Anthony Lake

Re James Pinkerton’s “Lake: A History of Empathy with Enemies,” Column Right, Dec. 19:

President Carter said, “We are now free of that inordinate fear of Communism.” Nixon’s policy toward China allowed his successors to pursue policies that were in our national interest instead of the knee-jerk reactions of fear.

When Carter said, “Through failure we have now found our way back to our principles and values,” he meant that we wouldn’t win a war unless the decision to start it was a democratic decision. Bush started Desert Storm only after the nation, regional powers and the U.N. Security Council backed him.

American influence has increased more than ever in the last four years. Our products and values are flooding the world, as tariffs and conditions against their import are negotiated down by the Clinton team. So much so that our enemies (Iran) and rivals (France) are convinced this is a takeover strategy.

Forty years ago Nixon used the Alger Hiss story and the “red scare” to grab power. The same scare caused the CIA to doctor its assessment of the U.S.S.R.’s strength to fit the ideology. We wasted billions of tax dollars on arms to fight an inflated bear. We saw that it was a shell game after their collapse. Hiss is a similar shell that should be discarded. Most of our traitors with security clearance caught in last 40 years did it for money and not ideology.

Anthony Lake must be evaluated on his ability in leading the CIA in getting rid of the traitors who sell the country, in finding strategic information and making nonideological forecasts.

JAIDEV P. RAO

Reseda