TOPDOG08.COM

« AEI and Iran endorse Chalabi for PM | Main | Is this what David Brooks keeps talking about? »

December 11, 2005

An Inconvenient Patriot

Yeah, I stole the title from that Sibel Edmonds article, but I'm just pointing out no one but Colin Powell bothered to listen to Brian Sheridan and what he had to say.

First some background:

IAB Fall Meeting Program

"The Engineer's Response to Homeland Security"
October 17-18, 2002 — New York, NY

Speaker Biography: Brian Sheridan

Deputy General Manager, National Security Programs & Operations
Bechtel Nevada

Mr. Sheridan is currently serving as the Deputy General Manager for National Security Response Programs & Operations at Bechtel Nevada. He is responsible for the management of four major programs: Combating Terrorism, The National Security Response, Environmental Management, Defense & Civil. In addition to his program responsibilities, he also oversees the Remote Sensing Laboratory (based at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada and Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland), and the Special Technologies Laboratory Operations (based in Santa Barbara, California).

Before working with Bechtel Nevada, Mr. Sheridan served as the Vice President for Strategic Programs, Bechtel National Incorporated (BNI), where he was responsible for business development for the Combating Terrorism and Homeland Defense markets.

Prior to his assignment at BNI, Mr. Sheridan served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict (SOLIC) at the Department of Defense. He had five direct report Deputy Assistant Secretaries responsible for: Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance, Special Operations, Combating Terrorism, Drug Enforcement, and Inter-American Affairs. He previously served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in SOLIC and before that as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Drug Enforcement Policy and Support.

Before entering the Pentagon, Mr. Sheridan worked as a Consultant for Frank Lynn & Associates, a marketing consulting firm in Chicago. Prior to consulting, Mr. Sheridan worked for the Central Intelligence Agency.

His educational background includes a BA from Boston College (1982); an MSFS from Georgetown University (1985); and an MBA from the University of Chicago (1991).

Mr. Sheridan is married to Anne Sheridan and they have three children: Connor (age 11); Patrick (age 9); and Sloan (age 7). They currently reside in Las Vegas, Nevada.

From page 228 of Against All Enemies by Richard Clarke:

Colin Powell took the unusual step during the transition of asking to meet with the CSG, the senior counterterrorism officers from NSC, State, Defense, CIA, FBI and the military. He wanted to see us interact, respond to each other's statements. When we all agreed at the importance of the al-Qaida threat, Powell was obviously surprised at the unanimity.

Brian Sheridan, the soon departing Assistant Secretary of Defense, summed it up: "General Powell, I will be leaving when the administration changes. I am the only political appointee in the room. All these guys are career professionals. So let me give you one piece of advice, untainted by any personal interest. Keep this interagency team together and make al-Qaida your No. 1 priority. We may all squabble about tactics and we may call each other assholes from time to time, but this is the best interagency team I have ever seen and they all want to get al-Qaida. They're comin' after us and we gotta get them first." Powell asked extensive questions about what State could do, took detailed notes, and later asked Rich Armitage (who would become Deputy Secretary) to get involved.

From an op-ed to the LA Times by former Clinton NSC staffer Daniel Benjamin:

In reporting for our book, "The Age of Sacred Terror," Steven Simon and I found that Clarke was not alone. Several top U.S. government officials agreed in interviews that the new administration had been unwilling to revise its understanding of America's security position and too slow to recognize the danger of Al Qaeda.

Brian Sheridan, President Clinton's outgoing assistant secretary of Defense for special operations and low intensity conflict, was astonished when his offers during the transition to bring the new Pentagon leadership up to speed on terrorism were brushed aside. "I offered to brief anyone, any time on any topic. Never took it up."

From the 9/11 Commission staff statement:

Brian Sheridan—the outgoing Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict (SOLIC), the key counterterrorism policy office in DOD—never briefed Rumsfeld. Lower-level SOLIC officials in the Office of the Secretary of Defense told us that they thought the new team was focused on other issues and was not especially interested in their counterterrorism agenda. Undersecretary Feith told the Commission that when he arrived at the Pentagon in July 2001, Rumsfeld asked him to focus his attention on working with the Russians on agreements to dissolve the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and preparing a new nuclear arms control pact. Traditionally, the primary DOD official responsible for counterterrorism policy had been the assistant secretary of defense for SOLIC. The outgoing assistant secretary left on January 20, 2001, and had not been replaced when the Pentagon was hit on September 11.

From Bill Gertz on May 2, 2003:

As we reported in this space in February, Thomas W. O'Connell is President Bush's pick to be the next assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict (SOLIC). The White House this week sent the nomination to the Senate.

Special operations is a high priority with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in the war on terrorism, but the SOLIC post has been vacant since the Bush team took office.

It withdrew its first nominee, then proposed eliminating the assistant secretary post and folding the SOLIC office into another organization. Some senators balked at that proposal and it was dropped.

Mr. O'Connell is a senior manager at defense contractor Raytheon Corp. A former special-operations commando, he worked at the CIA and was a deputy director at U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla.

From Slade Gorton's written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee:

In the Department of Defense, the 9/11 Commission interviewed General Schoomaker, who was Commander of the Special Operations Command at the time Able Danger was created. The Commission interviewed General Hugh Shelton, who was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Scott Fry and General Gregory Newbold, successive directors of operations for the Joint Staff. The Commission interviewed Brian Sheridan, the Assistant Secretary for Special Operatoins and Low Intensity Conflict (SOLIC) during the period Able Danger was in existence; as well as several other senior and mid-level managers in SOLIC. Despite direct questions for any information relevant to the 9/11 attacks, they mentioned nothing about a chart. They mentioned nothing about identifying Mohamed Atta, even in response to questions about the Able Danger program.

From Tony Shaffer's interview with GSN Magazine:

GSN:
Even when a program is compartmented, wouldn’t the senior leadership on the civilian side know about it?

SHAFFER:
I cannot speak to that because I have no direct knowledge. I only know from my direct knowledge that General Shelton was aware because of his tasking this to Special Operations Command. I briefed him on another operation regarding the Internet and data, and I referenced Able Danger to him because we were going to use the same Able Danger methodology to protect U.S. person issues.

I briefed [General Shelton] on that other operation in the spring 2001 timeframe, before 9/11. So, from my knowledge, I believe he remembered Able Danger at that point in time because of the reference to this other operation.

However, I don’t know how far above him or laterally, he shared information regarding Able Danger. I don’t know about the civilian leadership.

The highest level on the civilian side that I’m directly knowledgeable of was that the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low intensity conflict was aware because I briefed him on this. [Editor’s Note: Brian E. Sheridan held that assistant secretary position at the time.]

He received a briefing from me [in 2000] on Stratus Ivy, my unit, and I gave him information on what we were doing for Able Danger. His comment to me was, “You need to get on those guys and push them harder.” That was the way he told me to get on SOCOM to get them to push harder to get this going.

GSN:
This was before Able Danger had any success or had identified any results.

SHAFFER:
Absolutely, yes.

Posted by Mike at December 11, 2005 03:25 PM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.topdog08.com/cgi-bin/mt-trackback.cgi/886

Comments

Post a comment