Analysis: Blair Never Received White House Support

The White House never gave Adm. Dennis Blair the support a director of national intelligence really needs. The office doesn't have full budget and targeting authority, so it needs legitimacy, and that's something only the full faith and credit of the president can provide.

Blair just didn't get the politics of the job well. Early last year, he didn't know that his choice of Chas Freeman to head the National Intelligence Council would be controversial. The NIC produces formal analysis and estimates for policy makers. Blair didn't want a "yes man" in the job. Freeman, to him, was the most brilliant, most unorthodox thinker he knew, someone who would challenge his assumptions. Blair thought the guy who would write the National Intelligence Estimates should be a rigorous critical thinker. But Freeman is an opponent of the standard US policy towards Israel and makes no bones about it. Too sensitive for the White House, and chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was furious.

His two other big mistakes:

1. The decision to try and force Leon Panetta to defer to him in appointing station chiefs. Arguably, this was a battle Blair should not have fought, but he had no political person to tell him that it was a bad idea.

2. The battles he fought with Panetta over covert action. Blair is not a fan of the aggressive Predator Drone program. But Panetta, John Brennan and the White House are.

Special Section: Terrorism in the U.S.
Special Report: The Christmas Day Terror Attack

His meta-mistake - not really a mistake, but a reality: Blair proved not to be a good player of institutional politics. And he got no back up from the White House at critical junctures.

The final straw was the Christmas day bombing attempt and Blair's public mistake about whether the HIG teams should have been deployed. They were not ready, of course, something he hadn't realized. He knew that he would probably have to resign after the Senate Intel Committee released his report.

Early Thursday, Blair was told to expect a call from President Barack Obama later in the day. The call came about a half hour before ABC's Jake Tapper broke the story - before Blair had a chance to send out a good bye letter to the staff.

Blair arrived at a DNI that had already calcified, institutionally, and lacking support and authority. It proved too difficult for him to break apart firewalls. He was particularly unable to make much progress standardizing Information Technology across the intelligence community, which is absolutely critical. One reason: many IT departments were funded by the DoD or by entities that Blair didn't control. CIOs of various agencies didn't have the same authorities, either.

It's expected that a good chunk of Blair's staff, and top-level DNI managers, will be asked to resign once Blair's replacement is named.

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The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder is CBS News' chief political consultant. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here. You can also follow him on Twitter.

[K. Daraa]

Where Mr. Blair made his mistake was that he thought that the administration and American people actually wanted a real leader to be the Director of National Intelligence, rather than just another politician playing at the politics of national security and intelligence. A good example of this might be Senator Diane Feinstein, who is a leftist, ultra-liberal politician playing at Chair of the "Senate" Intelligence Committee. I put quotes around the word "senate" because to combine it with the word "intelligence" is an oxymoron.

Mr. Blair also had serious misgivings about the ethics and legality of the US administration authorizing use of UAV's to assassinate people in allied countries (Pakistan ... Saudi Arabia ... Yemen) without their government's permission, and without any due process, regardless of the collateral damage to nearby innocent lives and property. His questioned the ethics of assassinating American citizens abroad, committing treason by aiding and abetting terrorists...without due process of law.

Also, Mr. Blair was blamed for intelligence failures of the "Crotch Bomber" affair. Frankly, nothing can be done about that. You can't get blood from a turnip, nor an accurate, prioritized, threat analysis, from disjointed, disparate, non-specific pieces of raw data. No silver bullet program exists to do that. Thomas Edison said it best: "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, accordingly a 'genius' is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework." Often, the one analyst, who is willing to "...do all the homework" is re-directed to produce a powerpoint presentation for someone like Diane, rather than mitigate that terror threat to the American people.

So, rather than get rid of someone like Diane, I think the Obama administration eliminated a person like Mr. Blair, who wasn't an Obama "yes man". I think our nation lost a wise, and talented intelligent leader. Goodbye, Mr. Blair. Your country salutes you, and your government shafts you.

[fxr60]

Obama used this man and then "threw him under the bus" just like he does anyone that doesn't agree with him. We can do the same in the fall and 2012 with this socialist adminstration !!!!

[Cuda-Driver]

The director of national intelligence job is about intelligence not politics. Its the Presidents job to react on that intelligence. According to this article Adm. Dennis Blair: director of national intelligence, resigned because he didn't do/know his job properly. John Michael McConnell, director of national intelligence under Bush. In the months before the Sept. 11 attacks, federal aviation officials reviewed dozens of intelligence reports that warned about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, some of which specifically discussed airline hijackings and suicide operations, according to a previously undisclosed report from the 9/11 commission. The CIA had warned Bush personally of Osama Bin Laden's intent to use hijacked planes as missiles. That followed the damaging exposure by The Associated Press's John Solomon of a pre-9/11 FBI memo from an officer in Phoenix warning of suspicious Middle Eastern men training at flight schools a warning that went unheeded." Among other things, the report says that leaders of the F.A.A. received 52 intelligence reports from their security branch that mentioned Mr. bin Laden or Al Qaeda. The Bush administration has blocked the public release of the full, classified version of the report for more than five months.

[pragmatist1]

National Intelligence is about the people and protecting them and not about politics. Once again we see the naivete in this president insulting himself from reality and arrogantly thumbing his nose at the country. Look at the types this president has surrounded himself with - all political buddies who are also insulted. What kind of answer do you want Mr. President? Tell us and we'll make it happen. So much for the mentality of this administration.

[TheresaAB]

"Once again we see the naivete in this president insulting himself from reality and arrogantly thumbing his nose at the country. Look at the types this president has surrounded himself with - all political buddies who are also insulted."

I am quite certain that President Obama does not "insult" himself. And his "political buddies" do not appear to be "insulted" either.

[TheresaAB]

"Once again we see the naivete in this president insulting himself from reality and arrogantly thumbing his nose at the country. Look at the types this president has surrounded himself with - all political buddies who are also insulted."

I am quite certain that President Obama does not "insult" himself. And his "political buddies" do not appear to be "insulted" either.

[tsigili]

The job is totally about politics.....not intelligence.

[sjc_1]

The job is to watch all groups, but he does NOT run ANY of them. Someone should have pointed this out before he took the job.

[Amazingoly]

More to walk the plank soon? Janet, Eric, Gibbs.

[skeezix06]

Probable translation of Blair never received White House support = Rahm didn't like him.

[kaycay1]

The Obama Administration is just one big disorganized mess and Blair's exit underscores it. Eric Holder should be the next to go.

[RobAla]

Panetta is a smart man, but he knew nothing of national security. Blair understood national security, but doesn't have a political head. It is no wonder that there were conflicts. The real problem was that the President appointed Panetta (a reasonable person, but had no security knowledge or experience) to the position. The buck stops with the President on this.

[formrusmcsgt]

by high_energy_laser May 21, 2010 6:48 AM EDT
wdh3007

As ex US Navy myself, it is you "formrusmcsgt" that is the lazy traitor...
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Real brave hiding behind your keyboard, aren't you squid?