Gunpowder Chronicle posted on August 25, 2007 9:06 PM | Rating:
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Rich Lowery over at National Review Online has a fantastic commentary piece on the Inspector General report about the failure of the CIA to accurately predict and deal with the threat of terrorism on US soil.
I think the most telling thing on this report is the following:
What’s more scandalous is how the CIA has escaped serious reform even today. Two CIA directors in a row have resisted the IG report’s recommendation for an accountability board to evaluate the pre-9/11 performance of CIA officials. That word — not “board,” but “accountability” — raises hackles at Langley, where everyone is above-average at fighting al Qaeda. Even though as many as 60 CIA employees knew that two of the hijackers were in the U.S. before 9/11 and no one managed to get the word to the FBI, CIA Director Michael Hayden thinks holding anyone accountable for that or other failures would be “distracting.”
Were I President George W. Bush -- and you liberals out there should thank your lucky stars I am not -- I would call General Hayden to the White House, and request he report in uniform.
I would then remind him that as President of the United States, I was both his immediate superior in his role as Director of Central Intelligence, and his Commander-in-Chief. I would then ask which job he likes more-- being a General or being DCI. And after receiving his answer, give him the opposite.
I would then appoint my own accountability board. The members?
Chairman: Vice President Richard Cheney
Member: R. James Woolsey, Former Director of Central Intelligence
Member: Louis Freeh, Former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Member: Tommy Franks, General, US Army (Ret)
Member: Edwin Meese III, Former Attorney General
Member: Sam Nunn, Former Senator from Georgia
Member: John Bolton, Former United Nations Ambassador
This board would be charged with three tasks:
1) Identify those members of the intelligence community who negligence or incompetence -- willful or otherwise -- contributed to 9/11 and recommend appropriate action.
2) Identify five candidates for the position of Director of Central Intelligence
3) Identifty the type of intelligence community we need to fight a "war on terrorism" that may last longer than the Cold War. What assets do we need, what laws do we need, and what risks should we be prepared to accept.