ScreamingEagle
Gold Member
- Jul 5, 2004
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Republican lawmakers from the top national security committees in Congress roundly criticized the White House for forcing the resignation of Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, saying the spy chief took the fall for other top officials President Obama chose to protect.
Blair, who had a reputation as a "know-it-all" on Capitol Hill, was not the most popular member of the Obama administration. He also had been feuding with CIA Director Leon Panetta and other officials. His off-the-cuff public comments have caused problems for the administration and a scathing report released just days ago outlining intelligence failures before the attempted Christmas Day bombing -- one of three major security breaches since last fall -- could have put the nail in the coffin.
But top-ranking Republicans called the change-up a crass political move by Obama that ignored more entrenched intelligence problems in the administration. They said Blair's authority had been systematically weakened during his 16-month tenure and pointed the finger at Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan.
"Blair's resignation is the result of the Obama administration's rampant politicization of national security and outright disregard for congressional intelligence oversight," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. "Dennis Blair was the one person you could count on for rationality among Holder, Napolitano and Brennan -- and he's the one the president let go."
The lawmakers slammed the administration for transferring intelligence oversight to the White House and Justice Department -- in an apparent reference to the decision to create a specialized interrogation unit under the purview of the FBI and subject to oversight from the White House-based National Security Council.
...
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, accused the administration of stifling Blair.
"It is unfortunate that the Obama administration did not allow him to do his job and tried to make him the scapegoat for the administration's intelligence failures. The problem was not with Dennis Blair, but with the White House itself, which, under John Brennan, attempts to control intelligence policy beyond the scope of congressional oversight while withholding necessary information from Congress," he said.
FOXNews.com - GOP Lawmakers Say Blair a Scapegoat for the White House
Blair, who had a reputation as a "know-it-all" on Capitol Hill, was not the most popular member of the Obama administration. He also had been feuding with CIA Director Leon Panetta and other officials. His off-the-cuff public comments have caused problems for the administration and a scathing report released just days ago outlining intelligence failures before the attempted Christmas Day bombing -- one of three major security breaches since last fall -- could have put the nail in the coffin.
But top-ranking Republicans called the change-up a crass political move by Obama that ignored more entrenched intelligence problems in the administration. They said Blair's authority had been systematically weakened during his 16-month tenure and pointed the finger at Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan.
"Blair's resignation is the result of the Obama administration's rampant politicization of national security and outright disregard for congressional intelligence oversight," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. "Dennis Blair was the one person you could count on for rationality among Holder, Napolitano and Brennan -- and he's the one the president let go."
The lawmakers slammed the administration for transferring intelligence oversight to the White House and Justice Department -- in an apparent reference to the decision to create a specialized interrogation unit under the purview of the FBI and subject to oversight from the White House-based National Security Council.
...
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, accused the administration of stifling Blair.
"It is unfortunate that the Obama administration did not allow him to do his job and tried to make him the scapegoat for the administration's intelligence failures. The problem was not with Dennis Blair, but with the White House itself, which, under John Brennan, attempts to control intelligence policy beyond the scope of congressional oversight while withholding necessary information from Congress," he said.
FOXNews.com - GOP Lawmakers Say Blair a Scapegoat for the White House
