February 15, 2005
Who Is Stephen J. Hadley Besides the New National Security Advisor?
Who is Stephen Hadley? The corporate ("liberal") press is certainly keeping exceptionally quiet about him. Maybe it is because he was "just the second" to Condi Rice who got promoted to NSA. The only problem is that Hadley is not "just the second" - he was part of the so-called "Vulcans", the group advising Bush prior to and during his first term. They include: Cheney, Hadley, Perle, Powell, Rice, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz. He is also part of the long time neo-con crew that dates back to the Nixon Administration when he was an analyst for the Dept. of Defense. He also was a member of the Tower Commission The Tower Commission was a special committee set up by Reagan to investigate Iran-Contra. The Chair was Senator John Tower.
He has been a big promoter of militarizing space, the new generation of specialized nuclear weapons (and other bio-chem weapons systems), and of pre-emptive war. He is the one who took the fall for Bush's 2003 State of the Union statements about Hussein trying to get radioactive material from Niger.
Like most of the Bush cabinet, Hadley has ties to big money and corporate interests along with his link to the neo-con "family." Hadley was (is) part of the Washington, DC law firm Shea and Gardner, who represents Lockheed (and many other corporations).
So, the depth of the neo-conservative influence is pretty incredible and spreads through the White House and the Pentagon. New people are not necessarily being brought in as much as "brought up." This is the case with Hadley, and also with the "promotion" of Karl Rove to the position of deputy White House chief of staff.
Sources
Right Web Profile of Hadley
11/17/02 Barry, Right Web, The Vulcans Consolidate: Hardliner Hadley Named New National Security Adviser
ABC News, Profile: National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley
7/28/04 Wa. Post, Who's Who in the White House
2/09/05 Reuters Rove Gets Bigger Role at White House
2/08/05 Keen, USA Today, 'Most powerful man' gets more powerful
Source Watch - Center for Media & Democracy, Stephen J. Hadley
5/24/04 Edwards, ZNet, Burying Big Business: The Guardian, Missile Defence, And Climate Change
5/2002 William D. Hartung, with Jonathan Reingold, World Policy Institute About Face:
The Role of the Arms Lobby In the Bush Administration's Radical Reversal of Two Decades of U.S. Nuclear Policy