The Assault on Intelligence: American national security in an age of lies by Michael V. Hayden has a title that drew me. Trying to understand why it makes sense to take issue with the entire intelligence apparatus makes no sense to me, so I turned to an expert for insight.
Started: 7/7/2019
Completed: 7/14/2019
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: Nobody
Words for which I sought help:
naif -- a naive or ingenuous person
Review:
Director Hayden is very conservative. He is not a fan of Trump. He is focused on facts. He is perplexed by Trump. "Did [Trump] simply reject the premise that objective reality existed or mattered?" Trump is incomprehensible to Director Hayden because Trump is so untethered from the truth which forms Hayden's bedrock.
Regarding Trump's assertions that the Intelligence community had it wrong after the community started providing candidate briefings, Director Hayden argued that "[r]ejecting a fact based intelligence assessment--not because of compelling contradictory data, but because it was inconsistent with a preexisting worldview or because it was politically inconvenient--is the stuff of ideological authoritarianism, not pragmatic democracy."
Trump's behavior was baffling to those in the intelligence committee who were trying to brief him. "The veteran briefer ruminated with me over whether or not the president made a distinction in his own mind between true and untrue."
I was completely floored to learn that George W. Bush was a voracious reader. Director Hayden said so and I did a little quick research and was stunned to learn that in a 4 year period he had read 95 books. Not picture books either, but serious biographies and even Camus' The Outsider. It is understandable when you think about Bush graduating with a History degree from Harvard and a Business degree from Yale, but it is so hard to reconcile with the man who was publicly president ("the deciderer"). I remain stunned. It took me so far aback, that I am still flummoxed as to handle this new information.
This book was a hard read to me as many of the asides provided by Director Hayden assumed that his exceedingly conservative positions were obviously correct and his comments about the Obama administration could find no positivism. Meanwhile he largely side-stepped the concept of going into Iraq on bad intelligence except for when he was quoting Trump. I'm no fan of the CIA or FBI, but I recognize their value and importance to the USA. I also recognize that they can abuse their position--though, hopefully, the era of McCarthy style abuse will not arise again in those agencies.
I recommend this book because it helps me understand how a conservative wants to divorce himself from Trump and how he distinguishes himself from those who support Trump. I imagine that people such as Director Hayden will opt not to vote for President rather than select a non-conservative for office. I will be curious to see if he announces his position on this issue in the 2020 election (assuming Trump is still in office at that time).
Director Hayden is very conservative. He is not a fan of Trump. He is focused on facts. He is perplexed by Trump. "Did [Trump] simply reject the premise that objective reality existed or mattered?" Trump is incomprehensible to Director Hayden because Trump is so untethered from the truth which forms Hayden's bedrock.
Regarding Trump's assertions that the Intelligence community had it wrong after the community started providing candidate briefings, Director Hayden argued that "[r]ejecting a fact based intelligence assessment--not because of compelling contradictory data, but because it was inconsistent with a preexisting worldview or because it was politically inconvenient--is the stuff of ideological authoritarianism, not pragmatic democracy."
Trump's behavior was baffling to those in the intelligence committee who were trying to brief him. "The veteran briefer ruminated with me over whether or not the president made a distinction in his own mind between true and untrue."
I was completely floored to learn that George W. Bush was a voracious reader. Director Hayden said so and I did a little quick research and was stunned to learn that in a 4 year period he had read 95 books. Not picture books either, but serious biographies and even Camus' The Outsider. It is understandable when you think about Bush graduating with a History degree from Harvard and a Business degree from Yale, but it is so hard to reconcile with the man who was publicly president ("the deciderer"). I remain stunned. It took me so far aback, that I am still flummoxed as to handle this new information.
This book was a hard read to me as many of the asides provided by Director Hayden assumed that his exceedingly conservative positions were obviously correct and his comments about the Obama administration could find no positivism. Meanwhile he largely side-stepped the concept of going into Iraq on bad intelligence except for when he was quoting Trump. I'm no fan of the CIA or FBI, but I recognize their value and importance to the USA. I also recognize that they can abuse their position--though, hopefully, the era of McCarthy style abuse will not arise again in those agencies.
I recommend this book because it helps me understand how a conservative wants to divorce himself from Trump and how he distinguishes himself from those who support Trump. I imagine that people such as Director Hayden will opt not to vote for President rather than select a non-conservative for office. I will be curious to see if he announces his position on this issue in the 2020 election (assuming Trump is still in office at that time).
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