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| Current Topic: War on Terrorism |
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| Topic: War on Terrorism |
11:02 pm EST, Nov 28, 2003 |
The NIE of October 2002 concerning Iraq's WMD has been dissected like no other product in the history of the US intelligence community. We have reexamined every phrase, line, sentence, judgment and alternative view in this 90-page document and have traced their genesis completely. I believed at the time the estimate was approved for publication and still believe now that we were on solid ground in reaching the judgments we did. ... A number of myths have been created that seem to have gained traction with the public. A hard look at the facts of the NIE should dispel these popular myths. The author of the infamous pre-war NIE on Iraq speaks out. With all this back and forth in the newspapers, I'm starting to lose track. These people need blogs ... Myths About Intelligence |
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| Topic: War on Terrorism |
10:58 pm EST, Nov 28, 2003 |
Bush administration hard-liners have a dangerous habit of selectively using intelligence to support the policy conclusions they favor. The latest example of that tendentious approach comes in the leaked Pentagon memo on alleged operational links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda that was summarized last week by the Weekly Standard. My complaint is with Feith, who produced an intelligence memo that to me had a clear political agenda, despite his claims to the contrary. The CIA, which collected most of the raw intelligence Feith cites, remains unconvinced, and for good reason. The case is thin, and contradicted by high-level Iraqi sources. Advocates for US policy in Iraq should understand that it weakens their credibility, rather than strengthening it, when they seem to be cooking intelligence to serve President Bush's political interests. And now, the rebuttal to the rebuttal to the rebuttal ... An Iraqi's Likely Story |
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Making an Iraq-Al Qaeda Link |
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| Topic: War on Terrorism |
3:30 pm EST, Nov 26, 2003 |
Al Gore, in an acidic speech in New York, accused the Bush administration of "deception." What "evidence" was it, exactly, that led Gore to this conclusion? Nobody knows. He didn't say. But it now appears that he and his fellow Democrats were wrong. Making an Iraq-Al Qaeda Link |
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Lawmakers Approve Expansion of FBI's Antiterrorism Powers |
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| Topic: War on Terrorism |
12:15 am EST, Nov 20, 2003 |
Congressional negotiators approved a measure on Wednesday to expand the FBI's counterterrorism powers, despite concerns from some lawmakers who said that the measure gave the government too much authority and that the public had been shut out of the debate. Lawmakers Approve Expansion of FBI's Antiterrorism Powers |
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Qaeda Pawn, US Calls Him. Victim, He Calls Himself. |
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| Topic: War on Terrorism |
10:48 pm EST, Nov 14, 2003 |
Maher Arar has been back from Syria for five weeks now, with his wife and two children in their simple apartment, earnestly pleading to all who will listen that he is an innocent casualty of the Bush administration's war on terror. "The damage has been done. We need to say something because 'Arar' is going to become shorthand for excess in the name of security, running roughshod over the rule of law." Qaeda Pawn, US Calls Him. Victim, He Calls Himself. |
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Why We Didn't Remove Saddam, by George Bush [Sr.] and Brent Scrowcroft |
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| Topic: War on Terrorism |
1:02 pm EST, Nov 11, 2003 |
On 21 September 2002, The Memory Hole posted an extract from an essay by George Bush Sr. and Brent Scowcroft, in which they explain why they didn't have the military push into Iraq and topple Saddam during Gulf War 1. Although there are differences between the Iraq situations in 1991 and 2002-3, Bush's key points apply to both. But a funny thing happened. Fairly recently, Time pulled the essay off of their site. Why We Didn't Remove Saddam, by George Bush [Sr.] and Brent Scrowcroft |
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| Topic: War on Terrorism |
10:52 pm EST, Nov 9, 2003 |
America shouldn't be subcontracting torture. But saying that much is the easy part. The harder question is what should be done with a suspected al Qaeda associate in such circumstances. Authorities faced this choice: torture in Syria or freedom on the other side of the longest undefended border in the world. ... The trouble with [sending him to Gitmo] is that the legal process given alleged enemy combatants is so opaque and unfair. Comments from the Washington Post editorial page on the case of Maher Arar. Freedom vs. Torture? |
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Spying in the Post-September 11 World |
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| Topic: War on Terrorism |
1:29 pm EST, Nov 8, 2003 |
Forty years ago Roberta Wohlstetter wrote the definitive analysis of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor -- until recently the nations most costly intelligence failure. The problem, she said, was "signal-to-noise" ratio. This problem of signal-to-noise ratio is so fundamental in the intelligence business that today, if one refers to the "Roberta Wohlstetter problem," almost everyone knows exactly what you are talking about. Never underestimate the value of a good tool properly employed. But don't expect it to solve everything, especially over the long term. Your enemy is watching you, he has read his Claude Shannon, and he has some good tools of his own. Innovation creates, and evolution destroys, in a cycle that is both virtuous and vicious. Intelligence is a microcosm of the world. In technology. In culture. In nearly everything, it seems. Perhaps this is to be expected; like information theory, fractals are everywhere and nowhere, all at once. Maybe the theory of everything is also the theory of nothing, and so every theory is the theory of everything, in its own way. Spying in the Post-September 11 World |
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Terrorism and the U.S. Criminal Justice System |
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| Topic: War on Terrorism |
1:13 pm EST, Nov 8, 2003 |
My experience in Washington was in many ways very satisfying. I served in the Department during historic times ... I did some very interesting things ... But it is the work on the terrorism front that I found special. Recently there has been a lot of controversy surrounding our counter-terrorism efforts; I would like to share with you some of my observations and beliefs about what we need to do in our fight against terrorism while preserving the Rule of Law. ... I was duty bound to zealously protect the United States ... The [Justice] Department's focus could no longer be on just investigation and prosecution; [we] also had to be concerned about prevention and disruption. "At times, the price of truth is so high that a democratic society is not prepared to pay it." The text of a speech by Larry Thompson, Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution, and former senior official at the Justice Department, with excerpts from a 1999 decision of the Israeli Supreme Court. Terrorism and the U.S. Criminal Justice System |
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In the Calculus of Fear, Terrorists Have an Edge |
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| Topic: War on Terrorism |
2:01 am EST, Nov 4, 2003 |
Governments are inevitably only as good as their last failure. No matter how many attacks they prevent, no matter how many people are not killed daily by terrorists, what's remembered is the relatively small number of terrorist attacks that succeed. The war against terrorism appears to be in a transitional state. Al Qaeda's main challenge is to promote and ensure its durability as an ideology and concept. Unfortunately [for us], it's a lot easier to attack a single target than to defend an infinite number of potential targets. All this points to a long, long struggle ahead in the war against terrorism. This op-ed article, by RAND's Bruce Hoffman, appeared in the Sunday LA Times. In a battle of the Bruces, I would recommend Hoffman's article 100 times before I would recommend Schneier's latest op-ed even once. For one thing, this is actually Hoffman's area of expertise! He captures the essential challenges we face without resorting to silly analogies or taking pot-shots at "technology." In the Calculus of Fear, Terrorists Have an Edge |
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