Meet Avril, CIA’s #2 from the Obama White House, Sheesh

Posted on October 21, 2015October 21, 2015 by Denise Simon

Like Mike Morrell or not who was actually slated to assume the role of the top slot at the CIA, did not get the job, but the person who replaced him requires a second look.

Avril Haines was a deputy assistant and legal adviser to the National Security Council and also chaired legal committee reviews for the CIA’s most sensitive assignments and missions.

Some other details in her background include:

She and her husband owned a bar in Baltimore that was seized in a drug raid. She worked as deputy chief counsel for the Senate Democrats under the then chairman, Joe Biden. She also worked for a time at the State Department as a legal advisor for treaty affairs.

Do you wonder what her background and credential were for this job and how she came to be a known quantity in the first place by the Obama administration? After reading below, one must also wonder just what kind of people, conversations and other ‘activities’ really go on in the White House or in Washington DC.

Great question…

Avril Haines, New CIA Deputy & Her Erotic Past: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Heavy: Michael Morell is out as CIA Deputy Director, retiring after bungling the David Petraeus affair and the Benghazi debacle, but his replacement is a name you probably aren’t familiar with.

Avril Haines, 43, an accredited lawyer who has worked with President Obama on “sensitive” issues, is slated to take over the powerful position. A relative unknown, Haines becomes an incendiary hire for a number of reasons.

Here are five facts you need to know…

1. Haines Used to Host ‘Erotica Nights’ at her Erotic Book Store

avril haines erotica, cia erotic

The headline says it all, does it not?

Before pursuing her political ambition, Haines owned an establishment called Adrian’s Book Cafe. Named after her mother, Haines’s store was well-stocked with titles in every genre, but one section in particular got the most attention: Erotica.

It’s all outlined in a Baltimore Sun piece from 1995, where reporter Mary Corey investigated one of the hottest (and steamiest) nighttime attractions in Fells Point. Per the article:

A one-time event that proved popular enough to make a monthly gathering, these evenings are consciousness raisers for the libido. Strangers recite and discuss what polite company never would: trysts at the convenience store, husbands who don’t satisfy and the curves of a voluptuous woman.

To her credit, Haines – or at least the anonymous, 1995 version of her – didn’t shy away from her indulgence, saying in the piece that “Erotica has become more prevalent because people are trying to have sex without having sex. Others are trying to find new fantasies to make their monogamous relationships more satisfying.”

So really, if you see it the way your new CIA deputy director sees it, erotic readings fall somewhere at the intersection of ecstasy and charity. But what, exactly, did these loin-stirring self-help exercises look like?

“By 8 o’clock, the atmosphere in this cozy room with red candles resembles a slightly-awkward dinner party for eight,” says Corey, who attended a reading for her profile. “Everyone’s killing time, waiting for the sparks to begin.”

adrian's book cafe. avril haines erotic book

Sounds quaint and – surprisingly – not that weird. Attendees share the intimate details of past and present relationships like some sort of therapy group, the room sworn to tacit secrecy like a doctor with a patient.

But the details take a weirdly specific turn once Haines gets up to read. On this night she chooses an excerpt from “The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty”:

In the topmost bed chamber of the house (the prince) found her. He had stepped over sleeping chambermaids and valets, and, breathing the dust and damp of the place, he finally stood in the door of her sanctuary. … And approaching her, he gave a soft gasp as he touched her cheek, and her teeth through her parted lips, and then her tender rounded eyelids.

At this point Corey notes that spectators are in a trance-like state, too enraptured by Haines’s words to eat, of all things, their chicken tostadas. Not until the prince performs his deed.

Haines’s erotic past is certainly…different…but I’m not sure if or how it effects her CIA qualifications. The Sun article was published 18 years ago, and even if it wasn’t, does it really make her less qualified for this powerful position. Is she supposed to be asexual?

Alyssa Rosenberg at ThinkProgress.com said it well:

In decades past, Haines might have been treated like a deviant, or as if she were oversexed, and even today, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the talking points around her appointment is that her interest in erotic fiction renders her frivolous or naughty. But like the millions of other Americans who read books like Fifty Shades of Grey, Haines is just a grown-up. And the sooner we can all acknowledge that reading sexy literature doesn’t render anyone blackmailable or unfit for serious work, the more adult our country will be, too.”

Let’s see how long it takes for this story to blow over.

2. The CIA is No Stranger to Book-Related Sex Scandals

david patraeus haines, avril haines erotic

No, we’re not saying Haines’s erotic book store will ever become a scandal. The smart money says it will blow over in time.

But we’d still be remiss not to mention David Petraeus, the CIA’s former Director, who famously resigned after engaging in an adulterous affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

Comparing Petraeus and Haines, in this case, is like comparing apples with some planet in the Spiral Galaxy that just so happens to also start with the letter ‘A.’ But it is interesting to note the weird CIA correlation between literature and sex, no?

3. Haines is the First Female to Serve as CIA Deputy Director

die-juristin-avril-haines-ist-ab-august-vizechefin-des-cia

Let’s move on to the good stuff. In replacing Michael Morell as CIA Deputy Director, Haines becomes the first woman to ever hold that position, breaking one more glass ceiling in a country (and government) that is rapidly running out of them.

Now the best thing she can do for like-minded women in her footsteps is also the best thing she can do for her country at large: a good job.

4. She Has Never Worked With the CIA

John O. Brenna Haines, Haines CIA, Avril Haines CIA, Avril Haines erotica

Unlike her predecessor, Morell, a tenured veteran of the CIA, Haines is a newcomer to the agency — a fact that, more so than the frivolous points in this piece (hopefully), will make her a divisive hire.

Her credentials include a law degree from Georgetown (Class of ’01, six years after the Sun article) and a ringing endorsement from current CIA Director John O. Brennan, who told the Washington Post that Haines “knows more about covert action than anyone in the U.S. government outside of the CIA.”

5. She Served as a Lawyer and Advisor to President Obama

haines obama lawyer, avril haines obama, avril haines erotic

Also on Haines’s resume is extensive experience with this administration; according to The Telegraph, Haines is a “White House lawyer who advised President Barack Obama on ‘sensitive intelligence operations.”

That rapport on ‘sensitive’ issues might explain why Obama was willing to appoint a relative unknown to such a powerful post.

WikiLeaks Posts the Hacked Emails of CIA Director

Posted on October 21, 2015October 21, 2015 by Denise Simon

Yet another Obama administration placeholder that was using a private email for sensitive material.

Of particular note is the partially written summary on Iran from 2009, which appear to be the genesis and words the White House used to justify normalizing relations with the rogue nation. John Brennan was applying to obtain high security clearance to enter the Obama White House before 2009 and later assuming the role of the chief of the CIA.

*** “The United States has no choice but to find ways to coexist — and to come to terms — with whatever government holds power in Tehran,” Brennan said in the three-page memo. He added that Iran would have to “come to terms” with the U.S. and that “Tehran’s ability to advance its political and economic interests rests on a non-hostile relationship with the United States and the West.”

In the memo, Brennan advised Obama to “tone down” rhetoric with Iran, and swiped at former President George W. Bush for his “gratuitous” labeling of Iran as part of a worldwide “axis of evil.” Brennan also said the U.S. should establish a direct dialogue with Tehran and “seek realistic, measurable steps.” Although he didn’t specifically call for the regime of financial sanctions that the Obama administration, along with Europe, Russia and China, pushed against Iran, Brennan told the president-elect to “hold out meaningful carrots as well as sticks.” ***

In part, a deeper look at the text is as follows:

The Conundrum of Iran

Iran will be a major player on the world stage in the decades ahead, and its actions and

behavior will have a major and enduring impact on near- and long-term U.S. interests on

a wide variety of regional and global issues. With a population of over 70 million, xx

percent of the world’s proven oil reserves, a geostrategic location of tremendous

(enviable?) significance, and a demonstrated potential to develop a nuclear-weapons

program, the United States has no choice but to find a way to coexist—and to come to

terms—with whatever government holds power in Tehran. At the same time, the Iranian

Government also must come to terms with Washington, as Tehran’s ability to advance its

political and economic interests rests on a non-hostile relationship with the United States

and the West.

There are numerous hurdles that stand in the way of improved U.S.-Iranian relations, but

none is more daunting than the theocratic regime’s nearly 30-year track record of

engaging in transnational terrorism, both directly and indirectly, to advance its

revolutionary agenda. Tehran’s proclivity to promote its interests by playing the terrorist

card undermines its standing as a responsible sovereign state and calls into question

virtually all of its actions, even when pursuing legitimate political, economic, and

strategic interests. While the use of terrorism(*footnote on definition) is reprehensible

and of serious concern irrespective of the source, the wielding of the terrorism club by a

nation state such as Iran is particularly alarming and insidious because of the ability of a

government to use its instruments of national power to support, conceal, facilitate, and

employ terrorist violence. Specifically, a sovereign government has the ready ability to

provide all of the logistical requirements—e.g. the fabrication of official documentation,

explosives, and weapons; the protected use of diplomatic facilities, staff, and pouches;

and the provision of expertise, funding, and targeting intelligence—that can be used to

great effect to plan and carry out successful terrorist attacks. Too often, and for too long,

Iran has excelled at such activities.

An anonymous teen hacker claimed to have stolen a handful of files from CIA Director John Brennan’s private email account, U.S. officials reported on Monday.

CIA Director John Brennan emails

Today, 21 October 2015 and over the coming days WikiLeaks is releasing documents from one of CIA chief John Brennan’s non-government email accounts. Brennan used the account occasionally for several intelligence related projects.

John Brennan became the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in March 2013, replacing General David Petraeus who was forced to step down after becoming embroiled in a classified information mishandling scandal. Brennan was made Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism on the commencement of the Obama presidency in 2009–a position he held until taking up his role as CIA chief.

According to the CIA Brennan previously worked for the agency for a 25 year stretch, from 1980 to 2005.

Brennan went private in 2005-2008, founding an intelligence and analysis firm The Analysis Corp (TAC). In 2008 Brennan became a donor to Obama. The same year TAC, led by Brennan, became a security advisor to the Obama campaign and later that year to the Obama-Biden Transition Project. It is during this period many of the Obama administration’s key strategic policies to China, Iran and “Af-Pak” were formulated. When Obama and Biden entered into power, Brennan was lifted up on high, resulting in his subsequent high-level national security appointments.

If you have similar official documents that have not been published yet, send them to WikiLeaks.

John Brennan Draft SF86

“National Security Position” form for John Brennan. This form, filled out by Brennan himself before he assumed his current position, reveals a quite comprehensive social graph of the current Director of the CIA with a lot of additional non-govermental and professional/military career details. (17 November 2008, Author: John Brennan)