Analysis: Resignation of John Poindexter from the Pentagon 31 July 2003 NPR: All Things Considered ROBERT SIEGEL, host: Retired Rear Admiral John Poindexter, who found himself at the center of a controversy this week for the third time in his government career, will be leaving his Pentagon research post within the next few weeks; that from Pentagon officials who say Poindexter can no longer be effective given the bipartisan uproar over his latest idea for fighting terrorism. And joining us now from the Pentagon is NPR's Tom Gjelten. Tom, that last idea from John Poindexter to create a futures market on terrorist incidents was about as badly received on Capitol Hill as anything I can remember, so I guess we shouldn't be surprised that he's leaving the administration, should we? TOM GJELTEN reporting: That's exactly right, Robert. It's been widely expected ever since this scandal broke a couple of days ago. Democrats said that market could actually give terrorist groups a way to profit from attacks they carry out. And some Republican leaders made it clear right from the start that not only would the program have to be canceled; they wanted someone to take responsibility for it, which was taken to mean at least one head would probably have to roll. It's actually not clear how much Poindexter himself had to do with the project, but a Defense official here told me that since he'd become identified with the program, Poindexter was the one who would have to pay the price. He decided to go, this official told me, and we decided to let him. SIEGEL: Let's go over some history here. Admiral Poindexter was carrying some baggage from his days as President Reagan's national security adviser. GJELTEN: Right. He was convicted for misleading Congress about the so-called Iran-Contra deal, which, you remember, Robert, had missiles being sold to Iran in exchange for Iran getting hostages released in Lebanon and then the money from the deal going to the Contras in Nicaragua. Poindexter later testified that he thought it sounded like a good idea. And this year he had these new ideas for fighting terrorism; first to create this huge database from driver license files and credit card applications and whatnot and then analyzing it for clues that might be there about terrorist plots. That was also controversial. It was controversial enough that the Pentagon changed its name from Total Information Awareness to Terrorist Information Awareness. And then this one on the futures market for terrorist incidents. What you could say about all these Poindexter projects is that they have all been, shall we say, creative, but somewhat lacking in political sensibility. And that's very much the way Poindexter has come to be seen here, as a brilliant person, but a little lacking in political smarts. This official that I talked to today said Poindexter is, quote, "very good at thinking one way; not so good at thinking other ways." SIEGEL: I gather he has a few more weeks to keep on thinking this way. He's not leaving right away. GJELTEN: No. An official here says here's going through the details. He's got some work to finish up. But he is expected to offer his resignation within a few weeks. I'll tell you this, though, Robert. Once a pending resignation gets leaked like this, it's very hard to take it back. So I would say it is a done deal. SIEGEL: Very briefly, Tom, he's at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, the office that's always said developed the Internet. What is this... GJELTEN: Not only the Internet. SIEGEL: Yeah. GJELTEN: It's a very secret, well-funded Pentagon research project. They also did a lot of the initial research on cellular phones, fiber optics, even the fax machine. So they've got a great track record. But Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, I think, probably said it best the other day, that DARPA researchers are brilliantly imaginative, but maybe sometimes get too imaginative. SIEGEL: Thank you, Tom. GJELTEN: You're welcome, Robert. SIEGEL: NPR's Tom Gjelten speaking to us from the Pentagon.