George H. Wittman: Writer on Current and Foreign Affairs

We Need A Better Understanding Of The Critical World Of Intelligence  It's amazing how unknowledgeable the pundits are of the  world of intelligence. One would think that over the years of discussion and writing about intelligence there would  be a broad understanding of this dark but not impenetrable system of information gathering and  political action. Historically, American leadership has been extremely knowledgeable of the arcane methods and operations of i ntelligence. George Washington was a very strong supporter of espionage activities and personally  encouraged the development of the Culper net that furnished him and his staff with key information relative t o British troop movements on Long Island during the early days of the Revolutionary War. Included among the Washington "spies" on Long Island was the pretty Sall y Townsend, still in her teen years, perhaps the first  American female deep cover agent.  The ignorance of the US press r...

China finds itself divided in its political philosophy. The People's Republic of China (PRC) began as an avowed communist state, but in 1997 after much negotiation over Hong Kong's future, there evolved a concept that paved the way for contemporary China's evolution today. The new concept was added to China's constitution as Article 31. This key clause established "special administrative regions" that allowed certain areas of the country to operate differently than most others. Preoccupied with the overriding aspect of established law, the communist leaders created the legal underpinnings for "one country, two systems". This form of economic schizophrenia has been amazingly successful, even though perhaps a political "bastardization" of the Marxist Leninism on which modern China and its revered late leader, Mao Tse-tung, supposedly based his revolution. The Chinese always have been given credit for being practical. They saw quickly that t...

Developments in Syria in recent months have highlighted Russia's resuscitated expansionist ambitions under Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin's leadership and direction. Some say Vladimir Putin wants a return to the days of the Soviet Union. That may be true in the sense of size and world influence, but it certainly is not true in respect to the form of Marxist Leninism in which he grew up. To begin with, Putin personally enjoys the benefits of the highly advantageous capitalism in which he and other members of the Moscow ruling circles now participate. To be fair and accurate, this has been true in one form or another for decades. One could say the growth of sizeable personal fortunes within the Soviet hierarchy began following the end of World War II and the establishment of occupation zones. East Germany in particular became a honey pot for the Soviet civilian and military occupiers. Everything on their side of the demarcation line, and ultimately the wall, was for sal...

The attack on Syrian poison gas-producing sites by U.S., British and French air and missile assets brought an immediate response from Congress that the American president should have had a special Congressional authorization beforehand. The administration countered that it had adequate prior authorization to take this step. There has been much political coin made of the Trump administration, in particular, using the implied and actual threat of military action as a means to coerce unfriendly governments into conforming to American wishes. Certainly North Korean and Iranian nuclear ambitions fall into this category. In reality, the United States has used both the threat and fact of military action without formal congressional approval in many instances in the past. There are standing authorizations that exist currently against terrorist and terrorist-related activities and support, but the precedent for strictly presidential action dates back to Thomas Jefferson. He order...

Major nations always make intelligence assessments of both friendly and opposition leaders. In most instances these analyses are required to be simple, direct, and where possible, in unbiased terms. What follows is an attempt to reproduce such an analysis. While Donald Trump was never in military service, he did graduate from military school. He never forgot that experience. In fact there are indications that in his mind his military school background is equivalent to actual military service. There are those among his detractors who suggest that such self supportive fantasy exists generally within his thought process. This is a phenomenon of projection not unknown among political leaders. His actual psychological makeup tends to be analyzed depending upon the source's political orientation. One thing appears to be an area of agreement: Donald Trump is a far more complicated personality than he allows himself to appear. "The Donald" is clearly a big man in size, and...

It's hard to reconcile the diametrically opposite public identity with which Bashar al-Assad is characterized as President of Syria with the quiet, soft spoken, even intellectual personality he projected as a medical student second son of his "hard as nails" political leader father, Hafez al-Assad. It is explained best by the words of a onetime close friend of the late President Hafez, "Family solidarity and honor is the driving force of Bashar al-Assad.": He gave up his dream of a life dedicated to medicine when his father told him of his older brother's death in an auto accident - and that it was Bashar's responsibility to assume the role of heir-apparent to the leadership of his country. Of course it all sounds honorable and self-sacrificing – and that would be true. However, it's straight out of Mario Puzo's story, The Godfather. That's closer to the environment into which Bashar was born and which he accepted. It was the world in whi...

To begin with, it must be recognized that all legal travelers to-and-fro nations of intelligence interest are subjects of inquiry by US intelligence services, principally the CIA and FBI. However, other instruments of government security such as DEA and the various military intelligence agencies, as well as other governmental services that have international briefs, are also authorized to gather appropriate, and ofttimes classified, information on activities of foreign and domestic travelers. In fact, depending on interest in and personal ability to proceed, all major nations, and to some degree and interest, even minor nations pursue the same activity. In this regard, travel to and business negotiations with Russia by Donald Trump and his various representatives would naturally be a matter of interest for US embassy personnel assigned to track such contacts. Most businesses make a point of touching base with the State Department and the in-country embassies alerting the officia...