Another Old Bosnia Hand Joins Bush Intel

I shouldn't find this surprising after George W. Bush named Michael Hayden as CIA director, but the administration has tapped yet another old Bosnia hand for to lead the entire intelligence apparatus of the United States -- retired Vice Adm. Michael McConnell. According to AP:

McConnell was tapped to lead U.S. eavesdropping efforts as director of the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996. Aid suggested his record there was mixed. McConnell allowed Congress and the White House to slash NSA funding after the Cold War at a time when Aid said the government should instead have been ramping up for challenges posed by cell phones, the Internet and fiber optic cable.

Yet, on McConnell's watch, the agency also became central to providing intelligence on the war in Bosnia, shipments of weapons-grade technology to Iraq and other tough national security issues of that era.

I am not sure why one would cite intelligence service in Bosnia in the "pro" column, since the U.S. was essentially in league with al Qaeda during that conflict. On McConnell and Hayden's watch, the Clinton Administration allowed arms and money to reach the the Bosnian network that was being used in terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Military trainers sponsored by the U.S. Special Forces -- and in some cases still employed by them -- traveled to Bosnia in trips coordinated by known terrorists to teach and observe at al Qaeda-linked training camps.

The failures of Bosnia are among the most grevious in U.S. intelligence history. Yet McConnell and Hayden are now on the front lines of the War on Terror -- not to mention some U.S. military officers -- now near the top of the heirarchy -- who are arguably even more culpable for the Bosnia debacle.

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Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink