Gates’ Confirmation Hearings Will Recall His Past Intelligence Distortions

Jeff Stein at Congressional Quarterly recalls to mind Robert Gates' contentious 1991 nomination hearings to run the CIA, wherein a former agency analyst testified that Gates in the 1980s had skewed intelligence to fit the preconceived agenda of senior Reagan administration officials. Senior former CIA analyst Mel Goodman charged Gates with a number of improprieties, including “the imposition of intelligence judgments, often over the protests of the consensus in the Directorate of Intelligence, to slant intelligence … suppression of intelligence that didn’t support the Casey agenda … (and) use of the Directorate of Operations to slant intelligence of the Directorate of Intelligence.” (…) “The president’s choice of Robert Gates to succeed Mr. Rumsfeld … is deeply troubling,” Rep. Rush D. Holt, D-N.J., said in a prepared statement. “During his tenure at CIA, Mr. Gates developed a reputation for pressuring analysts and managers to shape analytical conclusions to fit administration positions, a fact that led dozens of current and former CIA analysts to oppose his confirmation as CIA Director in 1991,” said Holt, who will likely chair an intelligence subcommittee starting in January. via Justin Rood at TPM Muckraker