When I wrote of Barbara McNamara and her views of Diane Roark, I should have mentioned that she viewed Charlie Allen as intrusive as well and referred to him as a loose cannon more than once. Her quote for the 9/11 Commission interview that, “Charlie Allen brings an energy level – you never ask him to do something that you do not want done” was not meant as a compliment. Allen’s big sin like that of Diane Roark was that he refused to be duped by the technical and rhetorical smoke screens NSA throws up when confronting outsiders. Like Roark, Allen had his own sources at the Fort and had enough technical savvy to see through the evasions and deceptions with which he was often greeted. NSA found and probably still finds this unpardonable.
Phi Beta Iota: Integrity is coming back into style. If there is one thing Charlie Allen is not, it is a “loose cannon” in the pejorative sense of the word that his low-rent detractor suggests. This is the man who blew the lid off the White House on Iran-Contra. Integrity. Not just nice to have–essential.
