Unfit
Rarely has a second-tier government appointment been more momentous than Team Obama’s decision to entrust the National Intelligence Council (NIC) to Charles “Chas” Freeman. After all, by so doing, Mr. Obama would make the arbiter of the most policy-sensitive intelligence community products – the collective judgments known as National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs) – to a man with strong and profoundly troubling views.
Bias of any kind should be considered a disqualifier for the job of NIC chairman. Bias of the kind Chas Freeman has displayed for many years puts him absolutely beyond the pale.
If the House Intelligence Committee does its job in a hastily arranged hearing with Freeman this afternoon, it will be abundantly clear that he is unfit for this post – and another serious blemish on the judgment of the President who would have him serve in it.
Since Chas Freeman left the Foreign Service after a multi-decade career involving service in, among other places, Communist China, where he was the No. 2 man in the U.S. embassy, and Saudi Arabia, where he held the top diplomatic job, he has done what many others with similar backgrounds have done: cash in.
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