Posted on 06/24/2006 4:34:43 PM PDT by K-oneTexas
FBI, in context by Gary Aldrich (thought provoking insider view)
Media fairness is never expected when it comes to reporting on federal agencies. That rule of thumb has applied to the FBI for as long as I have been aware of the FBI’s work. But bad publicity for no legitimate reason cannot help an agency achieve its mission.
I don’t think I’ll get an argument when I claim that law enforcement types are probably not the best individuals to send out to confront the fourth estate. Media relations are best left to the professionals, but sometimes we need to hear from whistleblowers.
There is no better evidence of this than the former agent from Minneapolis, Colleen Rowley, who graced the cover of Time Magazine in 2001 as one of three key whistleblowers who had made important contributions to society, as determined by Time Magazine, by outing serious corruption or wrongdoing in their respective organizations. Rowley had appeared before Congress to give testimony regarding the ineptness of the FBI. While I supported her then because she was a fellow whistleblower, I admit I was shocked at her parochial view of the world. She seemed to lay the blame for 9/11 squarely at the doorstep of supervisors at FBI Headquarters who refused to take Rowley seriously. A recent Department of Justice report is not only critical of FBI Headquarters, but also of Colleen Rowley and other agents in her local field office.
From Rowley’s perspective, I suppose, it may have appeared that if the FBI had simply addressed the Minneapolis FBI office’s concerns we would never been attacked. The entire plot to run jets into buildings would have been uncovered and stopped. As she castigated the new FBI Director, who had only been on the job a few days, attention was drawn away from the big picture – the real truth that the entire federal government was incompetent and inept regarding terrorism threats. This is the story the media will not report.
Name almost any agency and there is a story of missed opportunities to discover and stop the murderous plot.
I am convinced there is still a lot to learn about how much, collectively, the federal government knew about the horrible events which were about to occur. It’s important to find out, because those events have changed our lives forever. But if a constant guard and the loss of liberty is the price we pay for inactions prior to September 11, 2001, it is absurd to suggest (as Rowley did) that a single agency, or two, or even three were responsible for dropping the ball. To conclude that, one would have to suggest that literally thousands of highly educated, highly trained national security professionals were collectively incompetent.
But this picture is precisely what the mainstream media has attempted to paint. By focusing in on a single agency’s missteps, in this case the FBI, they create the perception that the problem was simple, and could have been solved with management shuffling, new computers, or some other obvious (to them) quick fix.
Wrong!
They also, by extension, imply that agency reforms will now protect us from another attack. Wrong again.
Why do I say this? Prior to September 11, 2001, our federal government had adopted a well defined and easy to identify political position on terrorism from top to bottom. It was not the Clinton Administration that first decided to use the FBI to police the world by issuing subpoenas and handcuffing terrorists to bring them to American justice. But the Clintonistas elevated this approach to such a level that few in Washington could bring themselves to suggest military attacks might be the better approach.
Besides, remember the Somalia disaster? Who wanted to “go there” again?
Louis Freeh, the former FBI Director, would never go against Clinton Administration policy and demand that the Department of Defense should have taken the case. To do this would have been to rock the boat enough to risk blowing up his own career. This is simply not done in Washington. When is the last time you read a story about a high-level bureaucrat resigning publicly in protest of any president’s misguided directions? People are selected for these high posts precisely because they are not mavericks or prickly independent thinkers who make others uncomfortable and are likely to tell a president what he does not want to hear.
It’s also useful to remember that Louis Freeh reported to Janet Reno. Her capacity to listen to or understand what she was being told was not under his control. Reno was the hapless and weak third choice for Attorney General. Incidentally, she was selected by Hillary Clinton, who was not content with choosing her old pal Bernard Nussbaum as the President’s chief counsel. Then Reno and Nussbaum, presumably with Hillary’s knowledge and consent, chose Louis Freeh to be FBI Director.
Freeh went on to annoy Clinton enough to earn the label, “the worst appointment I ever made.” But he was not annoying enough, apparently, to change the political direction of a federal government determined to use traveling bands of FBI Agents to stop terrorism. The Agents did a great job – with what they had to work with – but today most would agree that a 500 pound smart bomb would have been the wiser choice. The FBI arsenal does not include such hardware, or the means of delivery.
No, the FBI did not cause September 11, 2001. Nor did the CIA, the DIA, the DOD, the NSA, or any of the other agencies who have come in for a ration of blame after the attack. Old computers and misplaced emails are not the cause either.
It was the politicians, collectively, who visited this horror on us. And it is the politicians who will or will not keep us safe now, depending on what direction they decide to take us. Agency chiefs and rank and file operatives can only suggest, then implore. I guess they can also beg. But if the politicians are not listening, or a suggested solution does not match their political party’s ideology, or threatens future elections or even personal fortunes—you can bet they will make the wrong decisions.
All our brave whistleblowers can do is make their warnings, then pray somebody in power is listening and in a position to force a change of political direction before it’s too late. The next big attack will likely be nuclear. How prepared are we to gaze upon miles and miles of radioactive dust, where millions used to breath before they ceased to exist?
We are at risk of incineration, and I am worried there are not enough politicians willing to pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to prevent it. What may save us is the plain fact that D.C. is one of the targets.
Copyright © 2006 Townhall.com
Author of "Unlimited Access: An FBI Agent Inside the Clinton White House", where he exposed the questionable behavior and serious breaches of national security he witnessed while performing his duties which included a key role in a comprehensive personnel screening process. Excellent book.
Excellent column--but then Aldrich's always are.
"Agency chiefs and rank and file operatives can only suggest, then implore. I guess they can also beg. But if the politicians are not listening, or a suggested solution does not match their party's ideology, or threatens future elections or even personal fortunes----you can bet they will make the WRONG decisions."
THAT was the quote that stuck out at me...and I was picturing, Kerry, Murtha, Joe Biden, Carl Levin, when I was reading that.
bttt
Chinagate was dropped(spat out) like a habanero on the tongue.. To this day no one knows what Bubba sold the Chinese.. Oh! and those missing laptops at White Sands... had "what in them?".. No one knows.. And thats some of the stuff we know of.. China now controls entry and exit points at the Panama Canal.. and is fully entranched in ALL west coast and ALL east coast major american shipping ports..
And just what was on the laptop that Wen Ho Lee brought home. What information did he forward to his minders in China?
bttt
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