Inside the Inside Story [Feith Rips Tenet a New Orifice]

Wall Street Journal ^ | 4 May 2007 | Douglas J. Feith

[Enchante]

Mr. Tenet's account of all this gives the reader no idea of the substance of our critique, which was that the CIA's analysts were suppressing information. They were not showing policy makers reports that justified concern about ties between Iraq and al Qaeda. Mr. Tenet does tell us that the CIA briefed Mr. Cheney on Iraq and al Qaeda in September 2002 and that the "briefing was a disaster" because "Libby and the vice president arrived with such detailed knowledge on people, sources, and timelines that the senior CIA analytic manager doing the briefing that day simply could not compete." ...."We weren't ready for this discussion."

This is an abject admission. He is talking about September 2002 -- a year after 9/11! This was the month that the president brought the Iraq threat before the United Nations General Assembly. This was several weeks after I took my staff to meet with Mr. Tenet and two-dozen or so CIA analysts to challenge the quality of the agency's work on Iraq and al Qaeda.

Mr. Tenet savages the staffer from my office who presented that critique, although elsewhere he sanctimoniously derides "despicable" political attacks on hard-working professionals. He misstates her credentials, which include 20 years of experience as a professional intelligence analyst. (He calls her a "naval reservist," which she was not.) He garbles the title of her briefing: It was not "Iraq and al-Qa'ida -- Making the Case" but the perfectly neutral "Assessing the Relationship Between Iraq and al Qaida." Mr. Tenet puts in her mouth the haughty and foolish assertion that the al Qaeda-Iraq issue was "open and shut" and "no further analysis is required." I was there, and she didn't say anything even close to that. The whole point of her presentation was to urge further analysis.

[SuziQ]

And why did he continue in the cover-up of Clinton's disastrous failure to deal with the terrorists?

I suspect there were many national security concerns about making too much public.

[LS]

Some day I intend to write one of THE best biographies of Bush, and I think what I will find is that the Bushies were so completely spooked by the closeness of the 2000 election that they bent over backward to keep both traitorous and incompetent people in their spots as an “olive branch,” one that was later used to beat them with.

[Zack Nguyen]

The CIA's assessments were incomplete, nonrigorous and shaped around the dubious assumption that secular Iraqi Baathists would be unwilling to cooperate with al Qaeda religious fanatics, even when they shared strategic interests.

This assumption is very annoying because it is wrong. If al-Qaeda would work with Hezbollah, a Shiite organization; if they would sell heroin for money, which must be a violation of Koranic principles, then surely they would work with Saddam Hussein, a man who hates America utterly, if for personal rather than religious reasons. The terrorists are practical.

[Gritty]

The wrong guy was head of the CIA. It should have been Douglas J. Feith and not George C.Y.A. Tenet.

[omnivore]

Thanks for the validation. I agree there needs to be a better "process" to get them out of high positions, but I don't have any suggestions yet. Some outfits get rid of some of them, as you say, while some outfits don't.

I see these third world countries, with horrible dictators that nobody can figure out how to get rid of. Same deal on a larger scale. It's a broken system that lets them get that far.

I worked one place where they introduced "360 degree" annual appraisals, where you got to fill in some dumb questions about your manager and either praise or trash your co-workers and subordinates. It was an attempt to fix this problem, I guess. But it was a joke. After a couple years it was obvious that they didn't care what anybody said about their higher-ups, all it was was a way to build dirt files on people to assist with layoffs. Everybody called them "180 degree" appraisals; comments about co-workers and subordinates were retained (if negative) for abuse at evaluation time, comments about superiors were ignored or deleted. It was like something out of the former Soviet Union. And obviously designed to be that way by the HR people.

At this point I think it's just some basic flaw in human nature, that sometimes screw-ups rise to the top, regardless of whatever system people use to try to prevent it. Some systems work better than others, for sure, but not only are none perfect, none are anywhere close, and many are pretty dysfunctional.

[ChessExpert]

Good article, and I agree with your assessment. I find Feith’s article to be persuasive and to ring true. I never realized before that the CIA was so far behind the eight ball. Though Mark Steyn opined on the matter after the President’s State of the Union address where President Bush referred to findings by British Intelligence.

[ChessExpert]

“I am reading this book now too, and so far I am just not impressed with Tenet at all.”

You must be at least somewhat fair minded in that you are reading the book at all. What I might hope for in a debate is that each side seem reasonable in isolation. That Tenet cannot even manage to put his best foot forward in his own book, is telling. Thanks for your assessment.

[ChessExpert]

Thanks for your post. I never knew much about “curveball.� But what I was getting seemed like politics - blaming the administration. The accusation that our main or only source of information was completely unreliable struck me as being the kind of exaggeration that suits some in politics and the press, but did not seem credible to me.

[Old Student]

“At this point I think it’s just some basic flaw in human nature, that sometimes screw-ups rise to the top, regardless of whatever system people use to try to prevent it.”

Wellington’s Commentary on Murphy’s Law, IIRC, is

“The Cream Rises to the Top. So Does the Scum.”

[Enchante]

The reason I am slogging through the Tenet book is because there are (sometimes inadvertently) some very revealing bits of info, anecdote, and attitude..... i.e., what a liberal bureaucratic survivor like Tenet regards as praiseworthy is anything but, from a more independent and critical perspective.

For instance, there is one paragraph describing events in 1998 or so in which Tenet is offering warm praise of Sandy Burglar and he says (I don’t have the book with me but I’ll get the exact quote later for this forum to chew over) that the Burglar puts “protecting” President Clinton above all else..... now that might sound like high praise to Clintonista loyalists, but to those who actually think the NSC Adviser should put protecting OUR COUNTRY above all else, that is actually an extremely DAMNING statement, and one that explains the Burglar’s behavior both in office and in illegally subverting the work of the 9/11 Commission.

[CyberAnt]

Thanks!

[nana4bush]

that the Burglar puts “protecting” President Clinton above all else

That comment jumped out for me as well. Also in the same paragraph - Sandy was very direct...a screwup based on lack of focus and inattention to detail was exactly the thing he hated to see, would be hopping mad, and you would hear about it directly from him. Not the bumbling sloppy fool that has been projected for SandyPants.

[Elsiejay]

Even Reagan seemed unable to discipline straying underlings, or to fire them when he should have. Being a Nice Guy has its place, but . . . ..!

[Enchante]

Yes, Tenet’s portrayal of the Burglar completely undermines the spin Bill Clinton and others tried of give of Burglar as merely sloppy and careless in the National Archives heists...... of course, the actual facts of that case long ago showed the lies of the Clintonista spin, but it is “interesting” that Tenet portrays the Burglar as a highly focused, well-organized, precise, and devoutly loyal uber-Clintonista.......... and that’s when Tenet is busy praising the guy!!

[Just mythoughts]

The liberals have since day one itched and whined about President Bush and his ‘secret’ administration. The snip in the Feith article seems to demonstrate that there was intel, President Bush was getting it and appears that that hand sculptured wall Hillry set in place to prevent intel sharing was the first thing Rummy tore down when he came to the Pentagon with his ‘bottom up review’.

Reason why Tenet is attempting to claim that President Bush and Cheney came into town with the removal of Saddam on his agenda, ignoring what intel there was already known. Tenet was just keeping his walls reinforced.

[Eyes Unclouded]

No not dubya he’s one of hard working honest citizens! Everyone on FR says so it has to be true! Sell out our country? Never thats only what the other party does!

[bpjam]

Looking at Tenet, I’m thinking the guy likes to be dominated. Or he likes farm animals. Something off-kilter. Something he wouldn’t tell his mother.

[river rat]

"Some systems work better than others, for sure, but not only are none perfect, none are anywhere close, and many are pretty dysfunctional."

Agreed..but then there are very few "systems" that are perfect..

The Peter Principal describes that folks are often promoted to their level of incompetence.. In my experience, these "Dilberts" usually surround themselves with competent folks to cover his ass.. Unfortunately, "Dilbert" often under appraises his subordinates, and takes credit for much of what they accomplish.. He must constrain their advancement or movement out of his area - or he will be discovered..

These turkeys were always the easiest to nail and fire...

In the military - troops who felt their incompetent leader was going to get them killed, died by accidental "friendly fire" or very obviously fragged... Now, that's addressing the issue with extreme prejudice!

[Rome2000]

Former CIA director presumed drowned
The search continues

April 29, 1996
Web posted at: 10:00 p.m. EDT

COBB ISLAND, Maryland (CNN) — Search crews on Monday combed the muddy waters of the Wicomico River, and helicopters scoured the area in a search for former CIA director William Colby, presumed drowned in a weekend boating accident.

The search was called off for the night late Monday.

Colby, 76, the CIA’s chief spy in Saigon during the Vietnam War and the agency’s director in the mid-1970s, was reported missing by neighbors after his canoe was found filled with water about a quarter mile from his vacation home.
Rescue divers

“There is no visibility in any of the waters, so it’s all done by feel,” said William Porter, a dive team member. “It’s a matter of trying to develop the best last-seen point, so we can deploy the search system from there and continue our work.”

Twelve divers were on the scene and more have been called in, said Assistant Fire Chief Bobby Higgs. Sunday night, Coast Guard crews searched the waters for more than five hours, Petty Officer Joe Dye said.

No foul play was suspected, but an investigation is ongoing, Charles County Sheriff Fred Davis said.

Went canoeing Saturday
Canoe

Authorities believe Colby went canoeing Saturday evening on the Wicomico River, directly across from Cobb Island in southern Maryland.

Petty Officer Dye said it looked as though Colby had not planned on being gone long.

“There were still dinner items on the table,” he said.

Neighbors became suspicious of Colby’s whereabouts after noticing his car still in the driveway late Sunday. Typically, Colby would have returned to Washington by then, the neighbors told authorities. Then, the canoe was discovered to be missing.

“From that point on he was a missing person,” the sheriff said. “We are currently canvassing everybody up along the shoreline and anybody who might have seen anything.”

[river rat]

"the Burglar puts “protecting” President Clinton above all else....'

Good catch!
Perhaps explaining the only reason the bastard had the job...

But, of course one must wonder if Tenet KNEW this before it became public knowledge after the document theft..

I doubt it...