Paul R. Pillar
Paul R. Pillar was a 28-year veteran of the CIA. From 2000-2005, he worked as the national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia where he was considered the agency's lead analyst in counterterrorism. He now works as a security studies professor at Georgetown University.
Prior to joining the CIA, Pillar served as a U.S. Army officer in Vietnam. He earned an A.B. degree from Dartmouth College, and received the B.Phil from Oxford University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University.
Terrorism and Foreign Policy
Pillar's interest in foreign policy resulted in a book Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy first published in 1999 and updated in 2004. The back cover of the book reads:
- Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy is an essential gulde to more effective coordination between conventional foreign policy and efforts to prevent terrorist attacks and activities. This paperback edition includes a new, extensive, and provocative post-9/11 introduction, along with the author's in-depth analyses of current terrorist threats, the status of terrorism in world politics, counterterrorism tools available to the United States, state sponsors of terrorism, and how best to educate the public about terrorist threats and counterterrorism.
A review of the book in Foreign Affairs says: "The book's strength is its nuanced sense of how Washington's counterterrorism policy actually works, day in and day out."
The Washington Times wrote: "[Pillar] offers a valuable overview of the dimensions of terrorism and counterterrism.... Mr. Pillar's recommendations for improving U.S. counterterrorism policy, such as paying attention to the full range of terrorist threats, as opposed to solely focusing on WMD terrorist warfare, and disrupting terrorist infrastructure worldwide, should be closely read by all those involved in the counterterrorism effort."
Criticism of Bush Administration
In early 2006, he wrote an article for Foreign Affairs criticizing the Bush Administration for cherry picking intelligence to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Pillar wrote that the Administration went to war in Iraq "without requesting -- and evidently without being influenced by -- any strategic-level intelligence assessments on any aspect of Iraq. It has become clear that official intelligence was not relied on in making even the most significant national security decisions, that intelligence was misused publicly to justify decisions already made, that damaging ill will developed between [Bush] policymakers and intelligence officers, and that the intelligence community's own work was politicized."
Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus called Pillar's critique "one of the most severe indictments of White House actions by a former Bush official since Richard A. Clarke" and noted that this article was "the first time that such a senior intelligence officer has so directly and publicly condemned the administration's handling of intelligence."
Criticism of Pillar
Critics of Pillar have claimed that while his job was to assess the intelligence gathered and to oversee the writing of National Intelligence Estimates (NIE), Pillar strayed into the domain of advocating policy.[citation needed] When Bush Administation policy appeared to ignore the CIA's intelligence regarding Iraq, Pillar released an updated version of his book in January, 2004 with an introduction that was critical of Bush Administration policy.
Other critics have pointed out that Pillar has a poor track record in assessing the terrorist threat.[citation needed] Prior to 9/11, Pillar rejected the "war" metaphor for counterterrorism, comparing it instead to "the effort by public health authorities to control communicable diseases."[1]
Critics has also decried Pillar's leaking to the media of portions of a National Intelligence Estimate he viewed as supporting his policy path. [2] Critics complain that Pillar's illegal act should be prosecuted. [3]
References
- Paul R. Pillar, "Intelligence, Policy,and the War in Iraq," Foreign Affairs March/April 2006.
- Walter Pincus, "Ex-CIA Official Faults Use of Data on Iraq," Washington Post 10 February 2006 p. A1.
- David Morgan, "White House misused Iraq intelligence: ex-official" Reuter's 10 February 2006.
- Scott Ritter, "Still Cherry-Picking the Facts on Iraq," Alternet 14 February 2006.
- "Ex-CIA official says war was goal from the start," Chicago Tribune and Washington Post 11 February 2006.
- Tom Regan, "Ex-CIA officer accuses White House of 'misusing' data on Iraq" Christian Science Monitor 10 February 2006.
- Julian Borger, "Bush ignored CIA advice on Iraq, says former spy," The Guardian 11 February 2006.
Speeches by Pillar
Articles critical of Pillar
- Stephen F. Hayes, Paul Pillar Speaks, Again Weekly Standard February 10, 2006
- Robert Novak, CIA vs. Bush Townhall.com September 27, 2004
- The CIA's Insurgency WSJ.com September 29, 2004