National Security and Intelligence

Washington Post intelligence reporter Dana Priest was online Thursday, Oct. 4 at 2:30 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.

Archive: Dana Priest discussion transcripts

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Dana Priest: Hi there. Let's begin!

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Crestwood, N.Y.: At this point, I'm sure you're past tired of getting questions about an attack on Iran (although your statement in the last chat that pilots might refuse to carry out bombing missions on Iran got a lot of play on the net) but when Seymour Hersh comes out with these stories, do you always go to your sources and ask what they think about what his sources are telling him? Would you do a story that confirmed his story if your sources confirmed that an attack was scheduled to be launched, assuming that your editors let you?

washingtonpost.com: Shifting Targets: The Administration's Plan for Iran (Post, Oct. 8)

Dana Priest: Let me address this in a generic way: The Post reporters covering national security monitor lots of publications, including The New Yorker, about lots of issues and on occasion we have run stories about stories. That's a high bar, usually requiring a level of detail and surprise. All our national security reporters are dogging the Iran issue, all parts of it, with our editors full encouragement.

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Los Angeles: News that 225 young women are the highest number of female cadets in a single class since women first came to the U.S. Military Academy in 1976 and the highest proportion for any class -- 17 percent -- hopefully is a very good sign. Do you think women military officers will positively impact our military in the long term? Put another way, in growing up do boys learn that fighting with blows or weapons is preferred to other means in settling disputes, and do girls learn a different or better skill-set?

Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld statements such as "shock and awe," "bring it on" and "dead or alive" and their costly policy decisions regarding Iraq indicated a propensity for violence over means (e.g. negotiations) as would have been the case had the U.S. continued to work through the U.N. in addressing the Iraq situation. Given that we now know Iraq did not have WMDs (the major rationale for invading Iraq at the time), the futility of invading a country violently certainly is apparent.

Dana Priest: Well, I would not look to female Army officers for alternative conflict resolution. First off, women are still not permitted in the basic combat arms branches (armor, artillery and infantry) and the minute they are, I am sure they will seek to fit in, not the opposite.

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Albany, N.Y.: About the 2005 torture memo story in the Times: The way I read the story, the reporter hasn't actually seen the memos -- there aren't any quotes and the cited source is "officials briefed on it." Can the White House continue to safely deny that the memos authorize torture, or might the next step be giving the memos to the reporter?

Dana Priest: It is very rare to actually get a document like that, so that kind of reporting is not unusual in the intelligence world, it's the norm. I'm not sure what you mean by "the next step" but I won't count on seeing this memo anytime soon.

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Minneapolis: Thoughts on the big, depressing New York Times story detailing how, through secret, strained legal positions, a politicized Office of Legal Counsel enabled the CIA to continue torturing suspected terrorists abroad, despite the best efforts of Jack Goldsmith, James Comey and Philip Zelikow to set the government on a more decent -- and potentially more effective -- path?

washingtonpost.com: Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations (New York Times, Oct. 4)

Dana Priest: First of all, kudos to the Times -- I wish we had had that story. Now, if true as reported (something I have not tried to verify because I am doing something else at the moment), it would take the administration's word games to an entirely new level of duplicity.

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Ann Arbor, Mich.: What do you think the probability is that the government of Iraq would invite the U.S. and coalition forces to withdraw from Iraq?

Dana Priest: zZro in the short term. First of all, "the government of Iraq" might not continue to be the government of Iraq as currently configured if the U.S. wasn't there, so that uncertainly alone is bound to stop them.

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Waupaca, Wis.: Dana: How can it be that the the FBI still has "major vulnerabilities" (according to the Justice Inspector General) and has not established a unit to hunt for penetrations? Are they in denial; is it politics, or something like a lack of resources? After the Hannsen case wouldn't you think the FBI would have learned its lesson?

washingtonpost.com: Report Finds FBI Still Vulnerable To Espionage (Post, Oct. 2)

Dana Priest: I think the easy answer is that everyone, and all energy, was diverted to terrorism. This is the excuse, at least.

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San Francisco: Why all the focus on Iran, with little or no mention of Saudi Arabian support for the insurgents? Sunni insurgents are responsible for the majority of American casualties in Iraq, and Sunnis are more likely to be supported by Sunni Saudi Arabia than Shiite Iran. Last December the Associated Press reported that Saudi citizens were providing financial support to Sunni insurgents in Iraq, and the insurgents were using the money to buy antiaircraft weapons. At least five U.S. helicopters were shot down in January/February 2007. Why are we ignoring the people behind most of the attacks?

Dana Priest: This answer is not going to really satisfy you because your question goes straight to the heart of U.S. foreign policy, and how hypocritical it can be/seem at times. But the fact is, we still need the support of the state of Saudi Arabia to do anything in the Middle East. That is why we don't, say, declare we will invade if they can't stop the support to Sunni insurgents.

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Washington: So Rick Atkinson, in addition to being a part of The Post's world-class Iraq coverage, also has time to write an 800-plus page book about the army in World War II? What are you guys eating for breakfast?

Dana Priest: Steel-plated Cheerios, I'm told.

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Pennsylvania: Dana, were the contracts given to Blackwater no-bid? Are there other U.S. firms that can do the same thing, and why can't we respect the Iraqis and pull Blackwater out?

Dana Priest: I know this is going to sound weird in the current context, but the fact is, of all the armed security firms, Blackwater USA's reputation is that they are the most professional of the bunch. It's been around longer than most American security firms. Take that as you will.

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Boston: Is getting a copy of the Department of Justice legal opinions supporting our interrogation methods a worthy and ethical journalistic goal? Is it realistic to think they eventually will be leaked?

Dana Priest: Yes it is. No, it is not realistic to wait for that, since classified documents rarely make their way into the hands of reporters.

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Boston: Is "we do not torture because we say so" an effective Bush/Perino communication strategy? Maybe this is one reason why Victoria Clarke colorfully turned down the White House press role...

Dana Priest: I believe that if the administration were to actually explain themselves in detail, their justification for the "we don't torture" statement would be something like this: Torture is a particularly extreme physical or mental tactic; water-boarding, isolation, cold or heat exposure, etc., do not amount to torture.

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Reston, Va.: Do you think the U.S. is going to be able to defeat IEDs? What steps should the Defense Department take to bring in more new approaches to defeat IEDs?

washingtonpost.com: Special Report:Left of Boom -- The Struggle to Defeat Roadside Bombs (Post, Sept. 30-Oct. 3)

Dana Priest: No. As the series makes clear, the two best strategies so far are to force the insurgents "back to the wire" (by jamming radio frequencies) and to go after the bomb-making networks that supply, build and plant these weapons.

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Ocala, Fla.: What are the implications for U.S. policy inside Iraq of the Iraqi deal to buy weapons from China? Is it setting up an arms race among the various players in Iraq?

washingtonpost.com: Iraqis to Pay China $100 Million for Weapons for Police (Post, Oct. 4)

Dana Priest: Yes, and an inevitable one at that, given the state of civil chaos and ongoing jockeying for power there.

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Munich, Germany: In the case of Khaled el-Masri, who attempted to sue the CIA for kidnapping and inflicting bodily harm, if I recall correctly, didn't the judge presiding over the trial rule that a trial could harm U.S. national security by revealing sensitive information about counterterrorism operations, but recommended that el-Masri should be compensated for his ordeal? German authorities have dropped efforts to seek the extradition of the CIA operatives, but what are el-Masri's chances of receiving compensation if he is criminally charged with causing $300,000 worth of damage by arson? His lawyer maintains that el-Masri was a psychological wreck because of the kidnapping and detention, but if he's considered to be a criminal, won't he be barred from traveling to the U.S.?

washingtonpost.com: Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake (Post, Dec. 4, 2005)

Dana Priest: The judge did not say Masri "should" be compensated for his ordeal. He said that he had other avenues open to him to be compensated. Clearly he did. Congress or the administration could have awarded him compensation. But no one in Congress or the executive moved to do this, so that idea went nowhere -- so his chances are not good with or without his own criminal case.

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Ohio: How many contractors are used by the State Department for security? Does Blackwater have other security contracts with Defense? How many contract employees are in Iraq for security? How much does it cost? What are the costs for State Department activities in Iraq? Do they have too many unnecessary people there?

Dana Priest: Let me answer the last one only: I have not heard people in the U.S. government say that there are too many unnecessary people as security guards; on the contrary, they are there because every U.S. government actor who steps outside the Green Zone seems to actually need protection.

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San Antonio: In a press conference this Tuesday, the Missile Defense Agency's Lt. Gen. Obering once again said, "Iran's going to be able to threaten the United States somewhere around the 2015 time frame, is what the latest projections are." However, as far as I've seen, the intelligence projections are that Iran could threaten the U.S. with ICBMs by 2015 if they started a program to develop such missiles. But nobody is saying that the U.S. has any evidence that Iran has an ICBM development program at present, or that it intends to start one in the foreseeable future. Have I missed something?

Dana Priest: I think you have that correct.

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San Francisco: If the secret policy findings did not contradict anything said publicly by the administration, why were they secret? Has anyone asked?

Dana Priest: Well, they are secret because they are supposedly very detailed about what can and cannot be done during interrogations. The administration has never talked about that publicly.

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Arlington, Va.: Dana, do you think the law passed today will have any material effect on contractors working in Iraq? I'm talking about the one that makes the contractors subject to prosecution in U.S. courts. Which laws apply? I thought the whole point of those private security contractors is that by being a little "trigger happy" (for lack of a better term) they were better able to protect the State Department in an area that is basically lawless (by our standards).

washingtonpost.com: House OKs Bill to Prosecute Contractors (AP, Oct. 4)

Dana Priest: Yes I do. Even if the law's jurisdiction is eventually questioned or challenged in court, as of today the security firms know for sure that their actions are being highly scrutinized and that fact will, I believe, change behaviors. I do not believe that the point has anything to do with being "trigger happy." That's the last thing anyone would actually want. It's about being willing to travel in small teams to protect diplomats and other non-military folks who have to move around Iraq.

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Dana Priest: Thanks for joining me. Come back next week, and bring your friends. Dana

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