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Thu 11 Nov, 2004 09:43 pm
From Reuters:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6790831&src=rss/topNews§ion=news
CIA Critic of U.S. War on Terror Resigns
Thu Nov 11, 2004 05:59 PM ET
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A CIA analyst who wrote a book that criticized the U.S. war on terror has resigned from the spy agency after it effectively banned him from publicly discussing his views, his publicist said on Thursday.
Michael Scheuer, whose book "Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror" was signed as "anonymous" and published this summer, will resign effective Friday after 22 years at the Central Intelligence Agency.
In a statement, Scheuer said the CIA had not forced him to resign, "but I have concluded that there has not been adequate national debate over the nature of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden and the forces he leads and inspires, and the nature and dimensions of intelligence reform needed to address that threat."
He intends to speak to the media over the next several weeks, including an appearance on the CBS show "60 Minutes" on Sunday.
Scheuer's statement said senior leadership had allowed the intelligence officers working against al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to be made scapegoats for pre-Sept. 11 failures.
Scheuer was chief of the CIA Counterterrorist Center's unit which focused on bin Laden from 1996 to 1999 and remained a CIA analyst after that.
"The Atlantic Monthly" in its December issue published a letter sent by Scheuer to U.S. congressional intelligence committees that said the key pre-Sept. 11 intelligence failures were mainly the result of bad decisions by senior officials.
"While the 11 September attacks probably were unstoppable, it was decisions by human beings -- featuring arrogance, bad judgment, disdain for expertise, and bureaucratic cowardice -- that made sure the Intelligence Community did not operate optimally to defend America," Scheuer said in the letter.
In June, just before Scheuer's book was published, he did a series of media interviews, appearing on TV in silhouette and was identified in print as "Mike."
In the first week of August, CIA officials told him that he had to ask for permission in advance for media interviews and provide summaries of what would be discussed ahead of time, Scheuer's editor and publicist Christina Davidson said.
"They rejected every single request," she said. "It was effectively a ban."
His book said the United States was losing the war against terrorism and that sticking to current policies would only make its enemies in the Islamic world grow stronger.
The statement released by his publicist about Scheuer's resignation said that "after a cordial meeting with senior CIA officials on Tuesday, Scheuer decided that it would be in the best interests of the intelligence community and the country for him to resign in order to continue speaking publicly with regard to Osama Bin Laden, al Qaeda, and the 9-11 Commission Report." A CIA spokeswoman had no immediate comment.
Hmmmm - ought a working CIA person be able to comment publicly on government policy?
Publci sector workers may not do do here...
I'd think not, usually. But sometimes it seems justified (eg whistleblowing) - like Britain's (now) former ambassador to Uzbekistan.
Remember Andrew Wilkie, the ASIO guy who was very down on the WMD and Iraq/Al Qaeda link info? Was he still an intelligence officer at the time of his spray? It irks me to say but it seems the CIA handled remarkably liberally. I guess they don't have the same strictures on public servants in the US that they have here.
I was thinking that, too.
Of course, initially, his book was published anonymously.
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