Posted on 01/21/2010 6:44:00 AM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
From a recent Townhall article:
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, another Obama supporter, also reflected the philosopher-king thinking in a recent column praising Chinas reasonably enlightened dictatorship. Unlike the messiness of American democracy, he argued, a few smart strongmen in China can ram through the necessary policies to move a society forward in the 21st century.
This sums up where BO and his red minions would really like to take America.
Meet the new team (Obama & co.)
Same as the old team (Clinton & co.)
Somewhere, Sandy Berger is rubbing his hands with glee.
The complete record of the the Obama administration at nachumlist.com
Let me know if you want to be on or off the ping list.
What about FBI investigations against any of Zero’s buds?
Like the Clinton's they'll pull out the dirty tricks to defend themselves too. I am buying lots of popcorn!
everyone knows this is a stupid move so they did it on purpose, why ...
I will let you extrapolate the why.
Borrower is servant to the lender plays out.
The Kenyan Clown hates this country, and is working to destroy it.
We also have cut spying on Russia and former Soviet states aligned to Moscow since Obama has taken office. Meanwhile, spying on the US by both the PRC and the “Former” USSR has only increased.
Simply following orders. What do you expect? The chinese own the american president.
Great, so when the red chinee invades Taiwan, they can say “UNEXPECTED!!!”
(We never in our wildest DREAMS thought the terrorists would drive airplanes into buildings.)
Thanks for the ping. Typical: our enemies are 0’s friends.
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