Video Included

Former CIA Expert: Obama Undermining War on Terror

Saturday, September 12, 2009 9:35 AM

By: Jim Meyers

Former CIA counterterrorism expert Kent Clizbe tells Newsmax it's "indisputable" that the Obama administration's actions regarding intelligence agents have undermined the global war on terror.

Clizbe was a member of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, and returned to the CIA after 9/11 to serve in multiple counterterrorism deployments. He recently wrote an opinion piece for Newsmax headlined "Obama and Holder 'At War' With Agency."

Newsmax.TV's Ashley Martella noted that President Barack Obama has allowed Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate CIA personnel involved in the interrogation of terrorist detainees, and has taken future interrogations away from the CIA and turned them over to the FBI. He asked Clizbe how much damage Obama and Holder are doing to America's intelligence community.

"It's hard to quantify, but I almost shudder to think that the only way we're really going to know how much damage they are doing will be when something happens," said Clizbe.

If investigators begin interrogating or prosecuting CIA officers "you're going to have officers who should be working on counterterrorism operations sitting down with their lawyers and spending weeks and months coming up with their defense against these charges," he added.

"So you're going to see officers who could be doing service to their country instead tied up in legal proceedings. Obviously they're not going to be doing what they need to be doing."

Martella asked if the Obama administration is undermining the war on terror and making another catastrophic attack like 9/11 more likely.

"To quote them, there is no war on terror — there is an overseas contingency operation," Clizbe responded.

"But yes, absolutely. I think it's indisputable that their actions pretty much from the beginning of this administration have undermined the global war on terror.

"And there is a global war on terror. Make no mistake. It's going on now. It started long before 9/11, and who knows how long it will continue. But yes, the actions they are taking, including appointing a special prosecutor to investigate alleged CIA abuses of detainees, do not help the war on terror...

"Their actions will very likely negatively affect the efficiency and ability of the intelligence community to do what it has done for the last eight or nine years."

Martella asked: "What does the Obama administration have against the CIA?"

"Maybe they're driven by a hard-left political point of view and they need to make their hard-left constituents happy," Clizbe said. "Attacking the CIA seems to be some kind of political payback...

"It would appear that the drumbeat from the left about torture has taken on a life of its own. Why? That's a great question. I wish I could answer it. We can just look at what they do, and it's hard to tell what their motivations are."

Asked as an intelligence service insider about the toll the administration's actions are taking on CIA morale, Clizbe told Newsmax: "If I were out in the field now and operating in counterterrorism operations, it would sure take the wind out of my sails to know that people who were following procedures very carefully laid out are now going to face some kind of investigation at least, potential prosecution, persecution for sure.

"I would be very demoralized."

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