U.S. Senate Punishes Pakistan With 1.48 % Cut In Aid

To be precise, it was 1.48141498 percent. How do you like that, Pakistan? Payback's a bitch.

Senate panel cuts Pakistan's aid in response to doctor's conviction:

Senate appropriators unanimously voted Thursday to cut Pakistani aid by $33 million, or $1 million for every year a Pakistani doctor will spend in prison for helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden.

While the cut represents a small fraction of U.S. aid to Pakistan, the 30-0 vote in favor of the amendment from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) highlights the tension between the two countries sparked by Wednesday's sentencing in Pakistan of Shakil Afridi on treason charges by a tribal court.

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The cut represents about 4 percent of the $800 million set aside for Pakistan next fiscal year, including $250 million in foreign military aid and another $50 million for Pakistan's counterinsurgency efforts. The original $800 million was already far below the $2.3 billion the Obama administration is requesting for Pakistan.

The $800 million referred to in the article is evidently the Overseas Contingency Operations portion of the total foreign assistance request for Pakistan. Another $1.5 billion or so in annual nonmilitary aid regularly goes to Pakistan under the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009.

See this Congressional Research Service report for lots and lots of details.

So, how much assistance are we giving to Pakistan this year? According to ForeignAssistance.gov, the FY-13 request is $2,227,600,000 in total. Minus that big 33 mil, of course.

Divide the Senate's $33 million penalty by the total of 2 billion 227 million the administration is requesting, and you get 0.014 percent. Or, approximately, a senator's lunch money. If the Pakistani big-shots even notice that bite, I'd be surprised.

Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back, Lindsey.

CIA Identifies, Memorializes, Fallen Covert Officers

As ABC News reported yesterday:

The CIA has revealed the identities of 15 of its fallen officers, some of whose secret ties to the spy agency are being made public for the first time in almost three decades.

Engraved on a memorial wall at the CIA's headquarters building in Northern Virginia are 103 stars, each representing a CIA officer who perished in the line of duty since the agency's founding in 1947. For some, the star is all recognition they have - many names have still not been made public out of concern for secret operations.

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Some of the individuals whose service as CIA officers was publicly confirmed today have been the object of speculation in the past as having worked for the spy agency.

For example, Matthew K. Gannon died in the 1998 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Officially listed as a Foreign Service Officer for the State Department, Gannon's links to the CIA appeared in press reports at the time of the crash. However, the agency never officially confirmed that he was a CIA officer until this week.

I have more about the Pan Am 103 bombing, Matthew Gannon, and Diplomatic Security here.

The Congressional Record of March 14, 1989, included the eulogy delivered at Gannon's funeral by Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security Robert Lamb. It begins:

"For the 1,400 men and women of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, this is a day of sadness and of irony. The Bureau was born out of our nation's commitment to protect all of the people who would do our nation's work abroad. It is a world in which DS has made a difference. It touches us deeply, therefore, to gather here today to mourn the lives of young men who dedicated their lives to protecting others."

Requiescat in pace.

FBI = Foggy 'Bout Intelligence

FBI Deputy Director Mark Felt, the future Deep Throat, demonstrates "the FBI Crouch" (1958)

In the May 13 edition of Politico, Ambassador Henry A. Crumpton, formerly the Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the State Department and a senior official of the CIA's Clandestine Service, asks the question - can the FBI understand intelligence?

He gives ten reasons why the answer is "no."

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI, the world’s leading law enforcement agency, has labored to transform itself into an intelligence organization — while preserving its policing pre-eminence. This challenge has proved difficult.

There are major cultural and structural differences between law enforcement and intelligence. I saw how different when I was a senior CIA officer on loan to the FBI, as the deputy chief of the International Terrorism Operations Section from 1998 to 1999. I retired from government service — but recent conversations with knowledgeable government officials suggest that this remains true today.

Here are 10 key differences, as noted in my new book, “The Art of Intelligence.”

#1 - "The FBI valued oral communications as much as or more than written ... It harbored a reluctance to write anything that could be deemed discoverable by any future defense counsel ... Its agents were not selected or trained to write."

#2 - "The second major difference between the FBI and CIA was their information systems. The FBI did not have one — at least one that functioned."

#3 - "The third difference was size ... The FBI’s New York field office had more agents than the CIA had operations officers around the world."

#4 - "A fourth difference was the importance of sources. While both the FBI and the CIA placed a premium on a good source, the FBI did not actively pursue them beyond the context of an investigation."

#5 - "A fifth difference was money ... [The FBI's] process to authorize the payment of an informant or just to travel was laborious ... As a CIA officer, however, I routinely carried several thousand dollars in cash ... When I told FBI agents this, they seemed doubtful that such behavior was even legal.

#6 - "Sixth, the FBI harbored a sense that because it worked under the Justice Department, it had more legal authority than the CIA. Some, after a few drinks, expressed moral objections to the CIA’s covert actions."

#7 - "Seventh, the FBI loved the press and worked hard to curry favor with it. For the CIA’s Clandestine Service, the media was taboo ... A CIA operations officer avoided the press like the plague ... For the FBI, it was the opposite."

#8 - "Eighth, the FBI collected evidence for its own use, to prosecute a criminal ... The FBI, therefore, lacked a culture of customer service beyond the Justice Department."

#9 - "Ninth, the FBI’s field offices, especially New York, acted as their own centers of authority, even holding evidence, because of their link to the local prosecutor ... The CIA station instead had to report intelligence to Langley, because the incentive came from there and beyond — particularly the White House.

#10 - Tenth, the FBI worked Congress. Every FBI field office had representatives dedicated to supporting congressional delegates ... But the CIA, particularly the Clandestine Service, had minimal leverage with Congress. Most CIA officers engaged Congress only when required to testify.

Apologies All Around At Secret Service Oversight Hearing

Thou hast committed fornication,
But that was in another country, 
And besides, the wench is dead.      

- The Jew of Malta (Christopher Marlowe) 


Forgive and forget. That seemed to be the theme at today's Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing with Secret Service Director Sullivan.

Committee Chairman Lieberman sounded apologetic (I know, something about Lieberman's voice makes him always sound apologetic, but today he really meant it) for even coming close to suggesting that there is a systemic problem with either agent misbehavior or Service management. Senator Susan Collins was not convinced by Sullivan's contention that Cartagena was an isolated episode, but she certainly wasn't going to go overboard and call for him to step down or anything. Just forgive and forget.

Sullivan gave his self-exoneration, the senators fretted a bit - Lieberman less and some junior members more - everyone praised Secret Service agents in general and Sullivan in particular, and then the Committee adjourned.   



From the WaPo (here):

Mark Sullivan, who has enjoyed strong bipartisan congressional support in the weeks since the scandal, told a Senate panel that “I am deeply disappointed, and I apologize for the misconduct of these employees and the distraction that it has caused.” Putting it more bluntly later, Sullivan said the employees involved “did some really dumb things.”

But under questioning, Sullivan refused to submit that the mid-April incident is part of a broader agency culture that condones heavy drinking, partying and sex during the off-hours of security assignments. He also dismissed as “absurd” reports by The Washington Post that tolerance for inappropriate conduct is part of a culture that some employees call the “Secret Circus.”

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Despite the skepticism [of the purportedly isolated nature of the Cartagena incident], Lieberman, Collins and other senators said Sullivan should remain as director.

Not much to see today.

Private Ryan Isn't Buried Here

A Washington tour bus operator tells all in an essay in the City Paper. Some highlights:

I once encountered a woman who, accompanied by her veteran father, screamed at me that there was no place for her to park at the World War II Memorial. I wasn’t unsympathetic. But I did wish she understood that just because I was wearing a nametag and a polyester necktie didn’t mean I was an authority figure.

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I would try to explain that of course I understood that your dad once parked the Country Squire right on the Ellipse and that no one stopped you from strolling into the Capitol to eat navy bean soup with Everett Dirksen. But, you see, people have lately been blowing up buildings. Some perspective is in order.

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My riders from beyond the Beltway regularly expressed amazement at the joggers around the Mall. A woman once asked me, in all seriousness, “What are they running from?”

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[R]eally, you don’t need to explain to me why you’re skipping the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial: You’re saving your energy for the trip to Hooters. I get it.

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[M]any people are under the impression that, like the pyramids, the presidential memorials are elaborate grave markers for our elected pharaohs.

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And I can’t tell you how many times I was asked for directions to the Arlington Cemetery grave of Private James Ryan.

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My company was particularly concerned with not giving offense. During training, I was instructed not to mention stripper Fanne Foxe’s late-night Tidal Basin dip. 

That last one surprises me. Who would be offended by - or even remember anymore - how "the most powerful man in Washington" was brought down by an Argentinian stripper's midnight swim? Plus, it was the most entertaining Washington scandal ever. Whenever I play tour guide to visiting relatives I always point out that spot.

Cartagena Investigation Spreads To DEA

The news media is reporting tonight that two DEA agents assigned to Cartagena are under investigation for allegedly hiring Colombian prostitutes. Unlike in the Secret Service incident, these agents were resident in Cartagena. Also unlike in the earlier incident, they kept their indiscretions indoors and in private. Most interestingly, DEA was reportedly informed of this matter by the Secret Service. Huh ...

Washington (CNN) -- Three Drug Enforcement Administration agents are under investigation for allegedly hiring prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia, a congressional source confirms to CNN.

According to this source, House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King, R-New York, and committee investigators have been "aware of this for some time."

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[Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) of the Senate Homeland Security Committee] released a statement today later Monday, saying, "It's disturbing that we may be uncovering a troubling culture that spans more than one law enforcement agency.

"In addition to the Secret Service scandal, we now learn that at least two DEA agents apparently entertained female foreign national masseuses in the Cartagena apartment of one of the agents. The evidence uncovered thus far indicates that this likely was not just a one-time incident," Collins added in her statement.

DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said the matter has been turned over to the Justice Department inspector general.

"The Drug Enforcement Administration was provided information from the Secret Service unrelated to the Cartagena hotel Secret Service incident, which DEA immediately followed up on, making DEA employees available to be interviewed by the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General. DEA takes allegations of misconduct very seriously and will take appropriate personnel action, if warranted, upon the conclusion of the OIG investigation," Payne said.

The DEA was provided this information by the Secret Service? It isn't clear how the Secret Service was in a position to know about the call-in masseuse appointments of DEA agents in Cartagena, but I assume the information came from Secret Service contacts with either the DEA agents themselves or the masseuses. (Masseuses, escorts ... I guess no commercial sex worker in Cartagena calls herself a prostitute.)

The Secret Service Director is scheduled to testify before Congress on Wednesday, and that might possibly have some bearing on the timing of this leak to CNN by a congressional source.

For the Drug Enforcement Administration, this might not have a happy ending.

Obama In History, Part I

President Zelig (center), with his colleagues Coolidge and Hoover

This is just sad. Some White House worker bees have been inserting Obama mentions into the biographical sketches of previous presidents (here) on the Whitehouse.gov website.

Obama's reach is so sweeping, evidently, that he is completing the work of his predecessors going all the way back to the 1920s. Kind of a presidential cleanup hitter, bringing in all the runs that those weaker batters couldn't. Forget Julius Caesar, it's Obama who doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus.

On the entry for every President going back to Coolidge, except for Ford, there is now a Did you know? addendum that asserts:

President [whichever] began the [insert some impressive-sounding program here]. Today, President Obama continues to [do that stuff] in his historic [insert some administration goal or objective here].

My favorite Twitter parody so far is this one: