They were serious men who gathered around the conference table that morning, all dark suits and no-nonsense facial expressions. At the head of the table was John Bellinger, a former State Department legal adviser under Condoleezza Rice. A number of other prominent men were spread around the table, among them Michael Hayden, former director of both CIA and NSA, previous Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and former Homeland Security secretaries Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff. ...continue reading