Posted on 07/31/2003 1:48:17 PM PDT by Stew Padasso
Thursday, July 31, 2003
Congress zeros in on Poindexter over terror futures flap
By GEORGE EDMONSON COX NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON -- As Congress continues looking into the just-killed Pentagon project to create a futures market for speculating on possible terrorist acts, a key question on many legislators' mind is this: Was John Poindexter involved?
For the naval officer who was a major figure in the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s, controversy has been a companion since he joined a Defense Department research agency after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
It visited again this week.
"We believe that he was responsible for it," Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., one of the senators whose revelation of the program led to its demise, said yesterday. "But we've asked for an investigation. We've asked the Pentagon to explain to us who was accountable, who was responsible. I think those who were responsible for doing this ought not be on the public payroll."
At a hearing Tuesday on Iraq, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., asked Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to identify who was responsible for the proposed Policy Analysis Market in which traders would speculate on the possibility of terrorist and other actions in the Middle East.
When Wolfowitz replied that he didn't know, Nelson, who has been critical of Poindexter in the past, shot back: "Is it Admiral Poindexter?"
The 66-year-old retired admiral who served as President Reagan's national security adviser was at the center of a storm when critics began to focus on his data-mining project called Total Information Awareness late last year. The program, later renamed Terrorism Information Awareness, involves a massive effort to analyze vast volumes of data on individuals in search of terrorists. Poindexter brought the idea to defense officials after Sept. 11 and it landed him the position at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
A wide range of public interest groups spoke out against the project, citing privacy concerns. Poindexter was excoriated on the floor of Congress and defended at the White House and the Pentagon.
He even became the subject of the "John Poindexter Awareness Office" on the Web that urged people to send in information about him, such as sightings and personal items he purchases.
Poindexter gained national attention, along with his aide, Lt. Col. Oliver North, when the Iran-Contra scandal broke in 1986. Iran-Contra was a tangled foreign-policy affair that involved covert arms sales to Iran and illicit diversion of funds to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
Poindexter's convictions for charges that included lying to Congress were overturned on appeal when the court determined that his congressional testimony, given under a grant of immunity, was improperly used against him.
Poindexter graduated first in his class at the Naval Academy in 1958, and later earned a doctorate in nuclear physics from the California Institute of Technology. He achieved the rank of vice admiral and served Navy secretaries at the Pentagon before going to the White House. He is said to be a computer expert as well.
The Pentagon research agency where Poindexter works, known commonly by its acronym, DARPA, is involved in a vast array of high-tech projects and works closely with numerous research universities and businesses.
It was started after the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1958 and played a major role in the development of the Internet.
Poindexter lives in the Maryland suburbs north of Washington and worked for Syntek Technologies Inc. in Northern Virginia before going to work at DARPA.
Whether he'll continue working there is an open question, according to a number of key lawmakers.
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., who chairs the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, said yesterday that he will explore that issue with DARPA officials and Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense.
In reality it is but a political ploy to attack the administration.
As to the idea, it will be handled by the private sector soon and you will not hear a peep out of the poor enraged rats.
Oh, yes, I know they take CREDIT for plenty....but then they rip into the people who have to EXECUTE the laws...Congress, especially congressional Democrat operatives, are nothing lately but a bunch of whiners--they contribute nothing but negativity to the discussion politic.
WE WILL NOT FAIL DESPITE THE OPPOSITION FROM WITHIN AMERICA--WHETHER FROM THOSE WHO CALL THEMSELVES 'FRIENDS' OR FOE! WE WILL TRIUMPH!
GOD BLESS OUR PRESIDENT, GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS, AND GOD BLESS AMERICA.
Lookit, even a stopped clock gets the time right twice daily, and this is proof. Poindexter was a loose cannon. Ciao, we need a more admirable Admiral.
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