Resisting Intelligence 'Hysteria'

Regarding Richard Cohen's Jan. 27 column, "Torture? Prosecute Us, Too":

I have 40 years of experience in military intelligence. I was in the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, in my cubicle in the Intelligence Oversight Division of the U.S. Army Inspector General Agency. I was working in the Defense Department's Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) in May 2004 when Paul Wolfowitz's memo came out establishing the Talon program for the collection of domestic threat information. I drafted the internal policy for implementing CIFA's responsibilities under that memo.

I remember very well the mind-sets that governed then, and I resent very much Mr. Cohen's insinuation that those of us who did not succumb to the hysteria were "time-stampers who take no chances." It took some courage to stand up to those who believed that pre-Sept. 11 restrictions governing the collection of information on U.S. citizens no longer applied. I remember very clearly being shouted down by a retired Marine major who assured that me my insistence to the contrary would result in soldiers dying.

It is easy to get caught up in the hysteria. It takes no particular courage to go along with the mob. I don't believe that those who tortured or those who engaged in unauthorized collection of information on Americans are the finest people. I am disappointed that Mr. Cohen seems to.

MICHAEL H. VARHOLA

Silver Spring