| 14 December 2005 Charlie Horse That Charlie is as strong as a Clydesdale. He has been in the federal harness for 47 years, analyzing and collecting information on the enemies of the United States . He appears in a Harvard JFK School of Government Case Study of the Achilles Lauro hi-jacking. I was sitting in class up at Cambridge when I turned a page and saw his name. I realized that I must be getting on in years, when people I know are subjects of academic studies on ancient history. Charlie had a pivotal role in trying to figure out what the Palestinians were up to, and why they killed Leon Klinghoffer, the American in the wheelchair. There was not much that he missed, since he has been with the Agency since before the formal beginning of the war in Vietnam . He was already somebody in the CIA in 1985. I think he started in the Chief of Station's office in Saigon , but it is hard to tell. He doesn't have an official biography plastered on the web. But maybe he will soon, since he has taken over as the Chief of the Office of Intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security. I thought he was going to retire. When I talked to him last year, his position as Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Collection was being abolished with the establishment of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. He said he would stick around long enough to ensure there was a complete turn-over with whoever was going to assume that function in the new organization. Retirement would be the logical thing for most people, but Charlie is a horse for work. I remember after 9/11 his people in the collection shop up on the 6th Floor at Langley brought in sleeping bags and slept at their desks. His National Intelligence Collection Board- known as the Nick-Bee- was in session a couple times a day, and sometimes more. He sniffed out Iran-Contra before anyone else “outside the loop” knew that the proceeds of the arms sales to Iran were showing up with the irregular troops in Nicaragua . Ambassador Negroponte, the DNI, was the top diplomat in Honduras next door at the time. It is a small world. Charlie's task is to unify the intelligence effort of the 22-assorted agencies that make up DHS. I worked for his predecessor, Patrick Hughes, when he was on active duty and still at the Defense Intelligence Agency. He was a wonderful man, a great leader and brilliant analyst. I saw him yesterday, and it must be galling for him to be in the private sector when riches and authority are being showered on Charlie. Pat never had the charter or the resources to bring the recalcitrant children in line. Plus, after he was tapped for the job, the mission of all-source analysis was stripped from his office. It wasn't fair, really, but that is how it worked in the first two years of the Department. The President told Secretary Chertoff that his charter was to fix some of the more egregious problems at the Department. He commissioned a Second Stage Review to identify them, and one of the fixes was to empower the intelligence office and have its chief report direct to the Secretary. They also were looking for someone with a strong personality and the stature to bring some of the fiercely independent law-enforcement types in line. I think Charlie can do it. He has been in service for five decades, and he is in the office before 6 a.m., and sometimes didn't go home until eight at night. I hated having to attend the Nick-Bees, early on Saturday morning. Charlie is setting up the same sort organization in DHS, with all the customs and border and transportation intelligence folks. He is going to call it the Homeland Security Intelligence Council. I don't know what the nick-name will be. Maybe the HS-ICK. Charlie has already reorganized his staff and requested more people, resources and offices. He doesn't have anything to prove, not after a half-century. That gives him the ability to do pretty much what he wants. I am hoping that results in a better and stronger intelligence capability. I expect Charlie will die in the harness. He is a horse for work. Copyright 2005 Vic Socotra www.vicsocotra.com |