Time: Tue Oct 21 06:01:40 1997
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Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 05:53:03 -0700
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: Top C.I.A. Official Leaving (NYT)  (fwd)

<snip>
>
>The New York Times
>October 21, 1997
>
>Top C.I.A. Official Leaving
>
>By STEVEN ERLANGER
>
>WASHINGTON -- The director of the CIA's Nonproliferation Center, who
>provided Congress with detailed briefings on some of the most
>diplomatically sensitive instances of illicit technology sales to Iran
>from Russia and China, is taking early retirement. 
>
>The official, Gordon Oehler, 55, said in a telephone interview that he
>was leaving his job of his own volition after 25 years in the CIA and
>more than five years as director of the center. The center coordinates
>all intelligence from various government agencies about the dangers of
>nuclear weapons and missile development throughout the world. 
>
>Oehler said he was tired of being a target for criticism in a stressful 
>job. "I've had a lot of heat on a lot of issues for a lot of years," he 
>said. "When you're the single spokesman for the intelligence community 
>you get shot at from a lot of directions, and you get tired of it." 
>
>Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., who serves on the House Committee on National
>Security, said he believed the retirement had been forced. Weldon said
>he planned to "lead the charge" to investigate the circumstances of
>Oehler's departure and the "politicization of intelligence." 
>
>He asserted that Oehler was being punished for giving "honest and
>forthcoming briefings" to Congress about Russian and Chinese exports of 
>dangerous materiel, technology and missiles to countries like Iran and 
>Pakistan. 
>
>"This is a watershed event and I'm going to make this a test case,"
>Weldon said. "It's a pattern of this administration. When it gets
>information that runs counter to the policy, they try to destroy the
>person that brings the message." 
>
>Weldon spoke earlier Monday with Oehler about his reasons for retiring
>and said, "Well, he's got to be careful of what he says." 
>
>Oehler said that his recent return from a long vacation had "confirmed
>for me it was time to go." He said Weldon was incorrect, adding: "This
>is not a forced retirement, but a decision of mine. I've never been told 
>to move or retire." When Weldon asked him what could be done to reverse 
>the situation, Oehler said he answered, "It's already in train." 
>
>Senior administration officials declined to comment publicly on the
>resignation, but one said Oehler had a tendency to provide his own
>opinions as if they were those of the agency. Weldon called the
>accusation unfounded and said that to his recollection Oehler had never 
>provided his own opinion even when directly asked in secret testimony. 
>
>Joseph Cirincione, a senior associate at the Henry Stimson Center, which 
>studies arms-control issues, said of Oehler: "Here's a man operating 
>within the rules, sharing information with Congress and policy experts. 
>And some of the news was uncomfortable, and came at a delicate time. But 
>he never pulled his punches because the news was uncomfortable, and 
>apparently this administration didn't like it. I don't know how else to 
>read it." 
>
>Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy
>Education Center and a Pentagon official under former President George
>Bush, said of Oehler: "The significance of his retirement is great. This 
>man, in an agency known for its bending of truths, was an honest broker. 
>To find integrity in public service is a rare, cherished and precious 
>thing. And when it goes, it brings down morale, it's got to. Whether his 
>retirement was forced or not I don't know, and we'll never know, but 
>he's not being celebrated in his departure, that we know, and that is 
>worrisome." 
>
>He added, "That a man of integrity should feel such stress in being shot 
>at for his honesty is an indictment of what we claim to be doing in the 
>name of nonproliferation."
>
>Copyright 1997 The New York Times Company
>
<snip>

===========================================================================
Paul Andrew Mitchell, Sui Juris      : Counselor at Law, federal witness 01
B.A.: Political Science, UCLA;   M.S.: Public Administration, U.C.Irvine 02
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website: http://supremelaw.com       : visit the Supreme Law Library now 05
ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech,  at its best 06
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_____________________________________: Law is authority in written words 09
As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice.  We shall 10
not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal. 11
======================================================================== 12
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