Backstory on Maj Gen Flynn's Afghanistan critique

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/01/how-a-plugged-in-dc-think-tank-published-a-generals-brutal-intel-critique/

excerpts:

In military circles, the talk all week has been about how and why the top intelligence officer in Afghanistan wound up publishing a scathing critique through a small-but-influential think tank. Now, we’ve got the answers.

When Maj. Gen. Michael Flynn published his tough assessment of the military’s spy agencies in Afghanistan, it caught Pentagon officials by surprise — not least because Flynn distributed it through Center for a New American Security. While Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said through his press secretary that he thought Flynn’s findings were “spot on,” he made it clear he was a bit uncomfortable with the conduit Flynn used to distribute the report. Reuters, quoting Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, said Gates had “real reservations about the general’s choice of venue for publication.”

So how, exactly, did the think tank get picked to publish the report?

…“Obviously, it was an irregular way to disseminate an idea for a serving officer,” Nagl said. “Gen. Flynn decided for his own reasons — you should ask him what they were — to take this step. We were honored that he chose to do it through us. And we believe – I believe – that the issues he raised were of significance to national interest, and of immediate importance to our nation’s success in Afghanistan, so I was happy to publish it.”

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