Comments on: Top Expert on Al Qaeda Victim of Budget Cuts

By: teqjack

teqjack — Sat, 10 May 2008 00:10:19 +0000

This goes back quite a way: when they think of it at all, Congresscritters think "Radio? How antique! Why are we still doing this?" It is in the same vein of thought that killed Humint to rely entirely upon Elint, which was in the air and was able to do away with old-fashioned foreign spies following the Noriega business. "We actually pay people who are criminals to get intelligence? This must stop! In today's world, we do not need to work with such people, just tap phones!"

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:15:02 +0000

Congress is in charge of their budget.

Sure. But I doubt they're budgeting down to the level of the individual expert.

By: yetanotherjohn

yetanotherjohn — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:52:06 +0000

James,

Congress is in charge of their budget.

By: JKB

JKB — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:37:25 +0000

Look, he'll get snapped up by a security consulting contractor who will then provide the government with the same analysis for 5 times the previous cost. He'll make some good cash and avoid the GS BS. It is win-win unless you're a taxpayer.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:34:26 +0000

Who ever is in charge of their budget should be fired.

For all we know, though, they've faced budget cuts and they certainly can't justify having their Central Asia guys spend most of their time doing something other than Central Asia.

By: yetanotherjohn

yetanotherjohn — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:31:56 +0000

Who ever is in charge of their budget should be fired.

By: Triumph

Triumph — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:28:51 +0000

I know nothing of this guy, but the whole Radio Free Euope/Radio Liberty enterprise is a propagandist anachronism that should be phased out.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:25:03 +0000

In 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor there were something like a half dozen PhD's in Japanese in the entire U. S. One of them was an old family friend of ours. When he volunteered for the military they assigned him to Europe where he carried a searchlight. Moral: government priorities, particularly military priorities, don't always make sense by the standards of us mere mortals.