Burls
11-24-2008, 03:06 AM
Here's a sign of some real change that will be coming to Washington.
Obama has convinced three people who used to work for the Bush administration to join his National Security Team.
The Change: Unlike their former employer, the Obama administration actually wants these people to say what they really think, even when they disagree with the administration.
Can you imagine?!
http://img.slate.com/media/1/123125/123063/2180764/2203914/081121_WS_BeersTN2.jpgRand Beers, a counterterrorism specialist in the National Security Council under Presidents Clinton and George H.W. Bush, resigned in protest (http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/347535321.html?dids=347535321:347535321&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jun+16%2C+2003&author=Laura+Blumenfeld&pub=The+Washington+Post&edition=&startpage=A.01&desc=Former+Aide+Takes+Aim+at+War+on+Terror) during George W. Bush's administration, stating that the latter's policies—particularly the war in Iraq—strengthened al-Qaida and exacerbated the threat to America.
http://img.slate.com/media/1/123125/123063/2180764/2203914/081121_WS_ErvinTN2.jpgClark Kent Ervin used to be inspector general in the Department of Homeland Security, until he was canned by George W. Bush after complaining about incompetence in the department's intelligence-gathering divisions.
Judith "Jami" Miscik was a longtime analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency—rising, in 2002, to be the agency's deputy director for intelligence—who resigned in 2005, along with many career veterans, during the short-lived, scapegoat-hunting tenure of Porter Goss. In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, Miscik came under sustained pressure from the White House—especially from aides to Vice President Dick Cheney—to find links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida. According to Ron Suskind's book The One Percent Doctrine (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743271106?tag=slatmaga-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0743271106&adid=0B9K16M5TDRPCHXM5XZ4&), Miscik came back from one such meeting "shaking with rage" and telling then-Director George Tenet that she would not put up with any more pressure. (Tenet backed her up, at least for a while.)
Obama has convinced three people who used to work for the Bush administration to join his National Security Team.
The Change: Unlike their former employer, the Obama administration actually wants these people to say what they really think, even when they disagree with the administration.
Can you imagine?!
http://img.slate.com/media/1/123125/123063/2180764/2203914/081121_WS_BeersTN2.jpgRand Beers, a counterterrorism specialist in the National Security Council under Presidents Clinton and George H.W. Bush, resigned in protest (http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/347535321.html?dids=347535321:347535321&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jun+16%2C+2003&author=Laura+Blumenfeld&pub=The+Washington+Post&edition=&startpage=A.01&desc=Former+Aide+Takes+Aim+at+War+on+Terror) during George W. Bush's administration, stating that the latter's policies—particularly the war in Iraq—strengthened al-Qaida and exacerbated the threat to America.
http://img.slate.com/media/1/123125/123063/2180764/2203914/081121_WS_ErvinTN2.jpgClark Kent Ervin used to be inspector general in the Department of Homeland Security, until he was canned by George W. Bush after complaining about incompetence in the department's intelligence-gathering divisions.
Judith "Jami" Miscik was a longtime analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency—rising, in 2002, to be the agency's deputy director for intelligence—who resigned in 2005, along with many career veterans, during the short-lived, scapegoat-hunting tenure of Porter Goss. In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, Miscik came under sustained pressure from the White House—especially from aides to Vice President Dick Cheney—to find links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida. According to Ron Suskind's book The One Percent Doctrine (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743271106?tag=slatmaga-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0743271106&adid=0B9K16M5TDRPCHXM5XZ4&), Miscik came back from one such meeting "shaking with rage" and telling then-Director George Tenet that she would not put up with any more pressure. (Tenet backed her up, at least for a while.)