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H. Thomas Hayden
recently concluded over 35 years of service,
which included the Agency for International
Development, the Marine Corps, defense industry
and the Pentagon. His specialties are Intelligence,
Counterinsurgency Operations, Counter-terrorism,
and Joint Concepts Development and Experimentation.
His Marine Corps assignments have included
command of two separate battalions; AC/S G-2,
4th MARDIV & AC/S G-2 FMFEurope; Branch Head,
HQMC, Special Operations and Low Intensity
Conflict (SO/LIC); Special Assistant to the
Assistant Secretary of Defense for SO/LIC;
and, Senior Program Analysts at HQMC with
the Joint Staff and DoD at the Pentagon. Overseas
assignments included Vietnam, Japan & Okinawa,
Europe, Central America, Saudi Arabia and
Kuwait, Somalia, Singapore, Philippines, and
Colombia. He has an MBA (Pepperdine) and an
MA in International Relations (University
of Southern California). He has written two
books and is working on a third.
Thomas
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August 28, 2004
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The proposal to break up the CIA and other Intelligence agencies
from the Pentagon is nuts.
Let me get this straight. The FBI failed to investigate reports
of Arab males taking flying lessons on "jumbo jet" trainers -- just
to fly, but not to land -- in two or three cases. The FBI refused
a field office request for wiretaps and surveillance on at least
two of the 9/11
hijackers. The FBI failed to follow-up on information provided to
them on suspicious activity in Islamic radical fund raising and
the FBI failed to investigate the numerous Islamic "charitable"
groups who were raising funds and recruits for numerous Islamic
terrorist
groups in the Middle East.
Yet, the 9/11 Commission recommended that it is only the Intelligence
community that needs an overhaul, and the political nitwits who
want to grab headlines for the election
in November are rushing to offer a plan for the reorganization of
the entire national Intelligence community.
Members of Congress would do well to slow down and take a very
careful look at what is being proposed and take more responsibility
of OVERSIGHT of the CIA and the FBI.
The President took the first steps in enhancing the role of the
Director of National Intelligence (Director of the CIA) when he
signed three Executive Orders:
- Strengthen Management of the Intelligence Community (Enhances
the stature and authority of the Director of National Intelligence)
- Created a National Counter-Terrorism Center (Combines the CIA
Counter-terrorism Center with all others)
- Strengthen Information Sharing to Protect Americans (Establishes
a presidential board to safeguard civil liberties while combating
terrorism)
The CIA Director is now given "expanded authority" but not full
control of the roughly $40 billion annual U.S. Intelligence budget
and the Director is now directed to "develop, determine, and present"
the annual budget for foreign Intelligence programs.
So, what about the FBI?
The FBI has the lowest criminal case-filing rate for prosecution
of any law enforcement agency in America. Some report it as low
as 40 percent. This means the Federal prosecutors will not take
their cases to trial.
Did you know that the FBI could arrest you for lying to them in
an investigation? YES, no local sheriff or police office in American
can do that without due process, but the FBI can arrest you if you
lie or give false answers to any question.
Turf battle between the FBI and all other Federal law enforcement
agencies muddles the war on terrorism. The FBI has even been accused
delaying the transfer of all Intelligence they collect with the
Department of Homeland Security.
The FBI fingerprinting screw-up of an American attorney in Oregon
allegedly connected to the Madrid train bombings boggles the mind.
Spanish authorities said that the man in Oregon was not a suspect.
FBI arrested him anyway. Now we will have another millionaire-in-the-making
with a lawsuit against the FBI.
Then there are the questionable activities of the FBI regarding
Waco, Ruby Ridge, the Atlanta Olympics bomber, etc. The list goes
on and on.
The proposal before the Senate is a real indication of a dangerous
misunderstanding of Intelligence collection and a serious failure
of Congressional "oversight."
Pre-9/11, the CIA was focused on the "nations" that were well known
threats to the U.S., e.g. Iran, North
Korea, Iraq
and Libya at that time, and always Russia and China. The known terrorist
threat at that time was also a point of attention. The CIA has long
had a counter-terrorism center and it remains to be seen what a
"National Counter-Terrorism Center" can accomplish. However, the
Al
Qaeda threat up to 9/11 was not as we know it today. No one
in or out of government ever considered the threat of heavy commercial
airliners being used as guided missiles. NO ONE.
The Intelligence business of the Pentagon is the collection of
military-related information. All Defense Attaches at all embassies
throughout the world, U.S. and foreign, are part of the respective
Defense ministries. The Intelligence business of the CIA is primarily
political and economic; however, for covert or clandestine military-related
business, the CIA has a paramilitary arm. Many military officers
and senior enlisted men and women have been seconded to the Agency
to help the Intelligence professionals do the job.
Pre-9/11 the CIA was doing what was of interest to the National
Command Authorities and the Congress. Again, the U.S. Congress is
responsible for "oversight" of the CIA. Congress has not done their
job properly and now they want to cover up their failures while
the CIA cannot say a word. Breaking up the CIA into several separate
agencies may well create chaos in the Intelligence community.
The FBI needs reorganization, and the CIA needs to recover from
Carter and Clinton's dismantling of the CIA field offices and "Human
Intelligence." There are currently 15 separate Intelligence agencies
- CIA, DIA, NSA, etc. The Intelligence community rightly needs to
be overhauled and we do need a single Intelligence czar with Cabinet
level rank.
One last thought, the American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) is
screaming foul at the arrests and questioning of suspicious Arab
Islamic radicals, calling it "profiling." However, if 99% of all
the aircraft hijackings in the last 30 years have been by Arab Muslim
males, ranging in age from 20-30, that is called SUSPECTS and not
profiling.
Congress should concentrate on reorganizing the FBI to go after
the terrorist suspects in the U.S., and enhance the CIA capabilities
to recruit and reassemble its field offices for Human Intelligence
(HUMINT) to go after terrorists overseas.
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© 2004 H. Thomas Hayden. All opinions
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