Yeah - but how're his taxes?
spooky
An independent inspector general [Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s inspector general, Edward McGuire] will look into the foreign financial ties of Chas W. Freeman Jr., the Obama administration’s pick to serve as chairman of ...the National Intelligence Council, known inside the government as the NIC. In that job, Mr. Freeman will have access to some of America’s most closely guarded secrets and be charged with overseeing the drafting of the consensus view of all 16 intelligence agencies.
...Mr. Freeman has not submitted the financial disclosure forms required of all candidates for senior public positions… Nor did Mr. Blair seek the White House’s approval before he announced the appointment of Mr. Freeman…
Among the areas likely to be scrutinized in the vetting process are Mr. Freeman’s position on the international advisory board of the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC). The Chinese government and other state-owned companies own a majority stake in the concern, which has invested in Sudan and other countries sometimes at odds with the United States, including Iran.
..."CNOOC is among those companies that appears to be capitalizing on the U.S.-led effort to isolate Iran economically, particularly in the energy sector,” said Roger Robinson, the president and chief executive officer of Conflict Securities Advisory Group,...
Mr. Freeman is also president of the nonprofit educational organization Middle East Policy Council (MEPC), which paid him $87,000 in 2006, and received at least $1 million from a Saudi prince. He also has chaired Projects International, a consulting firm that has worked with foreign companies and governments.
Fritz W. Ermarth, who served as chairman of the NIC between 1988 and 1993, said, “Mr. Freeman’s political and business associations will be or should be vetted and then reviewed in a polygraph examination for potential hazards to security.”
He said the “political correctness” of Mr. Freeman’s past associations “will not be and should not be at issue from a security point of view. But they are legitimate issues for argument and discussion from a political point of view, where the question is not just the orientation of Mr. Freeman, but the orientation of the administration.”
... “What concerns me more is what he has said and written. What matters here is his judgment and that seems to be the point that everyone is skating away from,” [Herb Meyer, a deputy chairman of the NIC during the Reagan administration] said. “Can you imagine if I had stood up and explained away Tiananmen Square? He does not have the intellectual fire power to sort through the intelligence and reach a plausible conclusion.”
Mr. Meyer was referring to a 2006 e-mail attributed to Mr. Freeman saying China was justified in cracking down on students protesting at Tiananmen Square and should have acted sooner to suppress the civil disobedience. ...described Tibetan protests last year as a “race riot.”
...Other China analysts praised Mr. Freeman, who is said to speak Mandarin Chinese better than almost anyone else in the Foreign Service and who interpreted for President Nixon on his groundbreaking trip to China in 1972.
“Other China analysts praised Mr Freeman, who is said to be able to speak Mandarin Chinese better then ...”
Beware the interpreter. He can tell them what they want to hear, and tell you what you want to hear. And often, what he wants everybody to hear.
Posted by ZZMike on 03/05/09 at 01:23 PM
Next entry: A Call
Previous entry: Grifter in Chief
