Larry C. Johnson, CIA wiz
One name that has been popping up as an expert on CIA affairs and the conduct of the War on Terror is Larry C. Johnson. Here is his bio:
From 1989 until October 1993, Larry Johnson served as a Deputy Director in the U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism. He managed crisis response operations for terrorist incidents throughout the world and he helped organize and direct the US Government’s debriefing of US citizens held in Kuwait and Iraq, which provided vital intelligence on Iraqi operations following the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Mr. Johnson also participated in the investigation of the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103. Under Mr. Johnson’s leadership the U.S. airlines and pilots agreed to match the US Government’s two million-dollar reward.From 1985 through September 1989 Mr. Johnson worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. During his distinguished career, he received training in paramilitary operations, worked in the Directorate of Operations, served in the CIA’s Operation’s Center, and established himself as a prolific analyst in the Directorate of Intelligence. In his final year with the CIA he received two Exceptional Performance Awards.
Mr. Johnson is a member of the American Society for Industrial Security. He taught at The American University’s School of International Service (1979-1983) while working on a Ph.D. in political science. He has a M.S. degree in Community Development from the University of Missouri (1978), where he also received his B.S. degree in Sociology, graduating Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1976.
In summary, he worked for the CIA twenty years ago for four years. He then worked in the State Department for an additional four years. His academic background includes degrees in sociology, community development and political science.
Larry is, of course, the author of what may be the worst timed incorrect analysis of terrorism ever. On July 10, 2001, he had an op-ed published in the N.Y. Times entitled The Declining Terrorist Threat.
Judging from news reports and the portrayal of villains in our popular entertainment, Americans are bedeviled by fantasies about terrorism. They seem to believe that terrorism is the greatest threat to the United States and that it is becoming more widespread and lethal. They are likely to think that the United States is the most popular target of terrorists. And they almost certainly have the impression that extremist Islamic groups cause most terrorism.
None of these beliefs are based in fact. While many crimes are committed against Americans abroad (as at home), politically inspired terrorism, as opposed to more ordinary criminality motivated by simple greed, is not as common as most people may think.
That was published 63 days before the United States was attacked by Islamic extremists and 3,000 people were murdered.
So, this guy spent less than a decade in government service, twenty years ago, and his academic background prepared him to head the Peace Corps. How does he become any sort of an expert on the CIA or terrorism? Just because he announces that he is?
Clifford May at NRO writes:
Johnson actually predicted that terrorism would decline in the decade beginning in 2000 as, he argued, it had in the ’90s because of “the current reluctance of countries like Iraq, Syria, and Libya, which once eagerly backed terrorist groups, to provide safe havens, funding and training.”
Johnson blamed excessive fear of terrorism on “24-hour broadcast news operations too eager to find a dramatic story” and on “pundits who repeat myths while ignoring clear empirical data,” along with politicians who “warn constituents of dire threats and then appropriate money for redundant military installations and new government investigators and agents.”
Johnson also criticized the military and intelligence bureaucracies, saying they were “desperate to find an enemy to justify budget growth.”
This is an astonishing analysis when you consider that Johnson was writing after the first bombing of the World Trade Towers, after the bloody battle depicted in the book, Blackhawk Down ‘ involving Osama bin Laden-trained Somali guerillas ‘ after the attempt by Saddam Hussein to assassinate former President Bush in Kuwait, after the bombing of our troops in Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, after the terrorist attacks on America’s embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and after the attack on the USS Cole, and after Secretary of State Albright included Iraq among the seven countries designated as state sponsors of international terrorism in 2000.
The man’s analysis is suspect. His public record suggests that I am as qualified to be called an expert in terrorism and I most certainly am not. His service upon which his alledged expertise is based was short and is stale with age. This guy is just another academic / policy windbag that people are dumb enough to credit and believe.
