Hope and Fail

Waiving ethics rules for terror watch-list review

Mere days after President Obama took office and announced strict, new ethics rules for his administration, he began issuing “waivers” for certain staffers to bypass those very rules. Most of the waivers have been given to former lobbyists, some for folks with what can easily be called a “technical” connection to what they are working on.

But the latest one takes the cake. The White House gave the president’s homeland security adviser, John Brennan, such a waiver so he can conduct the review of the nation’s terror watch-list system. Without the waiver, Brennan would be breaking the administration’s ethics rules because he helped design the current system in his former role as director of the National Counterterrorism Center and was CEO of the company that designed it!

From The Washington Times:

Mr. Brennan served between November 2005 and January 2009 as the chief executive officer of what was then known as the Analysis Corp., a contractor that provides intelligence analysis used in developing the watch-list system.

… White House attorneys reviewed whether Mr. Brennan would be violating ethics rules by conducting the review of watch lists in light of his previous position and determined that the benefit to the public interest of having Mr. Brennan conduct the review far outweighed any potential conflict of interest.

And from Politico:

The forms also show that Brennan sat on the board of directors for TAC’s parent company, Global Strategic Group, from August 2007 until January 2009. Brennan’s ties to the system he is now charged with reviewing could raise questions about the independence of Obama’s review. One former senior intelligence official told POLITICO it is “unsavory to see Obama put Brennan in charge of a review of this matter, since it is possible that NCTC or TAC could have failed in their responsibilities.”

Senior administration officials said that for the past few days, the White House’s legal and ethics counsel has been reviewing Brennan’s ties and determined that given Brennan’s knowledge of and experience with the intelligence community, any conflict was outweighed by the need for Brennan’s expertise on the issue.

This isn’t just a technical connection. This is like having the fox guard the hen house. Or like awarding no-bid, government contracts to a company that once listed the vice president as its CEO.

The White House explains it like this (ironically posted right after a rant about “the same old Washington”):

By virtue of his long experience in government and the private sector, John brings a unique mixture of know-how and understanding to this assignment.

The applicable ethics rules recognize that under the circumstances set forth in the attached memo, counsel should review the matter and authorize the official to proceed with the assignment where the public interest so requires. That is particularly true where, as here, national security concerns are implicated. We have done that analysis and have determined that, as set out in the authorization and waiver, it is in the public interest for John to proceed.

Brennan has experience — experience designing the very system that failed miserably.

Not only is the president, again, making exceptions for his own ethics rules, he’s conducting an “independent” review that isn’t independent.