The following quoted material is a post by UPI intelligence corespondent Richard Sale on Ret. Colonel W. Patrick Lang's Sic Semper Tyrannis blog. Sale does not reveal any of his sources, so there are questions about its accuracy. This is some of the only speculation I've seen about the Negroponte move, and it seems to be getting attention from a number of intelligence focused blogs, such as ex-CIA analyst Larry Johnson's No Quarter. This post by Larry Johnson about the changes in the intelligence community leadership is also recommended reading. The general theme I've seen in all this commentary is that the intelligence community leadership is taking a firm swing in the direction of being under the DoD. Throughout all of it, there is a negative view of the Bush Administration's leadership choices, with all fingers pointing at Dick Cheney. The speculation is that the Bush Administration wants the intelligence community to produce the information it wants, rather than what it feels is correct, a la the pre-Iraq war intelligence. This isn't the least bit shocking. Talk about weaknesses within the State Department pertaining to understanding of the Middle East has been abound for quite some time now. If nothing else, the Negroponte move is addressing those concerns. My gut feeling is that there is a big piece of the picture missing, and sometime this week an interesting angle to this story will emerge. Maybe someone will go on the record with some details about the alleged domestic spying spat... (Update: It might be easier to connect the dots than I thought. Let's hope the Senate does so during confirmation hearings.) Contrary to the bland stories in The New York Times and Washington Post of Friday, Negroponte did not go voluntarily to State from his job as director of intelligence. In fact, there was tremendous administration pressure to get him out of his current job. The chief cause of the quarrel involved Negroponte's balking at at request from Vice President Cheney to increase domestic collection by the National Security Agency on U.S. citizens. Negroponte flatly refused, Cheney bridled, and from then on the pressure built to get rid of him. (The White House did not return phone calls, but there is nothing new is that.) The Bush people, chiefly Cheney and the president, were already annoyed by the fact that the Negroponte group has been busy producing drafts of reports that predict utter disaster in Iraq and which are utterly opposed to any increase of troops. Cheney and Bush both flared in wrath over this. Of course, intelligence is simply evaluated information. Its purpose is to help inform decisions by policymakers, as Pat as so often pointed out. But this this administration perceives objectivity as a inadequate commitment or as an absence of complete loyalty. The new national director of intelligence Adm. "Mike" McMConnell, has my sources at NSA tearing their hair out. In the view of some very sharp analysts there he was "among the worst directors this agency ever had," in the words of one. But the rift over increased domestic surveillance was the real reason Negroponte was forced out. I am frankly shocked by seasoned reporters at the NYT who would swallow statements such as Negroponte was never comfortable being a spy and therefore wanted to return to being a diplomat. That is like the Steeler's coach saying he is resigning to spend more time with his family. Rice, of course, has been looking for a deputy since last June when Zoellick resigned to go to Goldman Sachs. She first asked for Nick Burns, a very canny and experienced guy and that request was squashed by Cheney. Burns will resign, I'm told. She asked for Phil Zoellick who is her special advisor and that went nowhere. She finally negotiated with Bush first and then Cheney and got approval for Negroponte. She can use his expertise on the Middle East. One further note. Regarding Cheney's recent trip to Saudi Arabia. Cheney went there to get the Wahabis to start ratcheting up actions against the Hizbullah in Lebanon and elsewhere in the region. Saudi relations with Syria have cooled dramatically since the Hariri murder. As senior CIA officials told me in 2001, Hariri was a Saudi agent for a long time. But one former CIA official told me that Saudi police the other day arrested a man because he put up Nasrallah's picture up on his wall. What CIA officials I talked to see is a major shift in the terrain -- a growing region-wide alliance between the Sunnis that will act as a counter to the growing power of the Shia thanks to the mindless U.S. backing of them Iraq. My sources on this are excellent -- 8.5s out of 10s.
Sic Semper Tyrannis 2007: Sale on Negroponte Move | 
