"Misunderstood" Poindexter to leave Bush administration.
by Maxim Kniazkov

13 August 2003
Agence France Presse


A leading player in the Iran-contra scandal, who made his way into the Bush 
administration in the wake of the September 11 attacks, is leaving the US 
government again - surrounded by another bitter controversy.

Retired admiral John Poindexter formally submitted his resignation to 
Anthony Tether, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, 
on Tuesday, complaining that his work at the Pentagon had been plagued by "a 
great deal of misunderstanding."

Although the Defense Department has not officially made it public, the 
five-page manifesto was immediately leaked to the media and is currently 
circulating on the Internet, the very network Poindexter had been planning 
to put under close government scrutiny.

"I regret we have not been able to make our case clear and reassure the 
public that we do not intend to spy on them," Poindexter wrote. "Now I have 
decided it is time for me to step down."

The resignation will become effective on August 29.

The departure follows an angry bipartisan outcry in Congress about 
Poindexter's latest brainchild - a proposed online futures market, in which 
traders were supposed to bet on anticipated developments in the Middle East 
such as coups, terrorist attacks and assassinations.

The eight-million-dollar project, which had been touted as promising to 
yield valuable intelligence, has raised eyebrows even at the top echelons of 
the Pentagon - and was nipped in the bud at the first sign of trouble.

But Poindexter's larger undertaking - the so-called Total Information 
Awareness Program - remains alive, much to the dismay of civil rights 
advocates.

The project that Democratic US Senator Ron Wyden characterized as "the most 
sweeping surveillance program ever proposed in the United States" calls for 
scouring cyberspace for telltale signs of terrorist activity.

Critics have charged that to be able to do that, the government would have 
to monitor databases containing personal bank records, shopping patterns and 
travel plans of ordinary Americans - as well as develop risk profiles for 
millions of people.

But Poindexter remains undaunted, calling on his colleagues to shield the 
program from detractors and reassuring that "we will be able to find 
patterns of transactions that are indicative of terrorist planning and 
preparation."

The resignation marks the retired admiral's second retreat from the 
government under heavy fire.

The former national security adviser in the Ronald Reagan administration was 
forced to leave in 1986, after he was implicated in the Iran-contra covert 
operation that involved selling arms to Iran in the hope of freeing American 
hostages in Lebanon - and diverting profits to anti-Sandinista rebels in 
Nicaragua.

Because arms sales to the contras were banned under US law, Poindexter was 
convicted in 1990 on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of Congress and 
making false statements.

However, an appeals court overturned the conviction less that a year later, 
arguing that his congressional testimony - given under an immunity deal - 
may have been improperly used during the trial.

In delivering his parting shot, Poindexter did not conceal his bitterness 
toward Washington where, he said, "positions on highly complex issues are 
taken and debated using glib phrases, 'sound bites' and symbols."

mk/sjw.