[hipaatwo]

But is Clarke only a bitter ex-bureaucrat, or is there more to his attack on President Bush? Let's consider both Clarke's personal history and his current employment. Clarke now teaches at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government; here is his Kennedy School bio, which notes that the capstone of his career in the State Department was his service as Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs.

Another professor at the Kennedy School is Rand Beers, who is evidently an old friend and colleague of Clarke's, as Beers' Kennedy School bio says that "[d]uring most of his career he served in the State Department's Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs."

So Clarke and Beers, old friends and colleagues, have continued their association at the Kennedy School. Indeed, they even teach a course together. And, by the most astonishing coincidence, their course relates directly to the subject matter of Clarke's attack on the Bush administration: "Post-Cold War Security: Terrorism, Security, and Failed States" is the name of the course. Here is its syllabus:

Between them Rand Beers and Richard Clarke spent over 20 years in the White House on the National Security Council and over 60 years in national security departments and agencies. They helped to shape the transition from Cold War security issues to the challenges of terrorism, international crime, and failed states...Case studies will include Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Iraq, Colombia, and Afghanistan. Challenges of counter-terrorism and homeland security will also be addressed.

Why do we find this particularly significant? Because Rand Beers' bio says:

He resigned [his State Department position] in March 2003 and retired in April. He began work on John Kerry's Presidential campaign in May 2003 as National Security/Homeland Security Issue Coordinator.

There you have it: Richard Clarke is a bitter, discredited bureaucrat who was an integral part of the Clinton administration's failed approach to terrorism, was demoted by President Bush, and is now an adjunct to John Kerry's presidential campaign.

Thanks to the indefatigable Dafydd ab Hugh for noting the connections between Clarke and Beers. http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/006214.php

[onyx]

That's GOLD, hipaatwo.

Just think, we've only been researching for a couple of hours!

Mo, please alert Tony Snow.

[duckbutt]

I've been reading through this thread for the last couple of hours and man, youse guys are digging some stuff up! Is there someone who can, when he time comes, summarize all the connections there are and present them on a separate thread.

This is great stuff and again, FR is doing the job of the dinosaur media.....

cheers!

[Enchante]

It's even tighter than that between Beers and Clarke - I recall there was a passage in Clarke's vile book in which it was clear they were very close personal friends, not merely colleagues - when Clarke quit the NSC the very first thing he did was go over to visit his buddy Rand Beers at home and commiserate together about how awful the Bush administration is - then Beers became the head of the foreign policy team for the Kerry campaign and Clarke soon went on to launch his jihad against the Bush WH (conveniently forgetting everything he could about the gross failings of the Clinton WH on counter-terrorism).

btw, Clarke, Beers, and Mary McCarthy were three of the top counter-terrorism officials in the country, all in the NSC, in the period 1999-2001. It can truly and fairly be said that the 9/11 plots developed on THEIR watch and that THEIR failings had more to do with it than anyone in the Bush team who'd only had a few months in office and had to deal with the (then) Democratic Senate not confirming important national security appointees, etc.

[Kay]

Thanks! Good work.