The neoconservative Republican Jewish Coalition is attacking Chuck Hagel, a realist and a former Republican senator, whom Obama has appointed to his national Intelligence Advisory Board, as insufficiently obedient to Israel. A couple points worth registering:
–Hagel spoke to great cheers last night at the J Street conference.
–Today’s RJC attack on Hagel quotes its Democratic counterpart in this way: "When Hagel was reported to be considering a bid for President in 2008, the National Jewish Democratic Council noted that Hagel ‘has a lot of questions to answer about his commitment to Israel.’"
But in attendance at J Street last night was a representative of the National Jewish Democratic Council, Aaron Keyak. I didn’t hear him questioning Hagel’s bona fides. Just goes to show that the weather in Washington is changing.
Was this the same board that Chas Freeman got kicked off of?
No. Mr. Freeman was subverted from becoming Chair of the National Intelligence Council (NIC), which among other things serves as a fusion center collating intelligence from the various agencies for preparation of National Intelligence Estimates. These are sort of the ‘latest last word’ on whatever topic they cover, and are supposed to include any dissenting opinions.
Neocon intervention led to the quashing and neglection of dissenting opinions several times during the Bush administration, leaving a false impression of unanimity among the intelligence community on crucial matters such as whether Saddam was pursuing nuclear weapons. An honest and loyal man in charge would be dangerous because he might actually send a true best estimate with all its inevitable uncertainties on to the President, and war for Israel might become less likely.
The President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB) appears to be a varied collection of (unpaid?) people who are supposed to directly advise the President. I think their role changes from President to President. My impression is that they are supposed to provide ‘out of intelligence community’ reality checks to guard against institutional bias such as groupthink, and to serve as troubleshooters who operate outside of the intelligence community bureaucracy.
Phil wrote:
” Just goes to show that the weather in Washington is changing.”
Well, perhaps in the tiny column of atmosphere extending above the hotel where the J-Street conference was held. Hard to tell elsewhere in D.C. however, and in particular the weather over 1600 Pennsylvania.
From link to haaretz.com
“U.S. President Barack Obama has videotaped a message to be shown Saturday night at the annual memorial ceremony for Yitzhak Rabin in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv….
This is another step in Obama’s attempt to speak directly to the Israeli public in light of the very low level of support he has among the Israeli public….
Obama’s advisers are worried about his lack of popularity and the expressed feeling that he is hostile to Israel. They believe this seriously harms his ability to advance the peace process with the Palestinians….
Meanwhile, the U.S. administration has started to increase the number of messages it is sending to the Israeli public on the peace process. For example, Obama published a New Year’s greeting to the Jewish people for Rosh Hashanah, in which he spoke at length about his aspirations to advance the peace process. In addition, he sent a video recording to the President’s Conference in Jerusalem, reiterating his commitment to Israel’s security ….”
On the other hand there’s no one I’d rather be with in the outdoors than Phil’s type: Regardless of their accuracy the eternal pessimists about the weather are a drag making you wonder why they even bother being out.