Intelligence test

Have you heard that the newly named Democratic Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Sylvestre Reyes, got a pop quiz he didn’t quite pass during a routine media interview?

The incoming Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee could not describe Hezbollah and incorrectly described al-Qaeda’s Islamic roots in a recent interview.

Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.), whom incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) named earlier this month to chair the panel, formally known as the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, was asked by a reporter from Congressional Quarterly whether al-Qaeda was Sunni or Shiite. “Predominantly — probably Shiite,” Reyes replied.

From Osama bin Laden down, al-Qaeda’s leadership is comprehensively Sunni and subscribes to a form of Sunni Islam known for not tolerating theological deviation.

This not an average man on the street quiz, folks. This is the new Intelligence chief.

Asked to describe the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, according to a story published online Friday, Reyes responded “Hezbollah. Uh, Hezbollah” and then said, “Why do you ask me these questions at 5 o’clock?”

The Texas congressman later added: “Speaking only for myself, it’s hard to keep things in perspective and in the categories.”

Reyes, a former Border Patrol agent and an opponent of the Iraq war, was chosen for the intelligence committee post over the panel’s two top-ranking Democrats, Reps. Jane Harman (Calif.) and Alcee L. Hastings (Fla.).

I would feel a lot better about Jane Harman right now, but passing her over was a political move. Reyes was Pelosi’s pick, and he’s already doing some damage control.

Reyes’s office issued a statement yesterday noting that the interview covered a wide range of topics.

That can be problematic, since Intelligence covers…a wide range of topics.

“As a member of the intelligence committee since before 9/11, I’m acutely aware of al-Qaeda’s desire to harm Americans.

That’s foreign intelligence any American can accurately identify.

The intelligence committee will keep its eye on the ball and focus on the pressing security and intelligence issues facing us,” Reyes said in the statement.

That tells us a lot, eh? Here’s an analogy that Jeff Stein, the Congressional Quarterly editor who did the interview, thought of after he put the story online.

Talking to CNN, Stein said he was “amazed” by Reyes’ lack of what he says is basic information about two top terrorists organizations.

“If you’re the baseball commissioner and you don’t know the difference between the Yankees and the Red Sox, you don’t know baseball,” Stein said. “You’re not going to have the respect of the people you work with.”

While Stein adds that Reyes is “not a stupid guy,” his knowledge of the subject could curb Reyes’ ability to function as an effective oversight of the intelligence community.

“If you don’t have the basics, how do you effectively question the administration?” he asked. “You don’t know who is on first.”

But Reyes isn’t the only member of Congress who evidently doesn’t know things he should, according to Stein, CQ’s National Security editor. Stein says he’s encountered this before. He tries to be charitable, and it’s a respectful interview. But it’s also realistic.

To his credit, Reyes, a kindly, thoughtful man who also sits on the Armed Service Committee, does see the undertows drawing the region into chaos.

For example, he knows that the 1,400- year-old split in Islam between Sunnis and Shiites not only fuels the militias and death squads in Iraq, it drives the competition for supremacy across the Middle East between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia.

That’s more than two key Republicans on the Intelligence Committee knew when I interviewed them last summer. Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Va., and Terry Everett, R-Ala., both back for another term, were flummoxed by such basic questions, as were several top counterterrorism officials at the FBI.

It that’s true, its very disconcerting.

I thought it only right now to pose the same questions to a Democrat, especially one who will take charge of the Intelligence panel come January. The former border patrol agent also sits on the Armed Services Committee.

Reyes stumbled when I asked him a simple question about al Qaeda at the end of a 40-minute interview in his office last week. Members of the Intelligence Committee, mind you, are paid $165,200 a year to know more than basic facts about our foes in the Middle East.

We warmed up with a long discussion about intelligence issues and Iraq. And then we veered into terrorism’s major players.

To me, it’s like asking about Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland: Who’s on what side? 

It doesn’t get much more basic than that.