China removed as top priority for spies (Ogabe cuts US intel resources covering China)

Washington Times ^ | January 20, 2010 | Bill Gertz

[Zhang Fei]

The White House National Security Council recently directed U.S. spy agencies to lower the priority placed on intelligence collection for China, amid opposition to the policy change from senior intelligence leaders who feared it would hamper efforts to obtain secrets about Beijing's military and its cyber-attacks.

The downgrading of intelligence gathering on China was challenged by Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair and CIA Director Leon E. Panetta after it was first proposed in interagency memorandums in October, current and former intelligence officials said.

The decision downgrades China from "Priority 1" status, alongside Iran and North Korea, to "Priority 2," which covers specific events such as the humanitarian crisis after the Haitian earthquake or tensions between India and Pakistan.

The National Security Council staff, in response, pressed ahead with the change and sought to assure Mr. Blair and other intelligence chiefs that the change would not affect the allocation of resources for spying on China or the urgency of focusing on Chinese spying targets, the officials told The Washington Times.

White House National Security Council officials declined to comment on the intelligence issue. Mike Birmingham, a spokesman for Mr. Blair, declined to comment. A CIA spokesman also declined to comment.

But administration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the new policy is part of the Obama administration's larger effort to develop a more cooperative relationship with Beijing.

[Zhang Fei]

Ogabe goes into full panda-hugging mode.

[poobear]

Didn’t the Chi-Coms hack the Pentagon recently? Guess there’s no need to keep an eye on them now. Everything is peaceful and quiet. /s

[silverleaf]

One new area that has been given a higher intelligence priority under the Obama administration is intelligence collection on climate change , a nontraditional mission marginally linked to national security. The CIA recently announced that it had set up a center to study the impact of climate change

well, there ya go- when the Intel community collection managers meet to argue and decide who gets satellite coverage and who gets approval for their intel collection requests - the polar bear analysts are gonna win

[boomop1]

They are the primary spies in this country.

[chuck_the_tv_out]

"The White House National Security Council recently directed U.S. spy agencies to lower the priority placed on intelligence collection for China"

One term. These people DO NOT CARE about opinion AT ALL. It is FRIGHTENING. They clearly have a LONG TERM plan for one term only.

[paulycy]

[lacrew]

In related news, congress proposes to raise the debt ceiling by another 1.3 trillion...

[jagusafr]

“Didn’t the Chi-Coms hack the Pentagon recently?”

At the unclassified level: it is a daily occurrence and one of the things our cyber warriors defend against, quite literally, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is utter stupidity combined with willful ignorance, with a healthy helping of naivete thrown in.

My blood boils.

Colonel, USAFR

[onyx]

Did they think they could slip this past us?

I mean “seriously”?

[onyx]

BTTT

You’ve got it right.

[John W]

Everyone needs to follow the link and read the entire article. This is pathetic.

[manc]

no problem , he cuts money for this, he has re diverted troops on their way to the gulf so he can bring in thousands of Haitians over to florida with another 45000 more to come to these shores

that is why he needs the money for their welfare

thanks crist and obama

[Grampa Dave]

Treason runs rampid, from the top to the bottom in DC!

[GranTorino]

That retard should be trying to cooperate with Beijing sense they own our ass.

[poobear]

I don’t think is is willful ignorance Colonel.

Our CIC was giddy when he visited China. “Look at all this infrastructure!” He failed to mention it was built on the backs of slave labor.

Our blood boils with you Sir.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

Spying on conservatives is Obama’s number one Priority.

[bossmechanic]

This is bizarro world!
To protect and defend our country:
Intelligence assets are shifted away from the most prominant trading operation in the world - presently engaged in an unprecedented military buildup - capable of operations around friends Japan and Australia.
Assets are shifted toward counting of polar bears and ice thickness measurement in order to justify carbon or cap-and-trade taxation even though the entire climate change hoax has been exposed.
We are becoming China’s whore. It’s only the price that’s in dispute.

[rdl6989]

FAIL

[GreyFriar]

ping

[Hoosier-Daddy]

We need to get this to Rush, Beck, Hannity, et al. We can stop this if the general public knows about this. This will come back to haunt us if we don’t proactively get this stopped. China is extremely dangerous.