President Bush on Monday generally endorsed the two main recommendations of the 9/11 commission, saying he would support creation of a potentially powerful post, national intelligence director, and the establishment of a counterterrorism center to coordinate intelligence analysis and efforts to thwart attacks.
The four-star general, who in addition to the NSA heads the Central Security Service and US Cyber Command, was responding to mounting concern over alleged civil rights violations by post 9/11 intelligence gathering networks.
Mr. Bush was apparently incensed over a report last week in The Washington Post that intelligence officials had told lawmakers at a classified briefing that there was a "100percentt" likelihood of new terrorist attacks.
It has also revitalized consulates in four of Afghanistan's major cities -- Herat, Jalalabad, Mazar-i-Sharif and Kandahar -- fueling Pakistani fears of encirclement by hostile neighbors and suspicions that India is using Afghanistan as a listening post for intelligence gathering.
Last month it created a new post of intelligence co-ordinator for Venezuela and Cuba a recognition that Mr Chávez's close alliance with the ailing Fidel Castro is an obstacle to American hopes of a democratic transition in Cuba.Venezuela has turned elsewhere for arms.
But in conversations with The Huffington Post, former intelligence officials and terrorism experts cautioned that "defeat" -- at least in the context of traditional military engagement -- was wishful thinking.
The post-9/11 intelligence apparatus must be maintained to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.
(No kidding: post-encounter intelligence reveals that in the early nineties he played with Nirvana and Soundgarden).
Donald Trump, Jr., might have finally felt that the clerks in some post-Soviet intelligence shop were working for him, the customer.
"The best post-facto intelligence we had was that bin Laden had left the training camp within an hour of the attack," Clarke said.
The prosecution countered that Manning had been thoroughly trained to recognise that posting any intelligence on the internet would make it accessible to enemy groups, particularly al-Qaida and its affiliated networks.
