Newsweek: For the Record

"Antiterror Help Wanted" (PERISCOPE, March 3) is correct in noting the National Counterterrorism Center as a "bright spot" in intelligence reform but wrong in two other respects. Let me set the record straight. First, I believe we are strategically safer as a result of having gone into Iraq. As I have consistently stated in congressional testimony and interviews, a major reason for our not being attacked since 9/11 has been our strategy of taking the war to the terrorists. That assessment clearly includes Iraq, which Al Qaeda considers a critical battleground. This security has not come without a price. My comment in the 10-second TV sound bite (lifted out of a 40-minute interview) that we were probably not "tactically" safer referred to the loss of life of the courageous members of our military due to Al Qaeda's action on the Iraqi battlefield. Second, the backhanded implication that I was forced to resign is pure poppycock. I left because I had to have total knee-replacement surgery on both knees, period. That decision was discussed with the White House and director of National Intelligence well before the airing of the interview. I left NCTC confident that a strong team with a strong leader in Mike Leiter was in place. The day-to-day performance of NCTC—and, indeed, the entire counterterrorism community—in keeping the country safe for more than six years is the story you should focus on.
Scott Redd, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
Former Director, NCTC
Washington, D.C.