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Home Front: WoT

Let's Give the CIA Its Due

2009-01-12

Terrorists haven't been 'lucky' here since 9/11

By Charles McCarry

Richard M. Helms, the first director of Central Intelligence to rise from the ranks, was fond of saying that the CIA had been founded to make sure that there would never be another Pearl Harbor. Underlying this mission impossible was the wishful supposition that an America that knew everything could prevent anything. The CIA's job was to keep an eye -- a jaundiced eye -- on the whole world, friend and foe, weak countries and strong ones alike, as a means of preventing catastrophic surprises.

For more than 50 years, on the whole, the magic worked. And then, on Sept. 11, 2001, another Pearl Harbor happened. The CIA was not spared when blame was handed out. An intelligence failure had occurred and the result was the loss of 3,000 lives, billions in destroyed property, and incalculable damage to the American psyche.

In terms of the original illusion concerning an all-knowing intelligence service, the agency was fundamentally at fault. In reality, it is not likely that any system then in existence could have identified the terrorists (19 obscure youths out of a 2001 world population of 6.1 billion) and forestalled their crimes in the absence of a colossal stroke of luck. On 9/11, it was the terrorists, not their victims, who had all the luck.

Posted by:Steve White

#10 Although the inquest into Colby's death found he had died of natural causes, there were some suspicious circumstances:

* unusual for him to be canoeing at night;
* he had not spoken to his wife of any plans to go canoeing;
* his house was unlocked, with the radio and computer on, and the remains of a meal on the table;
* there was no sign of the life-jacket his friends said he usually wore;
* his body was found approximately 20 yards (18 m) from the canoe (itself found 100 yards (91 m) from the house) after the area had been thoroughly searched multiple times.
* his body was found 9 days after accident.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Colby

Posted by: Darrell 2009-01-12 20:52

#9 Long ago I wrote a small amount of fairly respectable poetry, Angleton9, although I never mastered that modern free verse. (Long rant herewith ruthlessly subdued.) Language is a multi-layered code, working as much at the subconscious as conscious level, which is why good semioticians make so much money, and one reason why reading the posts, and names, at Rantburg is such a learning experience.

We were still in Brussels when poor Mr. Colby encountered the water. If the International Herald Tribune didn't notice, then neither would have I. Our country and Mr. Angleton both were lucky to intersect for so long. I'm glad I have no memory of his first photo -- such a man deserves to have some things forgotten.

As for the brownies, my dear, even the House Fae can be ruthless in their whimsy. Let us hope they do not decide to share you, instead, after you so kindly and gently enlightened my confusion.

Posted by: trailing wife 2009-01-12 19:56

#8 I respect you trailing wife. On Saturday, April 27, 1996, Colby died in an apparent "boating accident" near his home in Rock Point, Maryland, although his body was actually found, underwater, on Monday, May 6, 1996. The subsequent inquest found that he died from drowning or hypothermia after falling out of his canoe, and there was no further investigation.

James Jesus Angleton had never had his picture taken, he had orchid growing as a hobby and was an aesthete who enjoyed making intricate jewelry and constructing flyfishing lures. He shunned the spotlight and was a very secretive man and ran COINTEL.
He was quite probably a genius and undoubtedly mad. He knew too much to be fired and he was removed by having his Cover blown and his madness exposed during a private party when camera men chased him taking his picture for publication in the Media.
Remember? All words are codes to some extent..

I am willing to share the brownies.

Posted by: Angleton9 2009-01-12 19:18

#7 There were men in the Agency who didnt play by the rules, and you could get pulled over the side and drowned with no warning whatsoever. Your left ear was always looking away from the thing that went bang if you got too close to what you didnt appreciate.

I'm afraid I have no idea what that means, Angleton9. But I thank you for whatever it was you were doing behind the couch while I wasn't looking. If I'd known I would have set down a cup of tea and a plate of cookies for the brownies.

Posted by: trailing wife 2009-01-12 17:04

#6 It has never been the same since the Carter administration and Frank Church. Hard to believe he represented Idaho. But then so did Larry Craig.

Posted by: Jack is Back 2009-01-12 10:48

#5 The CIA was not spared when blame was handed out.

Unlike Kimmel and Short, the director of the CIA would receive a medal for his service rather than be stripped of his rank and position. Yeah that's pinning blame.

Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-01-12 08:43

#4 Excellent article. What happens with this agency is vitally important to the entire Intelligence Community (IC). The Director Central Intelligence (DCI) owns the community process through a system of Director Central Intelligence Directives (DCID) to which the entire IC must abide and coordinate. This is a good news and at times bad news story for the services, but that is indeed another story. In the field it is a political process with the Chief of Station acting as the go-to-guy for the Ambassador (AMBO) or Chief of Mission (COM). If guidance from the COM and State Department is to limit the profile, (low risk/no-risk) not on my, his, or her watch, then collection activities suffer and the staff go golfing or skin diving. Blame for what does or does not happen, ie, knowledge acquisition and situational awareness in a given region must be shared. The events of 9/11 were a game changer. I credit President Bush and various DCI's for this. Is the organization perfect? Certainly not, but it's a far cry from the Carter years. Obama's appointment of Leon Panetta to the DCI is regretable and troubling not because of the personality, but because of Obama's lack of understanding of the organization, it's vital mission, and it's current needs.

Posted by: Besoeker 2009-01-12 08:01

#3 Being in Intell is very PERSONAL work. It isnt abstract. Its who you know and how well you know them. Its effective to the degree that its look me in the eye.

And you know who your friends are and who isnt your friend. Your friends are those who are inside and everybody else is game outside.

And if you dont have any friends on the inside then you cant do your job. Most people for years were checker suited bowties in the Agency. Or dead eyes and really big stakes efficiently dangerous men. Helms was one of those.

There were men in the Agency who didnt play by the rules, and you could get pulled over the side and drowned with no warning whatsoever. Your left ear was always looking away from the thing that went bang if you got too close to what you didnt appreciate.

And when an administration changed there was always the possibility that the new boy would show up and demand you give him the list of names of everybody who trusted you. Then YOU were outside.

There will come a day when Langley is a dust filled dark office with a disconnected phone in a cardboard box on the floor.

And the people who do the job wont be there anymore. They will be where their kind always were. Needing a bath and sweating in Goombah and counting the traffic coming up the road.
The numbers dont matter, what matters is staying away from the suits and not chatting at parties.

And poor old Angleton hiding behind the couch while the flashbulbs popped.

Posted by: Angleton9 2009-01-12 06:59

#2 Its no excuse for Feds or local Agencies to NOT tell patrons their emails are being read andor copied, etc. e.g. DATA MININGS, and widout their consent I might add.

It used to be called QUIET ENJOYMENT.

Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-01-12 02:21

#1 > Terrorists haven't been 'lucky' here since 9/11

Seems more to do with the low numbers of Muslims in the US as well as the tactical genius of the Iraq flypaper rather than the CIA Oxbridge equivalent alumnis efforts.

Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-01-12 00:43

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