Vince Cannistraro, who headed the C.I.A.'s
Counterterrorist Center in the early 1990s, told me, "My view is that Laurie has an obsession with Iraq and trying to link Saddam to global terrorism.
Wiley held several key agency leadership positions, including chief of the DCI
Counterterrorist Center and chief, Persian Gulf division, where he headed the intelligence directorate's Persian Gulf task force following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in the 1990s.
Pillar was formerly the chief of the CIA's
Counterterrorist Center, a fact that in itself provi des insight into why the U.S.
The original focus of the
Counterterrorist Center, created by then-Director of Central Intelligence William Casey, was almost exclusively operational, leaving all multidisciplinary analysis to the Office of Near East, South Asian, and African Analysis and similar components in the Directorate of Intelligence.
Pillar was deputy chief of the
Counterterrorist Center at CIA, and his experience and depth of knowledge are obvious.
Pillar, a CIA officer, was deputy chief of the DCI
Counterterrorist Center and is the author of Terrorism and U.S.
But perhaps most terrifying of all is the proposal that the military become actively involved in domestic affairs through the establishment of a domestic
counterterrorist center under FBI jurisdiction.
He is a former deputy chief of the
Counterterrorist Center at the Central Intelligence Agency.
Among steps considered, the meeting has proposed sharing investigative information and establishing a
counterterrorist center. These steps should be strengthened.
After a three-week study, Clarridge modestly reports that he completed in January 1986 "probably the most brilliant paper (or at least the most cogent) that I had ever put together or ever will" Out of it came the CIA's
Counterterrorist Center, which merged clandestine operatives with analysts and technicians, as well as with outside specialists.
