Obama’s Pick to Lead Counterterrorism Center Faces Accusations of Misleading Congress

[Geee]

Fox News:

The nominating process for the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, the hub for threat assessment within the U.S. government, is typically a routine affair.

But for Matthew Olsen, President Obama's pick to lead the agency, the nomination is in jeopardy amid accusations that he misled a member of Congress when he was in charge of the administration's Guantanamo task force to close the military detention camp in 2009.

Earlier this month, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va.,who represents the district where the center is located, wrote to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, objecting to the nomination. Wolf said he believes Olsen, general counsel for the National Security Agency, under White House pressure downgraded the threat level of some potentially dangerous detainees to allow for their expeditious release to unstable countries like Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan as part of the administration's failed effort to shut the facility.


Wolf also wrote that Olsen misled him about the status of detainee transfers to the U.S. during an April 2009 meeting. At that meeting, Olsen chose only to discuss the process and not the decisions that he had already made, Wolf contended.

"I do not question Mr. Olsen's professional qualifications for this position, but from my observations of his recent leadership positions, I believe that he lacks the judgment to lead the NCTC," he wrote.