Former Aide Takes Aim at War on Terror

The Washington Post ^ | 6/16/03 | Laura Blumenfeld

[Egregious Philbin]

Five days before the war began in Iraq, as President Bush prepared to raise the terrorism threat level to orange, a top White House counterterrorism adviser unlocked the steel door to his office, an intelligence vault secured by an electronic keypad, a combination lock and an alarm. He sat down and turned to his inbox.

"Things were dicey," said Rand Beers, recalling the stack of classified reports about plots to shoot, bomb, burn and poison Americans. He stared at the color-coded threats for five minutes. Then he called his wife: I'm quitting.

Beers's resignation surprised Washington, but what he did next was even more astounding. Eight weeks after leaving the Bush White House, he volunteered as national security adviser for Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), a Democratic candidate for president, in a campaign to oust his former boss. All of which points to a question: What does this intelligence insider know?

[ApesForEvolution]

Classified under things that make you say "Hmmm...".

[dead]

According to the article, Beers tears up when he watches "The West Wing."

That’s all I need to know.

[My2Cents]

Saved the Bush Adm. from firing him.

[ReaganRevolution]

According to the article, Beers tears up when he watches "The West Wing." That’s all I need to know.

No kidding. He comes off pretty obnoxious in the article, as if he has all the answers and couldn't possiblly continue on with the idiots in the White House.

[miltonfried]

This guy's criticisms don't seem to be that far off the mark.

[bulldawg]

Yes, this guy may be a weenie looking for a job in a potential Kerry administration (yikes!) but he makes some valid points, especially about homeland security. All we have done on that front is a big bureaucratic reshuffling to create the Dept of Homeland Security. But little has in fact been done on the actual front lines - more INS and Border Patrol people to protect our borders, which are still essentially open; and our container ports are still unsecured. It is a typically "Washington" response to address a problem - reshuffle the bureaucracy. Dubya has really fallen short in this regard.

[RoughDobermann]

Part of that stemmed from his frustration with the culture of the White House. He was loath to discuss it. His wife, Bonnie, a school administrator, was not: "It's a very closed, small, controlled group. This is an administration that determines what it thinks and then sets about to prove it. There's almost a religious kind of certainty. There's no curiosity about opposing points of view. It's very scary. There's kind of a ghost agenda."

Sounds like the proverbial, petulant school geek who is never picked to play on the team...

[Tallguy]

You hear this criticism all the time from the Dems -- Bush isn't spending enough on homeland defense. Well maybe if they stopped treating Ashcroft & Ridge like bogeymen, and stopped trying to feather the nest of the public employees' unions, we could take them seriously.

OTOH, I would be equally suspicious if 9/11 had happenend under the Clinton Administration. Imagine Janet Reno running homeland security < shudder >.

Perhaps we're just stuck in neutral until we get wacked again...

[OldFriend]

If Beers thinks Kerry is the answer he never understood the problem. The American people are well rid of this guy.

[OldFriend]

If Homeland Security was just an empty phrase you wouldn't have the hysterics of the left ranting and raving. Believe me there are things going on that the average person cannot even imagine.

[kesg]

My Rat alert went off immediately. And sure enough, the article says he's a registered Rat. Now he wants to work for John Kerry, who wants Bush's job.

So, absent independent corroboration from a credible source, take what he says with a huge grain of salt.

[MEG33]

I read it and hear root causes and diplomacy and tearing up during West Wing and am thrilled he is moving on.Of course changing bureaucracy is difficult.Of course we are still building the Homeland Security Dept.Islamists hate infidels...That's the root cause.

[steve50]

Well maybe if they stopped treating Ashcroft & Ridge like bogeymen,

They have all the power they need. Like the gun laws, the trick is to not use the powers you have then demand more.
Once Constitution limits are breeched, you never get the monster back in it's box. If Ashcroft and Ridge aren't capable with the powers they have, they should find another employer.

[kesg]

I'm also amused by their criticism of Bush's "certainty." Perhaps they prefer uncertainty, ambiguity, doubt, and confusion -- which, come to to think of it, describes their guy John Kerry perfectly, doesn't it?

[RoughDobermann]

Sure does.

[88keys]

Yep...but it looks like plain old "burn-out" to me...I just hope he remembers John F. Kerry isn't the President yet, despite his wishful thinking...these 3-hour conference calls are a bit worrisome, considering what this guy's likely to know...is he an "idea guy" or a slightly neurotic "classified bean-spiller"?!?

[Egregious Philbin]

It's possible for him to be a registered Democrat and Kerry campaign employee and still be quite credible. If he weren't a Kerry campaign employee, though, would we hear about him "taking aim" at the War on Terror? Would the Washington Post care to print it?

[Tallguy]

They have all the power they need.

Agree & disagree. Ideally we should be able to stay "within the Constitution." OTOH, most police powers are constantly being challenged. "Profiling", for example, used to be known as "good police-work." It seems to me that we don't have the collective will to defend our society because from Left-to-Right we don't agree on exactly what it is we are defending.

[kesg]

It's possible for him to be a registered Democrat and Kerry campaign employee and still be quite credible.

Any remaining credibility is so miniscule under these circumstances (registered Rat who resigns a White House job in order to work for a man who wants to replace his old boss) that I would require independent corroboration from a credible source.

If he weren't a Kerry campaign employee, though, would we hear about him "taking aim" at the War on Terror? Would the Washington Post care to print it?

I think we all know the answer to that one.