Your National Security Advisor At Work

The headline writer over at the Associated Press did not do any favors for National Security Spokesmodel*, James Jones, with the headline: "National security adviser: US safer under Obama."

Jones had the misfortune of speaking to the Atlantic Council in the wake of a North Korea's renunciation of the 1953 armistice which ended the Korean War. The timing was akin to a global warming protest delayed by snowfall.

Jones didn't roam too far off Team Obama's talking points reservation, regarding efforts to get out of Iraq, revamping the strategy in Afghanistan, and the campaign to repair the U.S. reputation aroad.

Of course, getting out of Iraq may take several years; a new commander and more troops signifies a new capability in Afghanistan, not necessarily a revamped strategy; and if you apologize enough, I'm sure more folks will like you.

More noticeably -- and in recognition that criticism from former Vice President Dick Cheney is getting traction -- Jones offered that Guantanamo has served as a recruitment tool for insurgents and as a result has probably (emphasis mine) created more terrorststs than it detained.

Now Jones would be in a position to know if this was true or not. A few questions should be asked of our vast intelligence capability:

- Is there an upswing in jihadist propaganda on the Internet seeking recruits on behalf of those captured?
- What are those recently captured/detained saying about Guantanamo?

Perhaps Jones is right, (although the use of the word "probably" gives him plenty of wriggle room) but I have yet to see any empirical evidence to suggest that it is true. Yet this assertion -- repeated ad nauseum, corrupts the debate.

We should expect better.

* If General Jones can ride his bike to McLean from the White House for lunch as the national security adviser, it's obvious that he's on board for who he was -- a USMC commandant and a commander of NATO forces in Europe -- so that Team Obama can have a patina of gravitas when it comes to national security. It's difficult for one to think that he's developing strategy.