August 13, 2004 -- Volume 2, Number 9

The Blog About It

Langley for Asa? - Which CAPPS When? –  & More Bloggery

By
Robert Green

Senior Editor
 

Count us in the plus column if the rumors are true and Asa Hutchinson is on the president’s list of possible new CIA directors. The current under secretary for Border and Transportation is a reliably cool customer under fire and “under fire” is where DCI’s tend to live.

But even before the findings were delivered to your nearest bookstore, DHS Secretary  Tom Ridge conceded the new, improved CAPPS II plan was heading for the same scrap heap DOD’s Terrorism Information Awareness plan ended up in, the one being built by privacy and civil liberties advocates. Ridge played realpolitik and sent CAPPS II back to the drawing board for a re- remakeover, if you will.

The constant drumbeat of a political force that believes their library withdrawal records are more sacred than your life is becoming deafening where homeland interests are concerned. The ever-present, and perfectly valid, Security vs. Privacy debate needs more security advocacy than it is getting from industry or government. Next time someone lays the old Ben Franklin pop standard on you,* you might reply with one from Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion:

“While it is good that there be a world full of peace, fraternity, justice and honesty, it is even more important that we be in it,” Ben-Gurion said.

Speaking of Israel, the stream of American state and municipal police chiefs to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for info sharing and best practices sessions has been steady-to-raging since 2002. Most American PD types are fairly mum about the specific tips they are getting from their Israeli counterparts, op sec being the order of the day.

However, we do know that a recurrent tip being sent from the tiny democracy’s law enforcement community back to the Big Democracy is this: extend your security perimeter further out, further out, further out. More levels, more depth. And, we heard, security for the recent Democratic National Convention adopted this mantra.

 Stat you can use: The FBI had 34 joint counter-terrorism task forces in operation prior to 9/11. Today, it has 84.

Metaphor we like: FBI official Steven Chabinsky, of the Office of the General Counsel, took note that such task forces are comprised of a multiplicity of what might sometimes be competing interests—feds, states, locals, cops, prosecutors, technologists, forensics types and other specialists.

“It’s like an all-star game, where people who are accustomed to competing against each other come together and find out how remarkably good they are when they play as a team.”

The blame for the 1998 African embassy attacks is often laid squarely on Tenet’s CIA by those who trade in blame rather than anything as painful as for-real analysis. But the over-arching al Qaeda plan involved similar attacks on 12 more embassies after Kenya and Tanzania. For each of those planned events, it is generally understood that Osama bin Laden had assembled dedicated cells. Further, it is understood that the CIA played a fairly key role in preventing the subsequent attacks.

Anyone who runs the Langley spy shop must reach peaceful accord with himself up front regarding the fact that his or her successes will never be known or counted. What a yummy job that is.

Franklin purportedly once said: “Trade a little freedom for a little security and you will soon have neither.” Civil liberties advocates have worn the needle out playing this one.

Robert Green can be reached at RobertGreen@PubSector.com.