stephanie
10-27-2008, 09:38 AM
The Editors
Recently, FSM sat down with Buck Revell, former Associate Deputy Director of the FBI who was in charge of all FBI operations before his retirement in 1994. What he has to say about the idea of a security clearance for Barack Obama, a man who could be our next president, is stunning and sobering, to say the least.
FSM: It has been said that Sen. Obama would not be able to get a security clearance now if he applied for one because of the many relationships he has had in the past, and now, with people like Khalid al-Mansour and Bill Ayers. Is that true?
BR: Well, of course, all I can do to render my opinion is to the time I served in government, and I retired after 35 years in 1994. But at one time I was the Assistant Director in charge of the administrative division of the FBI, which as part of its duties was hiring and clearing personnel, and certainly we would not have hired during my tenure a person that had the background, associates and relationships that Obama has had over his adult life.
Now, that’s not saying that he has engaged in any illegal or improper activity, but when you associate with people of the likes of Bill Ayers, who is not only a known radical but an unrepentant radical, and teaches a radical socialism – some would say communist – approach to government, and espouses the use of violence if “necessary,” and he determines when it’s necessary, this is not the kind of person that an association with – and an association that was both voluntary and lengthy – would give you the necessary satisfaction that the applicant himself was not involved to some degree or at least acknowledged and agreed with parts of that person’s social or political agenda.
Certainly with the Rev. Wright, if we had an individual who was coming in for an agent application, and he belonged to the Aryan Nation’s Church and he had as his counselor and pastor Richard Gibb Butler, who was a radical white extremist, we would not have considered that person for a position in the Bureau because that is essentially a relationship with a racist entity; and being counseled by a vehement racist – whether he is black, white, red or brown – in and of itself is reason not to give someone access to highly classified information or a job in government that requires that.
Obama’s relationships with various hoodlum figures in the Chicago area certainly would be something to look into and you’d have to determine the extent and degree of that relationship to make that determination, but it would be examined very carefully. I have no knowledge that Obama himself has engaged in any illegal or improper activities; I don’t know that he has himself engaged in the radical activities that his associates have – or certainly the criminal activities that they have – but the fact that he knowingly associated with people – and he knew their backgrounds and he continued to associate with them – would have, in my opinion, been disqualifying for special agent position, an analyst position, in fact any position that required a security clearance.
By what has been reported and to some degree acknowledged, would in my view, have disqualified him for a position in the FBI based upon the fact that he wouldn’t have qualified for a security clearance.
FSM: It sounds to me that the FBI operates less on the idea of “guilt by association” and more on the idea of “a man is known by the company he keeps.”
read the rest..
http://familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.1581/pub_detail.asp
Recently, FSM sat down with Buck Revell, former Associate Deputy Director of the FBI who was in charge of all FBI operations before his retirement in 1994. What he has to say about the idea of a security clearance for Barack Obama, a man who could be our next president, is stunning and sobering, to say the least.
FSM: It has been said that Sen. Obama would not be able to get a security clearance now if he applied for one because of the many relationships he has had in the past, and now, with people like Khalid al-Mansour and Bill Ayers. Is that true?
BR: Well, of course, all I can do to render my opinion is to the time I served in government, and I retired after 35 years in 1994. But at one time I was the Assistant Director in charge of the administrative division of the FBI, which as part of its duties was hiring and clearing personnel, and certainly we would not have hired during my tenure a person that had the background, associates and relationships that Obama has had over his adult life.
Now, that’s not saying that he has engaged in any illegal or improper activity, but when you associate with people of the likes of Bill Ayers, who is not only a known radical but an unrepentant radical, and teaches a radical socialism – some would say communist – approach to government, and espouses the use of violence if “necessary,” and he determines when it’s necessary, this is not the kind of person that an association with – and an association that was both voluntary and lengthy – would give you the necessary satisfaction that the applicant himself was not involved to some degree or at least acknowledged and agreed with parts of that person’s social or political agenda.
Certainly with the Rev. Wright, if we had an individual who was coming in for an agent application, and he belonged to the Aryan Nation’s Church and he had as his counselor and pastor Richard Gibb Butler, who was a radical white extremist, we would not have considered that person for a position in the Bureau because that is essentially a relationship with a racist entity; and being counseled by a vehement racist – whether he is black, white, red or brown – in and of itself is reason not to give someone access to highly classified information or a job in government that requires that.
Obama’s relationships with various hoodlum figures in the Chicago area certainly would be something to look into and you’d have to determine the extent and degree of that relationship to make that determination, but it would be examined very carefully. I have no knowledge that Obama himself has engaged in any illegal or improper activities; I don’t know that he has himself engaged in the radical activities that his associates have – or certainly the criminal activities that they have – but the fact that he knowingly associated with people – and he knew their backgrounds and he continued to associate with them – would have, in my opinion, been disqualifying for special agent position, an analyst position, in fact any position that required a security clearance.
By what has been reported and to some degree acknowledged, would in my view, have disqualified him for a position in the FBI based upon the fact that he wouldn’t have qualified for a security clearance.
FSM: It sounds to me that the FBI operates less on the idea of “guilt by association” and more on the idea of “a man is known by the company he keeps.”
read the rest..
http://familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.1581/pub_detail.asp