'Intelligence' team returns to failed polices of the past

LA Times:

With the introduction of President-elect Barack Obama's intelligence team on Friday, the United States is poised to enter what might be considered the second phase in the counter-terrorism campaign launched after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Obama and his spy chief nominees have promised a dramatic break with the policies of the Bush administration, largely by focusing attention on what they intend to undo -- including shutting down the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison complex and ending the CIA's use of "enhanced" interrogation techniques.

But the incoming administration has been less clear about what it will erect to replace those programs, which drew condemnation from much of the world but often were cited by Bush administration officials as key to keeping the country safe.

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At the same time, current and former U.S. intelligence officials said there were other components of the Bush administration's counter-terrorism apparatus that the Obama team might find difficult to dismantle, if not enthusiastically embrace.

Among them are overseas prison facilities that are operated by the CIA -- and currently not accessible to Red Cross monitors -- as well as the use of unmanned Predator drones to fire missiles at suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban compounds in Pakistan, strikes that often cause civilian casualties.

Obama appeared to leave little wiggle room in his remarks Friday. The president-elect pledged that his administration would "adhere to our values as vigilantly as we protect our safety, with no exceptions."

But Obama specifically mentioned only the CIA's interrogation program, without addressing other pieces of the U.S. intelligence arsenal that may be more difficult to set aside.

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Democrats will pursue policies that will make us more vulnerable than we have been since 9-11. They will put concerns about the discomfort of the enemy ahead of protecting Americans. By doing so they will return us to the strategic defensive in the war against the Islamic religious bigots. A terrorist rights agenda will not make us safer.