 America needs a streamlined intelligence bureaucracy. What we’re getting from the president, argues 9/11 Commission member John Lehman, is a lot of legalisms and political correctness. Nothing could illustrate more clearly the impotence of our counterterrorism policy than the Pentagon report on why Army Major Nidal Hasan murdered 13 of his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood.
It was issued quietly last Friday, only to be buried on Page 10 of Saturday’s New York Times, and illustrates the deadly fusion of mindless bureaucracy with obsessive political correctness. The report tells us of a bureaucratic system in which the Muslim major was continually promoted “…despite concerns from his superiors.” While Islamism is hardly mentioned, a full chapter is devoted to the psychological stress that afflicts all Army doctors.
We are told by the secretary of Defense that a major cause was that the military is burdened by “…attitudes mostly rooted in the Cold War.” We are told by the co-author of the report that the problem is not rooted in Islam. “Suppose it were fundamentalist Christian-inspired… Our concern is not with religion.” Oh, I see; we must be equally vigilant for Mennonite jihad. Any intelligence bureaucrat rash enough to act on experience and insight will soon find their careers going nowhere, dismissed as a “cowboy.” Just as with the undie bomber, there was ample intelligence about Major Hasan’s terrorist sympathies in the bureaucracy. But bureaucracy is about process not outcome, and here process was adhered to and, as before, the system did indeed work; but the 13 patients died. So, nothing here to look at, move along. To deal with the crippling problem of bureaucratic bloat in intelligence, the 9/11 Commission on which I served urgently recommended the creation of a Director of National Intelligence with power to break up the bureaucratic layers and stovepipes and radically reduce the bloat by controlling the budgets, hiring and firing, and personnel policies of the entire intelligence community.
Congress agreed and created the post, but it is deeply upsetting that both Bush and Obama have ignored the intent of the commission. First, Bush created yet another vast new bureaucracy in the DNI, and now Obama will not give his DNI power over budgets or people across the agencies. He is just one more voice. Mindless bureaucracy and irrational political correctness did not of course arrive in Washington with Obama. What he added to this devil’s brew was an obsession with legalism and law enforcement. As explained by the administration in congressional testimony in December, it is now official Obama policy that for information in the intelligence bureaucracy to be acted on (for instance, putting someone on a watch list because of a warning from that person’s father that he might be a terrorist, say, or proposing that a Muslim officer’s jihadist sympathies should be considered by Army promotion boards), such information first must meet the legal evidentiary standard set in the Supreme Court case Terry v. Ohio. To wit: “Reasonable suspicion requires ‘articulable’ facts which… warrant a determination that an individual is… or has been engaged in … terrorist activities.” Thus any intelligence bureaucrat rash enough to act on experience and insight will soon find their careers going nowhere, dismissed as a “cowboy.” And if there comes yet another terrorist attack? Well, rest assured that the entire government will be focused on forensics—“we will bring these criminals to justice”—and making sure the terrorists are given the full rights of U.S. citizens so that the Muslim world and al Qaeda will be impressed by our fairness.
Oh, and be sure to remind them that we are pressing ahead with our top priority of prosecuting the CIA interrogators of Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, and court-martialing the three Navy SEALs who punched the murderer of four Americans in Iraq. John Lehman was secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration and a member of the 9/11 Commission. Daily Beast 
 The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps now controls the navy’s war-time operations. This follows the IRGC’s takeover of most of the duties of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security. The IRGC is essentially taking over every part of the Iranian government, which increases the regime’s overall extremism but also shows how insecure the regime feels about the competency and loyalty of its military and security forces.
 Why wouldn't the Post-American President allow this? After all, he already plans to try the CIA members who interrogated jihadis at Gitmo, and Navy Seals who captured a top jihadist. Why should he have any problem with this? "Prosecuting American 'War Crimes': The International Criminal Court claims jurisdiction over U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan," by Daniel Schwammenthal in the Wall Street Journal, November 26 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed "great regret" in August that the U.S. is not a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC). This has fueled speculation that the Obama administration may reverse another Bush policy and sign up for what could lead to the trial of Americans for war crimes in The Hague. The ICC's chief prosecutor, though, has no intention of waiting for Washington to submit to the court's authority. Luis Moreno Ocampo says he already has jurisdiction--at least with respect to Afghanistan. Because Kabul in 2003 ratified the Rome Statute--the ICC's founding treaty--all soldiers on Afghan territory, even those from nontreaty countries, fall under the ICC's oversight, Mr. Ocampo told me. And the chief prosecutor says he is already conducting a "preliminary examination" into whether NATO troops, including American soldiers, fighting the Taliban may have to be put in the dock. "We have to check if crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide have been committed in Afghanistan," Mr. Ocampo told me. "There are serious allegations against the Taliban and al Qaeda and serious allegations about warlords, even against some who are connected with members of the government." Taking up his inquiry of Allied soldiers, he added, "there are different reports about problems with bombings and there are also allegations about torture." It was clear who the targets of these particular inquiries are but the chief prosecutor shied away from spelling it out. Asked repeatedly whether the examination of bombings and torture allegations refers to NATO and U.S. soldiers, Mr. Ocampo finally stated that "we are investigating whoever commits war crimes, including the group you mentioned." The fact that he avoided a straightforward "I am looking into possible war crimes committed by American soldiers" showed that Mr. Ocampo is aware of the enormity of crossing this legal and political bridge. Appointed in 2003 for a nine-year period, the 57-year-old Argentinian has--so far--established a record of cautious jurisprudence.... With thanks to JihadWatch
 Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama for the second time in seven months on Wednesday, but guards on board the U.S.-flagged cargo ship repelled the takeover attempt, the EU's naval force said. Pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama last April and took ship captain Richard Phillips hostage, holding him at gunpoint in a lifeboat for five days. Navy SEAL sharpshooters freed Phillips while killing three pirates in a daring nighttime attack. Somali pirates attacked the ship with automatic weapons early Wednesday about 350 nautical miles east of the Somali coast, but guards on board the craft fired back and thwarted the attempted hijacking. Cmdr. John Harbour, a spokesman for the EU Naval Force, called it ''pure chance'' that the Maersk Alabama had been targeted a second time. ''It's not the first vessel to have been attacked twice, and it's a chance that every single ship takes as it passes through the area,'' Harbour said. ''At least this time they had a vessel protection detachment on board who were able to repel the attack.'' An EU patrol aircraft from the Horn of Africa nation Djibouti was called in to investigate, and the closest EU Naval Force vessel was tasked with searching for the pirate attack group, the EU Naval Force said in a statement. Phillips' ordeal last spring galvanized the attention of the U.S. public to the dangers of operating merchant ships in the Horn of Africa, one of the busiest and most precarious sea lanes in the world. Pirates have greatly increased their attacks in recent weeks after seasonal rains subsided. On Monday, a self-proclaimed pirate said that Somali hijackers had been paid $3.3 million for the release of 36 crew members from a Spanish vessel held for more than six weeks -- a clear demonstration of how lucrative the trade can be for impoverished Somalis. Phillips told The Associated Press last month from his farmhouse in Vermont that he was contemplating retiring from sea life after his ordeal. He's been given a book deal and a movie could be in the works. Phillips was hailed as a hero for helping his crew thwart April's hijacking before he was taken hostage, but he says he never volunteered, as crew members and his family reported at the time. NYTimes
 From correspondents in Jerusalem | December 30, 2008
THE Israeli navy has reportedly rammed a boat that was trying to deliver medical supplies to the Gaza Strip.
No one was injured in the collision between the patrol boat and the 20-metre Dignity, which was trying to take three tonnes of medical supplies into Gaza on day four of Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian territory.
Israeli army radio said the boat — operated by the pro-Palestinian Free Gaza Movement — ignored both orders to turn around and warning shots across its bow before it was rammed.
The Free Gaza Movement, which has ran the blockade six times since August to take humanitarian supplies into Gaza, said the vessel could still sail after the ramming.
Paul Laurdee, one of the group's founders, said the Dignity had been "surrounded" in international waters about 70km off the Israeli coast and 135km from Gaza.
"It was surrounded by 11 Israeli naval vessels," he said.
"They ordered the boat to stop, and we didn't. They began firing over our boat and into the waters next to the boat. When the boat wouldn't turn back, one of the naval vessels rammed the boat, but not enough to disable the boat."
On its website, the Free Gaza Movement said the Dignity was on a "mission of mercy" carrying three tonnes of medical supplies "donated by the people of Cyprus," from where it set off on Monday.
"Our people are communicating with the Israelis as to what's next," Mr Laurdee said.
"We will try to dock in Egypt or in Lebanon, or all the way back to Cyprus. But there is doubt about fuel on board and whether they can make it all the way back to Cyprus as normally we refuel in Gaza." Source: The Australian
 By Caroline Alexander and Marianne Stigset | Nov. 21
Saudi Arabia said it will join a fleet of NATO warships on an anti-piracy mission, as hijackers bolstered defenses around an oil-laden Saudi tanker captured off the East African coast.
The kingdom will contribute "naval assets to help in pursuing piracy in the region, and this is the only way this can be dealt with," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters in Oslo today after meeting with his Norwegian counterpart, Jonas Gahr Stoere. "Negotiations and ransoms only encourage piracy and are not a solution."
Al-Faisal didn't provide details of the Saudi contribution to the forces in the Gulf of Aden, flanked by Somalia and Yemen and leading to the Suez Canal, where at least 91 merchant vessels have been attacked since January. The Saudi ship is being held for a ransom of $25 million.
In Harardhare, a town in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region close to where the ship is anchored, pirates are bringing in extra fighters to strengthen security, Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade, senior adviser to Puntland President Adde Muse, said in an interview yesterday.
The Sirius Star, which belongs to Saudi Arabia's state-owned shipping line, Vela International Marine Ltd., along with its crew of 25 was seized on Nov. 15 about 420 nautical miles (833 kilometers) off Somalia. It is carrying more than 2 million barrels of crude valued at about $110 million. The ship itself is worth about $148 million new.
The Saudi foreign minister confirmed two days ago that Vela was in talks with the pirates; Vela has declined to comment. A man who identified himself as Abdi Salan, a member of the hijacking gang, said in a telephone interview yesterday that the ship's owners must pay up "soon." He didn't say what would happen if they didn't.
Military Role
Predicting the outcome of the negotiations, or how much the pirates may receive in the end, is difficult, said Andreas Sohmen-Pao, chief executive officer of BW Shipping Managers Pte, one of the world's largest shipping operators.
"These negotiations tend to take place in private," he said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television. "This is an opening negotiation and no one knows where it will end up."
The only long-term solution is for navies to step up their efforts to protect merchant ships, Sohmen-Pao said.
"Merchant ships are not designed or equipped to fend off pirates," he said. And the alternative of taking the longer route around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope "is complicated."
The ransom may be the highest sum demanded by pirates from war-torn Somalia, which hasn't had an effective government since the 1991 fall of the Siad Barre regime. They have asked for an average of $1 million per ship this year, according to the London-based research organization Chatham House.
NATO Warships
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has four warships off Somalia. India, Malaysia and Russia have sent warships, and a European Union fleet is expected to reach the zone next month. The U.S. coalition in Afghanistan has a task force there, bringing the total of warships in the area to 15, according to French military spokesman Christophe Prazuck. The area is almost twice the size of Alaska.
The seizure of the oil tanker may push Western navies to step up their actions against hijackers, who find potential targets with Global Positioning System navigational aids and satellite phones and use captured fishing trawlers to launch attacks out at sea, according to an October report by Chatham House.
NATO is considering changes to its operations in the area, even if it isn't immediately planning to send more ships, Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, chairman of the alliance's military committee, said at a news conference in Brussels this week.
German Parliamentary Vote
Germany's parliament will vote this month or next on whether to join the EU fleet and Russia is likely to add to its one ship in the area, the Neustrashimy, or Intrepid, a navy spokesman said.
The navies of India, Russia, France, Britain and Germany have all battled pirate vessels in the past 12 days alone.
Military action is "the only solution," Jens Martin Jensen, interim chief executive officer of Frontline Ltd.'s management unit, the world's biggest owner of supertankers, said in a telephone interview. He called for navies to be given a clearer mandate "of what they can do and what they can't."
Jean Ping, chairman of the African Union Commission, said yesterday that piracy off the coast of Somalia indicated a further deterioration in the country's political situation.
UN Force
He called in an e-mailed statement for "more sustained and coordinated efforts by the international community to support the peace efforts in Somalia, including the early deployment of United Nations peacekeeping forces."
The Sirius Star's crew includes citizens of Croatia, the U.K., the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia. Its hijacking, from boarding to the pirates' taking control, took just 16 minutes, Agence France-Presse said yesterday, citing U.K. reports.
The military reports said the tanker was too large and too laden to outmaneuver pirate speedboats, and was poorly defended, according to AFP.
It was the most brazen assault yet in the region, as it was the largest vessel seized worldwide and was the farthest from the coast when attacked. Source: Bloomberg
Months after the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors docked in Yemen, a battle group led by the USS Constellation prepared to sail for the Persian Gulf. The U.S. was saber rattling. Retaliation against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Al Qaeda for the Cole attack was anticipated. Unbeknownst to Navy leadership, a signalman on the destroyer Benfold was in direct communication at the time with a British-based publishing house openly supporting the Taliban and jihadi movements. He ordered graphic videos of Chechen rebels attacking and killing Russian soldiers. Read more ...Source: IPT News
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