Richard A. Clarke

Richard A. Clarke resigned in January 2003 as "anti-terrorism czar", after serving under three presidents (George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush) before leaving the White House. [1] [2] [3]

---

Clarke, "an internationally recognized expert on security, including homeland security, national security, cyber security, and counterterrorism [and] currently an on-air consultant for ABC News," is Chairman of Good Harbor Consulting, LLC. [4]

"Clarke served the last three Presidents as a senior White House Advisor. Over the course of an unprecedented 11 consecutive years of White House service, he held the titles of: [5]

• Special Assistant to the President for Global Affairs
• National Coordinator for Security and Counter-terrorism
• Special Advisor to the President for Cyber Security

"Prior to his White House years, Clarke served for 19 years in the Pentagon, the Intelligence Community, and State Department. During the Reagan Administration, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence. During the Bush (41) Administration, he was Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs and coordinated diplomatic efforts to support the 1990-1991 Gulf War and the subsequent security arrangements." [6]

---

In their March 23, 2004, Washington Post article "The Book on Richard Clarke", Dan Eggen and Walter Pincus provide a profile of Clarke and comment on his recently released book Against All Enemies.

"Strong opinions are the norm when it comes to Dick Clarke. A 30-year veteran bureaucrat, Clarke rose to the uppermost ranks of the national security establishment under presidents of both parties but also managed to anger numerous colleagues with his brusque style and bursts of temper. His previous boss, former national security adviser Samuel R. 'Sandy' Berger, has said he regularly had to turn down demands from colleagues that Clarke be fired. [7]

"Clarke's brash manner is on full display in Against All Enemies, a searing portrait of missteps and misjudgments in the war on terror. While laying some blame on the former Bush and Clinton administrations, Clarke is most explicit in his criticism of George W. Bush and his top advisers, particularly Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul D. Wolfowitz. They are portrayed as indifferent to al Qaeda but obsessed with Iraq and Saddam Hussein, even in the wake of attacks carried out by Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization." [8]

"He also has chosen to release his book and to sit for a lengthy '60 Minutes' interview, on the eve of hearings today and Wednesday by the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Clarke, who left the Bush administration last year after a public demotion, is a scheduled witness. [9]

"The timing is classic Clarke, according to many who know him well. Former colleagues say Clarke is a wily tactician in the political world of Washington and would be well aware of the firestorm he would cause by the release of his book during a presidential campaign. [10]

"Most acquaintances do not regard him as a partisan. Clarke was viewed as a hawk and 'true believer' by many within the Clinton administration, and Clarke himself says he is an independent who is registered as a Republican." [11]

---

Unknowingly at the time, Ewen MacAskill, in his April 4, 2003, article "Blair 'dissuaded Bush from attack after 9/11'," supports Clarke's contention that the Bush administration wanted to make its retaliatory strike against "terrorists" in Iraq, not against al Qaeda in Afghanistan:

"Hawks in the Bush administration, mainly the deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, pushed for an attack on Iraq rather than Afghanistan in the aftermath of September 11.

"Sir Christopher Meyer, in an interview with the US public broadcasting system last night, said that the prime minister (Tony Blair), arriving in Washington the week after an inconclusive discussion between George Bush and his key advisers at Camp David, swung in behind the US secretary of state, Colin L. Powell, who saw Afghanistan as the prime target."

The question, then, is this: Where did the Bush White House come by the idea that Iraq was "the" threat? Peter Bergen emphasizes that "the belief that Saddam posed an imminent threat to the United States amounted to a theological conviction within the administration, a conviction successfully sold to the American public," then pointed directly to Laurie Mylroie in his December 2003 Washington Monthly article "Armchair Provocateur": Laurie Mylroie: The Neocons' favorite conspiracy theorist".

"She laid out her case in Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America, a book published by [the American Enterprise Institute] in 2000 which makes it clear that Mylroie and the neocon hawks worked hand in glove to push her theory that Iraq was behind the '93 Trade Center bombing. Its acknowledgements fulsomely thanked John R. Bolton and the staff of AEI for their assistance, while Richard Perle glowingly blurbed the book as 'splendid and wholly convincing.' I Lewis (Scooter) Libby, now Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, is thanked for his 'generous and timely assistance.' And it appears that Paul Wolfowitz himself was instrumental in the genesis of Study of Revenge: His then-wife is credited with having 'fundamentally shaped the book,' while of Wolfowitz, she says: 'At critical times, he provided crucial support for a project that is inherently difficult.'

"None of which," Bergan opines, "was out of the ordinary, except for this: Mylroie became enamored of her theory that Saddam was the mastermind of a vast anti-U.S. terrorist conspiracy in the face of virtually all evidence and expert opinion to the contrary. In what amounts to the discovery of a unified field theory of terrorism, Mylroie believes that Saddam was not only behind the '93 Trade Center attack, but also every anti-American terrorist incident of the past decade, from the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania to the leveling of the federal building in Oklahoma City to September 11 itself. She is, in short, a crackpot, which would not be significant if she were merely advising say, Lyndon LaRouche. But her neocon friends who went on to run the war in Iraq believed her theories, bringing her on as a consultant at the Pentagon, and they seem to continue to entertain her eccentric belief that Saddam is the fount of the entire shadow war against America."

---

March 19, 2001: "The President intends to designate Richard A. Clarke to be Chair of the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board. Clarke was recently named Special Advisor to the President for Cyber Space Security and was previously the National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-terrorism on the National Security Council. Clarke is a member of the Senior Executive Service, having begun his federal service in 1973. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Institute of Technology." [12]

"Richard Clarke [served as] a career member of the Senior Executive Service, having begun his federal service in 1973 in the Office of the Secretary of Defense." [13]

---

March 12, 2003: "Career highlights: Chairman, President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board (resigned Jan. 31[, 2003]); chaired interagency counterterrorism committee for nine years; served on National Security Council staff under President Bush and President Bill Clinton, covering U.N. peacekeeping, Haiti intervention, Persian Gulf security and international crime control; assistant secretary of state for politico-military affairs in first Bush administration, coordinating State Department support of the Persian Gulf War; deputy assistant secretary of state for intelligence in Reagan administration; joined State in 1979 as senior analyst for European arms control; analyst on nuclear weapons and European issues, Defense Department." [14]

---

Affiliations

• Advisory Board Member, Civitas Group, LLC [15]

---

SourceWatch Resources

• 9-11 Commission
• September 11, 2001
• war on terrorism

External Links

• Bush National Security Team. See biographical sketch for Richard A. Clarke, "Special Advisor to the President for Cyberspace Security."
• Biography: Richard A. Clarke, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
• Biography: Richard A. Clarke, Council on Foreign Relations.
• Biography: Richard A. Clarke, American President .org.

Dated Material

• Nomination of Richard A. Clarke To Be an Assistant Secretary of State (cache file), June 21, 1989.
• Biographical Sketch: Richard A. Clarke, circa May 1998.
• Richard A. Clarke, Text: Clarke Previews New U.S. Steps to Counter Terrorism (Addresses counter-measures to chem-bio attacks), Department of State, October 8, 1998.
• Michael Dobbs, "An Obscure Chief in U.S. War on Terror," Washington Post, April 2, 2000: "Richard Clarke witnessed the dawn of the millennium in a top-secret government communications vault, monitoring intelligence traffic for any sign of activity by Islamic terrorist groups loyal to Osama bin Laden. It was not until midnight in California--3 a.m. Washington time--that the Clinton administration's counterterrorism chief finally permitted himself a celebratory sip of champagne. ... Four weeks before, Clarke had sketched out a plan on the whiteboard in his office at the National Security Council for neutralizing the latest threat from the Afghanistan-based Saudi exile. Approved by President Clinton and his top foreign policy advisers, Clarke's plan became the basis of administration efforts to prevent bin Laden supporters from ringing in the New Year with what officials believed could be dozens, perhaps hundreds, of American deaths in a series of simultaneous attacks from the Middle East to the West Coast."
• Stephen Lawson, "The Race to Secure Cyberspace," NESTAC.com, October 2001.
• Richard A. Clarke, National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism, National Security Council, Speech delivered at the Policy Conference at Lansdowne Conference Center, October 16, 1998.
• Tim Weiner, "America's Anti-Terror Czar - Czar being the operative word," New York Times, February 2, 1999: "
• Richard A. Clarke, Speech (cache file), San Francisco, California Summit, August 20, 2000.
• George W. Bush, Nomination, Designation and Appointments: Richard A. Clarke, October 19, 2001.
• Robert Lemos, "The cyberterrorism czar: What's next?," CNET, November 13, 2001: "Anyone following cybercrime may think the whole concept of "cyberterrorism" is an overhyped myth. With Web defacements and short denial-of-service attacks the norm, few fear a future attack from the Net. ... But Richard Clarke, the newly appointed special adviser to the president for cybersecurity, is one of those few. ... Leading the government's charge to secure critical components of the Internet, Clarke doesn't think the past is any indication of what might happen in the future. As more companies put increasingly important data on the Internet, Clarke thinks it's only a matter of time before an individual or group takes advantage of the United States' poor security."
• "The Race to Secure Cyberspace. Richard Clarke, Bush's new Net security chief, discusses efforts (not easy or cheap) to protect America from digital destroyers," BusinessWeek, December 6, 2001.
• William Jackson, "GovNet ideas don't come cheaply," Government Computer News, December 10, 2001.
• Lawrence Wright, "The Counter-Terrorist," The New Yorker, January 14, 2002: "In the web of federal agencies concerned with terrorism, Clarke was the spider. Everything that touched the web eventually came to his attention. The members of this inner circle, which was known as the Counter-terrorism Security Group (C.S.G.), were drawn mainly from the CIA, the National Security Council, and the upper tiers of the Defense Department, the Justice Department, and the State Department." Also here.
• Richard A. Clarke, "9/11 Warnings," ABC.net, May 21, 2002: "'.....something really spectacular is going to happen here and it's going to happen soon'; that's what the US Government's top counter-terrorism official, Richard C. Clarke, told officials from a dozen federal agencies summoned to the White House, more than two months before the terrorist attacks on September 11."
• Michael Elliott, "Could 9/11 Have Been Prevented? Long before the tragic events of September 11th, the White House debated taking the fight to al-Qaeda. It didn't happen and soon it was too late. The saga of a lost chance,", TIME, August 4, 2002.
• Julian Borger, "Bush held up plan to hit Bin Laden," Guardian/UK, August 5, 2002.
• Ariana Eunjung Cha and Jonathan Krim, "White House Officials Debating Rules for Cyberwarfare," Washington Post, August 22, 2002.
• "Richard Clarke. Office of Cyber Security Director," ABC News, October 9, 2002: "Richard A. Clarke was appointed today by President Bush to be the Special Adviser for Cyberspace Security within the National Security Council." Also see Clarke Biography.
• "Cyber Security Czar Resigns," CBS News, January 31, 2003.
• Judith Miller, "Departing Security Official Issues Warning on Cyber Threats," New York Times, February 2003.
• "Frontline Interview with Richard A. Clarke: 'The Man Who Knew'," PBS, March 20, 2002.
• "White House security adviser to resign," AP, January 24, 2003: "Clarke, the president's counterterrorism coordinator at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks, was disinclined to accept a senior position in the new Homeland Security Department and planned to retire after three decades with the government."
• "Clarke Bails Out Of Homeland Security Department. The president's blunt counterterrorism coordinator rejected a senior position in the department,", AP, January 29, 2003.
• Dennis Fisher, "Clarke Leaving security post," eWeek, January 30, 2003.
• Diane Frank, "Security guru Clarke confirms departure," FCW.com, January 31, 2003.
• Ted Bridis, "Clarke Confirms Departure, Warns Of Future Attacks. Top cybersecurity adviser cites damage from last weekend's attack; says more-sophisticated attacks could be devastating,", Information Week, January 31, 2003.
• George Smith, "Richard Clarke's Legacy of Miscalculation. The outgoing cybersecurity czar will be remembered for his steadfast belief in the danger of Internet attacks, even while genuine threats developed elsewhere,", Security Focus, February 17, 2003.
• Barton Gellman, "Anti-Terror Pioneer Turns In the Badge. After 11 Years, Clarke Leaves Legacy of Lasting Change -- and Enemies," Washington Post, March 13, 2003: "Clarke's departure is a milestone of sorts in the war on terrorism -- not only the one that dates from Sept. 11, 2001, but the one that began in earnest five years earlier. And it tells government-watchers something about the decision-making style of the national security cabinet under President Bush."
• "Clarke: Government Moving Too Slowly On Cybersecurity,", TechWeb News, April 9, 2003.
• Carolyn Meinel, "'Tough act to follow' featured article about Richard Clarke, USA Cyberczar," SANS Institute, May 5, 2003.
• William Jackson, "Richard Clarke says the worst is yet to come,", Government Computer News, June 2, 2003.
• Dan Verton, "Richard Clarke to lead homeland security consulting firm. He's joining Roger Cressey, with whom he worked at the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board," Computerworld, July 11, 2003: "Richard A. Clarke, the former special adviser to the president for cybersecurity, has joined Arlington, Va.-based Good Harbor Consulting LLC as chairman. ... Clarke joins Roger W. Cressey, president of the firm, who served as Clarke's chief of staff at the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board and before that as the director for Transnational Threats on the National Security Council."
• Testimony of Richard A. Clarke. Senate Judiciary Committee. Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Homeland Security: "Terrorism, First Responders: How much is Enough?."(pdf), September 3, 2003.
• Philip Shenon, "Clinton Aides Plan to Tell Panel of Warning Bush Team on Qaeda," New York Times, March 20, 2004.
• "Richard Clarke Book Reaction," National Public Radio, March 22, 2004.
• "The 9/11 Record. 1600 vs. Richard Clarke. An NRO Primary Document," National Review, March 22, 2004: "This is the text of a White House release issued right before the 60 Minutes interview with former White House counterterrorism official Richard Clarke aired on Sunday, March 21."
• "Richard Clarke, Fraud," PowerLineBlog.com, March 21, 2004.
• "White House goes after former aide. Bush accused of ignoring al-Qaida before Sept. 11," MSNBC.MSN.com, March 22, 2004.
• "Bush administration rejects Clarke charges. Rumsfeld to testify before 9/11 panel Tuesday," CNN, March 22, 2004: "Top members of the Bush administration sharply rebuffed their former counterterrorism chief Monday, calling his assertions in a new book about the White House's handling of terrorism and Iraq 'deeply irresponsible' and 'flat-out wrong'."
• Stephen F. Hayes, "On Richard Clarke. Richard Clarke blames the Bush administration for September 11, but what does he think about President Clinton?," Weekly Standard, March 22, 2004.
• Tom Raum, "White House Rebuts Ex-Bush Adviser Claim," AP, March 22, 2004.
• Phil Carter, "White House engages in public duel with former counter-terrorism aide. Comments reveal deeper issues with White House decisionmaking in the war on terrorism," philcarter.blogspot.com, March 22, 2004: "Analysis: I find it interesting that the White House has chosen to engage the Clarke criticisms on the level of his personal credibility -- not the truth of the matters asserted. Surely, there are classification and security issues at stake which may preclude a full and fair response by the White House to the Clarke book on the merits. But given the political stakes of this issue -- which could ultimately decide the November 2004 election -- I would think the White House would find some way to actually rebut Clarke's claims (if they weren't true) using unclassified arguments."
• Drudge Report, "News for Sale: CBS Pushed Book It Owns; '60 Minutes' Did Not Reveal Parent Company's Financial Stake in Clarke Project," March 22, 2004.
• Poster Laura, [http://www.warandpiece.com/ "Does Bush really want to make his reaction to 9/11 the centerpiece