Washington Post intelligence reporter Dana Priest was online Thursday, April 19 at 12:30 p.m. ET to discuss the latest developments in national security and intelligence.

The transcript follows.

Dana Priest covers intelligence and wrote " The Mission: Waging War and Keeping Peace With America's Military" (W.W. Norton). The book chronicles the increasing frequency with which the military is called upon to solve political and economic problems.

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Dana Priest: Hi everyone. Here two minutes early! A first. Let's go.

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Freising, Germany: An article in the New York Times gives some credit to Hollywood, namely Mia Farrow and Steven Spielberg, for encouraging China to urge Sudan to allow U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur. (Spielberg is an artistic adviser to China for the Olympic Games.) While not surprised at the zeal of Ms. Farrow or Mr. Spielberg, I'm a bit surprised at the influence of China over the Sudanese government. Is this an indication of China's increasing global influence?

Dana Priest: If true, then absolutely. They are in direct-indirect competition with us all over the world.

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Gramanath: I that know as public figures, top officials can not make statements that offend some people, especially if they are minority and they represent a religion of some sort. I don't understand why we cannot ask the Muslims who are interviewed, when they say Islam is a peaceful religion, why such atrocities are instigated in their mosques by their religious leaders? What is your view on this? Thanks.

Dana Priest: If you are talking about asking Iraqi Muslims about atrocities perpetrated there at the direction of religious leaders, than it's obviously appropriate. But asking any Muslim anywhere about some particular case seems a stretch. Would it be appropriate or even enlightening to ask a Christian living in, say, Canada, why the U.S. Christian president and the Christian voters who elected him launched a pre-emptive, elective war in which so many people have died, most of them Christians (on the U.S. side that is)? And does that really reflect on Christian values?

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New Brunswick, N.J.: I sent a question in last week about the search for a Middle East Czar (proconsul). Wouldn't such a proconsul interfere with the admiral who is nominally in command of the theater? Wasn't Condoleezza Rice put in control of an interagency working group on Iraq that promptly sank out of sight? Wouldn't such an appointment create another layer of command confusion and bureaucracy? Why would this position be needed at a time when more and more of the effort is being transferred to the Iraqis? At this point, why would Bush allow anyone else that kind of authority in Iraq, which is his baby?

Dana Priest: Yes, yes, yes. Position could interfere with Gates' authority. Allow? I think that might be what he wants: to add people between himself and the decision-making on Iraq.

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Rolla, Mo.: Is there a study that you trust that projects what would happen if the US withdraws from Iraq? I really am trying to envision what more would happen as compared to yesterday's carnage if we pulled out. We hear over and over, without detailed explanation, just "trust us" that it will descend further into chaos. Many of us would appreciate and are open to thoughtful analysis on this key question.

Dana Priest: Well, I think the Iraq Study Group report is pretty complete on this. It's all speculation, but informed speculation.

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St. Paul, Minn.: In relation to Predator strikes (assuming they are covert actions), what is known about the presidential finding (in accordance with the intelligence authorization act of Fiscal Year 1991) that authorized the GST shortly after 9/11?

Dana Priest: Basically that it allowed nearly all means necessary to capture, kill, neutralize people associated with the 9/11 attacks. Any action, including the Predator strikes, was considered defensive (since al-Qaeda had already attacked) in nature and there for not, not, an assassination, which is banned by law.

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Elma, N.Y.: Do you think there continues to be a disconnect between our political leaders' ambitions and the ability of the government to execute those ambitions? There is North Korea, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan and on and on. And there are calls for America to intercede, deter and use our military to back up our diplomats. Yet that military has trouble sustaining fewer than 175,000 troops in Iraq. Have we failed to come to terms with the limits of an all-volunteer military?

washingtonpost.com: Bush Unveils And Delays Sanctions For Sudan (Post, April 19)

Dana Priest: I would restate that. It's not the "all-volunteer" part that is the problem. It is that we have failed to come to terms with the limits of military power to alter political landscapes. The military is a tool that can buy political powers an opening, a reversal of the status quo, whatever. It cannot, cannot, cannot create political solutions.

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Baltimore: Ms. Priest: I watched some of Tuesday's House testimony by former CIA analyst and head Bin Laden hunter Michael Scheuer on C-SPAN. In addition to paraphrasing John Wayne and vigorously supporting the rendition policy, he made a vitriolic attack on your work on the secret prisons story. His basic viewpoint could be summed up as "people are trying to kill Americans -- we have to kill those people and if innocents suffer along the way, tough." I did some Internet research and the guy seems to run with an odd mix of people -- including antiwar.com, a libertarian site that sees all war as a tool of state expansion. Yet Mr. Scheuer's own comments seem to be heartily pro-war. Can you enlighten me as to what his beliefs are? Thanks.

Dana Priest: Unapologetic annihilation of suspected jihadists (suspected is good enough, and everyone in their neighborhood too). No sense of the cost of that to the strategic goal though. Still, he's written a couple of books that are very interesting so you might want to take a look at those. He's always been very nice to me in person and when we do media interviews together. He seemed to have come unhinged yesterday.

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Leesburg, Va.: Hi Dana. If, this afternoon, you bumped into Michael Scheuer -- the guy who headed up CIA's Osama bin Laden group and told Congress earlier this week that your series on the detention program did real damage to national security and has made America less safe -- what would you say to him?

Dana Priest: Okay, last one on Mike Scheuer. I would say to him that he obviously has terrible sources and he should go check with senior management. Yes, this has been a pain for them to explain away. Yes, there are still reverberations. But cooperation on counterterrorism remains very good, very lucrative. Despite the public pronouncements. Scheuer left the agency several years ago. The "less safe" part is just so wrong. Our strength--and ultimate security --is not derived from the actions of our CIA or military, its from our core values, of which human rights and the rule of law are central.

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Dale City, Va.: Dana, thanks for your work. Generally speaking, do government political appointees have worse memories than the rest of us? It seems no one -- from Scooter Libby, to Gonzales to the lady at GSA -- seems able to remember any conservation unless it is transcribed or recorded. I am hoping that is not the best we can hope for, but they have me curious.

Dana Priest: Very funny! This should not be so. They have all those recording devices (human, electronic, etc.) to help refresh their memories. Maybe someone should insist they play a couple of rounds of The Memory Game each day before they take the job. That's the game with lots of faced-down cards to match up over time. It's great for 4 and 5 year olds, in my experience.

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Pittsburgh: If a Democrat wins the White House in 2008, will the new administration curtail torture, black sites, rendition, Gitmo? What in your opinion would be substantially different?

Dana Priest: Not necessarily. Remember, the Democrats didn't raise a peep about all these things until recently.

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Las Vegas: Hello Dana. In the news lately there's been a lot of reference to the PKK/Turkey possible confrontation. But militarily what kind or size of battle could this erupt into? Being we're Allies with some of the Kurd groups, what if anything would the U.S./Iraq forces do if the Kurds called for to help them? Thanks.

washingtonpost.com: Turkey Warns Iraqi Kurds on Interference (AP, April 9)

Dana Priest: Well, first, we're a bigger ally with Turkey. So the last thing the US wants is a war there. That's why we've sent a special envoy (former vice chairman of the joint chiefs, Gen. Joe Ralston) to hold hands; that's why we turn a blind eye to the hundreds of Turkish troops in there now using lethal force to kill off the PKK. It's a modulated relationship with both sides, and both sides understand, I think, the cost of really going at it.

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Anonymous: Have you seen the report by the retired generals (National Security and the Threat of Climate Change)? Do you see any chance of progress on this front before the next president takes over? It certainly sounds like we've been fiddling while the world is getting ready to burn.

washingtonpost.com: Military Sharpens Focus on Climate Change (Post, April 15)

Dana Priest: The growing chorus of concern over this is bound to help push governments, including our own, into some kind of positive action. Will probably be slow and many more reports will be written and debated, but the whole issue is gaining important steam right now. And don't move to the southwest if you're younger than 65!

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Department of Defense, Washington: Do you need an assistant? I need a new line of work, this one is too frustrating.

Dana Priest: I wish. Can't afford it. How about being a source? Could relieve the frustration!

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Richmond, Va.: Yesterday, depending on whom you read, from 171 to 200 people killed in Iraq, and it appears April is turning out to be one of the deadliest months for U.S. military deaths. Nothing seems to have changed in Iraq -- the surge notwithstanding. Two questions: What do you think the benchmark is for the administration's/Pentagon's Plan B (whatever it may be)? Also, it always is assumed that American withdrawal will trigger an even greater civil war as well as greater regional intervention, but isn't it up to the region to determine what it wants?

washingtonpost.com: Bombers Defy Security Push, Killing at Least 158 in Baghdad (Post, April 19)

Dana Priest: This is all so hard and sad. There are no, repeat no, good answers. So first of all, there is no Plan B militarily. Really. At least that is what the president says all the time. This is it. On your second question, it's a little late to pass this off to the region. The governments in the region, except Iran, do not want the US to leave Iraq. They fear regional chaos and the Sunni-Shi'ite divide widens.

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Rockville, Md.: I saw a person on "Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria" who was expert on Northern Ireland and thought that the process might be related to what we want to happen in Iraq. One point was to not let the spectacular violent acts affect the peace process, but our news seems to explode with every act and hurt the peace process. What is your take? Can we report and not kill peace? Can we learn from those who made progress in Ireland?

Dana Priest: That would be a good idea but there really is not the equivalent kind of peace process in Iraq. There are not two or three groups to reconcile, there are, apparently an ever-growing number of power centers. And many of them are not seeking peace.

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Vienna, Va.: So, what is George Tenet going to say in his forthcoming memoir?

Dana Priest: He's going to say it wasn't his fault.

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Greenville, S.C.: Dana -- Thought I'd ask a question about the latest developments in national security and intelligence: so, how are things going at Walter Reed?

Dana Priest: I've heard that lots and lots is changing, most of it to the good, like trying to streamline the bureaucracy, making it easier for soldiers and their families to get financial assistance, increasing the number of case workers, mental health pros, etc. What I'm not sure of yet is the effectiveness of putting a combat-oriented command, and combat arms platoon sergeants in charge of soldiers who are wounded. I know this was a reaction to what the Army sees as a lack of discipline within the past leadership. But some of these commanders are over-bearing and riding the wounded troops pretty hard. we'll see.

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Oh come on now Dana...: So who cares what the governments in the region want anyway? What good reason is that for more bloodshed ? This is an unwinnable war and that is fact.

Dana Priest: I was not making an altruistic, feel-good statement. Remember, we get much of our energy supply from the region, to be crude about it. If it's seriously destabilized, so will our markets and way of life be destabilized.

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Seattle: In response to Las Vegas's question about the PKK, why would we back Turkey over the Kurds now? Aren't the Kurds our biggest and only backers in Iraq that we trust?

Dana Priest: Over the past three decades, Turkey has been a strategic ally in the biggest sense of the word; militarily, politically. The Kurds are small potatoes in comparison. But you are absolutely right; they are our biggest backers in Iraq (and have been since the beginning) which makes this a difficult balancing act.

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Austin, Texas: "America at a Crossroads" and Richard Perle: Perle made the statement that Saddam Hussein had al-Qaeda training camps in Iraq, and that there were strong links between terrorist and Saddam before we invaded. I read the 9/11 report and the links seemed rather flimsy, not much better than that the U.S. has links to terrorist organizations because there are cells in our country. Is Perle's characterization correct?

Dana Priest: No it is not.

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Dana Priest: Okay everyone. Back to the grindstone! The salt pits! The garden! Thanks for joining me. hope to see you next week.

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