. SeeBS's 60 Minutes is the Jerry Springer of MSM "news" shows - so they'll be interviewing and digging, looking for whatever they can spin into a hit piece. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-11-13 3:44:56 AM |
| #5 He's supposed to be on "60 Minutes" tomorrow night. Though given all the heads that Goss seems to be rolling, they should have enough material for years on end by the time he's done ... |
| Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-11-13 3:36:20 AM |
| #4 Let me guess - he's not headed for Leavenworth, he's going on the lecture circuit. This paragraph says it all: "Scheuer said in an interview with The Washington Post on Monday that he believes the agency silenced him after CIA officials realized he was blaming the CIA, not the administration, for mishandling terrorism. 'As long as the book was being used to bash the president, they gave me carte blanche to talk to the media,' he said. 'But this is a story about the failure of the bureaucracy to support policymakers.'" CIA mgmnt and assholes like Scheuer deserve time in the hole or a bullet in the head. It's called sedition. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-11-13 3:18:19 AM |
| #3 check out wapo today--big leak by company weenies about how they can't get along with goss's underlings--they suck--when you read bob baer's books you realize how ineffectual and risk averse the spook operations culture is--let's cry seethe and quit--they were feckless ninnies--btw whatever happened to phillip agee--should be a floater |
| Posted by: SON OF TOLUI 2004-11-13 1:39:38 AM |
| #2 It's troublesome when the Washington Post acts as the outlet for disgruntled spooks during a time of necessary change. Goss has a tough job ahead. |
| Posted by: Capt America 2004-11-13 1:16:53 AM |
| #1 When intelligence officers have publicists, the agency has a problem. |
| Posted by: JAB 2004-11-13 12:51:09 AM |