Ray McGovern

My longtime colleague at CIA, Mel Goodman, has written an instructive article about our decades-ago co-worker Robert Gates, whom Mel labels the “Poster Child for Bureaucratic Deceit.” Sadly, I can vouch for the correctness of Mel’s findings. Gates’s case is emblematic of how it is that ambitious, brown-nose functionaries (as well as rising four-stars) can … Continue reading “Robert Gates and Those ‘Transfer Cases’”

In a posting earlier today I alluded to the fact that the National Intelligence Estimate process seems to have fallen into a state of complete disrepair – or, at least, disuse. I can speak from personal experience with NIEs and what happens when their judgments are not welcome and/or not even asked for. Westmoreland Rules … Continue reading “Generals End-Run Around Civilian Intel Analysts”

If, after the horrors of this week in Afghanistan, the 4-Starry-eyed generals responsible for this 20-year March of Folly are not held accountable, there will be still worse to come. None were held accountable for the disasters of Vietnam or Iraq, and now the allegedly smart 4-Star Generals and Admirals are – get this – … Continue reading “Hold the Generals Accountable This Time”

Yesterday on The Critical Hour, in connection with the flurry of commentary on the latest anti-Russian piece from The Guardian, I explained in some detail how Special Council Robert Mueller helped the Democrats win back the House in 2018. There were other factors in play, of course, but in retrospect, Mueller’s performance was highly instructive. … Continue reading “Love Triangle Exposed: Democrats-Mueller-NY Times“

The UK Guardian, and particularly Luke Harding, lead author of Thursday’s Kremlin papers appear to show Putin’s plot to put Trump in the White House, are heaping still more discredit on what was once a respectable newspaper. This long story (long in both senses of the word) regurgitates "what are assessed to be leaked Kremlin … Continue reading “The Guardian: Regurgitating the Russia-Gate Canard”

Veteran journalist and specialist on Russia, John Helmer, reports that the trial in the Netherlands of three Russians and one Ukrainian accused in the July 17, 2014 downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, killing 298, has called into serious question evidence of Russian involvement. Sad to say, the evidence the U.S. earlier claimed to have … Continue reading “Blaming Russia for MH17 Shoot-Down: A Bum Rap?”

Buffeted on all sides, from the unceremonious (literally) departure from Afghanistan to various cyber crimes blamed on Russia, President Biden is being challenged by the likes of the New York Times’s David Sanger to show he has cojones (free translation from Spanish – manliness). ( See: Biden Weighs a Response to Ransomware Attacks. Will Biden … Continue reading “A Cyber-Culprit Other Than Russia?”

Very bad news for those who still care about freedom of the press and what the fate of Julian Assange means for the artifact-First Amendment added to the U.S. Constitution 240 years ago. The UK High Court just announced it will hear the US appeal of a lower court decision against extraditing Julian Assange. Godot … Continue reading “Assange To Be ‘Moved Around’ Sine Die“

If Wednesday morning’s passive-voice ("Russian hackers are accused of"), evidence-free New York Times article titled "Attempted Hack of R.N.C. and Russian Ransomware Attack Test Biden" has a familiar ring, look who wrote it. The senior author is David Sanger, the NYT’s chief Washington correspondent. Based on Sanger’s unenviable record, the story he wrote with Nicole … Continue reading “New York Times Pushing the Envelope on Russia”

President Joe Biden’s words about China at the Geneva summit shows him to be woefully misinformed about the "world correlation of forces" (to borrow from an old Soviet term). He appears to be stuck in a decades-old paradigm of Sino-Russian hostility, which President Richard Nixon was able to leverage into key arms control agreements with … Continue reading “Please! Someone Set Biden Straight on China ‘Squeezing’ Russia”