Letter #86 to friends & familiares: parting thoughts on politics

Dear everyone,

It really is time for me to right-size my ego; George Stephanopolis, I aint…not sure I can even spell it. Perhaps, like other volunteers, I have a lot of free time and so I wile away the hours bloviating. Since two months remain in my three years here, it is time move ahead with some essays on México. Part of the challenge here is that I take little time to travel and discover the country. By the time the week-end arrives, it seems I am just too tired to be anything but lazy.

Before I turn to writing about México, however, permit me one last note about the political world for parting reflections on two current topics of discussion: Benghazi and the N.S.A. These two issues have taken on high visibility, partly because of President Obama’s mismanagement and partly because of Edward Snowden’s revelations. They exist in the popular conscience as festering sores, harmless in themselves, that are picked into infection.

Benghazi. Some of the most valuable evidence has come out piece-meal and key data often get lost in the shuffle. Piecing everything together, at least from the accumulation of information I have come across, indicates that our civilian leadership did not act in bad faith during the event itself, though the lying to families and manipulated narrative afterward are troubling. The case that President Obama should have been micro-managing this crisis is appealing but unconvincing.

At least for me, Benghazi has turned out to be what I thought it was in the first place: a horrifically tragic and avoidable event. Trying to rescue these people against all odds might have forestalled a second attack. The Department of State might have honoured more security requests. The Department of Defense might have mobilized rapid response units at the first sign of trouble. Might, might, might: subjunctivitis doth make idiots of us all.

Had I been on the look-out for Benghazi before the fact – had I been the Ambassador or the foreign service officer – I would have thought, when making the decision whether or not to lay over for that last night, that the likelihood of the eventual outcome was about 5-10%, which it probably was. Yet, by expected values, that would come out to me being 10% killed (e.g., losing an arm). Of course, when the attacks came, the whole outcome occurred as tragic as that was.

The N.S.A. data sweep.  The N.S.A. debate is welcome and well overdue. That said, however, the matter of impropriety or abuses of power comes down to whether or not we trust these government officials. Call me lenient, if you like, but I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt for a few reasons.

• I believe that both F.B.I. Director Robert Mueller and General Keith Alexander are overtly honorable.
• James Clapper is too cool and rehearsed to be taken at face value; still, I sense that he is largely telling the truth.
• C.I.A. Director John Brennan is more difficult to trust because of his involvement with the drone-strike campaign; I may be being superficial because he looks menacing.
• Admittedly, most of my comfort derives from Keith Alexander, Robert Mueller and, to a lesser extent, James Clapper
• A colleague pointed out that Edward Snowden may have hopped from job to job to de-compartmentalize his clearance so he could disseminate a lot of information.
• Lastly, credit card companies invade people's privacy far more than anything alleged of the N.S.A., and far more regularly. Their data-mining for marketing peers into content more than any of these agencies do. I do not recall Capital One, MBNA or Providian seeking people's consent.

All that said, I believe President Obama has lost his credibility; funny, I actually find Attorney General Holder and C.I.A. Director Brennan to be more trustworthy. To be sure, each of Muller, Alexander and Clapper has been caught in giving misleading information. Too bad we do not live in a world where people never feel compelled to lie for reasons larger than themselves or their professional standing. 

Nevertheless, the inconsistencies were small and, if my memory serves me well, matters of degree more than kind. Additionally, I also believe that everybody I know would likely have done the same thing; each set the record straight, when busted or when appropriate. In short, they did what spies do but managed to keep their hand on the tiller of inward integrity, at least from what I have seen.

In closing, I sincerely hope that conservatives tamp down the publicity-mongering. If there are investigations to be carried out, do so as one would do them normally. If something big turns up, it will become public soon enough.