(no subject)

[jlc20thmaine.livejournal.com]

Comments

[unnamed525.livejournal.com]

Ok, this is funny.

[morganashkevron.livejournal.com]

It is a funny cartoon, but the implication is more than a little misleading. It's not like the CIA Director dons a cape and mask and goes incognito. He pulls all the information gathered by the actual spies, analyses it, and presents the findings to the President. Which is why Panetta will most likely be an excellent director - he's smart, a very capable administrator, and Obama trusts him to tell the truth without sugar-coating or forcing an agenda.

[jlc20thmaine.livejournal.com]

But no-one in the CIA trusts him which is why he will be a terrible director.

I also have to wonder how Leon will tolerate having to operate under the wall of separation that jamie gorelick created.

[i.livejournal.com]

win

[fleaplus.livejournal.com]

Here's some commentary from former CIA folks, some who are happy, some unhappy with the pick:

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/node/14914

[xforge.livejournal.com]

Win. The only answer you'll get from ANYBODY in the CIA is "we are not in the business of disseminating information, only gathering it."

[atreides74.livejournal.com]

Gorelick did not create that wall. It was in place back in the Reagan era.

Are you done lying and misleading yet?

[jlc20thmaine.livejournal.com]

Gorelick did invent the wall. To quote Gorelick's 1995 memorandum, the procedures her memorandum put in place "go beyond what is legally required...[to] prevent any risk of creating an unwarranted appearance that FISA is being used to avoid procedural safeguards which would apply in a criminal investigation."

[atreides74.livejournal.com]

For the love of all that is decent, do some fucking research. That "wall" was in place for over 20 years when she wrote and submitted that memo (which, by the way, was her single contribution to said wall) and ultimately had very little effect.
To blame her for that wall is dishonest. It's like blaming a person who dumps 5 quarts of used motor oil into a lake for all of the world's pollution problems.

[jlc20thmaine.livejournal.com]

I did do research which is why I posted this. Maybe now you'll read it.

Gorelick did invent the wall. To quote Gorelick's 1995 memorandum, the procedures her memorandum put in place "go beyond what is legally required...[to] prevent any risk of creating an unwarranted appearance that FISA is being used to avoid procedural safeguards which would apply in a criminal investigation."

[atreides74.livejournal.com]

If that is what passes for research where you come from, any institution that granted you a graduate degree should be ashamed of themselves.
Cherry-picking one single quote to back up your "thesis" is not research.
When I said do research, I meant real research. I meant go back and look at the beginnings of the wall in the early '80s when it actually started, instead of blaming Jamie Gorelick for all of it because you find her to be a convenient (if unrealistic) scapegoat.

[savagemind.livejournal.com]

What did the CIA think of Tenet before he came aboard? Whatever it is, it should be opposite of that.

[weswilson]

There is no evidence to support the idea that someone with Panetta's experience would not be an excellent CIA director.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

Richard Clarke thinks Panetta will do a good job. That's enough for me to recognize he will. Panetta was very involved in working with the intelligence community when he was with the Clinton White House.

He'll be a damn sight better than George "It's a slam dunk" Tennant.

[xforge.livejournal.com]

The guy John Spencer's character was based on in The West Wing?

No way he's that bad. Not to mention, director =/= spy. I mean, duh?