Brent Scowcroft confirms my view that he's not instrumental in some kind of CIA Mormon Mafia and that he's not as smart as his reputation might suggest in this video conversation.
That doesn't mean he's not interesting. Aside from having a solid gold elite career as a Trilateralist, National Security Advisor, Kissinger Associates and of course Council on Foreign relations his reputation is good. He fought with the really bad elements of the Bush administration (and eventually fell out with Bush Father and Son over a WSJ Op-Ed advising no Iraq invasion) so his well respected reputation is in some respects deserved and interestingly he was chosen by Obama to choose his national security team, a classic Obama bipartisan move. I'd say Scowcroft is like Jimmy Carter; half unwitting shoe-in, half intelligent and half decent. In the scheme of US politics this is as good as it gets.
His marbles are reasonably well together for his age. He is fairly coherent and has a good recall of his time in office during this interview despite being 80ish. He is pictured above in front of Gerald Ford and with Kissinger. This was when all the Neocons moved into the Whitehouse and was a fascinating time for ponerology or the study of evil.
