“Once upon a time* . . . a frightened people created a new machine. They made this machine to feel safe. You see, just before, while they were sleeping, bad things came creeping in the night. One even bit many people and took them away.
The machine would protect the people. It would never sleep, never tire, never stop looking at the bad things. The peoples’ warriors with it on the walls and lawgivers would always keep the machine working.
So the people went back to sleep.
After a while their dreams turned scary. Some of them woke up. And they saw why. The machine had grown very big. It no longer stayed on the walls. Some trusted warriors and lawgivers in secret added many links to the machine’s leash. Some did this hoping the growing machine would not attack them. Others wanted to tame the machine for their own plans. And when the machine got hungry, they all closed their eyes. At night the machine would crawl inside. And eat some of the sleeping people.
Those people who woke up and saw all this cried out in fear. Many of their friends and neighbors still slept.
So the small group of people built and gathered around two campfires. To decide what to do. The machine frightened them. The betrayal by the warriors and lawgivers angered them. But some of them also remembered the bad things still outside.
They asked the warriors and lawgivers to sit in the lights. Why did they do this? Some told their story. Some were ashamed and lied. And some were happy with the new machine. They knew the machine got hungry. But they claimed the bad things outside were even bigger than before.
The people around the campfires saw that they were few. So many, many more of their friends still slept. And the machine still prowled around them in the darkness.
A debate lasted all night until the campfires burned out. The people still awake got strength from the new morning sun. They decided to make a new chain. This new chain would be shorter. The machine would stay. They could not unmake it now. But back on the walls. It would not eat sleeping people again. But just in case, because bad things were out there, too, the new chain could be made longer. But only if the lawgivers and warriors asked and got permission. Only then would they get the new chain’s extra links. The machine bowed its head, closed its eyes and let the people put on the new chain. It slowly returned to the wall.
Then the people went back to sleep. And soon came again the scary dreams.
Our friend Comment asks us about a recent item in Salon reporting on potential investigations of ‘abuse of executive power’ by Congress in 2009. Our reaction is threefold.
First, if once is tragedy, second is farce, the third is decadent. The fourth time is without doubt just an NBC prime time reality show.
___
* In the mythic sense
Bruce Ackerman at Yale famously wrote that there are specific if undefinable ‘high constitutional moments’ when the American people and politics, per myth above, truly do wake up collectively sua sponte and create both a clean break with what has gone before but also a societal transformation in the aftermath. Society and politics before and after are distinct. In Ackerman’s formulation, such episodes occur perhaps once in a hundred years. The current issue, we believe, it is not one of them.
Salon refers to the ground breaking Church and Pike Committees convened in a wholly different, unique context. Congress and the Executive functioned as co-equal branches of government. Congressional institutional memories, role models, power and self identity – all were undiluted by Movement infiltration, Liberal exhaustion and 24 hour news. We lost a war for the first time. The haphazard and extraordinarily amateurish investigations occurred only after an unprecedented presidential resignation, pardon and near total paralysis of the Executive Branch (as stamped so deeply in Cheney and Rumsfeld’s memories). Today is not like your father’s Oldsmobile.
Still, unlike say Thomas Powers, who seemingly gains renewed energy with every recycling of the same tale telling, we strain to summon the energy to rehash it all here again. Perhaps that’s because he gets paid to do so. That’s not meant as a cop out. After all, much of this is already over at STSOZ 1.0. But we’re up to the task. Proof? Here we go —
Congress was exceedingly complicit in much that occurred 1947-75. There were no formal mechanisms then, and an individual Cardinal could and often did approve activities, often over a comfortable bourbon. There are many, many examples the Stiftung will not mention here. And often, a Cardinal would either explicitly say “I don’t want to know” or had no idea what he approved. Intelligence had yet to become and *be seen as * a mere bureaucracy.
Suffice it to say that Congress in its totality truly was shocked in 1974-75. The NSA’s real existence and capabilities? Stunning. And so forth. Unfortunately, a reckless Church and especially Pike (in our opinion) set back real reform by turning the investigation into a public circus. It didn’t help much that they were handed the means on a silver platter, such as Schlesinger’s “the Family Jewels” memo, Phoenix, CHAOS, other assassinations — all UnAmerican Old Worldisms to a then (from our soiled perspective today) quaint public. The Executive sacrificed individuals one by one — Colby being a famous (and in the eyes of many, deservedly) example — and the permanent government resolved to pin the blame back on the civilian leadership.
Perhaps Colby unknowingly summoned a later Lanny Davis from the ether and tried to get all the bad news out right away ala 1998. Perhaps. (We won’t go into Golitsyn territory today without some beverage refreshment). Even Nelson Rockefeller’s efforts to paper over it all by a precursor of the later Tower Report failed.
The point? We don’t see an equivalent political environment, the same or equivalent institutional dynamics, or equivalent societal perspective. Certainly nowhere near an Ackerman-esque ‘high constitutional moment’. All of the existing and necessary framework remains in place. The 1980 Oversight Act remains. Two standing oversight committees. Semi-structured appropriations are in place. OSD/Rumsfeld/Cambone’s unprecedented and expansive Pentagon foray into intelligence activities shattered the old Tactical and Intelligence Related Activities (TIARA) boundaries. This does complicate oversight even more than in the past because of altered balance of power among the committee jurisdictions. All still doable. Albeit in tatters.
So what happened? Addington’s unrelenting malevolence surely played a role pulling it all down. We saw it then in 1987 wandering the halls of the Minority’s Iran Contra Report offices, from Addington to his colleague Michael Malbin.
But more important is congressional complicity. Such knowing, overt and conscious congressional seppuku – or castration might be a better term — remains breathtaking. Beyond whether Harmon agreed with Hoekstra on this or that. Or whether Jay Rockefeller stamped his feet in protest and wrote a letter to his desk drawer. Or that Pat Leahy led the charge to ram the PATRIOT Act through Congress even when many of us in those panic stricken days warned him/his staff it was a mistake. Congress for years meekly agreed to be muffled by Cheney’s determination of what could or not be discussed via shabby compartmentalization gimmicks and the like. (And you should recall all of you that it was Dick Armey, of all people, who tried to call halt and at least inserted sunset provisions in PATRIOT as a gift for the future. A gift that Congress later friviously tossed away).
Bi-partisan complicity ala Harmon and Pelosi briefings are mere after-the-fact camouflage. Congress must rediscover itself as a true co-equal branch before embarking on anything as protracted and fraught as an attack on the Permanent National Security State. The appallingly ineffectual last two years demonstrates how far Congress has to go. How difficult it is to rebuild institutional memories and sinews long withered from disuse. Do Pelosi, a member (or staffer from the Church glory days (as reported by Salon) and some ACLU types) really think they can ignite and then prevail in this zero sum game (even if layered in seeming compromise)?
Second, you may be thinking, “What about the Boy King (Obama)? If he were elected . . .” Or perhaps one might think of McCain. Don’t be misled by bloggers and talking heads. It’s a profound mistake to think that a reform minded president can by virtue of his election and appointments truly exert power down into the Executive. Pushing a single command or project through takes enormous personal commitment. An underway aircraft carrier doesn’t turn on a dime — even one that wants to obey. A sobering lesson for every president is how little power he actually controls. Since the Boy King is in Germany pretending to be JFK, let’s use JFK. Recall his alarm during the Cuban Missile Crisis that his earlier order to remove missiles from Turkey went unheeded.
Then consider the Peanut Farmer’s Administration. It negotiated the original FISA bill though its various iterations with great tenacity — with a Democratic Congress. The Peanut Farmer’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC — a then true elite) stood its ground on Executive Power. We’ve had discussions with original participants in it all and “progressive bloggers/journalists” may want to discuss FISA negotiations and passage as days of wine and roses . . . not.
In may ways, the constitutional incantations and rote cited by both sides beginning with Louis Henkin down to 1975, 1987, and now 2001-2008 remain unchanged. What did change? The underlying political power dynamic. In the 1970s, Congress got the War Powers Act. Fear and terror now gave the Administration carte blanche to push the incantation and cant to almost unimaginable limits. “Constitutional law” did not change. Statutory law didn’t matter. Only the Warlord’s waxing power changed the *political consensus*.
A president can help steer or in Bush’s case destroy political compromise. This is a big thing. The solution is always political in the end, never legal — despite what almost all pretend. Discarded ‘comity’ (with a ‘t’) can help revive oversight, revisit the FISA Court’s pulse rate, return to traditional understandings and practice what constitutes ‘prior notice’ for special activities, follow-up, etc. But that won’t affect the Permanent National Security State much.
Ignore Salon’s almost fervid recital of what someone at INSLAW says. For those of us around at the very beginning of the whole PROMIS thing, the now almost 20 year old claims and sputtering quasi-litigation blows past obsessive compulsive. Is there a COG database? Almost assuredly. Are databases abused? Absolutely. From GEICO-esque entities on down. Total Information Awareness? Who really thinks it went away because Jerry Berman, Jim Dempsey et al. wrote letters to Congress?
We’re still in a war that no one wants to — or dares to — walk away from. GWOT. Iraq? Even Democrats unknowingly adopt Rumsfeld’s concept that it is just a theater of operations in a larger war. Democrats want the war to go on in Afghanistan. Should a Dick Clarke ever pop up in or around a Boy King Administration, does anyone truly think the war mindset will not continue? But now with his own urgent, uniquely quirky, pressing psychodynamic imprint?
And the world looks just the same
And history ain’t changed
‘Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war
Truly.
Third, a couple of remarkable things remain. How easily people sleep. And how durable is their machine construct. The intelligence community oversaw the greatest failure besides Katrina in American history. No one really paid a price at all. A commission appeared. The usual report. Recommendations largely ignored. A few deck chairs moved around. The Agency in the old framing of prestige and role clearly lost some. Yet, in gaining greater clarity of focus, the res, the thing, called the Agency that remained, may in the end find in this diminishment its own salvation.
Why any qualification? Because so much of what is now the Permanent National Security State is outsourced. Few outside government understand the scale and implications of this. Even way before 9/11, in the 1990s, the Community in public had to concede that it was increasingly becoming stale and irrelevant: so much expertise was and is outside of it. Think of the NYT’s calamitous attempt to put its columnists behind the paid wall facade. Now bloat that with a ferocious war mindset, with us or against us, shame at letting 9/11 happen, almost unlimited funds and a Godlike Commander-in-Chief. And that’s just the day to day contracting issues of flipping badges, greed, and opportunism.
On top of that, we’ve written ad nauseam to always remember Addington, Cheney, Libby et al.’s determination to eviscerate Congress and the FISA Court extra-constitutionally. Recall that Addington was with Casey during the planning of the Enterprise before Casey inserted him at HPSCI. Recall that the goal of the Enterprise was to create a self-funding, self perpetuating organization that would stay on mission regardless of Congress, unknown to Congress, and until the mission is completed. (Kyle Reese’s attempt to explain to Sarah Connor what was out there sums it up).
Given the billions spent, unaccounted for, lost — as Ross Johnson liked to say — in the sands of time (or the GSA schedule — ala Abu Ghraib interrogation contracts), does anyone think that a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears congressional staffers (or even senior veterans called in to oversee them) will penetrate this “veil”? Does anyone really think that there will be a long line of private sector parishioners seeking confessional? Seeking audit? Seeking potential personal criminal exposure? Does anyone think anyone laid a glove on Bremer and his missing billions when the Dems took over?
Quoting Harry, “Well, do ya, punk?”
I know, and you Dear Reader, know the answer. But many don’t. Or still sleep.
For any embarking upon this journey:
Q: Quod petis? (What do you seek?)
A: Virtutes. Concede mihi virtutues quibus indegio, valeum impere. (Strength. That I be given the strength to carry this out, my resolve.)
Q: Quod ultra quaeris? (What else do you seek?)
A: Quaero togam pacem. (I seek peace.)
Alex says
Let’s revisit this in the light of Comey, and the dumping of Flynn.
DrLeoStrauss says
Good idea, Alex. A new piece is due and much for us to discuss.
DrLeoStrauss says
@Sam Lowry And DHS has about 8-10 of them (although apparently not the funding for the pilots and ground stations). Here’s an item that caused a bit of a stir, although it’s probably misattributed to the Agency given other facilities available.
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2011/12/picture-reaper-spotted-at-secr.html
Sam Lowry says
First they came for the cow thieves and I said nothing because I had not stolen any cows…
I don’t see how this can possibly go wrong. Can’t wait til they start carrying Hellfire missiles. That will be a party.
Police employ Predator drone spy planes on home front (LA Times)
Dr Leo Strauss says
@Comment So unhinged it almost defies belief it actually happened.
Comment says
Lithgow hilarious on Colbert ‘performing’ Newt’s office press release
DrLeoStrauss says
@Comment Keller should’ve stopped when he felt like a pusher giving his daughter crystal meth and just mined that mental picture.
Comment says
@Dr Leo Strauss
That Walt article seemed about as current as Bill Keller weighing in with disapproval of Twitter the other day.
Dr Leo Strauss says
Stephen Walt and Greenwald in May 2011 together discover the linkage of a bloated Permanent National Security State nomenklatura, secrecy and foreign interventionism. Can’t make it up.
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/05/18/imperial_secrecy
Deedee Tennessee says
Bonjour, j’ai trouvé votre blog dans un nouveau répertoire de blogs. Je ne sais pas comment votre blog arriva, doit avoir été une faute de frappe, votre blog looks good. Have a nice day.
Jelly says
I am convinced that darkness rules the Universe. Simply because black holes are the most powerful forces in the Universe, sucking in light. So not even light can overcome a blackhole making darkness the ruler over everything.
Dr Leo Strauss says
ODNI Position Listed If you are interested (and in NO WAY is this any endorsement, comment or editorial of any kind and may not and should not be construed as such):
Agency: Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Job Announcement Number:
PF279
Chief, Policy
Salary Range: 115,317.00 – 149,000.00 USD per year
Open Period: Friday, August 22, 2008
to Friday, September 05, 2008
Series & Grade: GS-2210-15/15
Position Information: Full-Time Permanent
Duty Locations: 1 vacancy – Northern Virginia, VA
Who May Be Considered:
Applications will be accepted from United States citizens and nationals.
Job Summary:
**ODNI is currently updating performance management practices to design, develop and implement an effective pay-for-performance process. This process will reinforce and reward excellence and equity of performance. GS positions will convert to a band structure by October 2009, with a full transition by January 2011. **
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Office of the Chief Information Officer’s (CIO) mission is to improve the collective effectiveness and information sharing of intelligence organizations through strong leadership to best serve National Security. The ODNI CIO reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence and has four primary areas of responsibility:
Manage activities relating to the information technology (IT) infrastructure and enterprise architecture of the Intelligence Community (IC)
Exercise procurement approval authority over all IT items related to the enterprise architecture of all IC components
Direct and manage all IT-related procurement for the IC
Ensure all expenditures for IT and research and development activities are consistent with the IC enterprise architecture
In the role as the IC Information Sharing Executive, manage the IC’s move from ‘our historic ‘need to know’ culture to a ‘responsibility to provide’ mindset by developing information-sharing standards, eliminating outdated controls, and streamlining authorities to securely provide all levels of our government and international partners with useful, timely intelligence.’
Major Duties:
Major Duties and Responsibilities:
Institutionalize the ICIS Strategy by addressing systemic issues such as rules and guidelines, governance, and uniform policies and procedures.
Manage and coordinate the products and deliverables of the ICIS Policy team.
Coordinate IC and ODNI policy and positions through the ICIS Steering Committee and ODNI Points of Coordination.
Independently plan, design, prioritize, and manage the execution of the work to be done, assessing programmatic alternatives for attaining transformation goals.
Oversee relationships with IC and ODNI executives, providing timely, objective communication and outreach. Review work and interpret policies promulgated by seniors, determining their effect on program needs.
Manage appropriate working relationships in order to influence the direction and implementation of the ICIS Strategy.
Manage in-depth analyses and provide innovative approaches for enterprise integration across the organization, focusing on realistic and executable process changes the formulate industry-recognized national intelligence enterprise activity and advanced mission operations.
Foster understanding and coordination with ODNI functional partners, IC counterparts, executive agents, vendors, stakeholders, and customers in order to best promote the CIO mission, organization, capabilities, processes, and procedures.
Lead, manage, and direct a professional level staff, evaluate performance, collaborate on goal setting, and provide feedback and guidance regarding personal and professional development opportunities.
Government candidates will be considered for a reimbursable detail assignment. Written approval to accept a detail assignment must be obtained from the applicant’s parent organization prior to applying for a rotational position.
Qualifications:
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required:
Comprehensive knowledge of the structure and functions of the IC, particularly related to information sharing.
Strong program management, analytic, and critical thinking skills, including the ability to conduct program and management assessments, to identify needs and requirements, and to develop non-linear process improvement recommendations for implementation across the IC.
Demonstrated ability to identify and implement transformational information sharing opportunities and techniques incorporating a risk management process.
Excellent interpersonal skills to work effectively with peers and leadership from inside and outside the USG, to explain and advocate ODNI policy, and to communicate, coordinate, and develop a professional network across the IC.
Demonstrated ability to lead a team, to make timely and effective decisions, and to produce results through successful management of team resources.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens and able to obtain a Top Secret clearance. ODNI assignments require successful completion of a counterintelligence polygraph within the last seven years.
This assignment provides Joint Intelligence Community (IC) Duty credit in accordance with IC Directive 601. Service in more than one element of the IC is highly valued.
How You Will Be Evaluated:
You will be evaluated based upon the question responses you provide during a structured interview. In responding to structured interview questions you should be sure to site specific examples of experience, explain exactly what you did, and the outcome.
Benefits:
You may participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program, with costs shared with your employer. More info: http://www.usajobs.gov/jobextrainfo.asp#FEHB.
Life insurance coverage is provided. More info: http://www.usajobs.gov/jobextrainfo.asp#life
Long-Term Care Insurance is offered and carries into your retirement. More info: http://www.usajobs.gov/jobextrainfo.asp#ltci
New employees are automatically covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). If you are transferring from another agency and covered by CSRS, you may continue in this program. More info: http://www.usajobs.gov/jobextrainfo.asp#retr
You will earn annual vacation leave. More info: http://www.usajobs.gov/jobextrainfo.asp#VACA
You will earn sick leave. More info: http://www.usajobs.gov/jobextrainfo.asp#SKLV
You will be paid for federal holidays that fall within your regularly scheduled tour of duty. More info: http://www.usajobs.gov/jobextrainfo.asp#HOLI
Alternative work schedule options are available.
If you use public transportation, part of your transportation costs may be subsidized. Our human resources office can provide additional information on how this program is run.
Under a special program, we may reimburse a part of your Federally insured student loan. Our human resources office can provide additional information on the program.
You can use Health Care Flexible Spending Accounts for expenses that are tax-deductible, but not reimbursed by any other source, including out-of-pocket expenses and non-covered benefits under their FEHB plans. More Info: http://www.usajobs.gov/jobextrainfo.asp#FSA
Other Information:
This job is being filled by an alternative hiring process and is not in the competitive civil service.
You must submit all required information by the closing date. If materials are not received, your application will be evaluated solely on the information available and you may not receive full consideration or may not be considered eligible.
The materials you send with your application will not be returned.
Send only those materials needed to evaluate your application. Please do not place your application in a notebook or binder.
How To Apply:
You may submit your resume for this job online by selecting the ‘Apply Online’ button at the bottom of this announcement. Please note: your online resume may not be a complete application. Be sure to carefully read this announcement to see if additional information is required and how it should be submitted. If you do not use the online feature, you should send your resume, or Optional Form 612, along with any other required documents to the address shown below.
You must submit your application so that it will be received by the closing date of the announcement.
To apply online, read the announcement carefully and note any rating factors or KSAs that will need a response. From the announcement, select Apply on Line. You will need to log on to access your existing resumes or to create a new one and then submit it for consideration.
Submit a narrative statement responding to the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) identified in the announcement. This information will be used to determine your eligibility and/or rating and is required.
Contact Information:
Kiyana Montgomery
Phone: 703-275-3663
Email: recruitment@dni.gov
Or write:
Office of the Director of National Intelligence
ODNI/HR
200 MacDill Blvd
Washington, DC 20340
US
What To Expect Next:
Once your complete application is received we will conduct an evaluation of your qualifications and determine your ranking. The most highly qualified candidates will be referred to the hiring manager for further consideration and possible interview. We expect to make a selection within 45 days of the closing date of this announcement. You will be notified of the outcome.
The United States Government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, age, membership in an employee organization, or other non-merit factor.
Federal agencies must provide reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should contact the hiring agency directly. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Send Mail to:
Office of the Director of National Intelligence
ODNI/HR
200 MacDill Blvd
Washington, DC 20340
US
For questions about this job:
Kiyana Montgomery
Phone: 703-275-3663
Email: recruitment@dni.gov
Control Number: 1320937
Dr Leo Strauss says
re ODNI:
Inevitable if it was ever going to be more than a meaningless gesture.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/30/AR2008073002959.html?nav=rss_politics
Comment says
The Unitary types cannot resist calling SCOTUS the third branch – even though it implicitly makes the 2 in Seccond Branch seem more relevant – Inadvertantly, the Unitary Exec fetishists elevate Congress by reminding all it is the first branch. But they just do this to agonize themselves into a subconscious masochistic fury – IE – motivational trick.
Comment says
re Inslaw and PROMIS – Didn’t Rupert Maxwell have a backdoor microchip inserted into his left jowl that allowed third part accesss? Then when his Oral Surgeon went rogue, it was all over.
Anon says
It always amuses us when we see conservatives use this Welch to McCarthy quote – “no sense of decency.” Usually we see the ungainly and inelegant JPod use it in a failed attempt at co-option and irony. Now, the Colonel …
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2008/07/have-you-left-n.html
Dr Leo Strauss says
Definitely agree on both points. The War Powers Act always was more of a symbolic victory. At the time, not only a legal issue, but a massive psychological trauma to the then Unitary Executive acolytes. And for that, not a small achievement. The 1980 Intelligence Oversight Act was a concrete achievement, however, and would not in our opinion have seen the light of day without the political momentum of War Powers and FISA.
As you say though, lots of room for hanky panky. Thanks for sharing the Salon item. It was fun. The INSLAW stuff as ‘reported’ especially generated a weird wormhole into memory lane.
Comment says
Great stuff, Doc! We missed this when posted. The Salon missive seemed a bit weak when we read it – It repeated lots of stuff that was already out there in leakland. Some things seemed bogus – some real.
War Powers Act? Puhleeze – Weak stuff for Congress. Self-funding? There has been lots of shennangins rocking around that whole area.