Posted on 05/06/2006 7:55:43 AM PDT by genefromjersey
Some Thoughts on Porter Goss
Much has been made, in the Mainstream Media , and out in the hinterlands of the Internet , of the fact Porter Goss did some long-overdue”housecleaning” at the CIA.
“Oh-oh-oh !” , the critics moan. “ He got rid of key employees with decades of experience in intelligence gathering – with the aid of a deputy he chose personally, and that we know next-to-nothing about !”
It does not seem to have occurred to the critics that those who were swept out may have been those whose intransigence helped keep the CIA from discovering the 9/11 plot : an operation that was six (6) years in the making , and that MIGHT have been prevented if the CIA had deployed the necessary assets.
Richard C. Clarke , whose testimony before the 9/11 Commission won him a number of friends and enemies , told the Commission there was a “Bin Laden” desk at the CIA – but it was staffed by only three people.
His book “Against All Enemies “ makes it even clearer : certain key CIA supervisors wanted nothing to do with Osama bin Laden – because they did not consider him a real threat ; and even a “jawboning” by the Director himself moved them not at all.
Like the State Department, the CIA has always had an “Arabist” faction,that relies heavily on the advice (and generous contributions) of certain Arab states : at least two of which had a vested interest in making sure the Agency did not look too closely at the activities of its nationals.
I’m sure the White House would have liked nothing better , in the days following 9/11 , than to have fired the Director and those key supervisors on the spot – but to have done so then would have been devastating ; as it would have “blinded” the government as effectively as a bomb strike on Langley.
Instead, the President (who is not a particularly patient man) waited;and, when the time seemed right , sent in Porter Goss as his “personal hatchet man” .
Hopefully, Porter Goss was able to get every last one of the “See-no-Evil “ crowd off CIA payroll before he called it quits .
Judging by the almost-frantic “leaking” to the Media – and the incredibly vicious smears being bruited about , I’d say he made a pretty good start !
"certain key CIA supervisors wanted nothing to do with Osama bin Laden – because they did not consider him a real threat"
Ollie North did!
Oliver North for CIA Director!
It does not seem to have occurred to the critics that those who were swept out may have been those whose intransigence helped keep the CIA from discovering the 9/11 plot : an operation that was six (6) years in the making , and that MIGHT have been prevented if the CIA had deployed the necessary assets.
"Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status."
Laurence J. Peter
Unfortunately the bigger the bureaucracy the more this is true. It's not so much that people in the CIA, State Dept., Pentagon...etc want to see us lose this war (Althought I'm sure there are those who would much prefer that a democrat were in power and will do what they can to bring this to pass) it's they are comfortable doing things in the same old way. How often in your work have you run into people who say, "But we've always do it this way"?
You're quite right !
HeHe, at my employment we use the line " It is what it is."
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