Obama's Dangerous Appointment To The National Intelligence Council

By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Good column by Rich Lowry on the execrable Chas Freeman appointment to be chairman of the National Intelligence Council. Lowry aptly notes, "Freeman was ambassador to Saudi Arabia, the most lucrative diplomatic posting in the world because the ambassadors usually end up in the employ of the Saudis after leaving public service." Usually, but not always. It's worth taking a moment to remember the late Hume Horan, who served as Ambassador to Saudi Arabia but afterwards avoided lucrative employment by the Saudis and was recalled at the insistence of King Fahd. Here is a remembrance published by the Middle East Policy Council, together with some of Horan's writings. Here is another from the Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs. Here is his obituary in the Washington Post. By all accounts, a remarkable man. And a reminder to those of us inclined to disparage the Foreign Service, that it contains some remarkable people.

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By Michael Barone