Thursday, November 25, 2004About those CIA departures...A few more biggies have apparently left the CIA, making as big a stink as former spooks can do in the process. Which is, perhaps, healthy. News reports are talking about traditional lines of authority being broken, old procedures being undermined, etc. One feels bad who for those who feel they have been "dissed" or that the rug got pulled out from under them. But... the CIA does not exist for the comfort of its employees or for the sake of tradition. It exists because our country needs clandestine agents to make the contacts necessary for learning what's going on in the world and influencing it when possible. As directed by the political leadership of the country. Politics is, of course, a big issue here. The NYT report (found on AOL, no link) has this: "The C.I.A. is a line organization like the military," said Christopher Mellon, a former intelligence official at the Defense Department and the Senate Intelligence Committee. "When staff guys insert themselves, that causes confusion and discontent."That's very nice, but if a senior officer short circuits the chain of command and a lieutenant balks, the lieutenant can find himself in considerable trouble. Resentment is allowed. On one's own time. But it sounds like in the CIA, it went beyond that, since the CIA is not, in fact, a military organization. After all, the army does not cross the president, under any circumstances, because it is understood that part of what separates the US from your average junta is that the military leadership serves the political leadership. The closest we've come, of late, is Colin Powell's actions in regard to the gays in the military question. One wonders, given the nature of the griping that we're hearing, if certain CIA officers understand that you don't necessarily follow the president's directives because he's right, but because he has the authority to give them and make decision about them, whereas even the smartest CIA agent has not stood for election and therefore is not entitled to decide what the people really need. While there is much in the buzz about the CIA that may disconcert, the idea that old-timers must work with the president's team and the president's policies or face being pushed out is good news. Now if we can get the same process started at State. 
posted by gbarto at 11:36 PM |
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