So tomorrow it begins for real

[blackangst1]

His work now begins. Bush and Obama have both pledged to work together through the transition, and I believe both. Tomorrow Obama gets his first Presidential Intelligence Briefing. Access to all the top secret shit no one knows about. An eye opening sober look at whats REALLY going on, as opposed to the armchair quarterback intelligence that happens all over the media.

I wonder how it will be for him? Obviously we wont know how it went, other than maybe a quick blurb of "The transition is happening".

Anything to discuss? I think its interesting personally.

 

[Arkaign]

I guess we watch Obama age 10 years by late January

 

[StageLeft]

Interesting. It's strange to me that to get to top secret intelligence you need a whack of background checks and all that, but if enough people say you're president, you can get EVERYTHING without any of that? Granted, it's part of the other side to see what your history is, but officially he would now have the top security clearance in the country, literally above anybody, and without any background check, right?

Also, is it true that the president can literally demand any information on anything? Are there cases where he'd be outside a need-to-know and unable to get information unless he truly had a good reason?

 

[RightIsWrong]

Are there any sites that are listing his choices for cabinet positions?

The most trusted (read: non-blog/message board) source that I have found so far:

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/10212

P.S. Yeah, I know it's technically a "blog" also, but it is the Foreign Policy editors who were doing the blogging.

You can find each of the editors' picks by going here:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/s.../cms.php?story_id=4507

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Interesting. It's strange to me that to get to top secret intelligence you need a whack of background checks and all that, but if enough people say you're president, you can get EVERYTHING without any of that? Granted, it's part of the other side to see what your history is, but officially he would now have the top security clearance in the country, literally above anybody, and without any background check, right?

Also, is it true that the president can literally demand any information on anything? Are there cases where he'd be outside a need-to-know and unable to get information unless he truly had a good reason?

The president gets access to relevant intelligence information, but the idea that he receives a book full of the country's secrets or something is ridiculous. If you want to learn what happened at Roswell, if anybody was on the grassy knoll, etc etc, join the CIA or the NSA.

But, yeah, the President gets access to lots of stuff without any clearance, on the basic assumption that he's really there to help the country and is not a secret terrorist plant or something.

 

[StageLeft]

BeauJangles, you say "relevant", does that mean that he could not walk up to Roswell and say let me in and get to see absolutely anything he wanted?

RightIsWrong, it would be awesome if Obama picked Arnold S, which is the bonus pick one person used there. He'd score major brownies by picking mccain actually for something, plus mccain could then really say, see I told you I'm a maverick!

 

[First]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Interesting. It's strange to me that to get to top secret intelligence you need a whack of background checks and all that, but if enough people say you're president, you can get EVERYTHING without any of that? Granted, it's part of the other side to see what your history is, but officially he would now have the top security clearance in the country, literally above anybody, and without any background check, right?

Also, is it true that the president can literally demand any information on anything? Are there cases where he'd be outside a need-to-know and unable to get information unless he truly had a good reason?

Presidents have been denied information from departments before, it has happened a number of times actually (dating back to Truman from what I remember). That said, all presidents these days are fully vetted and given a thorough background check.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Interesting. It's strange to me that to get to top secret intelligence you need a whack of background checks and all that, but if enough people say you're president, you can get EVERYTHING without any of that? Granted, it's part of the other side to see what your history is, but officially he would now have the top security clearance in the country, literally above anybody, and without any background check, right?

Also, is it true that the president can literally demand any information on anything? Are there cases where he'd be outside a need-to-know and unable to get information unless he truly had a good reason?

Not really. The REAL secrets are held by the DoD, NSA, CIA. Obama will not be getting a full briefing of Groom Lake aircraft or other "Black Budget" expenditures, just as I am sure he doesnt really care.

 

[Dari]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Interesting. It's strange to me that to get to top secret intelligence you need a whack of background checks and all that, but if enough people say you're president, you can get EVERYTHING without any of that? Granted, it's part of the other side to see what your history is, but officially he would now have the top security clearance in the country, literally above anybody, and without any background check, right?

Also, is it true that the president can literally demand any information on anything? Are there cases where he'd be outside a need-to-know and unable to get information unless he truly had a good reason?

Not really. The REAL secrets are held by the DoD, NSA, CIA. Obama will not be getting a full briefing of Groom Lake aircraft or other "Black Budget" expenditures, just as I am sure he doesnt really care.

He can if he fucking wanted to. Fuck, who in those agencies can tell the President "No"? He'll just fire them and appoint someone who will say "Yes".

 

[ITJunkie]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
I guess we watch Obama age 10 years by late January

Funny. Last night my wife asked how long it would be before his hair was white too...I said probably 1/21/09. Maybe that was being generous?

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: Dari

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Interesting. It's strange to me that to get to top secret intelligence you need a whack of background checks and all that, but if enough people say you're president, you can get EVERYTHING without any of that? Granted, it's part of the other side to see what your history is, but officially he would now have the top security clearance in the country, literally above anybody, and without any background check, right?

Also, is it true that the president can literally demand any information on anything? Are there cases where he'd be outside a need-to-know and unable to get information unless he truly had a good reason?

Not really. The REAL secrets are held by the DoD, NSA, CIA. Obama will not be getting a full briefing of Groom Lake aircraft or other "Black Budget" expenditures, just as I am sure he doesnt really care.

He can if he fucking wanted to. Fuck, who in those agencies can tell the President "No"? He'll just fire them and appoint someone who will say "Yes".

You have no idea how it works, do you?

 

[Modelworks]

Yeah they don't tell the president everything, mainly because everyone doesn't know everything. It is much easier to keep things secret that way. The president is told what he needs to know to do his job. He doesn't need to know that Nasa is working on a new compound that in 10 years might make computers run faster, etc.

 

[trmiv]

When I think about him getting briefed I keep picturing that Chappelle Show skit with Dave playing Morgan Freeman from Deep Impact. "Oswald killed Kennedy.......with a magic bullet. That's right magic does exist, we've known about it for some 2000 years."

 

[StageLeft]

Obviously they won't give him all the details on everything, it could take years to get that, but so you're telling me that if he went to a certain department and said "Oh, so what are you doing?" there are people who would say "Sorry, I cannot tell you.". I mean, really? How would they answer this question from him "OK, who do I go to to get approval?" because ultimately the buck stops with him.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Obviously they won't give him all the details on everything, it could take years to get that, but so you're telling me that if he went to a certain department and said "Oh, so what are you doing?" there are people who would say "Sorry, I cannot tell you.". I mean, really? How would they answer this question from him "OK, who do I go to to get approval?" because ultimately the buck stops with him.

The buck stops with the people holding the purse-strings. That would be Congress.

You should watch Charlie Wilson's war. Although obviously there is some liberty taken with the story to make it an entertaining movie, it is based on how $$$$ flows, and who controls it.

 

[jonks]

They used to call them intelligence reports, after 8 years of bush they just call them reports. [only 77 days left to get these in ]

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Obviously they won't give him all the details on everything, it could take years to get that, but so you're telling me that if he went to a certain department and said "Oh, so what are you doing?" there are people who would say "Sorry, I cannot tell you.". I mean, really? How would they answer this question from him "OK, who do I go to to get approval?" because ultimately the buck stops with him.

My initial reaction would be that yes, there are things that he couldn't access. He wouldn't be allowed private access into the discussions of the Supreme Court, or maybe certain Congressional meetings. And if there was a government agency working with one of those arms, I'm thinking that his restriction would be extended.

 

[Dari]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: Dari

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Interesting. It's strange to me that to get to top secret intelligence you need a whack of background checks and all that, but if enough people say you're president, you can get EVERYTHING without any of that? Granted, it's part of the other side to see what your history is, but officially he would now have the top security clearance in the country, literally above anybody, and without any background check, right?

Also, is it true that the president can literally demand any information on anything? Are there cases where he'd be outside a need-to-know and unable to get information unless he truly had a good reason?

Not really. The REAL secrets are held by the DoD, NSA, CIA. Obama will not be getting a full briefing of Groom Lake aircraft or other "Black Budget" expenditures, just as I am sure he doesnt really care.

He can if he fucking wanted to. Fuck, who in those agencies can tell the President "No"? He'll just fire them and appoint someone who will say "Yes".

You have no idea how it works, do you?

Actually I do. He's the President, being in such a non-public position (away from the eyes of many) makes it very easy for you to be moved aside so that some other snot-nosed asshole can be the President's "eyes and ears" in whatever esoteric department he's interested in.

There are more than one way to get the info you want.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: Dari

Actually I do. He's the President, being in such a non-public position (away from the eyes of many) makes it very easy for you to be moved aside so that some other snot-nosed asshole can be the President's "eyes and ears" in whatever esoteric department he's interested in.

There are more than one way to get the info you want.

If he fires someone that says "no" then those secrets will disappear with him. There are people that he can't fire as well, like the SCOTUS.

 

[techs]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Interesting. It's strange to me that to get to top secret intelligence you need a whack of background checks and all that, but if enough people say you're president, you can get EVERYTHING without any of that? Granted, it's part of the other side to see what your history is, but officially he would now have the top security clearance in the country, literally above anybody, and without any background check, right?

Also, is it true that the president can literally demand any information on anything? Are there cases where he'd be outside a need-to-know and unable to get information unless he truly had a good reason?

Rahm Emanuel?
Oy vey! He's the son of terrorist.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: techs

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Interesting. It's strange to me that to get to top secret intelligence you need a whack of background checks and all that, but if enough people say you're president, you can get EVERYTHING without any of that? Granted, it's part of the other side to see what your history is, but officially he would now have the top security clearance in the country, literally above anybody, and without any background check, right?

Also, is it true that the president can literally demand any information on anything? Are there cases where he'd be outside a need-to-know and unable to get information unless he truly had a good reason?

Rahm Emanuel?
Oy vey! He's the son of terrorist.

Sweet, out with New Washington, in with Old Chicago!

 

[BTA]

If Independence Day has taught me anything....it's plausible deniability.

 

[brxndxn]

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: Dari

Actually I do. He's the President, being in such a non-public position (away from the eyes of many) makes it very easy for you to be moved aside so that some other snot-nosed asshole can be the President's "eyes and ears" in whatever esoteric department he's interested in.

There are more than one way to get the info you want.

If he fires someone that says "no" then those secrets will disappear with him. There are people that he can't fire as well, like the SCOTUS.

'Executive Orders' (unconstitutional, btw) are used by the President to create and dismantle entire agencies... Bush created the Dept. of Homeland Security through an executive order.

If the President wants intelligence from any of the departments under the Executive branch, the President gets it. If he doesn't, he can fire whoever he wants under that branch or dismantle the entire organization..

 

[marincounty]

Let's hope this president actually reads the intelligence briefing.:laugh:

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: Dari

Originally posted by: Ocguy31
-snip-

He can if he fucking wanted to. Fuck, who in those agencies can tell the President "No"? He'll just fire them and appoint someone who will say "Yes".

I don't believe you're being realistic here.

He, no more than us, would even know what questions to ask, or to whom. If you don't know the right questions to ask, you're not likely to get the answers.

Plus, and I wouldn't put it past the intellegence underworld, they could just lie; he wouldn't know.

I would also imagine there is info he doesn't want to know, and I'd think that intel officials would think silimilarly; because once you're told plausible deniability is gone.

Finally, I think he'll be way too busy picking his cabinet etc to delve into non-essential info about flying saucers and the like (umm... I'm hoping it's non-essential - not like "President Obama, please greet our alien overlords....")

Fern