It Is To Laugh
"Pedestrian and unimpressive." is how the Secretary of Blowing Things Up described the talk of bureaucratic feuding among the various intelligence units of the federal government. You will notice that he did not deny that such feuding is going on, probably because his department has won most of those turf battles. How pleased he must be that one of his people, Air Force General Michael Hayden, has been tapped to be the new CIA Director. The Washington Post provides some of Mr. Rumsfeld's justifying comments.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld dismissed the idea that he has been involved in a bureaucratic power play to boost the military's role in intelligence-gathering, and strongly supported Air Force Gen. Michael V. Hayden's nomination to be the next director of the CIA, describing him yesterday as a seasoned professional.
...Rumsfeld was even more emphatic in denying that tensions exist inside the government over the Pentagon's growing role in intelligence.
...Rumsfeld has worked to expand the military's role in intelligence since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He has expressed frustration with the inability of the intelligence bureaucracy to quickly produce targeting information.
He has had the Special Operations Command focus far more on missions to kill or capture terrorists and their supporters.He also won approval for man-hunting teams to operate in other nations without the knowledge of the U.S. ambassadors in those countries, according to intelligence officials. And he has increased the Pentagon's ability to collect and analyze "human intelligence," which traditionally was the preserve of the CIA. [Emphasis added]
How "man-hunting teams" operating in nations with whom we are not at war without even the US ambassadors knowing squares with the military raison d'etre is difficult to fathom, unless the concept of "targeting information" for the military now includes assassination. What is fathomable is the incredible expansion of the military into the spy game, even domestically.
The big winner since 9/11 has clearly been the Pentagon. Perhaps I mis-titled this post. Perhaps "It Is To Cry" might have been more accurate.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld dismissed the idea that he has been involved in a bureaucratic power play to boost the military's role in intelligence-gathering, and strongly supported Air Force Gen. Michael V. Hayden's nomination to be the next director of the CIA, describing him yesterday as a seasoned professional.
...Rumsfeld was even more emphatic in denying that tensions exist inside the government over the Pentagon's growing role in intelligence.
...Rumsfeld has worked to expand the military's role in intelligence since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He has expressed frustration with the inability of the intelligence bureaucracy to quickly produce targeting information.
He has had the Special Operations Command focus far more on missions to kill or capture terrorists and their supporters.He also won approval for man-hunting teams to operate in other nations without the knowledge of the U.S. ambassadors in those countries, according to intelligence officials. And he has increased the Pentagon's ability to collect and analyze "human intelligence," which traditionally was the preserve of the CIA. [Emphasis added]
How "man-hunting teams" operating in nations with whom we are not at war without even the US ambassadors knowing squares with the military raison d'etre is difficult to fathom, unless the concept of "targeting information" for the military now includes assassination. What is fathomable is the incredible expansion of the military into the spy game, even domestically.
The big winner since 9/11 has clearly been the Pentagon. Perhaps I mis-titled this post. Perhaps "It Is To Cry" might have been more accurate.
posted by Diane at 3:58 AM
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