I am late in submitting a comment about the 3 part report by Washington Post Reporters, Dana Priest and William Arkin on the extraordinary growth of the Intelligence Community( IC ) following the 9/11terrorist attacks. I initially hesitated in writing because I thought that some IC expatriate would come forward and state the very real fact that several of the 3 letter members of the IC did initially do what they are sworn and paid to do, but for a unbelievable lack of moral integrity and acts of gross dereliction of duty , the biggest “what if” “in American history since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is left unexamined for reasons known only to our policy makers. If every IC member involved In this “what If” had done the “right thing” and passed critical information to each other, and even to their own organization, Priest and Arkin would have had no reason to spend 2 years investigating the bloated growth of the IC because it wouldn’t have occurred ,thousands of people would be alive today, and two wars would have been averted. But for certain members of the CIA, NSA, and the FBI ,who lacking the moral and ethical fiber to rise above their ludicrous and deadly turf wars and blind allegiance to the “law” , and see that their duty to protest the American public is the sole reason for the existence of their respective institutions, 9/11 would not have happened. And this is not hind sight speculation on my part.

As shown in Lawrence Wright’s book , The Looming Tower and the NOVA PBS documentary that aired February 2nd 2009, specific members of the NSA, the CIA, and the FBI knew that 2 Saudi men ( Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi ) who would eventually help in slamming a jet liner onto the Pentagon ,were in the United States and had recently attended a “terrorist “summit” in Malaysia. Nothing was done to track these men. The burning question is why? I won’t spoil the plot for those readers who may be unaware of the fact that FBI operatives knew they were in the country because the CIA told them they were, but forbade them, yes forbade them. from telling FBI Headquarters and thus precluding an investigation. Why two gun carrying FBI agents would listen to a CIA spook is lost on me. The NOVA documentary answers this question. The senior FBI Agent who listened to the order and participated in the documentary is a brave soul whose public anguish about his lack of doing what I consider the “right thing” in notifying his superiors is obvious. But mea culpas no matter how heart felt unfortunately don’t undo history. He is not alone , but other IC members were just as guilty in following the unwritten IC rule that you are more likely to get in trouble sharing information as opposed to not sharing. One hopes this attitude is changing, or history may repeat itself.

Congress should have given the IC not a boat load of money, but injected into its members, ( and I apologize to the female members of the IC ) , a shot of human growth hormone to grow a pair you know what. Plus , inculcated the lesson that occasionally you have to risk to do you your job. Sometimes the job isn’t worth your soul.

Initiative is the enemy of all bureaucracies. It undermines the authority of the management caste. It disturbs the equality of mediocrity that the bureaucracies enforce in their drones.

The chain of command won’t work to change an organization. The workers are not stupid. They know that the head of an organization changes a lot and the jerk that they work for, will still be there.

Talent is at the core of processing intelligence. Intelligence is a craft and an art. In times past craftsman would form guilds. The guilds maintained the secrets of their art and passed it on.

A person who shows initiative, results, and integrity could be given the permission by the head of the intelligence organization to join the organizations guild. The guild would also have the ability to accept, reject, or suggest a candidate. The primary role for the guild is to defend the independence and integrity of the organization. Further this power must be protected by law. The guild may give a second opinion or bring this matter directly to the attention of the public. Without this power, they are ineffectual. Some would argue that having them report to a congressional or senate committee would work better. All such mechanisms have shown themselves to be spineless and dependent on which way the political winds are blowing.

Darth Loki a former apprentice

http://www.strike-the-root.com/72/allport/allport11.html

Although, there is another book recently released by the same people of the 9/11 commission report (if memory serves correctly) that claims the evidence given to the commission was not the complete picture and other documents pertaining to reports (NYC police receiving calls about three middle eastern men celebrating next to a white van with what appeared to be an elaborate bomb within) from police were not provided to help assist in gaining a complete profile of the events of that day and that other material has surfaced to provide a better understanding of those events.

But, more importantly, why is it when someone asks about 9/11, and the events surrounding it, are they treated as conspiracy theorists?

The article is about myths about the CIA and intel community, not 9/11 per se. So who’s jerking what here?

But that’s not why I want to comment. Mr. Goodman, I must say: dude! you just blew my mind. I love your use of mythology as an heuristic. I’ll be citing the shite out of this, thanks.

You’ve made my day.