The letter Rep. Pete Hoekstra sent to Dennis Blair regarding the appointment of Chas Freeman to head the National Intelligence Council can be seen here. In it, Hoekstra asks the Director of National Intelligence three questions:
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Can you explain how Dr. Freeman was vetted to be the NIC Chairman? What qualifies him to oversee the production of NIEs?
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Were you aware of Dr. Freeeman's views on the Tienanmen massacre, Israel, and other issues?
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Will you ask Dr. Freeman to recuse himself from working on issues on which he holds troubling positions, such as China, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Arab-Israeli issues?
To this last question, it is obviously problematic to have a man in this position who would even be asked to recuse himself from these areas, which together consume an enormous amount of the intelligence community's resources. But Hoekstra has it wrong. The problem isn't that Freeman's views are troubling -- troubling views alone is not cause for someone to recuse themselves from an issue. The problem is that there is the appearance of a conflict of interest. That is, Freeman has taken vast sums of money from the Saudi royal family and state-owned enterprises in China. He is likely to resume accepting such sums as soon as he departs government. The creates a conflict of interest. Freeman may be unlikely to rock the boat lest he jeopardize his relationship with King Abdullah the Great.