Silvestre, as I'm sure most readers know, is the candidate chosen by Nancy Pelosi to bypass Jane Harmon. I’ve interviewed a number of his colleagues and top counterterrorism officials over the past several months. Silvestre can’t answer some fundamental questions about the powerful forces arrayed against us in the Middle East. It begs the question, of course: How can the Intelligence Committee do effective oversight of U.S. spy agencies when its leaders don’t know basics about the battlefield? http://public.cq.com/public/20061211_homeland.html