Larisa Alexandrovna yesterday added to the collective anxiety about White House personnel changes, publishing a piece in Raw Story on our newly designated Director of National Intelligence, John Michael "Mike" McConnell. Officials believe White House chose new Intelligence chief in effort to darken Iran Intelligence Estimate, broaden domestic surveillance.Seems that our worser fears are confirmed by the folks whom the reliable investigative journalist Larisa spoke with on the subject.
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Her lead:
The nomination of retired Vice Admiral John Michael "Mike" McConnell to be Director of National Intelligence is part of an effort by the Vice President to tighten the Administration’s grip on domestic intelligence and grease the wheels for a more aggressive stance towards Iran, current and former intelligence officials believe.
Several diarists here at kos, including the incisive and always sunshiny Larry Johnson, have seen ominous portents in the recent appointment of McConnell as DNI, as well as the posting of Admiral Fallon as head of Centcom, and of Lt. Gen. James Clapper as undersecretary for intelligence at the Pentagon - the latter post having recently been held by that great citizen and protector of the people, Steven Cambone, and now to be held by the guy Larry Johnson says, who, as director of the Pentagon Defense Intellignece Agency under Bush I and Clinton "removed from the national analytic capability a major asset which would have been invaluable in the period before 9/11." Turning the agency's focus from "counter-terrorism, economics, advanced weapons developments, Middle East, Islam, etc. to categories such as; tanks, anti-aircraft rockets, bombs, etc." He's gonna be really useful now at the Pentagon, right Larry?
McConnell in particular has earned himself an admirable reputation among the Bushniks as an intel man who gives you the poop just like you want it. His reputation outside that circle - among people who have worked with him and who are interested in, you know, FACTS and stuff - not so good for them. At issue in the intel pipeline now is a much anticipated National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran.
One "former senior intelligence officer" Larisa spoke with didn't mince words:
"McConnell will go along with whatever [Cheney tells him to do] and make sure that no objective NIE comes out."
And what does Cheney want? Oah-Boy. You mean, what else?
Larisa sees a glimse of the answer in what her sources say prompted the "elevation" of Negroponte to undersecretary of state - where my sources tell me he will have the high responsibility of keeping Condi's footware spanking; and of course, he will have ample opportunities to visit his club and mull his cigar collection.
Says Larisa:
According to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, Negroponte’s exit followed a lengthy internal administration battle between the Office of the Vice President and the two-year-old Office of the Director of National Intelligence. . . . According to officials close to both men, two issues surround Negroponte’s departure and McConnell’s nomination: a forthcoming National Intelligence Estimate on Iran – which the White House could use to buttress a case for military force – and pressure from the Vice President to augment domestic surveillance.
Negroponte had resisted both efforts. Tensions soared after Negroponte made a public statement last year that countered the administration position that Iran was an immediate threat and that its alleged nuclear weapons program was in an advanced stage.
How dare this man, this Negroponte, this bagman for the great adventures of yesteryear but now sadly shrivled of cojones, how dare he misunderestimate the obvious truth that Iran is a threat!
It's apparently taken a while for Cheney to physically remove Negroponte from between his preferred view of Iran and the pretzeldent we all serve, but meanwhile Deadeye Dick has not been idle. In his brief interludes between shooting people in the face and shooting clipped pigeons in the ass, he has seen to it that the Department of Defense got to work creating the Iranian Directorate, a loving reprise of that formerly wildly successful project shop, the Office of Special Plans - the folks who brought you Curveball and Martino Rocco!
But, as someone once said, "That's not all!"
Seems that Deathsquads Johnny has also gone all wiggly on the right and the duty of our government to spy on everything and anything, in their quest to win TWAT (The War About Terr). Mike McConnell, not so much wiggly on that.
In fact, McConnell is a long-time minion of the Cheney Way. During the Gulf War he served as Director of the National Military Joint Intelligence Center. Since then, he served a brief stint as NSA director, then took a spin through the old revolving door to become CEO of Booz Allen Hamilton. The Booz Allen posting is of interest, because that revered Beltway Bandit operation, especially under McConnell, has been a key advocate of information collection and integration.
Larisa quotes a statement from Privacy International and the American Civil Liberties Union:
"Booz Allen is one of the largest US Government contractors, with hundreds of millions of dollars in US Government contracts awarded each year[.] . . . Booz Allen has a history of working closely with US Government agencies on electronic surveillance, including the Total Information Awareness program. Among Booz Allen's senior consulting staff are several former members of the intelligence community, including a former Director of the CIA and a former director of the NSA. In its private consulting practice, Booz Allen has been at the forefront of the push to increased information sharing, calling for private businesses to provide more information to the US Government."
The bottom line on this, say Larisa's sources, is that while
"[The office of the Vice President] could not get Negroponte to do anything with NSA and domestic surveillance[.] . . . McConnell worked with Cheney during the Gulf War. . . . He is not competent, but he is someone they can control," the official added.
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So perhaps the McConnell nomination is relatively routine and benign - just another pawl in the now-familiar ratchet of tyrrany we have come to expect from BushCo. I mean, he's and INTELLIGENCE sort of guy, he wouldn't advocate doing something really, really stupid like nuking the ayatollahs, now would he?