Tom Donilon's Revolving Door
Outgoing National Security Adviser Jim Jones once disparaged his replacement and current deputy, Thomas Donilon, for his lack of overseas experience, telling him that as a result: "You have no credibility with the military," according to Bob Woodward's "Obama's Wars."
In addition, Donilon, who previously worked as a vice president for floundering mortgage giant Fannie Mae and was known for his strong views and opinions, once offending Defense Secretary Robert Gates so much during a meeting that the Pentagon chief almost walked out, according to Woodward.
Gates asserted that Donilon would be a "disaster" as National Security Adviser, the book alleges.
Jones called Donilon into his office late last year to discuss Jones's plans to step down from the post, writes Woodward. After praising his deputy for his "substantive and organizational skills" which made him indispensable to the president, he also reprimanded Donilon for three major mistakes:
First, he had never gone to Afghanistan or Iraq, or really left the office for a serious field trip. As a result, he said, you have no direct understanding of these places. "You have no credibility with the military. ....
Second, Jones continued, you frequently pop off with absolute declarations about places you've never been, leaders you've never met, or colleagues you work with. Gates had mentioned this to Jones, saying that Donilon's sound-offs and strong spur-of-the-moment opinions, especially about one general, had offended him so much at an Oval Office meeting that he nearly walked out. ...
Third, Jones said that Donilon was not good in his dealings with his staff at the National Security Council, displaying "too little feel for the people who work day and night...."
Watch the VIDEO below courtesy of the Gateway Pundit of White House Security adviser Tom Donilon on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace twist and squirm as he cannot answer the question. The question is simple, how is extreme interrogation and waterbaording of KSM different from shooting Bin Laden in the head?
Tom Donilon stated that waterbaording of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad is not consistent with our values and not necessary to get the kinds of intelligence that we need. This was followed with a question by Chris Wallace, but shooting Bin Laden in the head is consistent with our values? Donilon’s response, we are at war with Osama Bin Laden. Um, as if we are not also at war with KSM? http://scaredmonkeys.com/page/3/
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The most obstreperous part of what Donilon had to say to Chris Wallas on May 8, 2011 was:WALLACE: Since the raid, the CIA director, Leon Panetta, and former counterterrorism chief, Jose Rodriguez, both say enhanced interrogation, including waterboarding, provided some of the information that led to that raid on the bin Laden compound. Are they right?
DONILON: Well, I can answer it this way -- as the national security advisor, I'm not going to comment on specific piece of intelligence gotten from specific sources. But I can tell you this, and it's important I think -- an operation like this is a result of hundreds of pieces of information and intelligence over time. I can represent to you that no single piece of intelligence led to the result that we saw --WALLACE: I understand that, sir. But what I'm asking you is: did any of the information, any of the fruits of enhanced interrogation -- was that part of the jigsaw puzzle?DONILON: It doesn't really work that way, though, right? I mean, it works in terms of a whole mosaic of information being put together. And we got information from detainees, from human sources, from technical sources, from other leads on services that all come together.And I want to say this -- this is very important -- this was the work of intelligence professionals, as I said, over multiple administrations. And it was a real success.And what it shows, I think, to the world -- and I monitor, obviously, the reaction of these kinds of things around the world, right? And the message that the world is hearing is one of perseverance, dedication, determination, that the United States does what it says it's going to do, even if it's across a couple of presidencies. And most importantly, or importantly, we have the capability to do so.And this being a national achievement -- the first person that the president called when he found out, when he was informed by me, that our forces were safely back in Afghanistan, was President Bush.WALLACE: We'll stipulate -- we'll all stipulate that bin Laden was a monster. But why is shooting an unarmed man in the face legal and proper while enhanced interrogation, including waterboarding of a detainee under very strict controls and limits, why is that over the line?DONILON: Well, let me talk first about the first half of the statement you made. Again, the president met with the operators yesterday in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. And here are the facts: we are at war with al Qaeda. Osama bin Laden is the emir or commander, indeed, the only leader of al Qaeda in its 22-year history. This was his residence and operational compound.Our forces entered that compound and were fired upon in the pitch black. It's an organization that uses IEDs and suicide vests and booby traps and all manner of other kinds of destructive capabilities.(CROSSTALK)WALLACE: Let me just make my point.DONILON: Yes.WALLACE: I'm not asking you why it was OK to shoot Osama bin Laden. I fully understand the threat. And I'm not second-guessing the SEALs.DONILON: Right.WALLACE: What I am second guessing is, if that's OK, why can't you do waterboarding? What can't you do enhanced interrogation of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was just as bad an operator as Osama bin Laden?DONILON: Because, well, our judgment is that it's not consistent with our values, not consistent and not necessary in terms of getting the kind of intelligence that we need.WALLACE: But shooting bin Laden in the head is consistent with our values?DONILON: We are at war with Osama bin Laden.WALLACE: We're at war with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.DONILON: It was a military operation, right? It was absolutely appropriate for the SEALs to take the action -- forced it to take the action that they took in this military operation against a military target.WALLACE: But why is it inappropriate to get information from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?DONILON: I didn't say it was inappropriate to get information from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.WALLACE: You said it was against our values.(CROSSTALK)DONILON: I think the technique -- there's been a policy debate about and our administration has made our views known on that.WALLACE: Let me ask you about one other aspect of this and we'll move on. The Obama Justice Department reopened an investigation of half dozen CIA agents who were involved in interrogation after 9/11, raising the question -- and this has been a closed. This has been a closed investigation. It was reopened by your Justice Department on the issue of whether or not they were using undue force.We talked earlier with Vice President Cheney who says that investigation is an outrage.Question: with interrogation -- and you certainly have agreed, whether, however it came -- with interrogation such a key part of this raid, why not end that investigation?DONILON: Well, what I said was the interrogation is one part of a mosaic --WALLACE: Right.DONILON: -- of hundreds of pieces of information over time that builds an intelligence case. I think it's very -- and it was not just the CIA. It was multiple agencies -- which is another important aspect that we don't have time to get into. It's the teamwork in the intelligence community.WALLACE: But why not end the investigation?DONILON: Well, I'll get to it now. That's not something I can really comment on. That really is an issue for the attorney general. I'm a national security advisor, not the attorney general. I'm not a law enforcement officer.WALLACE: Do you think keeping these officers who helped protect the country, the CIA officers, continued investigation -- this has been going on for more than two years. A year ago, Eric Holder said it's about over and it's still going on. Do you think that's appropriate?DONILON: Chris, I work as closely with the intelligence community as anybody in the White House, as you know. And I have the highest regard for our intelligence professionals. They have -- we have seen in the last week, one of the really great achievements in the history of intelligence.DONILON: I have the highest regard and I am quite familiar with the tenacity and the skill with which this case was put together. But on this specific case, I really can't comment. I'm not a law enforcement official.Read the transcript here: http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100007214&docId=l:1413356654&isRss=true
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