Posted on 07/09/2006 10:41:27 PM PDT by FairOpinion
A high-ranking Republican congressman has exposed what he sees as a dissident faction within the CIA that he says "intentionally undermined" the policies of US President George W Bush.
Rumours about the existence of such a group have circulated in the US capital for a long time, but the comments by Representative Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, marks the first time they were confirmed by an official with intimate knowledge of the intelligence community.
"In fact, I have been long concerned that a strong and well-positioned group within the agency intentionally undermined the administration and its policies," Mr Hoekstra wrote in a letter to Mr Bush dated May 18, and made public today.
The CIA has refused to comment on the charge.
The document has been obtained by The New York Times and posted on its website in its entirety. Mr Hoekstra confirmed its authenticity in a television interview today, but did not elaborate on his concerns.
The allegations stem from a Central Intelligence Agency leak investigation that centred on former CIA operative Valerie Plame, whose husband, retired ambassador Joseph Wilson, made a 2002 trip to Niger to check on reports that Iraq had secretly tried to purchase uranium ore there.
The Bush administration had used those reports to accuse the government of then-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein of trying to secretly build a nuclear arsenal, charges that were used to justify the March 2003 US-led invasion of the country.
Ms Plame's name was disclosed to the public in July 2003 by conservative columnist Robert Novak after her husband accused the Bush administration in a newspaper article of "exaggerating the Iraqi threat".
Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a former chief of staff for Vice President Richard Cheney, was indicted in connection with the illegal blowing of the cover of the secret agent.
No, sorry I can't. And it isn't because I like being a kill-joy, its just time and again, we have allowed wishful thinking to cloud judgment, hoping this administration would be
(a) Conservative (when it clearly wasn't)or at least
(b)Adult, and unconcerned or unswayed by PC storms concocted by the RATs and Commies. Again, we have seen that this was not to be relied on either.
Bottom-line: there appears to have been a complete cave-in by the administration. The firing of Porter Goss who was doing a good job of cleaning house leaves of no other interpretation.
Kenneth Timmerman's Human Events piece points to Kappes as a central figure in rogue behavior:
Rep. Curt Weldon (R.-Pa.) believes Kappes was a disaster as head of the CIA's directorate of operations, and called him "the ringleader of an internal CIA rebellion" against Goss. "He was one of many in the CIA resistant to needed reforms." House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R.-Mich.) said Kappes was guilty of "gross insubordination" for his behavior at the agency under Goss and complained that the administration never consulted Congress before choosing him. "You would think that on the No. 2 person they might have just said, 'Hey, what do you think of this guy,' but they never did," he told the Washington Times.I have real problems with Hayden. We saw this coming a mile off when Goss got fired. Hayden is a total neophyte, and all his "briefing skills" and "technical expertise" in NTM are totally irrelevant to human intelligence and he is out of his depth. Re-hiring Kappes, and simultaneously ignoring Congress are three strikes against him. These are litmus-test evidences of unreliability that can't be ignored.
..And the punishment for treason is ???????
A multi-million dollar book deal with Simon and Shuster, apparently.
That is funny, and sadly true.
Man, you paint with a pretty broad brush don't you? It's "increasingly difficult to take" your national security views at face value. Hastert is not a congressional expert on any of those. But, the Intel and Defense Committee regulars are solid, and in fact, a lot more so than the Administration has been on defense deployments, intel problems, readiness and minding the store. Keep in mind, that the Administration kept George Tenet, a Xlintonite, on for almost four years...because "they hit it off." He was either a wet noodle or a schill. Take your pick. Either way, the results were predictable.
Untold Disaster.
As Ronald Reagan knew, Personnel is Policy.
Getting these rats out of the CIA is absolutely necessary. I hope this means progress.
However, Wilson confirmed that agents of Iraq were sent to Niger to purchase its primary export commodity. He later played word games and asserted that he found no evidence that Iraq had actually purchased yellowcake...which is an assertion that the Bush Administration did not make.
Agreed, Frank Gaffney, Ken Adelman, Richard Perle...and the late Caspar Weinberger... have been openly asserting the CIA being rogue for many, many years.
But I am glad that some high ranking Republican has finally realized it.
Weldon and Hoekstra...and Porter Goss... have been onto the problem for a long time.
Now if someone would just do something about it!
Porter Goss left Congress to help the Administration out to do just that. And he did it reluctantly, only under a sense of patriotic obligation, and with extreme promises by the Administration to back him to the hilt, then he peremptorily got the heave-ho after only 19 months, when the politics got messy (which was predictable, if you go into a hog-pen, expect to get muck all over you too).
The Administration has seriously damaged its relationship...and any trust by any conservatives in the Congress. No other conservatives will consider any more such offers again.
They have been forced to the conclusion that the President's word isn't worth spit.
Yep! Watching..............
I believe that this group is much more insidious than clinton holdovers. I believe this group answers to no president and simply manipulates whatever politicians happen to be "in-charge" at the moment.
If they can't manipulate them, then they destroy them.
These would be the career federal employees. They start out with good intentions and over the years they become corrupted and cynical.
Check Sandy Bergers pants!
My first worry with Hayden was the ease with which he was accepted by Dem senators during the confirmation process. This caused me to wonder what do they know about this man that pleases them about having him replace Porter Goss.
I have since heard more background about him that is anxiety-provoking. Sad, it seems very likely that Bush had been given bad info on nominating Hayden.
Actually he only got the Chairman position after Porter Goss vacated the Chair position and his House seat. Which was what, about 21 months ago now...and if you note, that is less than two years.
Beyond the numerical quibble with your statement, there is a substantive issue that you haven't addressed in your trumped-up insinuations of hypocrisy: How is your attack on Hoekstra helping? Pete Hoekstra at least is certainly trying to expose the rogue CIA elements...what are you doing to help?
H'mmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
This post deserves a re-reading:
Bump! Agreed.
Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a former chief of staff for Vice President Richard Cheney, was indicted in connection with the illegal blowing of the cover of the secret agent.
Novak did pulish her name.
Yeah, I loved that statement too! LOL!
I agree .. that was a great article.
Ok, I'm new here (today) and I don't think I'm a 'troll' (yet).
I came here from another article that I read that was a tangent from this topic on another server (the Stephen Colbert press corps dinner story), but I did see this story earlier, and it was actually the original topic I was following (who is this Hoekstra guy?).
I heard it on the radio this morning on Democracy Now! Here is the story they read (from http://democracynow.org)
GOP Rep. Criticizes Bush Admin Over Intelligence Secrecy
Here in the United States, a Congressionally ally of the Bush administration has revealed the White House is concealing at least one major intelligence operation. Congressmember Peter Hoekstra, a Republican of Michigan who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, says he learned of the operation from government whistleblowers concerned the White House had not briefed Congress as it is required to do on under federal law. Hoekstra wrote a letter to the Bush administration in May that says: "If these allegations are true, they may represent a breach of responsibility by the administration, a violation of law, and, just as importantly, a direct affront to me and the members of this committee who have ardently supported efforts to collect information on our enemies." Hoekstra has been a vocal supporter of the Bush administrations warrantless wiretapping and financial spying.
I read the PDF, and the quotes you picked, and I am flabbergasted that DNow!, you guys, and the MSM ALL picked the wrong quotes.
Here is the germane topic:
If, as Rep. Hoekstra says, Porter Goss' mission was to de-politicize the department, and Steve Kappas really did quit when Goss was appointed, AND he quit because he was finding new ways to politicize the CIA, WHY is the administration putting him up as the deputy?
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