"Spy Chief Nominee Faces Ethical Thicket" (Guardian)

[bobthedrummer]

by Ted Bridis AP

President Bush's top choice for the nation's next spy chief would give up his $2 million-a-year job at one of Washington's premier consulting firms for a position that provides him with considerable influence over lucrative secret government contracts.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6382747,00.html

on edit:fair use cited

[bobthedrummer]

1. McConnell has many critics-and if he would become the second DNI

it would complete the Pentagon's takeover of the national security community.

McConnell is all about information warfare (which sometimes involves harm or death to the humans as well as the networks) and has close ties to Cheney.

He also has friends like Senator Arlen Specter who had a tribute to McConnell placed in the Congressional Record in late 1996 when he "retired"
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1996_cr/s960229a.htm

Some criticism and history links.

from Dahr Jamail
"Managing Escalation: Negroponte and Bush's New Iraq Team"
http://peaceandjustice.org/article.php?story=20070108100158423

from Wayne Madsen
"The Neocon Power Grab at NSA and an Attempt to Stifle the Press"
http://cryptome.org/nsa-stifle.htm

fair use cited

[ShockediSay]

2. Sounds like govt contracting cronies (a la Haliburton) to me nt

[bobthedrummer]

3. Much of McConnell's real expertise is in "information warfare" and C3IW.

Here's a discussion from a year ago for background on what that includes.

"Reality vs. Perception Management: The Tinfoil Controversy" started 1-6-06
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x71919

[Judi Lynn]

4. Senate committee recommends McConnell as spy chief

Senate committee recommends McConnell as spy chief

Feb 6, 2007 — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate panel on Tuesday endorsed the nomination of retired Navy Adm. Mike McConnell as President George W. Bush's top intelligence adviser.

The unanimous vote by the 15-member Senate Select Committee on Intelligence sends McConnell's candidacy to be the second U.S. director of national intelligence to the full Senate for consideration.

Lawmakers are expected to approve the nomination by a wide margin in a vote that could come within days.

If confirmed, he would succeed John Negroponte to run the 16-agency espionage community as U.S. intelligence chief, a job created by post-September 11 reforms. Negroponte has been nominated by Bush to serve as deputy secretary of state.
(snip/...)

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2854584

[bobthedrummer]

5. And so it goes...I listened to it...

:banghead: :puke: :argh: :nuke: