I read today that each morning, President Obama is presented with 10 letters to read – a tiny, tiny sample of the 40,000 letters the White House receives each day. He reads these through the day, in between meetings with various advisors. He asked for these letters in an attempt to keep himself in touch with the larger world outside the Washington beltway. Admirable, indeed.

A recent appointment indicates to me that Obama really is trying to counteract the official spin that is so dominant in Washington. President Obama selected Chas. Freeman to be chairman of the National Intelligence Council (NIC). The NIC provides analyses of world events created from all the intelligence available (from the CIA, NSA, Foreign Service and other agencies) to retired Admiral Dennis Blair, who is the Director of National Intelligence. The Director of National Intelligence then uses these documents to draw up the National Intelligence Estimates, the most famous of which was the one provided in December, 2007 that urged military action against Iran in retaliation for Iran’s nuclear program. Carol Eisenberg, at Muckety.com, has drawn up a diagram of the various groups that will provide information to Mr. Freeman. If you move your mouse over the lines that connect Chas. W. Freeman with the various departments connected to him, you will see what role he plays in each of those organizations. With Chas. Freeman feeding information to Dennis Blair, I think we will actually see a measure of sanity return to United States foreign policy.

So why is the appointment of Chas. Freeman so important? Read what Jim Lobe has to say on his blog and then follow some of his links to the speeches that Mr. Freeman has given. He doesn’t pull any punches and he really does speak “truth to power”. Or read what Dan Froomkin has to say about Mr. Freeman. The best part of all this is that the appointment of Mr. Freeman does not require Senate confirmation.

One quote from Chas. Freeman shows why the Israeli lobby is so furious about his appointment: “Israel excels at war; sadly, it has shown no talent for peace.”

With the selection of George Mitchell as the person to lead the effort to bring peace to the Middle East, this appointment appears to me to be a powerful indictment by President Obama of the failed policies of the past. We asked for change and it looks like we are going to get some. Finally, some fresh thinking is being injected (forcefully) into Washington!

Update: 3/10/2009: Charles Freeman withdrew his application for the job – the Israeli lobby and the neo-cons won this one. I wonder what Obama will do now? So much for wishful thinking about some fresh viewpoints in Washington ….