Ray McGovern

Obama embarks on another march of folly, says Ray McGovern

On Tuesday morning Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair, employed the indicative mood in describing the high value that Chas Freeman, his appointee to head the National Intelligence Council (NIC), will bring to the job – "his long experience and inventive mind," for example.  By five o’clock in the afternoon, Freeman announced that he … Continue reading “Obama Caves to Israel Lobby”

"I am a creature of Congress," said Leon Panetta with a broad smile, which was returned by equally wide smiles from members of the Senate intelligence committee meeting yesterday to consider his nomination to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency. I really wish he hadn’t said that.  For that sobriquet fits the worst of … Continue reading “Panetta Too Deferential to Congress”

Editor’s note: On Jan. 26, 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark, former Danish military intelligence officer Frank Grevil was given the Sam Adams Award for integrity in intelligence. The following is an extended version of the introductory remarks by former CIA intelligence analyst Ray McGovern. Thank you, one and all, for coming this evening at such short … Continue reading “Frank Grevil: A Hero for Our Time”

Outgoing CIA Director Michael Hayden is going around town telling folks he has warned President-elect Barack Obama "personally and forcefully" that if Obama authorizes an investigation into controversial activities like waterboarding, "no one in Langley will ever take a risk again." Upon learning this from what we former intelligence officers used to call an "A-1 … Continue reading “What’s CIA Director Hayden Hidin’?”

At long last. Change we can believe in. In choosing Leon Panetta to take charge of the CIA, President-elect Barak Obama has shown he is determined to put an abrupt end to the lawlessness and deceit with which the administration of George W. Bush has corrupted intelligence operations and analysis. First and foremost, the appointment … Continue reading “Obama Picks a Conscience for the CIA”

You’ve got to hand it to them. Torture aficionados at the White House and CIA have conned key congressional leaders into insisting not only that torture-lite would be a swell idea, but advocating that the overseers of torture be kept on. From change-you-can-believe-in, we seem to be slipping back to fear-you-can-trade-on. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, chair … Continue reading “Will Obama Buy Torture-Lite?”

"There is no right to due process for an alien who is not here," insisted the 44th Solicitor General of the United States, Gregory G. Garre, proudly representing the President of the United States, George W. Bush. Garre is a teacher of the law, you see, and was attempting to show a three-judge panel of … Continue reading “Kafka and Uighurs at Guantánamo”

Editor’s Note: An underlying factor in the national security crises confronting the United States has been the corruption of the US. intelligence process, with analyses tailored to fit the desires of the policymakers and with laws bent to permit torture and other abuses. In this guest essay, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern reflects on what … Continue reading “Seeking Integrity at the CIA”

It may become a biennial ritual. Every two years, if the commander in chief (or the commander in chief-elect) says he wants to throw more troops into an unwinnable war for no clear reason other than his political advantage, panderer in chief Robert Gates will shout "Outstanding!" Never mind what the commanders in the field … Continue reading “Robert Gates’ Urge to Surge”