Bush homeland security adviser resigns (Fran Townsend)

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - Fran Townsend, President Bush's top White House-based adviser on terrorism and homeland security, has resigned, it was announced Monday.


President Bush said in a statement that Townsend "has ably guided the Homeland Security Council. She has played an integral role in the formation of the key strategies and policies my administration has used to combat terror and protect Americans."




Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071119/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_terrorism_adviser_3

---

Interesting blurb from NYT 12/04:

In addition, the White House did not consult with the one person in the West Wing who knew the most about Mr. Kerik's background, Frances Townsend, because Ms. Townsend, President Bush's adviser on homeland security and a former federal prosecutor in New York, was under consideration for the position herself, said the official, who would speak only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Those problems, law enforcement officials and Republicans said, were just two of the factors that led to the collapse of the Kerik nomination and surprised a White House focused on changing more than half the cabinet.

more:http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/15/politics/15home.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

A skillful survivor

~snip~

Townsend's career began as a prosecutor in the Brooklyn district attorney's office, but it took off when she moved to the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, where she began prosecuting corporate and mob cases for Rudolph Giuliani. Comey, a young prosecutor there, remembers the disappointment of some of Townsend's witnesses when he was asked to take over one of her Mafia cases. "You know," he says, laughing, "they were all depressed when I became their handler, and I don't think it's because I'm any less attractive. It's just that she had a great rapport with people--great people skills."

~snip~
Another of Townsend's mentors is former FBI Director Louis Freeh, who encouraged her to accept a sensitive Justice job that turned into a hornet's nest. In 1998, at Reno's request, Townsend became the head of the powerful Office of Intelligence Policy and Review. The OIPR enforces a controversial statute known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, under which the FBI or other agencies can obtain special wiretaps and other search and surveillance warrants to track spies and terrorists. A FISA court meets in secret to approve requests for the wiretaps and warrants. Since FISA warrants are intended primarily to gather intelligence, not prosecute criminals, there was tension and confusion at the time over whether the information they produced could be shared with agents or prosecutors working on criminal cases. Townsend found herself in the middle of that debate over how much of a "wall" should exist between intelligence-gatherers and prosecutors, and her tenure at OIPR remains controversial today. Many FBI agents say Townsend was crucial in obtaining FISA wiretaps, especially during the period of heightened terrorism concerns around the new millennium. But many prosecutors felt that Townsend was less than helpful in making sure the FBI shared wiretap data with lawyers at Main Justice when there was evidence of criminal activity. Townsend believed that the FISA court and its chief judge at the time, Royce Lamberth, would refuse to approve search warrants and wiretaps if they believed too much information sharing was going on and if prosecutors were controlling or directing the intelligence-gathering efforts. One knowledgeable source backs her up and says Townsend "cared very much about following procedures." But others suspect an ulterior motive. Some Justice Department prosecutors felt Townsend wanted to keep the wall up because it kept prosecutors out of national security investigations, leaving more authority in the hands of Townsend and friendly bureau agents.

~snip~


Several Reno aides say the attorney general relied too heavily on Townsend. "There's no single person that Janet Reno had a bigger blind spot for than her," says a Justice official. In fact, some of Reno's senior aides distrusted Townsend so much, sources say, that one asked that Reno's confidential assistant inform him if Town-send violated protocol and approached Reno directly.

Some senior FBI officials blame Lamberth, not Townsend, for the FISA problems. Townsend says she repeatedly tried to persuade the judge to lower the "wall" but knew she had crossed the line when in November 2000, the FISA court held a rare meeting of the full court to discuss "wall" -related issues. "The chief judge was so annoyed with me," says Townsend, "that he wouldn't permit me personally to attend, because I had pushed so hard against the restrictions they had imposed." Others say the real root of Lamberth's anger at Townsend was the false information given by the FBI in dozens of wiretap applications to the FISA court. Lamberth declined to comment. But he told Reno's successor, Ashcroft, that he had lost faith in Townsend. Knowing she was in an untenable situation, Townsend says, she told Ashcroft's then acting deputy, Robert Mueller, that she was willing to step aside. Townsend says Mueller consulted with Ashcroft and told her that she was out. Mueller, who is now the FBI director, declined to be interviewed but said in a statement that Townsend had "voluntarily moved" during the Bush transition. "Fran is a true professional," Mueller said, "with extensive experience in addressing terrorism. As such, she brings experienced leadership to the war on terror."

~snip~

Others in the counterterrorism community took notice. Barely two years later, Townsend was on her way back to the top. As National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice's counterterrorism deputy, Townsend beefed up White House involvement in security planning for the Olympic Games in Athens and made several trips to Saudi Arabia. "She's been very important on issues of terrorist financing," Rice told U.S. News. Rice said Townsend also played a key "debottlenecking" role in Iraq, to "make sure people were getting the kind of merged intelligence that was needed."

a total of 4 pages read more:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/041206/6townsend_3.htm

[panader0]

1. OMG! What'll we do? I feel so vulnerable.

[napi21]

2. Hmmmm, that's quite interesting. I couldn't stand listning to her,

but she really did sound like a real layoal Bushie. What did I miss????

\It's also too funny that she ignored the orders "if you're not committed to staying until Jan 09, you need to leave by Sept. 30!

[Bitwit1234]

3. She resigned now so bush can "try" to slip in another

recess appointment.

[lonestarnot]

5. Didn't I read last week that we are guarding the henhouse on recess appointments?

[rodeodance]

7. yes, Reid left the senate open.

[rodeodance]

4. ok, this IS a surprize

[rodeodance]

6. Raw story:--will stay until bush finds another person.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Bush_Homeland_Security_adviser_resigns_1119.html

Homeland Security adviser to President George W. Bush Frances Townsend has resigned, following a report of her departure in Politico.

“It’s an important job and she was good at it,” an anonymous Bush official told the site. “She will stay until her successor is identified, which is immensely helpful.”

[rodeodance]

8. AP: 'No reason was cited for Townsend's departure, and there was no word on a successor.'

No reason was cited for Townsend's departure, and there was no word on a successor.

Bush has seen a substantial revamping of the lineup of players on the team he brought to Washington as the just-elected president in a disputed election with Democrat Al Gore in 2000.

He saw longtime friend, aide and confidant Alberto Gonzales resign earlier this fall in the face of a convulsive uproar on Capitol Hill over the dismissals of a slew of federal prosecutors and in connection with the administration's warrantless wiretap program. And Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld resigned just after the time of the 2006 elections in which Democrats, harping on a get-out-of-Iraq theme, regained control of Congress.

[sallyseven]

9. She shouldn't go with the feeling that

she will be missed. What a freaking idiot she was. Lied all the time. I can not believe she could be so stupid.

[Ian David]

10. Fran Townsend has resigned to spend more time involving her family with the mafia. n/t

[jeff30997]

17. Lol!

Good one!:)

[Roland99]

11. She was as effective as Karen Hughes. A bunch of know-nothing hacks running policy.

*sigh*

[calimary]

12. Another smug bush snot-nose bites the dust.

See ya, fran. You know what they say about doors and rear ends...

[yellowcanine]

13. Buh bye Franny. We hardly knew ya. And Valerie Plame WAS undercover, b*tch!

[whistle]

14. Another rat jumping the sinking Shrub* ship

[jeff30997]

18. "the sinking Shrub* ship"

It's called The Twitanic.:evilgrin:

[concreteblue]

15. can i be first?? really??!!!

"YOU"RE DOING A HECK OF A JOB FRANNIE"
wooohhooooo!!!!

[Bossy Monkey]

20. Welcome to DU! n/t

[Highway61]

16. ahhh

"And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust"......Freddy Mercury

[Bunkie0913]

19. Sounds like she is trying to "cut and run"

I recall a few weeks ago when the new torture memos were leaked watching a video on DU of Fran defending the administration and telling us she could neither confirm nor deny waterboarding but the United States DOES NOT torture. Maybe those enhanced interrogation techniques should be utilized on Ms. Townsend to tell us what she knows. Surely she has information that could be used to convict the terrorist in our government.

[lutefisk]

21. It's pay day for Fran. I wonder how long it will take her to cash in?

Actually, she has probably had the big bucks lined up for months, if if not years. Somehow I doubt she is going to do anything to benefit anyone but herself.

[Demeter]

22. It's Making My Head Hurt

A lie within a falsehood within a deception wrapped in a tale....

[donkeyotay]

23. Many possible reasons for the timing, but I can't help but think of Hastert & Sibel

from the OP:

Many FBI agents say Townsend was crucial in obtaining FISA wiretaps, especially during the period of heightened terrorism concerns around the new millennium. But many prosecutors felt that Townsend was less than helpful in making sure the FBI shared wiretap data with lawyers at Main Justice when there was evidence of criminal activity. ... Some Justice Department prosecutors felt Townsend wanted to keep the wall up because it kept prosecutors out of national security investigations, leaving more authority in the hands of Townsend and friendly bureau agents.

[leveymg]

24. Those who suppressed FISA warrant applications before 9/11 have a lot to answer for.

Late in the summer of 2001, several FBI offices including Colleen Rawley's Minneapolis field office and John O'Neill's NY National Security Unit were seeking FISA warrants for persons inside the U.S. known to be part of Al-Qaeda operational cells. Access to FISA warrants was restricted at several key choke points by Main Justice. According to some sources cited above, Fran Towsend appears to have been part of the problem.

The true "FISA wall" wasn't the law, it was key personnel at Main Justice who withheld warrants from field investigators working in al-Qaeda cases.

The CIA also refused to turn over files that would have provided more than enough grounds to issue warrants. In early 2000, the CIA monitored a terrorist planning summit in Kuala Lumpur, attended by Flt. 77 hijackers Al-midhar and al-Hazmi, and then followed the pair as they entered the US on January 15, 2000. Had FISA warrants been sought for this pair of key conspirators, who has intimate knowledge and met with Atta and the other key figures involved, the 9/11 operation would have most surely been foiled. There would have been no GWOT, and no ready excuse for the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

History would have been vastly different. Ms. Townsand needs to explain exactly what her role was at DOJ was in erecting and maintaining The Wall.