First, I hope that we never see another attack on American soil such as we saw during the 90s, and on 9/11. But Mr. Obama has already weakened the tumblers on the lock that has kept terrorism from our shores, so sadly it’s only a matter of time. When it does, there will be only one to blame, and it won’t be Bush. Already the agency fears that it has become weakened in it’s ability to perform it’s duty.

“Battered by recriminations over waterboarding and other harsh techniques sanctioned by the Bush administration, the CIA is girding itself for more public scrutiny and is questioning whether agency personnel can conduct interrogations effectively under rules set out for the U.S. military, according to senior intelligence officials.

Harsh interrogations were only one part of its clandestine activities against al-Qaeda and other enemies, and agency members are worried that other operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan will come under review, the officials said.

CIA Director Leon Panetta said he has established a group at the agency to handle requests for documents by Congress, the prosecutors and any “truth commission.” The agency is facing a dispute with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) over how much agency officials told congressional overseers about the harsh techniques.

The agency’s defensiveness in part reflects a conviction that it is being forced to take the blame for actions approved by elected officials that have since fallen into disfavor. Former CIA director Michael V. Hayden said in an interview that CIA managers and operations officers have again been put “in a horrible position.” Hayden recalled an officer asking, “Will I be in trouble five years from now for what I agree to do today?”

It’s only the ones in the field who know what it is and what it takes to obtain critical information from terror suspect, which is why all the criticism from the left is all the more childish, uninformed and stupidly dangerous.

Being that I come from the trade (Reagan years), and have heard from field agents that they do indeed feel crimped by the new restrictions, enacted by a man who has never worn a uniform. There is a lot of resentment building – never a good thing for a sitting President – and this only goes to hampering further collection and processing methods.

I don’t believe for a moment that any intelligence agent will simply lay down and do nothing when presented with actionable information that will thwart an attack, but without proper tools it’s impossible to do a proper job. It’s just a fact of the game.

Sadly, perhaps it will take an attack to provide the comparison between then – during Bush and now to show just fortunate we are when we aren’t playing patty-cake politics with the safety of our nation. Again I sincerely hope that doesn’t happen, but when your intelligence apparatus begins to doubt it’s really only a matter of time before something slips.

I hope I’m wrong, but I fear I’m right.