Ray McGovern

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. In the Sixties he served as an infantry/intelligence officer and then became a CIA analyst for the next 27 years. He is on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

US Intelligence Thwarted Attack on Iran

Why should George W. Bush have been “angry” to learn in late 2007 of the “high-confidence” unanimous judgment of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran had stopped working on a nuclear weapon four years earlier? Seems to me he might have said “Hot Dog!” rather than curse under his breath. Nowhere in his memoir, … Continue reading “US Intelligence Thwarted Attack on Iran”

Bush Boasts About Waterboarding

Former President George W. Bush continues to be beyond shame. Those favored with an advance copy of his memoir, Decision Points, say it paints a picture of a totally unapologetic Bush bragging, for example, about authorizing the CIA to waterboard 9/11 “mastermind” Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. According to newspaper accounts of the memoir, Bush says he … Continue reading “Bush Boasts About Waterboarding”

An Award for WikiLeaks

You are not likely to learn this from the “mainstream media,” but WikiLeaks and its leader Julian Assange have received the 2010 Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (SAAII) award for their resourcefulness in making available secret U.S. military documents on the Iraq and Afghan wars. If the WikiLeaks documents get the attention they … Continue reading “An Award for WikiLeaks”

Obama-Men: Innocents Abroad; Politicos at Home

Paging through Bob Woodward’s Obama’s Wars, I should not have been surprised that the index lacks any entry for "intelligence." The excerpts that dribbled out earlier this week had made unavoidably clear that there was, in fact, no entry for intelligence in the disorderly process last fall that got the Obama administration neck-deep in the … Continue reading “Obama-Men: Innocents Abroad; Politicos at Home”

Obama Knows the War is Dumb, but Prefers Power Over Peace

One thing that comes through clearly in Bob Woodward’s new book, Obama’s Wars, is the contempt felt by Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, toward President Barack Obama. One of Woodward’s more telling vignettes has Petraeus, after quaffing a glass of wine during a flight in May, telling some of his … Continue reading “Obama Knows the War is Dumb, but Prefers Power Over Peace”

What Obama Should Have Said About Afghanistan

My Fellow Americans, … so much for Iraq. Turning now to Afghanistan, let me be clear. My learning curve has been steep, as the New York Times noted last weekend. The curve has also been jagged as I have tried to assimilate the not-always-consistent advice the four-star generals have given me. It’s been more than … Continue reading “What Obama Should Have Said About Afghanistan”

Hawks Box in Obama on Afghan War

Just back from Afghanistan, Marine Commandant, Gen. James Conway held a news conference to add his voice to the Pentagon campaign to disparage the July 2011 date President Barack Obama set for U.S. troops to begin leaving Afghanistan. On Tuesday, Conway claimed that intelligence intercepts suggest that this deadline has strengthened the conviction of those … Continue reading “Hawks Box in Obama on Afghan War”