
 |
|
May 24, 2013
May 22, 2013
John Thorne:
They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman
May 20, 2013
Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
June 3, 2009
/ 11 Sivan 5769
Intelligent but lacking intelligence, Obama is caught off-guard
By
Jack Kelly
| >
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
President Obama made a surprise lunchtime visit May 29 to a Five Guys
hamburger joint in Washington D.C., where he bought cheeseburgers for
himself and for NBC anchor Brian Williams, who was filming a "day in the
life" program at the White House.
While waiting for his burgers, the president chatted up a fellow named
Walter, with whom Mr. Obama had this exchange:
Obama: What do you do, Walter?
Walter: I work at NGA, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.
Obama: Outstanding. How long you been doing that?
Walter: About six years.
Obama: You like it?
Walter: I do, keeps me…
Obama: So explain to me what this National Geospatial…uh
Walter: We, uh, work with satellite imagery.
The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) is, after the National
Security Agency (NSA) and the CIA, America's most important intelligence
agency. It's hard to imagine a daily presidential intelligence briefing
that doesn't include at least some slides from the NGA.
When Ben Smith reported the conversation in his column in the Webzine
Politico, it set off a firestorm of comments.
"I teach an undergrad course on National Security," wrote Frederick.
"Any student who has passed my course knows exactly what the NGA is and
what they do. It is frightening that our president apparently has no
clue."
If President Obama is as ignorant of the Intelligence Community as this
anecdote suggests, he'll be a poor referee of the turf war that has
broken out between his Director of National Intelligence and the CIA.
A turf war was inevitable once Congress created the post of DNI who
is supposed to coordinate the activities of all 16 U.S. intelligence
agencies in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Before the reorganization,
that was the responsibility of the CIA director, who was also the
Director of Central Intelligence.
During the Bush administration, his two DNIs assumed control over joint
intelligence analysis centers, such as the National Counterterrorism
Center (NCTC), where data from various agencies are analyzed.
The Bush DNIs also took from the CIA director responsibility for liaison
with friendly foreign intelligence services.
As a result, the Central Intelligence Agency is no longer "central."
Most technical intelligence is gathered by NSA and NGA, and is analyzed
in the joint centers. That leaves the CIA responsible, chiefly, for the
gathering of human intelligence.
Now, according to a report May 23 by Pamela Hess of the Associated
Press, Mr. Obama's DNI, retired Admiral Dennis Blair, wants to impinge
upon that.
Admiral Blair, Ms. Hess wrote, wants "to choose his own representatives
at U.S. embassies instead of relying only on CIA station chiefs."
This is a potentially mortal blow to the CIA, and Ms. Hess' sources
"former and current CIA officials" are up in arms about it. The
Blair plan, they told her, risked "creating competing chains of command
inside U.S. embassies and potentially fouling up intelligence
operations. They also worry it could complicate the delicate
relationships between U.S. and foreign intelligence services, and leave
ambassadors confused about where to turn for intelligence advice."
But "Ishmael Jones," a former CIA operations officer, told the
Atlantic's Marc Ambinder: "Anything that can be done to break up the
CIA's station chief system will lead to greater safety for Americans and
our allies."
"The station chief's contribution to intelligence is weak," Mr. Jones
said. "We don't have them at all in key target countries like North
Korea and Iran, because station chiefs exist within embassies and we
don't have embassies in those places. In countries like Russia and
China which have aggressive spy services, the CIA station chief is
almost confined within the embassy, a figurehead."
I think the CIA's system for gathering human intelligence desperately
needs reform. But I doubt creating a duplicate chain of command within
our embassies is the way to bring it about.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment by clicking here.
JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration.
Jack Kelly Archives
© 2009, Jack Kelly
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|