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Leah Garchik, an around-town columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, had this little item in today's paper:
In a sports bar near Piccadilly while on a business trip to London, Bob Cullinan of San Rafael was watching Saturday's Jets-Steelers game when "all of a sudden, a phalanx of burly bodies came rushing in'' with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on a "farewell'' tour through Europe. Ridge and Cullinan chatted and watched the game. Did Ridge say anything surprising? He complained that CBS reported only "bad news,'' said his department had thwarted dozens of terrorists but he couldn't talk about that publicly and -- just before a pal of Cullinan's took a snapshot -- asked, "It's OK to drink beer in a photo, isn't it?''
Now Ridge is in a bar in England watching the Steelers beat the Jets in overtime and he says that DHS has thwarted dozens of terrorists, but can not say so publicly!?!?
Admittedly, this is hearsay filtered through a columnist for the Chron.
But if this is true, what rationale is there for Ridge to say such a thing?
Now if DHS has stopped plots by apprehending terrorists and turning them United States-evidence or informer, then one could understand why the government wouldn't say anything. Remember the last time that happened, when sources in the States revealed that Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was cooperating?
Now if that's the case, congrats to the DHS or FBI for busting into the Al Qaida world using good old investigative-style tactics, but what is Ridge doing talking about it in a bar?
But if on the other hand, DHS has stopped attacks along the lines of how the Millennium bombing was stopped (an alert Customs official stopping a car getting off a ferry), what's preventing the agency from touting its success? Surely, those higher-up than the captured, killed or thwarted terrorists know this happened. That removes any pretext for secrecy.
Am I missing something here? Is the situation not quite as cut-and-dried as I'm making of this little bit of gossip?
The anecdote smells legitimate, and my gut feeling is that Ridge and Co. won't talk about their accomplishments simply because they operate in a culture of intense secrecy.
That's unfortunate, because in a post-Watergate world, this lack of transparency leads many to assume the worst of their government.
Just think about how many people in this country think FBI special agents are monitoring their emails and phone calls (when in actuality, its more likely that Mossad is intercepting and scanning your email (hi guys!)).
But that's what the government deserves when it clings, irrationally, to secrecy: a populace deeply, if incorrectly, distrustful of its own government.
There should be an award for this kind of stupidity and arrogance.
Posted by Ryan Singel at January 20, 2005 08:07 PM
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Oh, yeah, this is exactly the same thing as when you're 14 and you claim to have had sex with a girl from Canada.
A security supervisor at an airport once gave me the same line, that if I only knew how many terrorists they'd caught, I'd be grateful for their ridiculous screening processes. I told him that I didn't believe it for a second, and I still don't. With all the well-publicized failures they've had over the past few years, if they'd really captured "dozens," there's no way they couldn't afford to at least give up ONE to show a success in public. These people are inept and crooked, and it's the easiest trick in the book to keep people scared and obedient without having to produce a single shred of evidence - oh, we've captured dozens of terrorists, but we just can't tell you about it.
Right. If it were true, then they're even bigger idiots for not touting at least one success.
Posted by: Kirk at January 22, 2005 10:20 AM
I was the one who met Tom Ridge in London, and told my story to Leah Garchik of the SF Chronicle. I can assure you that it is true...Bob Cullinan
Posted by: Bob Cullinan at March 22, 2005 09:31 AM