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| Home Front: Politix |
| Intelligence Deficit |
| 2006-06-13 |
| The Central Intelligence Agency cannot be reformed if its supporters and detractors continue to substitute partisan bickering for a genuine examination of the agency’s problems. “In the last year-and-a-half, more than 300 years of experience has either been pushed out or walked out the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) door in frustration. This has left the agency in free-fall. I have visited these brave and committed women and men in nearly every corner of the globe and urge the new director do so. They deserve maximum support and a clear vision of where their agency is headed.” Quite unintentionally, this press release from Representative Jane Harman (D-Calif.) on the resignation of CIA director Porter Goss is a decent guide to the debilitating problems afflicting the agency’s clandestine service. Although the operations directorate has certainly been in free-fall, this condition has very little to do with Mr. Goss’s tenure. The CIA is a dispirited organization. It should be: the end of the Cold War removed a sustaining sense of purpose and the broad indulgence of the agency’s unenviable record of clandestine-intelligence collection, counterespionage, and analytical forecasting. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #9 NewsMax had an article on Hayden yesterday where she said the US had to leave Iraq "as soon as possible". Just another Quisling in the John Murtha mold, with less experience. I've worked with the CIA (technical folks, never the spooks) on several occasions. They're usually pretty good people, but not very innovative. I've also worked in DC with the imagery folks. There, it's mostly black and white, but still you get a few "senior heads" who are far too political, and don't want to see the forest for the trees. There, at least, the Army, DIA, and State keep them close to the truth, with unfiltered reports - or reports filtered in a different way. We need something like the CIA was supposed to be - a follow-on to the wartime OSS. Instead, it's become just another political haven for sloppy workers. It needs a good flush. Unfortunately for US, I don't think it's going to happen. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2006-06-13 20:56 |
| #8 yea, Hastings is up if the donks win in November. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-06-13 19:28 |
| #7 I thought Harman is out and Alcee Hastings is in???? Didn't Pelosi recently say that? |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2006-06-13 18:15 |
| #6 more than 300 years of experience 10 folks with 30 years? 30 folks with 10 years? 1 really olde fart? Bay of Pigs Chinee Boom India Boom USSR economy jumping along at 9 percentum Khan Bye, don't let the damn door hurt you. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-06-13 16:52 |
| #5 the real question is Steve Kappes, isnt it? Hayden and Negroponte think hes competent, and can strengthen operations. Are we better off with Kappes than with Goss and his pals? |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-06-13 13:47 |
| #4 Dan, Sures there was plenty of rot in the CIA, and some high level folks who did need to be pushed out. But Goss did it in about the worst way, and probably made things worse. Harman may not be completely on the mark, but shes not as far off as this author (Gerecht?) says. AFAICT Hayden is making the right moves now. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-06-13 13:36 |
| #3 Donks have given in to the angry left. Harmon must knuckle under or be replaced. Politics and power is more important to donks than intelligence. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-06-13 10:41 |
| #2 A good man is a good man regardless of age - only those men whom knew andor fought wid Osama and the heirarchy of Radical Islam know their various hiding places and networks. UNTIL OSAMA IS CAPTURED OR VERIFIED TO BE DEAD, THE THREAT TO THE USA FROM HIM WILL NEVER END. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-06-13 01:37 |
| #1 Saying by F86 SABRE fighter pilots during the [first?]KOREAN WAR > "NOT THE FASTEST BUT THE OLDEST". |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-06-13 01:34 |