Top intelligence official backtracks on Libya story, says initial assessment premature
The office of the United States' top intelligence official appeared to take the blame Friday for the Obama administration's changing narrative on the U.S. Consulate attack in Libya, saying administration officials who initially claimed the attack was spontaneous did so based on intelligence officials' guidance.
Read more: Top intelligence official backtracks on Libya story, says initial assessment premature | Fox News
Top Intelligence Official Has Horrid Record of Intelligence Assessments And Hes Still In Top Spot
James Clapper .Director of National Intelligence
1. In 2003 Clapper, then head of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, attempted to explain the absence of WMDs in Iraq by asserting that the weapons materials were "unquestionably" shipped out of Iraq to Syria and other countries just before the American invasion, a "personal assessment" which Clapper's own agency head at the time, David Burpee, "could not provide further evidence to support."[4]
2. In an interview on December 20, 2010 with Diane Sawyer of ABC News, Clapper was completely unaware that twelve alleged would-be terrorists had been arrested in Great Britain earlier in the day.[5][6]
3. In February, 2011, when mass demonstrations were bringing down Mubarak's presidency in Egypt, Clapper told a House Intelligence Committee hearing that:
A) "The term 'Muslim Brotherhood'...is an umbrella term for a variety of movements, in the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam," ...
B) "They have pursued social ends, a betterment of the political order in Egypt, et cetera.....
C) In other countries, there are also chapters or franchises of the Muslim Brotherhood, but there is no overarching agenda, particularly in pursuit of violence, at least internationally." [7]
4. In March 2011, Clapper was heard at the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and commented on the 2011 Libyan civil war that over the longer term Gaddafi will prevail.
5. This position was loudly questioned by the White House, when National Security Advisor Thomas E. Donilon qualified his statement as a "static and one-dimensional assessment" and argued that The lost legitimacy [of Gaddafi] matters".[8]
6. During the same hearing he was also questioned when he neglected to list Iran and North Korea among the nuclear powers that might pose a threat to the United States.
With all of the foibles of intelligence, why wasnt this man replaced?
Does Obama even meet with this Top Official and ask him question in depth to get the right story? It's time that we have a leader who can select the right people for the right job and ask the right questions.
The office of the United States' top intelligence official appeared to take the blame Friday for the Obama administration's changing narrative on the U.S. Consulate attack in Libya, saying administration officials who initially claimed the attack was spontaneous did so based on intelligence officials' guidance.
Read more: Top intelligence official backtracks on Libya story, says initial assessment premature | Fox News
Top Intelligence Official Has Horrid Record of Intelligence Assessments And Hes Still In Top Spot
James Clapper .Director of National Intelligence
1. In 2003 Clapper, then head of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, attempted to explain the absence of WMDs in Iraq by asserting that the weapons materials were "unquestionably" shipped out of Iraq to Syria and other countries just before the American invasion, a "personal assessment" which Clapper's own agency head at the time, David Burpee, "could not provide further evidence to support."[4]
2. In an interview on December 20, 2010 with Diane Sawyer of ABC News, Clapper was completely unaware that twelve alleged would-be terrorists had been arrested in Great Britain earlier in the day.[5][6]
3. In February, 2011, when mass demonstrations were bringing down Mubarak's presidency in Egypt, Clapper told a House Intelligence Committee hearing that:
A) "The term 'Muslim Brotherhood'...is an umbrella term for a variety of movements, in the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam," ...
B) "They have pursued social ends, a betterment of the political order in Egypt, et cetera.....
C) In other countries, there are also chapters or franchises of the Muslim Brotherhood, but there is no overarching agenda, particularly in pursuit of violence, at least internationally." [7]
4. In March 2011, Clapper was heard at the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and commented on the 2011 Libyan civil war that over the longer term Gaddafi will prevail.
5. This position was loudly questioned by the White House, when National Security Advisor Thomas E. Donilon qualified his statement as a "static and one-dimensional assessment" and argued that The lost legitimacy [of Gaddafi] matters".[8]
6. During the same hearing he was also questioned when he neglected to list Iran and North Korea among the nuclear powers that might pose a threat to the United States.
With all of the foibles of intelligence, why wasnt this man replaced?
Does Obama even meet with this Top Official and ask him question in depth to get the right story? It's time that we have a leader who can select the right people for the right job and ask the right questions.
