Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) suggested on CNN last night that resigning Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair was “frustrated,” “put on the sidelines” and “squeezed out.”
“He had to be very frustrated that he was put on the sidelines by the Attorney General who’s now running much of the intelligence collection effort, and he got the blame for it,” Bond said.
I think he’s been squeezed out. He’s been squeezed out by turf wars. He has been undercut by the White House on a number of occasions.
Bond also said that in reality Blair “really had very little power” and while his job “could be a vital position,” “it’s probably right now not worth a bucket of warm spit.”
“I think that probably the only person who could make it work would be Leon Panetta,” Bond said.
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