[Peace-discuss] 'Centrist' on torture

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Intelligence Policy to Stay Largely Intact
	By SIOBHAN GORMAN
	Wall Street Journal
	November 11, 2008

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Barack Obama is unlikely to radically overhaul 
controversial Bush administration intelligence policies, advisers say, an 
approach that is almost certain to create tension within the Democratic Party.

Civil-liberties groups were among those outraged that the White House sanctioned 
the use of harsh intelligence techniques -- which some consider torture -- by 
the Central Intelligence Agency, and expanded domestic spy powers. These groups 
are demanding quick action to reverse these policies.

Mr. Obama is being advised largely by a group of intelligence professionals, 
including some who have supported Republicans, and centrist former officials in 
the Clinton administration. They say he is likely to fill key intelligence posts 
with pragmatists.

"He's going to take a very centrist approach to these issues," said Roger 
Cressey, a former counterterrorism official in the Clinton and Bush 
administrations. "Whenever an administration swings too far on the spectrum left 
or right, we end up getting ourselves in big trouble."

On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama criticized many of President George W. Bush's 
counterterrorism policies. He condemned Mr. Bush for promoting "excessive 
secrecy, indefinite detention, warrantless wiretapping and 'enhanced 
interrogation techniques' like simulated drowning that qualify as torture 
through any careful measure of the law or appeal to human decency."

As a candidate, Mr. Obama said the CIA's interrogation program should adhere to 
the same rules that apply to the military, which would prohibit the use of 
techniques such as waterboarding. He has also said the program should be 
investigated.

Yet he more recently voted for a White House-backed law to expand eavesdropping 
powers for the National Security Agency. Mr. Obama said he opposed providing 
legal immunity to telecommunications companies that aided warrantless 
surveillance, but ultimately voted for the bill, which included an immunity 
provision.

The new president could take a similar approach to revising the rules for CIA 
interrogations, said one current government official familiar with the 
transition. Upon review, Mr. Obama may decide he wants to keep the road open in 
certain cases for the CIA to use techniques not approved by the military, but 
with much greater oversight.

The intelligence-transition team is led by former National Counterterrorism 
Center chief John Brennan and former CIA intelligence-analysis director Jami 
Miscik, say officials close to the matter. Mr. Brennan is viewed as a potential 
candidate for a top intelligence post. Ms. Miscik left amid a slew of departures 
from the CIA under then-Director Porter Goss.

Advisers caution that few decisions will be made until the team gets a better 
picture of how the Bush administration actually goes about gathering 
intelligence, including covert programs, and there could be a greater shift 
after a full review.

The Obama team plans to review secret and public executive orders and recent 
Justice Department guidelines that eased restrictions on domestic intelligence 
collection. "They'll be looking at existing executive orders, then making sure 
from Jan. 20 on there's going to be appropriate executive-branch oversight of 
intelligence functions," Mr. Brennan said in an interview shortly before 
Election Day.

The early transition effort is winning praise from moderate Democrats. "He's 
surrounded himself with excellent people -- an excellent bipartisan group," said 
Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat who is chairwoman of the House 
homeland-security subcommittee on intelligence.

Civil-liberties and human-rights advocates, who helped Mr. Obama win election, 
are seeking both a reversal of Bush administration policies and expanded 
investigations into possible illegal actions when the administration sought to 
track down terrorists after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"We need to understand what happened," said Caroline Fredrickson, director of 
the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington office.

Most of those being discussed as candidates for director of national 
intelligence and director of the CIA have staked out a middle ground between 
safeguarding civil liberties and aggressively pursuing nontraditional adversaries.

Mr. Brennan is a leading contender for one of the two jobs, say some advisers. 
He declined to comment on personnel matters. Gen. James L. Jones, a former North 
Atlantic Treaty Organization commander; Thomas Fingar, the chief of analysis for 
the intelligence director; Joan A. Dempsey, who served in top intelligence and 
Pentagon posts; former Rep. Tim Roemer of Indiana, who served on the 9/11 
Commission; and Ms. Harman have also been mentioned. Ms. Harman has also been 
cited as a potential secretary of homeland security.

"I'm very flattered that some folks somewhere think I would be qualified for a 
number of positions," she said. "But I'm also looking forward to an eighth term 
in Congress working on many of these issues."

None of the others could be reached for comment.

Another option for Mr. Obama would be to retain current intelligence Director 
Mike McConnell, who has said he would stay on for a reasonable time until a 
successor is named. CIA Director Michael V. Hayden also is open to considering 
an extension of his time in office, according to a senior intelligence official.

However, Mr. Obama voted against Mr. Hayden's nomination as CIA director to 
signal his frustration with the administration's warrantless-surveillance 
program, which Mr. Hayden helped launch as National Security Agency director.

Write to Siobhan Gorman at siobhan.gorman at wsj.com