A Question for the Media

By Dennis Lormel

Last Thursday, February 2, 2006, Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, and the heads of the primary U.S. Intelligence Agencies testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. CIA Director, Porter Goss, called for an investigation into the leaks of classified intelligence information and techniques that the media seemed compelled to report. Stories published include intelligence operations about secret renditions, interrogation techniques, secret joint intelligence centers with other countries, secret prisons, and most recently, the NSA eavesdropping program. One can debate the merits, morality and legality of said techniques. One should ask� how much concern for morality or legality do the terrorists factor into their planning cycle? Do we really need a reminder of who the bad guys are? What resonated from Goss� comments was the fact that many of these valuable intelligence gathering techniques have been rendered useless or their effectiveness has been greatly diminished. That consideration is more then unfortunate, it�s frightening! Many of these techniques, to include renditions and interrogations, produced significant intelligence which has been successfully used to thwart terrorism. As an example, information learned through the renditions and interrogations of Al Qaeda leaders, such as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, led to the disruption, dismantlement and prevention of terrorist activities. The media disclosures also create collateral damage affecting the credibility of the intelligence community.

When I was Chief of the Terrorist Financing Operations Section in the Counterterrorism Division of the FBI, I was a direct beneficiary, and witnessed first hand, the investigative achievements such intelligence information has afforded. One of the benchmarks for success for intelligence and investigative agencies has been the disruption and/or dismantlement of terrorist organizations or operations.

My question to the media�when you report stories that compromise sensitive intelligence gathering operations, is your benchmark for success the disruption and/or dismantlement of government techniques and methodologies that prevent terrorist activities? This is an extremely important issue, and question, because there are other ongoing sensitive intelligence and investigative techniques and methodologies which have not yet been compromised by the media. As the trend to break these types of stories becomes seemingly more important, I�d like to know� at what point is a determination made that the �public need to know� becomes more important than national security?

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