Spy Blog from the International Spy Museum

SPY’s Book Specialist, Matt Arnold

Today,  May 6th, Richard Clarke will be speaking  at the International Spy Museum for one of our free noon lunchtime author debriefings and book signing.    From 1992 to 2003, Clarke held several positions within the National Security Council as National Coordinator and Chair for issues dealing with security, infrastructure protection, and most importantly counter-terrorism.  Effectively, he was our counter-terrorism czar.  From this position, he became one the strongest voices arguing in favor of more effective measures against Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda.  He favored the use of Predator drone strikes to take out Bin Laden and submarine cruise missiles strikes to destroy training camps in Afghanistan.  Unfortunately, it took 9/11 before many of these ideas were effectively tried and/or accomplished. In 2003, he would leave government and come to widespread recognition a year later with the release of his memoirs detailing these events and his experiences.  He believed strongly that the public had a right to know what happened on 9/11. 

Now, with his new book  Clarke brings to our attention a new threat to our national security, Cyber War.  Cyber-security was one of the last policy issues he dealt with under the last Bush administration. Unfortunately, the same lack of interest in Al Qaeda that  plagued the days leading up to 9/11, plagued his final days in government dealing with cyber-security.   The Bush Administration seemed content to let the private sector protect the taxpayer as long as the government could protect itself.  That all started to change when the Chinese successfully hacked the Pentagon in June of 2007 along with several other significant cyber-attacks attacks in Germany and Britain.  The margin of error was shrinking. 

Last September, the International Spy Museum launched a new exhibit dealing precisely with many of the issues portrayed in his new book.   This exhibit, called Weapons of Mass Disruption, presents the threat we faced from cyber-terrorists and the significant number of other countries that have developed cyber-warfare capabilities.  According to Clarke, our capabilities as a nation toward cyberwarfare are considerable and probably the best in the world despite.  But, what about our cybersecurity?  You may be prepared to live a week without the Spy Blog, but how about a week without electricity? Given that Richard Clarke has debriefed four presidents,  we should probably all be listening to what he has to say.

To learn more check our Richard Clarke’s book: Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do About It

With over 30 years in the CIA, SpyGuy answers some frequently asked questions about current issues in the SPY world.

SpyGuy’s Q & A

Q. You were an Intelligence operative for over 30 years; don’t you think Obama is throwing in the towel on the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT)?  In March this year, the Pentagon even stopped using the words, “the GWOT” but instead began referring to an “Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO).”   We hear the same from DHS Secretary Napolitano, State Secretary Clinton, and other Administration mouthpieces. 

Reply:  Words make a difference.  Look at the wrangling over our goal in Afghanistan.  Are we trying to “win” or “succeed?”  They’re not the same.  Using one instead of the other is critical to rallying the government and the country around a common goal.  Too, the “GWOT” raised Osama’s band of murderous fanatics to world stature instead of labeling them more precisely as a small gang of extremists operating on the fringe of one of the world’s great religions.  

Q.  Will ratcheting down our goals then enable Obama to change course away from the previous vigorous campaign against al-Qaeda?

 Reply:  It sure doesn’t sound like it. His advisor on terrorism John Brennan spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on 6 August, saying that the President wants to focus on the real adversaries, al-Qaeda and its allies, and not just on “terror” which is simply a term describing a tactic, not an adversary. 

Q.  Okay, but do you really think this Administration is going to go after Al Qaeda as vigorously as Bush did?   Obama seems to be just running around talking to everyone with no action.

Reply:  Brennan was emphatic:  “Obama will not tolerate Afghanistan or any other country being a base for terrorists determined to kill Americans.”  Al Qaeda, Brennan said, is the most serious threat we face as a nation and Obama has….a clear policy – “to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaeda and its allies.”  He said Obama has approved operations against al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups and encouraged his counterterrorism forces to be more aggressive, more proactive and more innovative….to seek out new ways and new opportunities to take down the terrorists.   Now, that’s more than just running around.  Those words would leave no doubt in my mind as an Intelligence professional about the President’s mandate. 

Q.  Why are you people in Intelligence so hung up on wordsmithing and definitions?  Can’t you just go out and do your jobs?

Reply:  Because knowing what the Chief Executive wants is our job.  We’ve learned the hard way that Intelligence gathering and covert action are nearly worthless unless they’re in response to policymakers’ needs and in sync with the country’s foreign policy.