By Mark Silinsky
Terry Malloy: “If I spill, my life ain't worth a nickel.” Father Barry:” And how much is your soul worth if you don't?”
Jim Stuteville, the senior-most civilian adviser in US Army on counterintelligence operations, testified before Congress on December 7, 2011 regarding the US Army’s response to homeland terrorism.1 Some of us who worked with this Academy graduate2 and enjoyed his upbeat persona and ever-willingness to help were disappointed.3 We hoped he would seize the high-profile occasion to signal a new and dynamic direction in identifying, engaging, and defeating the US Army’s enemy, which is Islamism, or political Islam. Jim did no such thing. His performance was mechanical, overly rehearsed and, in my judgment, misleading. Seeking refuge in the bureaucratic arcana of Army regulations, his testimony was vapid. He probably didn’t perjure himself because he didn’t say anything, and high-level civil servants are rarely punished for that.
But there was much Jim could have said, sitting before that elective body. It could have been his Terry Malloy moment.4 Yesterday’s boxer in a cushy union waterfront job, Terry Malloy comes clean in the fight of his life. This match pitted his dignity against his fear of being labeled a stoolie. His dignity won. And so did the honest longshoremen who worked and lived on the waterfront. Malloy’s testimony provided Congress necessary information to identify, engage, and defeat the enemies of honest, good men.
Figure 1 In the Movie, Dignity Wins
Jim Stuteville had his shot in the ring. In his 30-year career there may have been few greater opportunities for Jim to exhibit the ethics so prized by his alma mater. West Pointers speak of devotion to “duty, honor, county,” and for many soldiers these words form the core of their character. Jim Stuteville could have performed his duty by exposing the sclerosis and omerta in the Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), which has so shackled efforts to identify, engage, and defeat the Islamist enemy. Was it not his duty to explain that analysts in the Army’s counterintelligence Center (ACIC) have pleaded with its director Claude “Bud” Benner for years to build an Army-wide, robust, and Islamist-specific counterintelligence program? Was it not his duty to disclose the climate of fear in the 902nd Military Intelligence Group that hushes talk on Islamist issues?
As for honor, Jim Stuteville could have honored the 13 dead of Fort Hood and other murdered US soldiers with candor and a promise to begin a good fight against Islamists who have killed our soldiers, infiltrated our chaplaincy, and so effectively muzzled analysts and operators in Army counterintelligence. That would have been the honorable thing to do.
Figure 2 Jim Stuteville Had a Shot in the Ring
Finally there is country. If counterintelligence leaders like Jim Stuteville do not take risks defending their country who will? These risks include reading hostile letters from Islamist organizations and fielding questions from journalists demanding that they explain their “Islamophobia.” By now, Army officers and civilians understand that exposing Islamism in the Army is a career killer,5 but good men do it anyway because it is the honorable thing to do. And these are small risks compared with those US soldiers in uniform take every day. Among Jim’s awards is the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and he could have served meritoriously in defense of his Army and country. He could have been one hell of a fighter against the Islamist enemy. He didn’t have to be a bureaucrat, which, let’s face it, is what he was.6
Mark Silinsky is a senior US Army counterintelligence analyst. His opinions are his own and do not represent those of the US Army. He would like to hear from anyone involved in the Fort Hood investigation and promises confidentiality. He can be reached at Silinsky@yahoo.com
[1] He sat alongside Paul Stockton, the Assistant Secretary for Homeland Defense and America’s Security Affairs and Lieutenant Colonel Reid Sawyer, director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
[2] Brittany Snapp, “Former Durant resident testifies in front of Congress”, Durant Daily Democrat, January 2, 2011.
[3] I knew Jim briefly and superficially when we worked on an Army counterterrorism alert force at Fort Meade. Our relationship was friendly but not familiar.
[4] Terry Malloy was the fictional character portrayed by Marlon Brando in Bud Schulberg’s and Elia Kazan’s “On the Waterfront.”
[5] Trust me!
[6] “You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. It was you, Charley”
We need a strong counterintelligence and to heck with political correctness, this country has had enough of that.
We need to protect American citizens.
Posted by: Leticia | January 13, 2012 at 07:34 PM