WAR: CIA Officer: al-Qaida Efforts Still Lag, page 1

Mike Scheuer, who headed the CIA group on Osama Bin Laden, until 1999, is actively criticizing the governments efforts to hunt the terrorist down. The move is unusual because most government officials wait until they leave service before they voice critical opinions. Among the charges that he has levied include critical understaffing and bad decisions. Perhaps the most critical, the infighting that went on between services before 911, and may have contributed to the failures of that fateful day, continue to this day. Much of this is found in his new book "Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror." which was initially published under the name "Anonymous".

story.news.yahoo.com
WASHINGTON - A senior CIA (news - web sites) officer says bad decisions, understaffing and infighting among intelligence agencies stifled efforts to stop Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and his network. More than three years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the agency remains short-staffed, he says.

In an unusually critical campaign for a government employee, Mike Scheuer has spent much of the last three months publicly criticizing his agency. Most government officials wait until they retire, as former National Security Council aide Richard Clarke did.

In July, Scheuer, head of the CIA's bin Laden unit until 1999, published his best-selling book "Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror." Then, he was only identified as "Anonymous."

He has also gone as far as sending a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee critical of the performance of senior career civil servants. Of the problems he listed was a total lack of effort to gain expertise in al-Qaida by the Directorate of Operations Furthermore that the directorate was grossly understaffed. Last week, Scheuer sent the Senate Intelligence Committee a six-page letter accusing senior career civil servants of failing to ensure the "optimal performance" of the U.S. intelligence community and of missing opportunities to stop bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist group and prevent the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Scheuer lists 10 management and leadership problems in the letter, delivered just before the confirmation hearing of President Bush (news - web sites)'s nominee to run the CIA, Rep. Porter Goss (news, bio, voting record), R-Fla. A congressional source provided a copy to The Associated Press this week.

"There has been no systematic effort to groom al-Qaida expertise among Directorate of Operations officers since 11 September," Scheuer writes, referring to the CIA's most famous division, its clandestine service. "Today, the unit is greatly understaffed because of a 'hiring freeze' and the rotation of large numbers of officers in and out of the unit every 60 to 90 days."

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The CIA has declined comment on the charges he has levied. The Scheuer letter, also details extensive failures prior to 911. He discuses a 1996 CIA efforts to suppress reports that al-Qaida had unsuccessful tried to attain a nuclear weapon. The CIA eventually relented and circulated a toned down report to other agencies. Rep. Porter Goss, the nominee for CIA director has indicated in his confirmation hearing that he has come to some of the conclusions that Scheuer has regarding the number of staff the Directorate of Operations currently has.
[edit on 18-9-2004 by FredT]

[edit on 18-9-2004 by FredT]

[edit on 18-9-2004 by FredT]