US intelligence shakeup prompts concerns
ISN SECURITY WATCH (14/01/06) - A member of the powerful US Senate intelligence committee is calling for an inquiry into the "early removal" of the head of the intelligence agency that interprets satellite photos and draws maps for the US military.
James Clapper, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is to leave 13 June, three months earlier than he had wanted, David Burpee, the agency's head of public affairs, confirmed to ISN Security Watch.
Burpee said that Clapper, a retired U.S Air Force general, had arrived in 2001 on a three-year contract, with two one-year extensions possible.
The NGA - one of the 15 agencies that make up what US officials call the "intelligence community" - is part of the Department of Defense, and its director is appointed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who also had authority over whether to extend Clapper’s contract and for how long.
As the end of his fourth year approached in the summer of 2005, Clapper applied for a second one year extension, Burpee told ISN Security Watch. "It came back for just nine months. That's it," he said.
Burpee downplayed reports that Clapper's departure followed a rift with Rumsfeld. "We always knew it could be a little bit more or a little bit less" than the full five-year term, Burpee said.
But Democrat Barbara Mikulski of Maryland called on Thursday for investigative hearings by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence into what she referred to as Clapper's "early removal".
The Baltimore Sun, which first reported the news about Clapper, cited an unnamed "former senior government official familiar with the matter", as saying that "Rumsfeld acted out of anger over Clapper's testimony to Congress in 2004".
In a letter to the committee's chairman, Republican Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, Mikulski wrote that she was "troubled by reports that Secretary Rumsfeld's decision was in retaliation for Clapper's 2004 testimony to the Congress regarding NGA's relationship to the Department of Defense".
The NGA's relationship with the department, and indeed the broader question of the Pentagon's role in the intelligence community was the subject of fierce - and at times bitter - debate during the summer and fall of 2004, as lawmakers drafted a bill reorganizing US spy agencies in line with the recommendations of the Sept. 11 Commission.
Rumsfeld and his allies in Congress fought a rearguard action against the appointment of a single, powerful official, the director of national intelligence, to manage all 15 agencies - including those, like the NGA, which are part of the Department of Defense.
They argued that the creation of the office would interfere with the military's chain of command and jeopardize the ability of the Pentagon's intelligence agencies to provide the support needed by troops on the ground in combat.
Clapper's testimony to Congress that year was given in a special classified session, an intelligence official told ISN Security Watch, but his public statements on the issue made clear that he did not oppose the establishment of the post.
Mikulski wrote she was "disappointed" that Rumsfeld had not denied the reports.
"If such an able official and leader of one of America's most important intelligence agencies is being punished for giving his honest judgment to the Congress, what kind of signal does this send to other heads of intelligence agencies and to all those working throughout our intelligence community?" she asked. "What does it imply about their obligation and duty to speak truth to power?"
She said that hearings would give Rumsfeld "an opportunity to explain publicly his basis for removing Clapper at such a critical time”.
(By Shaun Waterman in Washington, DC)
James Clapper, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is to leave 13 June, three months earlier than he had wanted, David Burpee, the agency's head of public affairs, confirmed to ISN Security Watch.
Burpee said that Clapper, a retired U.S Air Force general, had arrived in 2001 on a three-year contract, with two one-year extensions possible.
The NGA - one of the 15 agencies that make up what US officials call the "intelligence community" - is part of the Department of Defense, and its director is appointed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who also had authority over whether to extend Clapper’s contract and for how long.
As the end of his fourth year approached in the summer of 2005, Clapper applied for a second one year extension, Burpee told ISN Security Watch. "It came back for just nine months. That's it," he said.
Burpee downplayed reports that Clapper's departure followed a rift with Rumsfeld. "We always knew it could be a little bit more or a little bit less" than the full five-year term, Burpee said.
But Democrat Barbara Mikulski of Maryland called on Thursday for investigative hearings by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence into what she referred to as Clapper's "early removal".
The Baltimore Sun, which first reported the news about Clapper, cited an unnamed "former senior government official familiar with the matter", as saying that "Rumsfeld acted out of anger over Clapper's testimony to Congress in 2004".
In a letter to the committee's chairman, Republican Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, Mikulski wrote that she was "troubled by reports that Secretary Rumsfeld's decision was in retaliation for Clapper's 2004 testimony to the Congress regarding NGA's relationship to the Department of Defense".
The NGA's relationship with the department, and indeed the broader question of the Pentagon's role in the intelligence community was the subject of fierce - and at times bitter - debate during the summer and fall of 2004, as lawmakers drafted a bill reorganizing US spy agencies in line with the recommendations of the Sept. 11 Commission.
Rumsfeld and his allies in Congress fought a rearguard action against the appointment of a single, powerful official, the director of national intelligence, to manage all 15 agencies - including those, like the NGA, which are part of the Department of Defense.
They argued that the creation of the office would interfere with the military's chain of command and jeopardize the ability of the Pentagon's intelligence agencies to provide the support needed by troops on the ground in combat.
Clapper's testimony to Congress that year was given in a special classified session, an intelligence official told ISN Security Watch, but his public statements on the issue made clear that he did not oppose the establishment of the post.
Mikulski wrote she was "disappointed" that Rumsfeld had not denied the reports.
"If such an able official and leader of one of America's most important intelligence agencies is being punished for giving his honest judgment to the Congress, what kind of signal does this send to other heads of intelligence agencies and to all those working throughout our intelligence community?" she asked. "What does it imply about their obligation and duty to speak truth to power?"
She said that hearings would give Rumsfeld "an opportunity to explain publicly his basis for removing Clapper at such a critical time”.
(By Shaun Waterman in Washington, DC)
posted by Marko at 1/14/2006 09:45:00 PM
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