Melvin A. Goodman

Washington Post editorial, “Why would Mr. Obama side with China?”

The Feb. 21 Washington Post editorial, “Why would Mr. Obama side with China?” suggested that the Kremlin ended Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov’s internal exile after the Senate renamed the Soviet Embassy site Andrei Sakharov Plaza. In fact, new Soviet leadership, led by Mikhail Gorbachev and Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, ended Sakharov’s house arrest in Gorki as part of an overall reform campaign that included increased emigration for Soviet Jews and other minorities as well as a fundamental change in the Soviet attitude toward human rights.

If and when China finally obtains a reform leadership, then perhaps it will also view the world “through the eyes of humanity,” as Shevardnadze said in 1986. A feckless congressional effort to rename the location of the Chinese Embassy will not be a factor in any Chinese decision.

-Melvin A. Goodman, The Washington Post Feb. 21, 2016

“The San Francisco Chronicle picked National Insecurity as one of the best books of 2013!”

National Insecurity, written by Mel Goodman, is among the best books of 2013.

-San Francisco Chronicle Dec 20, 2013

Firedoglake Book Salon with Mel Goodman

The FDL Book Salon invited Mel Goodman to discuss his new book National Insecurity. Goodman took part in a 2 hour on-line salon, discussing why he wrote the book, and his career in the CIA, and answered many other questions submitted from participants around the world.

-Steve Horn, Firedoglake Mar 30, 2013

DCist previews Mel Goodman’s new book and event at Busboys and Poets

What exactly is national security? If it entails the safety and well-being of Americans and American land, could national security mean a protected environment with clean water and air? Could it mean that sick people can afford timely treatment? Or that personal income will be protected from unfair taxation or pressures that facilitate irresponsible spending? These concepts may not be considered “national security” in the usual sense, but as Melvin Goodman writes in National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism, those issues currently present more imminent threats than any from overseas. Yet, he says, they sit on the back burner as defense spending has gone up and the economy has suffered.

-Nicole Dubowitz, DCist Mar 20, 2013

“News about New England books and authors”

The “Boston Globe’s” Jan Gardner highlights Mel Goodman’s “National Insecurity” in her latest column.

-Jan Gardner, Boston Globe Jan 12, 2013

“Oped by Mel Goodman in The Baltimore Sun”

“A major problem in the United States is not that there are too many whistle-blowers. Rather, there are too few. . . . ”

-Melvin A. Goodman, The Baltimore Sun Jun 23, 2013

“The Real Benghazi Scandal”

“When congressional Republicans complete manipulating the Benghazi tragedy, it will be time for the virtually silent Senate intelligence committee to take up three major issues that have been largely ignored.  The committee must investigate the fact that the U.S. presence in Benghazi was an intelligence platform and only nominally a consulate . . . ”

-Melvin Goodman, Huffington Post May 15, 2013

“Interview with Mel Goodman on Truthout”

Truthout talked with Melvin Goodman about the military and intelligence network machine that maintains America’s empire.

-Mark Karlin, “Truthout” Mar 6, 2013

“Mel Goodman’s ‘9 Ways to Reduce Defense Spending’ on the Huffington Post”

Mel Goodman says, “By reducing our military budget, we will better position the U.S. globally, and enhance prosperity and security at home.” Here he offers nine specific ways to cut defense spending.

-Mel Goodman, Huffington Post Mar 5, 2013

“Excerpt from ‘National Insecurity’ featured on Truthout.org”

Read the introduction to National Insecurity as featured on Truthout.org

-Mel Goodman, Truthout.org Mar 5, 2013

“Brennan’s Bumbling Case for Terror War”

CIA Director-designate John Brennan stumbled through less-than-challenging questions at his Senate confirmation hearing, struggling to square the circle of his past ties to abuses in the “war on terror” with his future promises to be a force for openness and reform, as ex-CIA analyst Melvin A. Goodman notes.

-Mel Goodman, Consortium News.com Feb 9, 2013

Pt 1 of 2, “The Iraq War Ten Years Later: How the Iraq War was Sold”

As George Bush and his national security team marched the U.S. off to war in Iraq, they were aided by key news outlets, especially the neocon-dominated Washington Post. Now a decade later, the Post still won’t take a hard, honest look at what was done, writes ex-CIA analyst Melvin A. Goodman.

-Mel Goodman, Consortium News.com Feb 5, 2013

Pt 2 of 2, “The Iraq War Ten Years Later: Blurring the Blame for the Iraq War”

The myth that bad intelligence led to the Iraq War won’t die, but the evidence is clear that President George W. Bush decided to invade after 9/11, though Iraq had nothing to do with the attack, and intel was assembled to sell the invasion to a scared U.S. public, as ex-CIA analyst Melvin A. Goodman explains.

-Mel Goodman, Consortium News.com Feb 7, 2012

“The Force: How Much Military is Enough”

“‘We have hundreds of military bases all over the world,’ Melvin A. Goodman observes in National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism (City Lights). ‘Few countries have any.’ Goodman, a former Army cryptographer and a longtime C.I.A. analyst who taught at the National War College for eighteen years, is one of a growing number of critics of U.S. military spending, policy, and culture who are veterans of earlier wars.”

-Jill Lepore, The New Yorker Jan 28, 2013

“Restore Reliability and Accountability”

Mel Goodman weighs in on the future of the CIA’s leadership: “A respected civilian leader could correct flawed analytical and operational processes and name an inspector general who is a junkyard dog.”

-Melvin Goodman, The New York Times, Room for Debate Dec 3, 2012

“The CIA director’s flaws”

“Mel Goodman responds to the editorial ‘David Petraeus’ Affair Has Damaged the Nation’ by explaining that in choosing national security advisers, Obama has ‘ignored the need for an independent civilian voice to counter the influence and worst-case analysis of military intelligence.'”

-Melvin Goodman, The Washington Post, Opinion page Nov 23, 2012

“Romney’s Shape-Shifting Foreign Policy”

Mitt Romney’s three debate performances in October 2012 have exposed his political cynicism, with the Republican candidate abandoning long-term positions in order to adopt more moderate ideas for the run-up to the election.

-Melvin Goodman, Truthout Oct 24, 2012

“Time for major cuts in defense spending”

In this op-ed for The Baltimore Sun, Mel Goodman, a former CIA-analyst and author of the forthcoming National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism, explains why now is the time for cuts in defense spending.

-Melvin Goodman, The Baltimore Sun Sep 30, 2012

“He Was The Agency”: Ex-CIA Analyst Questions Brennan Claim He Couldn’t Stop Waterboarding, Torture

CIA nominee John Brennan was repeatedly questioned about torture at his CIA confirmation hearing, including the use of waterboarding and enhanced interrogation techniques. He refused to say waterboarding was a form of torture, but said he has come to oppose the technique. Under George W. Bush, Brennan served as deputy executive director of the CIA and director of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. “Remember, he was the cheerleader for some of these onerous policies, particularly renditions and extraordinary renditions. So, for John Brennan today to say he read the Senate committee intelligence report on torture and he learned things he never knew before and that he was shocked with what he learned, this is a case of incredible willful ignorance,” says Melvin Goodman, former CIA and State Department analyst.

-Democracy Now Feb 8, 2013

“Book Discussion on National Insecurity”

Melvin Goodman talked about his book, National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism, in which he argues that our current level of spending on defense is excessive and is making us less secure.?Goodman spoke at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco in January 2013.

-CSPAN Book TV Jan 22, 2013

“Mel Goodman interviewed on MSNBC’s ‘The Cycle'”

Mel Goodman discusses why cutting the military budget will make us safer on MSNBC’s “The Cycle”.

-The Cycle, MSNBC Feb 28, 2013

“Mel Goodman interviewed on The Gary Null Show”

A conversation on our political disconnect with the Pentagon and the resulting crisis in national security with $3 trillion to private contractors, with ex-CIA analyst Professor Melvin Goodman.

-Gary Null, The Gary Null Show Feb 25, 2013

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