CNN/IN THE ARENA Exclusive – Juan Cole is a professor of Middle Eastern History, University of Michigan, and author of blog, Informed Comment.

This week, The New York Times reported that Glenn L. Carle, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer–who was a top counterterrorism official during the administration of President George W. Bush–said the White House at least twice asked intelligence officials to gather sensitive information on Cole, who writes an influential blog that criticized the Iraq war.

Carle tells Eliot that in 2005, the White House wanted "to get" Prof. Cole by discovering information of a personal nature. Carle says, "I was flabbergasted by the request."

Cole tells Eliot that what happened is "deeply troubling," that it harkens back to the "bad old" days of Richard Nixon in the White House, and he advocates strongly that Congress and the Department of Justice investigate the request and what the CIA did about it. He asks, "Were others targeted?"

Editor's note: CNN received a response from the CIA to the allegations made by former CIA officer Glenn Carle and Professor Juan Cole.

A CIA spokeswoman says, "We've thoroughly researched our records, and any allegation that the CIA provided private or derogatory information on Professor Cole to anyone is simply wrong. We value the insights of outside experts, including respected academics, who follow many of the same national security topics we do."

BLOG EXTRA: CLICK HERE to read the preface from Carle's new book, "The Interrogator: An Education."

Juan Cole is a professor of Middle Eastern History, University of Michigan, and author of blog, Informed Comment. This week, The New York Times reported that Glenn L. Carle, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer–who was a top counterterrorism official during the administration of President George W. Bush–said the White House at least twice asked intelligence officials to gather sensitive information on Cole, who writes an influential blog that at one time criticized the Iraq war.

CLICK HERE to see their exclusive TV interview with Eliot on Friday, June, 17, 2011.

BLOG EXTRA:  Carle retired from the CIA in March 2007. Here is the preface from his new book, "The Interrogator: An Education, " scheduled for release in early July. In the non-fiction memoir, Carle describes the inside story of a high-level interrogation of a suspected al Qaeda terrorist and his discovery that almost every CIA assessment and action about the case–and the War on Terror–was wrong.

PREFACE: LYING, HONOR, AND THE GRAY WORLD

I was a spy. I broke laws. I stole. I lied every day, about almost everything: to my family, to my friends, to my colleagues, to everyone around me. I almost never was who I said I was, or did what I claimed to be doing.

Sometimes I was not American. I exploited people’s deepest hopes, won their deepest trust, so that they provided me what my government wanted. I was an angel who made men’s dreams come true, but my name was Faust. FULL POST

Richard Quest, CNN international business correspondent and host of “Quest Means Business,” tells Eliot why Americans should care about the economic crisis in Greece: every country's economy is interconnected with the rest of the world and all of the world's banks are participating in Greece's debt situation.

James Traub, writer for foreignpolicy.com and contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, watched the CNN Republican Presidential Candidates Debate in New Hampshire this past Monday night and tells Eliot that the seven participants basically transmitted the message that the world is a bad place, so let's pull back and pull out of our regime-changing conflicts. 

Traub feels it's a view that says the U.S. should be less-engaged with the world. Is isolationism coming?

ONLY ON THE BLOG: Answering today’s OFF-SET questions Rafael Lemaitre, Associate Director for Public Affairs at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington, D.C.

On June 17, 1971, President Nixon sent a message to Congress, announcing  “a full-scale attack on the problem of drug abuse in America.” Nixon created a Special Action Office on Drug Abuse Prevention in the White House, and office he thought would operate from three to five years.

On June 16, 2011, to mark the 40^th anniversary of the start of the war on drugs, we posted a blog chat with former Maryland State Police officer Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. CLICK HERE to read that interview.

From the point of view of the Office National Drug Control Policy, did the U.S. win or lose the war on drugs?

The “war on drugs” metaphor is a leftover relic from the 1970’s that fails to accurately describe the complexity of our nation’s drug problem and our nation’s current approach to drug control.   It naively implies that there will be a day when drugs will be eliminated through the exclusive use of law enforcement resources and one day “victory” will be declared. 

Police are the first to say that we can’t arrest our way out of the drug problem and the issue of how to reduce drug use is not just the law enforcement community’s problem. It’s all of ours. It is an issue for doctors, nurses, parents, teachers, and community leaders. 

Each new generation of young people needs to be educated regarding the serious harms of drug use and how it can impair their ability to reach their full potential.

Our goal is simple: reduce drug use and its consequences as much as possible through a balanced, public health approach that includes drug education, expanding drug treatment to those who suffer from addiction, reform the criminal justice system, and enforce the law. FULL POST

Eliot titled his latest essay for Slate.com, Radical, Not Moderate /
The Republican presidential debate revealed how alarmingly far right the mainstream GOP has shifted.

CLICK HERE to read Eliot's essay.

Sure, there was a civility to the debate, a congeniality that was pleasant and soothing. But beneath that veneer, if you listened, you could hear the policies of the worst elements of the Republican Party over the past several decades—policies that once were fringe but have now become the mainstream Republican positions.

But Slate Group Editor in Chief, Jacob Weisberg, had another point of view: Going Sane / The Republican presidential field is much less whacky than expected.

CLICK HERE to read Weisberg's essay.

The GOP presidential field, while hardly dominated by political giants, appears far less outlandish than one might have predicted. At the first Republican debate in New Hampshire on Monday night, the seven candidates competed not for evangelical or libertarian favor, but for the status of someone plausible to compete with the president for swing voters.

The Number of the Day is 2.5 percent.

On Friday, the International Monetary Fund lowered its forecast for U.S. economic growth, predicting that the U.S. economy will expand at an annual rate of 2.5 percent this year and 2.7 percent in 2012, down slightly from April projected growth rates. That compares with prior expectations that the economy would grow in the 3.5 – 4.0% range. Slower growth means - you guessed it - fewer jobs and bigger deficits. 

The world's second largest economy–China–is expected to grow 9.6% this year, and they’re still the strongest of any emerging economy.

Overall, the IMF warned that risks to the global recovery have increased, and called on world leaders to devise "credible and well-paced" plans to bring down long-term deficits. The IMF said it is "critical" that the United States immediately address its debt ceiling, cautioning of a "major adverse market reaction" if it doesn’t.

House Republicans have been in fierce negotiations with the White House over increasing the $14.3 trillion federal debt limit, and Congress must approve a new limit by early August, or else.

But there’s hope! President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner, Vice President Joe Biden and Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich are playing golf together on June 18.

Too bad they can’t play at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland– the club is busy with this week’s US Open. But wouldn't that be cool - if they just showed up and joined the tournament! FULL POST

AARP DROPS OPPOSITION TO SOCIAL SECURITY CUTS – AARP, the powerful lobbying group for older Americans, is dropping its longstanding opposition to cutting Social Security benefits, The Wall Street Journal reports, a move that could rock Washington's debate over how to revamp the nation's entitlement programs. The decision, which AARP hasn't discussed publicly, came after a wrenching debate inside the organization.

UPDATE: 6-17-11 / 1:25 pm ET – CNN received a statement from AARP. Here is an excerpt:

AARP Has Not Changed Its Position on Social Security / Reaffirms that program must be strengthened to maintain critical benefit. AARP CEO A. Barry Rand offered the following statement in response to inaccurate media stories on the association’s policy on Social Security:

"Let me be clear – AARP is as committed as we’ve ever been to fighting to protect Social Security for today’s seniors and strengthening it for future generations. Contrary to the misleading characterization in a recent media story, AARP has not changed its position on Social Security.

"First, we are currently fighting some proposals in Washington to cut Social Security to reduce a deficit it did not cause. Social Security should not be used as a piggy bank to solve the nation’s deficit. Any changes to this lifeline program should happen in a separate, broader discussion and make retirement more secure for future generations, not less.

"Our focus has always been on the human impact of changes, not just the budget tables. Which is why, as we have done numerous times over the last several decades, AARP is engaging our volunteer Board to evaluate any proposed changes to Social Security to determine how each might – individually or in different combinations – impact the lives of current and future retirees given the constantly changing economic realities they face.

"Second, we have maintained for years – to our members, the media and elected officials – that long term solvency is key to protecting and strengthening Social Security for all generations, and we have urged elected officials in Washington to address the program’s long-term challenges in a way that’s fair for all generations.

"It has long been AARP’s policy that Social Security should be strengthened to provide adequate benefits and that it is sufficiently financed to ensure solvency with a stable trust fund for the next 75 years. It has also been a long held position that any changes would be phased in slowly, over time, and would not affect any current or near term beneficiaries."

GREEK CABINET RESHUFFLES – Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou reshuffled his Cabinet Friday amid a financial crisis that could reverberate far beyond his country's borders. FULL POST