Idiot Alert 2


This story from the New York Times indicates that Admiral John Poindexter, the retired rear admiral who was President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser, will be stepping down from the Pentagon. I cannot believe it took this long for Admiral Poindexter to announce his resignation. How does one come up with an idea for a futures market to gamble on terrorist activities, and then actually say it out loud?

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld did not personally fire Admiral Poindexter, but the defense official said that Mr. Rumsfeld agreed that the admiral had become too much of a political lightning rod and that it was time for him to go. "It's fair to say that the secretary understood what Admiral Poindexter understands, which is that it's difficult for any work that he might be associated with to receive a dispassionate hearing," said the official, who spoke to reporters at the Pentagon today on the condition of not being named. A spokesman for Admiral Poindexter and his organization, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, a research arm of the Pentagon, said he and the office had no comment on the resignation, which was reported today by The Wall Street Journal. But Admiral Poindexter said in an e-mail message to a friend, which was given to a reporter, on Wednesday night that he had been contemplating resigning for several months, to get out from under a steady stream of criticism and to spend more time sailing on the Chesapeake Bay.

posted by sajit @ 12:13 PM