One of Nixon’s pieces of advice to every president was to get your own people in control of the CIA and the Justice Department, because those were the agencies that could really wreck a presidency. Many of the big scandals that have damaged presidents—such as Iran-contra, Lewinsky, torture memos—bear out Tricky Dick’s advice.
So what should we make of Jack Kelly’s column today?
The CIA’s war against President Bush was motivated by ass covering, or by political partisanship. But with President Obama, it’s personal.
Many are furious about his disclosure of explicit details of the interrogation methods used on some al Qaida bigwigs, and his waffling on whether or not those who employed them will be subject to prosecution.
Others are incensed by his decision to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, and to let some of those incarcerated there (17 Chinese Uighurs) loose in the United States.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held two hush hush meetings with CIA Director Leon Panetta and Democratic members of the Intelligence Committee last week.
“Her fear and frustration have apparently given way to panic after word reached her of the CIA’s reaction to the damage she, President Obama and other Democrats have done to the spy agency in the last three months, wrote Jed Babbin, a former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense, in Human Events May 1. “Pelosi learned that her actions and those of President Obama have so damaged CIA morale that the agency’s ability to function could be in danger.”
The upshot of the meetings was an unprecedented letter from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex) to Mr. Panetta, making a quasi-apology. Rep. Reyes asked the CIA director to “disseminate it to the CIA workforce as soon as possible.”
But the CYA nature of the letter, and Mr. Reyes’ pledge of more oversight are unlikely to mollify many at Langley.
Presidents come and go like morning glories, but bureaucracies are like oak trees that last. Disagreements with Obama aside, he needs to get Langley on his side, since right now it looks like it’s on its own side. If Kelly is right, the presidency—and by extension the nation—is in for a rough time. Not good.
Posted by Hubbard in Walking the Cat Backwards