WASHINGTON - Liberals cheered the announcement Friday that Los Angeles Democrat Rep. Jane Harman will not lead the House Intelligence Committee next year, while military analysts called the decision a loss for national security. "I think Harman would have been one of the worst choices for this position," said author and popular liberal commentator Glenn Greenwald. "It's very refreshing to see Pelosi choose someone who will take oversight seriously."
And all of Glenn's sock puppets agreed, doncha know.
But Dan Goure, a national security expert with the Lexington Institute think tank, described Harman as a well-respected expert on intelligence matters and called her removal a mistake. "I think that it is a mistake for Democrats newly in power after a decade of being in the wilderness to not go with their strongest team, and that was Jane Harman," Goure said.
Security experts credit Harman with creating the position of a national intelligence director - calling for the creation of the post several months before the 9/11 Commission recommended it.
Not sure that centralizing intel even more than it was is a good idea, and centralizing is the default position of any Democrat, be it national security or health care.
She also was an early voice for a comprehensive assessment of intelligence on Iraq. "She's very plugged into the professionals and the agencies," Denis McDonough, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress liberal think tank in D.C.
Harman, for her part, issued a statement Friday congratulating Reyes and vowing to help make his transition a smooth one. "I leave this position with incredible respect for the women and men of the intelligence community," Harman said. "I pledge to them that I will continue to look after their interests and the interests of the intelligence industrial base that is largely centered in my congressional district in California."
Well, that proves their point. Respect for the people who keep us safe? Neocon Bitch.