Intelligence community is not always right
Those of us who are disrespecting the president for his low opinion of the U.S. intelligence community should stop to think a moment: President Donald Trump was alive when the French begged us not to attack Iraq because our intelligence community was so wrong about it having weapons of mass destruction. How many Americans died for that error?
And look at the early 1990s: After the Berlin Wall came down, the accountants got a look inside the late Soviet Union only to discover that the CIA’s estimate of its industrial strength was overestimated by many times its reality.
So take our intelligence reports as President Ronald Reagan said about dealing with the Soviets: “Trust, but verify.” And Special Counsel Robert Mueller is having a tough time with that. JOHN LENKEY III Collier
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totaled an estimated $8 million in value, were disappearing from its rare books collection? (July 21, “Two Charged with Stealing Rare Books Worth $8 Million from Carnegie Library.”) Where were the controls during all those years?
I speak as a retired nonprofit executive who helped detect and break up a skimming scheme at an organization for which I worked. We picked it up in less than two weeks, because we compared projected to actual revenue.
While this scam was different from that, it should not have taken two decades to end it. JAMES H. LEWIS
Mt. Lebanon “This Is What Happened With Senate Bill 22”). We’ve been asking for a response, with no success,in every way we know.
Regarding his assertion that the July 17 letter from Jean Handleyof Fair Districts PA was “downright false and dishonest” and that “many partisan organizers ... are unwilling to accept any narrative other than one of blaming Republicans”: Fair Districts PA has supported bills drafted with input from both houses and both parties. We’ve logged hundreds of hours of conversation with legislators from both houses and both parties who agree on the need for redistricting reform.
We’ve expressed appreciation for Sen. Mike Folmer, a Republican, and his hours of hearings, and for the letter last week from Sens. Joe Scarnati and Jake Corman, both Republicans, inviting Houseleaders to negotiate.
Ms. Handley’s letter was not an attempt to “blame Republicans.” Rather, it was a reminder that our representatives are elected to represent their constituents. The first step in that is to hear and to respond.
We’ve been asking to meet and talk with Speaker Turzai since House Bill 722 was introduced in 2017. We’ve asked at every stage in the twists and turns of HB 722, HB 2402 and then SB 22, by email, phone, petition, postcard, many in-person visits to his Harrisburg and McCandless offices. We’ve been asking daily in growing numbers since the House recessed last month.
Until Speaker Turzai’s letter, we had seen no hint that we’d been heard. CAROL KUNIHOLM Chair, Fair Districts PA Exton, Chester County