Counter Terrorism at the liberal Aspen Institute

On April 9, 2009, Michael Leiter, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, a holdover from Bush in the new Obama administration, addressed members of government, industry, media, and the public policy community convened by the Aspen Institute’s Homeland Security Program at the Institute’s Washington offices. I'm sure he would have preferred being invited to Aspen in the summer, but oh well. . .

Director Leiter discussed the current state of Al Qaeda. According the the Aspen Institute website . . . "he argued that efforts to kill or capture senior leadership in the last year or so have succeeded in significantly diminishing Al Qaeda’s ability to strike the homeland. Still, the group continues to be a major security threat, and defeating it must remain a top priority for policymakers, notwithstanding the economic crisis and the many other domestic and foreign crises that now vie for our leaders’ attention."

During Q & A (very hard to hear the quetions) he sets the record straight--it's no accident that the U.S. wasn't attacked during the Bush years. But if we are attacked during the Obama years, it doesn't mean we have failed. "Intelligence is an imperfect business . . . " It's called CYA.

I sensed the host was trying to trip him up a bit, but he really is covering his bases here. This was before Napolitano's Tea Party fiasco. This is not the most scintillating talk I've ever heard, but these kinds of things are going to become less and less available, unless a non-government, non-Aspen site is archiving them (unlikely). I'm guessing that Mr. Leiter will soon be among the unemployed and that the NCTC will either disappear or quietly be folded into something else, and never be heard from again. After all, our current President believes his personal charm will protect us.

Accuracy in Media noted in 2006 that "the Aspen Institute is the number one sponsor of privately funded travel for members of Congress, having spent $3.4 million on Congress from 2000-2005. Aspen is one vehicle whereby left-wing billionaires like George Soros work to influence politicians on Capitol Hill by bringing them to luxurious places, hotels and resorts, and listening to mostly liberal and left-wing speakers."