Posted on 11/11/2004 7:01:16 PM PST by wagglebee
WASHINGTON - A senior CIA officer who has become an outspoken critic of the fight on terrorism turned in his resignation this week, citing a desire to speak more freely about problems in the hunt for Osama bin Laden and the debate over intelligence reform.
Current government officials are rarely as vocal as Mike Scheuer, who wrote "Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror." But he called the decision to leave the agency after 22 years "entirely my own."
"I have concluded that there has not been adequate national debate over the nature of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden and the forces he leads and inspires, and the nature and dimensions of intelligence reform needed to address that threat," Scheuer said in a statement sent to reporters Thursday via electronic mail.
Scheuer's CIA assignments included running the bin Laden unit from January 1996 to June 1999. He hopes his experience and views will produce a more substantive debate.
This week, Scheuer ignored agency orders and began granting interviews about shortfalls in the hunt for bin Laden, the findings and recommendations of the Sept. 11 and the intelligence community overall.
During a wide-ranging interview Sunday evening, Scheuer was highly critical of the Sept. 11 Commission's "refusal" to point fingers at senior government officials whose actions contributed to the attacks. Rather than changing the structure of government, as Congress is considering, he said a signal must be sent that people will be held accountable for their actions.
"No one seems to be capable or inclined to find anyone responsible for 9/11," he said.
Scheuer doesn't think the 9/11 attack could have been stopped, but believes the various commissions that have investigated the attack should have better considered whether the intelligence community was working optimally.
For instance, Scheuer finds flaws with the FBI agents who were sent to the CIA to work with the bin Laden unit under his watch. He said the CIA shared information with the agents, but they didn't take it back to their headquarters. He said they were more interested in "travel overseas" and "war stories."
"They were interested in doing everything but work," he said. He could think of only limited exceptions.
Scheuer is also critical of how CIA resources and personnel are now being distributed to go after al-Qaida.
Spokespeople at the CIA and the FBI declined to comment.
Even after his resignation, Scheuer must abide by regulations that govern all former agency employees. He won't be able to discuss classified information, and speeches, books and articles on intelligence subjects will have to be cleared by an agency review board.
BTTT
Yes, I suspect some of the reason that persuade undecided people to vote Republican is that 9/11 shows exactly why we can't be cutting military spending or giving up the fight. Yet leftys continue to wish for that. It's truly amazing to me that Clinton could hold his head up after 9/11, let alone campaign for another intelligence and defense cutting RAT.
Is this "ANONYMOUS" who wrote a book last year?
Current government officials are rarely as vocal as Mike Scheuer, who wrote "Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror." But he called the decision to leave the agency after 22 years "entirely my own."
"I have concluded that there has not been adequate national debate over the nature of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden and the forces he leads and inspires, and the nature and dimensions of intelligence reform needed to address that threat,"
Translation: I'm a Democrat and now that I've made enough money off of my book to quite the CIA I can come out of the closet against the Bush administration. Besides, all of the stuff I leaked before the election didn't get my boy Kerry elected so there's no point sticking around in the CIA when I can make a lot more money this way.
Yep and I think that's where that comment was aimed. The other problems mentioned have been aired for the most part which is why there's a new CIA head.
One could easily conclude that this guy was a hangover(1996-99) of the Klintoon appointees and would be weeded out early in GW's second administration. He quits before he's canned.
I hope he runs his mouth a lot.
You wouldn't have a redacted copy of a report on a study on that, would you?
That's normal for bureaucrats that were passed from promotion. Maybe he thought that if he would write a books he bocomes a zillionaire.
He can write a book but I don't think it would enough oil to make it juicy. You see when you work with "top secret" requiring agencies, you wrote your future on "what you saw you forgot".
Signed, sealed and delivered.
How'd he ever get hired if he had problems with intelligence? Really a bad header.
this is a bs story.... you can never talk ....
Sounds like the long-overdue housecleaning of
anti-American elements at CIA is underway,
and they are being allowed to "resign".
BTW, during my days in the "spook" world, I had the opportunity to work with "the company" on several occasions. More often that not, I was unimpressed. There remains an institutional arrogance at Langley that is misplaced, and a potential threat to national security.
Let me offer a case in point: a few years ago, one of my former colleagues stumbled on some annecdotal information at Al Qaida had established a substantial presence in a certain area of vital importance to the U.S. After further digging, this analyst found additional information that substantiated this report. My former colleague developed a lengthy article that was supposed to circulate throughout the intel community and the defense establishment. It was approved by all the major intel agencies except the CIA. The reason? The report went against their analysis. Rather than admit they were wrong, the CIA stonewalled, and the item was never officially disseminated.
Don't get me wrong: there are a lot of good people in the agency, both on the operations and the analytical side. But there are more than a few entrenched bureaucrats, who, on occasion, put their own careers and institutional "loyalty" above national security. It will be interesting to see whether Mr. Scheuer fits into that category...
He isn't resigning, he's retiring. He'' get his pension.
"They were interested in doing everything but work," he said. He could think of only limited exceptions. "
That attitude is epidemic in every sector of the government. "Public Servants"........no comment.
Is it just me, or is everybody trying to cash in on the election hysteria by writing a book? If this guy simply wanted to get his story out ASAP, why not go directly to the press with it? Why write a book first? Really, his public information campaign doubles as a book tour. If the message seems to be a ruse to make money, I become a little suspicious about the messenger. He would have had a lot more credibility if he didn't try and pimp his book on every talk show he shows up on.
Amen,
Signed,
Career government employee
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