[coconutt2000]

I think these guys are scared to death of Porter Goss.

Perhaps they are more frightened at what a cleaned up CIA might discover, should they start looking in the closets.

I have a lot of suspicions that lackadaisical oversight during the Clinton years may have led to quite a few abuses of the CIA's resources, most specifically - unprecedented access by private persons on behalf of some shady non-patriotic industrialists. A similar lack of oversight for abuses in the stock market led to a self-correction in the collapse of the tech bubble. 9/11 was a symptom of a problem, that has resulted in processes that hopefully are self-correcting in their nature, but the process is far from complete and the roaches are fighting against the changes.

Then again, it is about this late that I'm given over to conspiratorial delusions that lay many problems at the door of Bill Clinton's incompetent administration - and his desire to be liked by everybody.

[shezza]

Remember also that during the Clintoon years many, many unqualifieds were "given" Top-Secret clearance without having to go through the rigorous background and security checks that everybody else is subject to, all on orders of el jefe. Some of the problems at Los Alamos were due to the fact that the administration PC-ers didn't want to "hurt anyone's feelings" by having different levels of clearance. Chances are a few favors were granted under Bubba's reign by installing cronies in positions they weren't qualified for -- which may now be coming back to bite the Bush administration.