FINALLY....Some BRAINS At The NSC!!!!

[Mr. Shaman]

"One of the puzzles of the Obama administration's first few months was how the National Security Council would work under Gen. James Jones. He had the tricky challenge of managing an all-star "team of rivals" and working with a young president who was just 6 when Jones went off to Vietnam in 1967 as a Marine Corps second lieutenant.

So far, the foreign policy process has generally been smooth, and one reason is that Jones has played a lower-profile role than some of his predecessors as national security adviser. That collegial style has helped avoid fireworks, but some analysts have wondered about Jones's own strategic views. Jones explained his outlook in an interview this week at the White House.

Jones's guiding philosophy, like Obama's, seems to be pragmatism. He wants to create what he calls a "21st-century NSC" that encompasses all the elements of national power and the diverse threats to American interests -- from energy to cyber-security to terrorism. In coordinating the big egos on the foreign policy team, he wants a collaborative process in which the national security adviser is a facilitator rather than an operator in his own right.

"I want to make sure the right people are at the table and that they're able to say what they want -- so that nobody walks away angry that their views weren't heard," Jones explains. "So far at the principals level it has been very collegial. Collegiality allows me not to have to be so much in the forefront." (Whew!! Consensus-Of-Opinion; how revolutionary!)

Jones is an activist on the Palestinian issue, which he lists as a top priority for the new administration. He wants the United States to offer a guiding hand in peace negotiations -- submitting its own ideas to help break any logjams between the Israelis and Palestinians. "The United States is at its best when it's directly involved," Jones says. He cites U.S. diplomatic efforts in the Balkans. "We didn't tell the parties to go off and work this out. If we want to get momentum, we have to be involved directly."

What comes across with Jones is a solid, experienced manager with a Marine's blunt approach to problems. Asked if he supported Obama's decision to release the torture memos, for example, Jones answered simply: "I did because I think it's the right thing to do. In my military experience, I came to believe that bad news doesn't improve with age. Better to put out bad news as you know it."​

Gee......whatta concept.....TRANSPARENT National Security!!

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[BigRob]

Gee......whatta concept.....TRANSPARENT National Security!!

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Transparent like refusing to release the other memos, and then having the President just throw out there that "maybe we could have gotten that information from other methods?" Is that the transparency you are talking about?

Clearly that statement acknowledged that the memos do exist that show good intel came from these methods. Why not release them and show the whole story? In the name of transparency of course.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Clearly that statement acknowledged that the memos do exist that show good intel came from these methods. Why not release them and show the whole story? In the name of transparency of course.

I guess we're gonna have to take The Dick's word, for it.

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"I ask Mueller: So far as he is aware, have any attacks on America been disrupted thanks to intelligence obtained through what the administration still calls "enhanced techniques"?

"I'm really reluctant to answer that," Mueller says. He pauses, looks at an aide, and then says quietly, declining to elaborate: "I don't believe that has been the case."​

 

[pocketfullofshells]

I still want to see the info on the la plot we got from a guy before we captured him....

 

[Mr. Shaman]

I still want to see the info on the la plot we got from a guy before we captured him....

There are varied-opinions on that.

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