December 5, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - James Clapper, Team Obama's Director of National Intelligence and infamous over his assertion that the Muslim Brotherhood is primarily a secular organization, has sent a letter [see, http://www.politico.com/static/PPM229_111123_dniletter.html] to Senator Diane Feinstein [D-CA] the Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, objecting to language [the McCain-Levin amendment] included in the National Defense Authorization Act which reiterates the principle that those making war on the United States [i.e., Muslim terrorists] are military combatants and as such, can rightly upon capture be detained by the military.

In the letter Clapper maintains that, "...the provision that mandates military custody for a certain class of terrorism suspects could restrict the ability of our nation's intelligence professionals to acquire valuable intelligence and prevent future terrorist attack...these limitations could deny our nation the ability to respond flexibly and appropriately to unfolding events..."

What Mr. Clapper seems to really want is for terror suspects to be processed entirely within the U.S. civil court system rather than treating them as enemy combatants and thus allowing for military detention in appropriate cases.

Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy [the man who put the "Blind Sheikh" away for life] has the correct take on this matter, though in the below instance he was referring to Fox News' Judge Napolitano, whose take on the issue appears to be the same and as ill-informed as Clappers'.

"...Napolitano either can't read or doesn't understand the difference between arrest and detention. McCain-Levin does not address the power to apprehend someone. It addresses how persons apprehended by the authorities are thereafter to be detained if they fit the statutory definition of "covered persons" (i.e., unlawful enemy combatants). Posse comitatus - the doctrine that restricts military operations inside the United States - is not changed at all by the amendment..." [source, Andrew C. McCarthy, Judge Napolitano Is A Very Nice Man, But A Constitutional Quack, National Review Online, http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/284718/very-nice-man-constitutional-quack-andrew-c-mccarthy]

Befuddlement on national security issues can be forgiven Napolitano, he's a news entertainer, despite his unfamiliarity with the legal aspects of the McCain-Levin amendment.

Mr. Clapper however is another matter; he directs the entire American intelligence apparatus and he is clearly confused regarding the specifics of the legislation he has criticized. Once again James Clapper has proven that he incapable of understanding some of the most basic issues relating to his job. We remain convinced that he is dangerously incompetent and unfit to serve as the United States' chief spy.

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