The Death of Discipline?
No one was disciplined or fired in connection with the Christmas day (2009) attempted airplane bombing. No supervisor of Major Nidal Hasan (the Fort Hood shooter) was disciplined or fired in connection with their failure to act on clear signs that Hasan was a danger to himself and others. (Here) And now (here and here), no one is being disciplined or fired in connection with the suicide bombing in 2009 at an Afghan base, which killed seven CIA employees. It’s clear now that critical warnings about the suicide bomber simply weren’t reported to other CIA.
After the latest investigation concerning the CIA deaths, CIA Director Leon Panetta conceded that there were glaring security blunders. He blamed this on a patchwork system that left no one in charge of rigorously checking the background of the double agent. He said structural changes will be made to create an analytic team better able to spot double agents Panetta continued, “Responsibility cannot be assigned to any particular individual or group . . . . If anything, all of us bear responsibility . . . and all of us have to fix it.”
If a “patchwork system” without sufficient structure to assure clear communication of imminent danger allowed the suicide bombing to kill seven members of the CIA, that falls at the feet of Director Panetta. What is being said about how this happened sounds like what was said after 9/11. That means we’re still doing some things the same way we were doing them when 9/11 occurred. Panetta is probably right. We shouldn’t scapegoat lower level CIA employees. One wonders whether the person at the top bears responsibility for a deficient patchwork system. Should Panetta be disciplined — maybe be fired? What an example that would be for all kinds of employers and employees.
Harry Truman didn’t just say, “The buck stops here.” He proved it.
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When the responsibility is assigned to “everybody”, the accountability rests on “nobody”. But I’m guessing Panetta likes it that way… it has worked well for him so far.
Well said, Frank. A lot of people in DC like it that way, as do people in the private sector. That’s why all the talk about change is hard to listen to.
John