Being in the military I know we have both seen zealots, who are to be found in any authoritarian political/military/etc. group. When Oliver North was on the hot seat I could fully understand what he did and why. How far you wish to take orders is up to you. If you are true to the corp you can be dangerous and loose perspective.

Does someone working for the President have a moral/legal responsibility to the citizens of our country or to only the President?

One concept I learned from the military is you can delegate authority but not responsibility.


>Their 'mission' was probably as ambiguous as all other government office missions so it is very easy to work outside of it even unintentionally. However, in this case, it was probably intentional. :o)
>
>>>>Jim,
>>>>
>>>>>...it has been testified that Vice-president Cheney was hanging around FBI/CIA lower-levels and essentially telling them what they needed to "find".
>>>>
>>>>I'd like to read about that. Do you have a URL or other reference for it?
>>>
>>>This isn't testimony, nor does it specifically involve Cheney, the FBI, or CIA, but it is something similar:
>>>
>>>http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2004/01/pollack.htm
>>>
>>>As Seymour Hersh, among others, has reported, Bush Administration officials also took some actions that arguably crossed the line between rigorous oversight of the intelligence community and an attempt to manipulate intelligence. They set up their own shop in the Pentagon, called the Office of Special Plans, in order to sift through the information on Iraq themselves. To a great extent OSP personnel "cherry-picked" the intelligence they passed on, selecting reports that supported the Administration's pre-existing position and ignoring all the rest.
>>
>>I wonder if the members of the Office of Special Plans had instructions on what their mission was or if they just acted on their own?