It’s not easy to find the intelligence people
It was odd, when Barack Obama rolled out his national security team last week, that no intelligence appointments — DNI, CIA — were included Marc Ambinder blogs about some of the difficulties the Obama team is having with this task: President-elect Barack Obama is still mulling over whom to appoint to his intelligence cabinet…. Published ...
It was odd, when Barack Obama rolled out his national security team last week, that no intelligence appointments -- DNI, CIA -- were included Marc Ambinder blogs about some of the difficulties the Obama team is having with this task: President-elect Barack Obama is still mulling over whom to appoint to his intelligence cabinet.... Published reports say Obama is considering Adm. Dennis Blair (ret)., for the supervisory post of Director of National Intelligence; As of last week, Blair's nomination was not a fait accompli, although he was still in the running, sources said; some human rights activists have transmitted their disapproval to Obama's team. Intelligence types who don't have transition connections or insider information noted that the name leaked out at the same time as Obama was said to be considering Gen. James Jones (Ret.) for the post of national security adviser and Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State; when those two announcements were formalized, Blair was not introduced as a member of Obama's national security team.... Sources say that Obama's team is having trouble finding a potential CIA director who lacks politically incriminating links to controversial Bush Administration policies and yet commands the respect of the agency's rank and file. Another problem with Blair in particular might be that he's landed on Foreign Policy's "10 Worst Predictions for 2008" list:
It was odd, when Barack Obama rolled out his national security team last week, that no intelligence appointments — DNI, CIA — were included Marc Ambinder blogs about some of the difficulties the Obama team is having with this task:
President-elect Barack Obama is still mulling over whom to appoint to his intelligence cabinet…. Published reports say Obama is considering Adm. Dennis Blair (ret)., for the supervisory post of Director of National Intelligence; As of last week, Blair’s nomination was not a fait accompli, although he was still in the running, sources said; some human rights activists have transmitted their disapproval to Obama’s team. Intelligence types who don’t have transition connections or insider information noted that the name leaked out at the same time as Obama was said to be considering Gen. James Jones (Ret.) for the post of national security adviser and Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State; when those two announcements were formalized, Blair was not introduced as a member of Obama’s national security team…. Sources say that Obama’s team is having trouble finding a potential CIA director who lacks politically incriminating links to controversial Bush Administration policies and yet commands the respect of the agency’s rank and file.
Another problem with Blair in particular might be that he’s landed on Foreign Policy‘s “10 Worst Predictions for 2008” list:
“[In] reality the risks to maritime flows of oil are far smaller than is commonly assumed. First, tankers are much less vulnerable than conventional wisdom holds. Second, limited regional conflicts would be unlikely to seriously upset traffic, and terrorist attacks against shipping would have even less of an economic effect. Third, only a naval power of the United States’ strength could seriously disrupt oil shipments.” —Dennis Blair and Kenneth Lieberthal, Foreign Affairs, May/June 2007
On Nov. 15, 2008 a group of Somali pirates in inflatable rafts hijacked a Saudi oil tanker carrying 2 million barrels of crude in the Indian Ocean. The daring raid was part of a rash of attacks by Somali pirates, which have primarily occurred in the Gulf of Aden. Pirates operating in the waterway have hijacked more than 50 ships this year, up from only 13 in all of last year, according to the Piracy Reporting Center. The Gulf of Aden, where nearly 4 percent of the world’s oil demand passes every day, was not on the list of strategic “chokepoints” where oil shipments could potentially be disrupted that Blair and Lieberthal included in their essay, “Smooth Sailing: The World’s Shipping Lanes Are Safe.” Hopefully, Blair will show a bit more foresight if, as some expect, he is selected as Barack Obama’s director of national intelligence.
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Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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