Disclaimer: Because I am about to use the name “General Flynn” do not think I am about to enter into Partisan Politically Controversial Areas That I Normally Stay Away From. This is not about last week’s dropping of the General Flynn Case.
It is actually about...
- The ginormous influence that Hearsay by Unnamed Sources has on our everyday lives.
- It is also about how Entrenched Bureaucracies fight to remain Entrenched.
If you are still so inclined to read on, read on.
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I decided to go back and see why Lt. General Michael T. Flynn was removed from his position as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in August 2014.
I found an article from October 2016 that did a very thorough job of going into all the details of his removal. That article is 5,237 words long and my dear readers would never forgive me if I tried to explain all of that to them, even if I could figure all of that out.
Instead I am going to make a couple of observations and then go take a nap.
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Unnamed Sources...
Acknowledging that his removal was not done in a Court of Law I am often amazed how often people are Impugned, Fired, Sullied and Made to Look Like a Meanie by “Unnamed Sources”.
Should we not be able to face our accusers and, if our accusers don’t have the conviction of provable facts on their side, should they not be ignored?
I found a much shorter than 5,237 word article in April 2014 that addressed General Flynn’s impending removal that used these words...
- “citing current and former U.S. officials”
- “one former official told The Washington Post”
- “Flynn's critics also maintained”
Stop and think about this process. It is possible to have your life ruined by a person who never actually met you and knows nothing about you other than your name which the Intrepid Reporter gave to him just before the person who does not know you said the Words That Ruined Your Life.
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Entrenched (and going to stay that way) Bureaucracies...
One former official told The Washington Post that Flynn attempted to push DIA Analyses and Operators into the field and other high-intensity operations. This ran counter to how the DIA saw itself, leading many to believe that Flynn's vision for the agency was disruptive.
Flynn previously served as a senior intelligence officer for the Joint Special Operations Command. During this time he was credited with creating innovative interrogation techniques leading to significant breakthroughs in counterterrorism operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A well-known maverick, Flynn had been asked to “shake things up” at the 17,000-person agency. He brought a more wartime mind-set and ethos to a sleepy Washington bureaucracy, until the bureaucracy pushed back and Flynn’s gung-ho style was deemed too “disruptive”.
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Unnamed Sources Again...
Flynn had worked hand in hand with retired General Stanley McChrystal, to transform the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) into History’s Most Lethal Terrorist Hunting Network.
McChrystal, too, had been ousted from his job, after an article in Rolling Stone quoted unnamed members of his staff making disrespectful comments about those to whom McCrystal reported.
Although McChrystal was not quoted directly in the article, the responses of his staff were deemed to reflect the perception of McCrystal’s disrespect for his superiors.
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So where are we in this Blog Posting? We are here...
- You can be removed from a Position of Importance by unnamed sources.
- You can be removed from a Position of Importance where your marching orders were to Shake Things Up because you used your Vast Store of Knowledge and Experience to dare to Shake Things Up.
- You can be removed from a Position of Importance by a Bureaucracy Lacking Real World Experience because you tried to get them out into the Real World to Become Real World Experienced.
- You can be removed from a Position of Importance not because of What You Said but because of What the People Who Work Under You Said.
- You can be removed from a Position of Importance No Matter How Successful You Had Been in Your Position of Importance...History’s Most Lethal Terrorist Hunting Network.
Yes I have Blogged about Mr. Anonymous before and I will probably do it again because Mr. Anonymous is so darn powerful and no one is paying any attention to me.
Would I kid u?
Smartfella
