rssIntel Chief Presents Obama With Another Headache
Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 6:00 am
- 29 Comments
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair (James Berglie/ZUMA Press)
If President Obama didn’t have enough headaches after the loss of the Democrats’ filibuster-proof Senate majority on Tuesday night, another one emerged for him at a Senate hearing on Wednesday morning: Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence.
During the first in a battery of congressional hearings about the failed bombing of Northwest Airlines flight 253, Blair, the nation’s top intelligence official, declined to endorse the Obama administration’s decision to try would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in federal civilian court — a decision that Republicans and conservatives have subjected to weeks of criticism. Asked by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) whether Abdulmutallab should be tried by a civilian court or a military commission, Blair replied, “I’m not ready to offer an opinion on that in open session.”
[Security1] Blair told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that the administration should have used its newly created interrogation team, known as the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Unit or HIG, to extract information from Abdulmutallab. Republican lawmakers have suggested, without offering any specific evidence, that the U.S. lost access to valuable information from the al-Qaeda-tied Abdulmutallab after Mirandizing him and ultimately indicting him. Law-enforcement officials and Obama appointees, for their part, insist, also without offering specific evidence, that hours of FBI interrogations of Abdulmutallab yielded valuable intelligence.
“We did not invoke the HIG,” Blair said. “In this instance, we should have.” The HIG — which reports to the FBI and the National Security Council, not the director of national intelligence — has been previously described by knowledgeable administration officials as a tool for use almost exclusively in the interrogation of foreign-held detainees. Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) quickly pounced on Blair’s statement, calling it a “guarantee” from the administration to opt out of the civilian criminal justice system in future cases of foreign citizens apprehended on U.S. soil in connection to terrorism, as many Republicans desire.
A senior administration official, speaking on background, contradicted Blair, saying the HIG is not yet operational — and, in any case, is supposed to be used for terrorism suspects detained overseas. “This is very basic, very clear,” the official said, expressing surprise that Blair would say the HIG should have been involved.
Blair — who is expected to appear before a classified hearing Thursday morning in the Senate intelligence committee — suggested that Abdulmutallab’s Christmas-time apprehension after Flight 253 landed in Detroit was more ad hoc and chaotic than the Obama administration has portrayed. Joined by Janet Napolitano, the secretary of Homeland Security and Michael Leiter, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Blair said he was not consulted on the decision to charge Abdulmutallab. In a separate, simultaneous hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI Director Robert Mueller said he was also out of the loop. Shortly after the incident, Napolitano famously said “the system worked” after Abdulmutallab was subdued on Flight 253.
“We need to make those decisions more carefully,” Blair said about not using the HIG for Abdulmutallab and the decision to charge him in federal court. “It was made on the scene.” Asked later to clarify who was responsible for deciding to Mirandize the would-be bomber, Blair replied, “The FBI agent in charge on the scene.” Mueller stated at his own hearing that “the decision to arrest [Abdulmutallab] and put him in criminal courts” was made by FBI “agents on the ground.” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) expressed surprise that the decision to prosecute Abdulmutallab did not come from a more senior official.
Spokespeople for the Justice Department and the White House declined to comment on Blair’s remarks to the Senate panel, referring questions back to Blair’s office. But hours after the hearing concluded, Blair issued a statement conceding that the HIG would not have been a viable interrogation option in this case.
“My remarks today before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs have been misconstrued,” Blair said in the statement. “The FBI interrogated Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab when they took him into custody. They received important intelligence at that time, drawing on the FBI’s expertise in interrogation that will be available in the HIG once it is fully operational.”
Blair, a retired four-star admiral and former commander of U.S. military forces in the Pacific, has had a rocky tenure as director of national intelligence since Obama appointed him to the post last January. Last year, he tussled with the CIA director, Leon Panetta — technically Blair’s subordinate — over control of the CIA’s top intelligence officers in foreign stations. Blair lost that dispute, which had to be mediated by the White House. At Wednesday’s hearing, Blair occasionally appeared lost, misunderstanding senators’ questions and saying he wished intelligence officials leaking to the press would “shut the hell up.”
But Blair did not give cover to another line of attack from Republican senators: that Abdulmutallab should be tortured. Ensign asked Blair why it made sense to restrict interrogations of terrorism suspects to the techniques listed in the mostly-Geneva-Conventions-compliant Army Field Manual on Interrogations, as Obama insisted in one of the first executive orders of his presidency. Blair strongly strongly defended the decision. “We looked at that quite carefully,” Blair said. “We do not know if the same information obtained through extra-judicial measures [could not] have been obtained without them.”
Some civil libertarians were concerned by the hearing’s occasional tendency to relitigate the principles of trying terrorism detainees in civilian courts and treating them humanely. “The senators’ claim that the government had the right to seize [Abdulmutallab] and turn him over to the military for secret imprisonment and harsh interrogation is the same radical and discredited claim that President Bush made about his authority to seize anyone, including citizens, found in the U.S. and hold them without charge,” said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies. “The government went down that path, it flouted the rule of law and eventually had to be fixed by bringing criminal prosecutions.”
Additionally, some counterterrorism officials and outside experts have pushed back recently against the GOP talking point that Mirandization inhibits interrogation. According to a paper released Wednesday by the Center for American Progress’s Ken Gude, a detainee’s access to legal counsel is also not an obstacle to intelligence collection. “Terrorist suspects have given what U.S. officials call ‘an intelligence goldmine’ after meeting with attorneys,” Gude writes.
In the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI Director Mueller backed up that proposition. “We’ve had a number of cases in which through the process — the criminal justice process of the United States — individuals have decided to cooperate and provided tremendous intelligence,” Mueller said. “That is not to say that there may not be other ways of obtaining that intelligence. But, yes, in answer to your question, the criminal justice system has been a — a fount of intelligence in the years since September 11th.”
Update: This piece has been edited for clarity.
Follow Spencer Ackerman on Twitter
29 Comments
Pingback posted January 21, 2010 @ 6:29 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Carol Minarcik and WashIndependent, s.severin. s.severin said: Intel Chief Presents Obama With Another Headache: The Washington Independent By Spencer Ackerman 1/21/10 6:00 AM I… http://bit.ly/6jMZ51 [...]
Trackback posted January 21, 2010 @ 7:15 am
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by TWI_news: Intel Chief Presents Obama With Another Headache http://bit.ly/8kxjY4...
Pingback posted January 21, 2010 @ 9:00 am
[...] here to read the rest: Intel Chief Presents Obama With Another Headache Posted in barack-obama | Tagged after-the-loss, all-stories, democrats, loss, president, [...]
Comment posted January 21, 2010 @ 10:17 am
to view a partial list of crimes committed by FBI agents over 1500 pages long see
http://www.forums.signonsandiego.com/showthread…
to view a partial list of FBI agents arrested for pedophilia see
http://www.dallasnews.com/forums/viewtopic.php?…
Comment posted January 21, 2010 @ 10:47 am
Giving warriors from other countries the same rights as our citizens is a unique idea. While we are mirandizing their bombers they take our citizens and behead them on public television. We are animals for waterboarding? What tactics do they use?
Pingback posted January 21, 2010 @ 11:41 am
[...] the original post: Intel Chief Presents Obama With Another Headache « The Washington … Tags: blair, chief, chief-dennis, chief-says, criminal, director, director-mueller, embarrassing, [...]
Pingback posted January 21, 2010 @ 1:13 pm
[...] Intel Officials Admit Counterterrorism System Failed Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet Box WordPress PluginDirector of National Intelligence Dennis Blair (James Berglie/ZUMA Press) [...]
Comment posted January 21, 2010 @ 8:53 pm
“Giving warriors from other countries the same rights as our citizens is a unique idea.”
Puhleeeze. “Warrior”? Hardly. A young man who was a loner and fell victim to the propaganda of religious zealots who used him to promote their agenda. Think “Pat Robertson” but Muslim.
Comments such as this indicate a desire that the United States conduct itself in the same manner as, for example, totalitarian regimes–dispensing Wild West justice. Sorry, but W(orst) is no longer in office.
It is that attitude which helped ensure that young man was on that plane wearing his explosive underwear. Thousands like him have been recruited thanks to the cowboy and his faithful puppetmaster.
Pingback posted January 22, 2010 @ 1:14 am
[...] Intel Chief Presents Obama With Another Headache « The Washington Independent. Share and [...]
Comment posted January 22, 2010 @ 3:48 am
Additionally, some counterterrorism officials and outside experts have pushed back recently against the GOP talking point that Mirandization inhibits interrogation. According to a paper released Wednesday by the Center for American Progress’s Ken Gude, a detainee’s access to legal counsel is also not an obstacle to intelligence collection. “Terrorist suspects have given what U.S. officials call ‘an intelligence goldmine’ after meeting with attorneys,”
Comment posted January 22, 2010 @ 8:28 pm
HILLARY QUEEN OF THE INTERNET
[Huge, Enormous, Mistake]
The very first term that most articles concerning Hillary Diane Rodham-Clinton, what today pass’s for the [SOS] Secretary of State, of the American-Israeli Empire, is Saber ratter, and many have made very good cases for the Saber Dancer not to be in that position, such as Ken Silverstein with his [5] Five Reasons Hillary Clinton should not be Secretary of State, but the Imperial Media Messiah President needed to get elected at the time and deals were made, and got into bed with Lilith the first wife of Adam who just was never going to be just the little woman, the drama queen with a [me, me, me first attitude] a big, hungry, needy ego surrounded by a team that's hungrier and needier still, was seen by those in the know as heading in the wrong direction leading to mistakes [Even the First She Who Must Be Obeyed, it amazing how much insight one woman as into another, it pays to listen], but that being said, it reminds of the scene in Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts, return to the boutique on Rodeo Drive, in Hollywood California and asked if they were paid on commission, the Imperial Media Messiah President like the mangers who refused to provide service made a mistake of Huge Enormous proportions, making Hillary [SOS].
[Militaristic Saber Ratting Pit Bull]
To say that Hillary is not an expert in geopolitics is an understatement, setting the standard for [my way or the highway] diplomacy and as with most major politicians, being a gifted generalist of limited thinking the Clinton philosophy and style of management are all one in the same, one of seeing potential enemies at every turn and not potential allies, then attaching blame, rejecting talking to, now no longer potential allies but, Clinton created and perceived real potential enemies representing real threats, criticizing, opposing and deriding as naïve' and 'dangerous, in any way, any direct kind of quiet diplomat initiatives put forward for negotiations needed to facilitate talks to explore options with those, now, Clinton created [adversaries], taking on the persona of militaristic saber ratting pit bull, labeling all those who don’t share the same closed minded ideology as dangers using sweeping speeches with cold war undertones of threatening rhetoric, with the response from such an approach as an unacceptable ideological imposition that will never be allowed to stand, on the opposing side.
[The Great Firewall Debate]
Those who are anti any type of internet censorship call themselves Netizens, [Net-Citizens], basically not citizens of any country with boarders, but, the new citizenship of a free and unrestricted cyber world, which is a nice way of looking at it, but even in cyber space, there are laws, restrictions, a social hierarchy, all the problems of any social structure, the internet has good guys and its bad. Now, being of the Ponder Generation, it is really up to the Dreamers, Thinkers, Workers, and [Netizens] of this generation to figure out just how their [21st] Century on and off line society is going to work, and we kind of figure it doesn’t lay in, nor should it be placed into the hands of the State Department and especially Hillary Diane Rodham-Clintons, and in this case the Chinese Government has a better case, beyond keeping their cyber space advantage over the Empire in its on going cyber warfare been the Pentagon and the Chinese Cyber Warriors;
[ANTI-PORNOGRAPHY] A Good Argument, mom and dad can’t watch the kids all the time, and they could impose ideas or actions counter to the norms of society.
[SETTING SOCIAL NORMS OR VALUES] we just got thru watching a Criminal Minds program on the [TV] Tele/Television, in which kids were choking themselves to get a natural euphoric high, in the process killing if not themselves then brain cells both for good, as part of a game, pitting one high school against another, and as this program showed in effect unrestricted Internet is a disguised attempt to impose its values on other, resulting in script writers having the [FBI] Federal Bureau of Investigation not Full Blooded Indians, investigate the spike in teenage deaths.
[The Bottom Line]
The [PRC] has made a reasoned and strong argument for their Great Firewall program, its their country and they have a right to determine just what’s, what, in their own country. Now it is up to the Thinkers, Dreamers, Workers and [Netizens] to make the decisions of their [21st] Century Community and not a Ponder of the past, but one thing this ponder would never do is put their future and cyber space into the hands of Hillary Diane Rodham-Clinton, and The Clinton State Department, not on my best day, worse day, or any day as a matter of fact.
HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN
Comment posted January 26, 2010 @ 2:29 pm
The headline misled me to believe that the article was about the Intel Corporation; one might say this was somewhat-careless editing. Worthwhile article, though.
Comment posted January 26, 2010 @ 7:29 pm
The headline misled me to believe that the article was about the Intel Corporation; one might say this was somewhat-careless editing. Worthwhile article, though.
Pingback posted February 3, 2010 @ 6:54 pm
[...] August, seven months later. Near the end of January we heard – on background – the HIG had not even been formed yet. That’s one year for those of you looking at the calendar. A senior administration official, [...]
Pingback posted March 13, 2010 @ 12:26 pm
[...] that the HIG was not in operation in the aftermath of the Christmas Day terrorist incident, despite Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair’s claim in January 2010 that it was operational… in that [...]
Pingback posted May 24, 2010 @ 12:24 am
[...] following Abdulmutallab’s attempted bombing, Blair said that the High-Value Interrogation Group should have handled him, not the FBI. He apparently was [...]
Comment posted August 4, 2010 @ 12:10 pm
Puhleeeze. “Warrior”? Hardly. A young man who was a loner and fell victim to the propaganda of religious zealots who used him to promote their agenda. Think “Pat Robertson” but Muslim.
Trackback posted August 23, 2011 @ 12:40 pm
Drip Irrigation Systems…
Take time to see this some may constitute fascination as well……
Trackback posted August 23, 2011 @ 8:43 pm
rats are good pets…
[...]below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit[...]…
Trackback posted August 25, 2011 @ 6:18 pm
your name luggage…
[...]just below, are some totally unrelated sites to ours, however, they are definitely worth checking out[...]…
Trackback posted August 31, 2011 @ 9:30 pm
Amy Winehouse…
[...]these are a few hyper-links to web-sites which I link to for the fact we think they’re worth browsing[...]…
Trackback posted September 2, 2011 @ 12:50 am
Taylor Lautner Workout Routine…
[...It's not so often you find a site that provides such value on the internet...]…
Trackback posted September 3, 2011 @ 10:44 pm
mmorts…
[...]This topic usually doesn’t interest me, but this article was written in a unique manner. It’s not boring and I read the whole thing without stopping once. Although unrelated to my blog, worth linking to[...]…
Trackback posted September 4, 2011 @ 5:43 am
E-commerce web design…
[...]while the sites we link to below are completely unrelated to ours, we think they are worth a read, so have a look at some below[...]…
Trackback posted September 4, 2011 @ 10:37 pm
Get Payday Loan…
[...]more internet sites which may have formerly associated with your blog post at some time in past times[...]…
Trackback posted September 6, 2011 @ 10:43 pm
Icann…
[...]these are a handful of listings to web-sites which we connect to since we think they are definitely worth checking out[...]…
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
