McConnell and Dick

There are two stories out today claiming Mike McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence, is really wearing the pants in the Executive Branch’s dealings with intelligence. The NYT has McConnell describing tremendous pressure from Congress, yet insisting he got no pressure from the White House.

In an interview in his office, Mr. McConnell insisted on Tuesday thathe never felt direct pressure from the White House to reject theDemocratic proposal, and that contrary to statements from seniorDemocrats he had never given a verbal commitment to their plan.

[snip]

“My job is to speak truth to power,” he said.

And the LAT has McConnell’s spokesperson claiming the same:

A spokesman for McConnell rejected assertions that he had changed hisposition or been used for political purposes by the White House. "TheWhite House did not play any part in rejecting that bill," said RossFeinstein, a McConnell spokesman. McConnell "made his own decisions. Hewas clear all along on what he needed in the bill."

In handlingthose negotiations, McConnell was thrust into a delicate position. Bytradition, the nation’s top intelligence official is supposed to beinsulated from political pressure or from debates over policy. But atthe same time, the director is appointed by the president and serves ashis top intelligence aide.

"He is the president’s seniorintelligence advisor, not Congress’ senior intelligence advisor," saidMark Lowenthal, a former top CIA official and intelligence historian.But, he added, "I don’t think McConnell would ever allow himself to beput in the position of doing the bidding of the White House. It’s justnot who the guy is."

Both stories contradict the stories TPMM and others were getting from during the negotiations.

Given the contradiction, I couldn’t help but remember the reports from negotiations on Bush’s recent Executive Order on torture (including one from Mark Mazzetti, the author of today’s NYT piece).