Welcome to Valley Roundup for Friday July 4, 2014.
This week we feature a single interview on the show. Admiral Mike McConnell retired this week from his post as Vice Chairman of Booz Allen Hamilton the giant intelligence contractor for the U.S. Government. Most people know it as the company that employed Edward Snowden.
In his long career Admiral McConnell also served as director of the National Security Agency (NSA) in the 1990’s. He was Director of National Intelligence under Presidents Bush and Obama and was the top intelligence officer for General Colin Powell in the run-up to the Iraq war in 2003.
It was Powell who told President Bush before the invasion that, “If you break it you own it.” In an interview, McConnell told us that what is happening now in Iraq validates Powell’s prediction.
McConnell was in town for the Aspen Ideas Festival and we spoke in his room at the Aspen Meadows. Note: an edited version of this interview aired earlier in the week.
More Information:
The day after we spoke with Admiral McConnell an oversight panel approved the activities of the NSA in surveillance of foreign nationals.
More on Admiral Mike McConnell:
From Booz Allen Hamilton: https://www.boozallen.com/about/leadership/executive-leadership/Mike-McConnell
From C-SPAN:
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/jmcconnell
From Business Week:
From Salon:
http://www.salon.com/2010/03/29/mcconnell_3/
