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Afghanistan: Looming Tragedy – Will President Biden Blame Bad Intelligence?
President Biden visited the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Tuesday (27 July). In his public remarks he praised the Intelligence Community (IC) and promised to never politicize their work. Sounds promising and clear-cut. But reality is never that … Continue reading
Posted in Allies, Intelligence, Iraq, NATO, Uncategorized
Tagged Afghanistan, Bill Burns, Mary Louise Kelly, National Public Radio, President Biden
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The New CIA Director
Ambassador William J. Burns is a great and timely choice to head the CIA. He will assure that the Administration has the intelligence collection and analysis for the critical security issues facing the United States. He is a long time … Continue reading
Posted in Allies, China, Cyber Threat, Elections, Intelligence, Iran, Russia, Uncategorized, WMD
Tagged Bill Burns, China, Russia
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The Most Hyperbole In the History of the Galaxy, Or, Does Democracy in America Really Hang by a Thread?
The recurrent statements following the chaos of January 6, were nothing, if not cataclysmic, i.e. “democracy hangs by a thread!” Unfortunately, foreign friends and allies tend to watch events in Washington via television like everyone else. On multiple occasions conversations … Continue reading
Posted in Allies, China, Elections, journalism coverage, NATO, Russia, Uncategorized, United Nations
Tagged Reporting Hyperbole
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9-11 Nineteen Years On…
This day used to re-kindle memories of an attack against America. Little attention is now paid. It does not fit the current narrative. In this political season, neither candidate benefits from the old narrative. Today’s atmosphere seems to be that … Continue reading
Corvid-19 and Y2K
Books will be written detailing the series of decisions made that preceded the current Covid-19 crisis. Lessons will be learned. And our government being what it is where leaders regularly turnover–they will be forgotten as well. But a key question … Continue reading
Qasem Soleimani – Some Aspects
The United States (over two Administrations) and the international community expended much effort rolling back ISIS in Iraq and Syria. This included attempts to kill the leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi–ultimately successful just last October. ISIS killed a few Americans. Qasem … Continue reading
Posted in Intelligence, Iran, Iraq, Uncategorized
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Mueller Report – Duelfer Report
A few commentators have made some comparisons between the Mueller Report and report on Iraq WMD in 2004 which was dubbed the Duelfer Report. There are a few similarities and many key differences. Both were produced in a highly charged … Continue reading
Posted in Intelligence, Iraq, Uncategorized, WMD
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US Intelligence and the Press
Yesterday, George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government hosted an interesting discussion moderated by Michael Morell and four prominent Washington journalists regarding coverage of intelligence by journalists. The journalists were Andrea Mitchell, long-time NBC correspondent who has covered … Continue reading
Posted in Intelligence, journalism coverage, Uncategorized
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President with Global Investments – Unprecedented? Really?
Many commentators have been claiming that Trumps global investments are unprecedented. His financial interests are certainly worth thinking about, but such issues are not unprecedented. I am reminded of the following story I heard as a young staffer at OMB … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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Trump vs The Federal Bureaucracy?
How will the bureaucracy respond to President Trump? There is in impression, though no real data that I am aware of, that most federal workers tend toward the democratic side of the political spectrum. I recall the distrust that accompanied … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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