The War Against the CIA
A reader sends an article from Time Magazine describing how efforts to "reform" the CIA are in reality creating enormous damage to an institution which has long defended America from its enemies. Some excerpts from the article:
The embattled agency is opened up, aired out and trimmed down
Never before has a secret agency received such public scrutiny. It is indeed a unique event that a modern nation is exhaustively examining one of its chief weapons of defense for all the world to see—including its adversaries. Yet this unprecedented exposure of the Central Intelligence Agency is perhaps the inevitable result of attacks on a vast bureaucracy that operated too long out of the public eye. America's premier defense agency has been under intense fire both at home and abroad for violating what many critics felt were proper standards of international conduct.
Once a proud company of proud men acting with the confidence that not only would their accomplishments serve their country but that their fellow citizens would support them, the agency has found its very functions and rationale severely questioned. It has had five directors in five stormy years. Its chiefs seem to spend more time before congressional committees than in planning and administering. Its agents, never public heroes because of the secrecy of their work, are now portrayed in the harshest of press accounts as conspiratorial villains. Somehow the rules of the spy game changed and, as the CIA men keep telling themselves, changed in the middle of the game.
The result has been inevitable—sagging morale, deteriorating ability to collect intelligence, and declining quality of analysis. Increasingly, this has worried Government policy framers, who are all too well aware of the need for prime intelligence sources and evaluation.
It has also, not incidentally, comforted those who work against the CIA. A Soviet KGB agent told a TIME correspondent in Cairo last week: "Of all the operations that the Soviet Union and the U.S. have conducted against each other, none have benefited the KGB as much as the campaign in the U.S. to discredit the CIA. In our wildest scenarios, we could never have anticipated such a plus for our side. It's the kind of gift all espionage men dream about. Today our boys have it a lot easier, and we didn't have to lift a finger. You did all our work for us."
KGB? Is the phrase KGB a slip of the keyboard? No. The passage quoted above is from the February 6, 1978 edition of Time Magazine and the President accused of destroying the CIA isn't George W. Bush. It's Jimmy Carter. The article continues.
In an effort to restore the CIA'S esteem, reorganize the U.S. intelligence community, and deflect further criticism from the agency, President Carter last week signed an Executive order that places all nine U.S. intelligence agencies under the direct budget control and loose coordination of one man: CIA Director Stansfield Turner, 54. Incorporated in the order were sharp curbs on the kinds of clandestine practices that brought the CIA much of its criticism.
The Time article goes on to describe "skepticism that the overall problems of intelligence, coordination and direction could be cured either soon or simply"; it complains that "more is expected of the CIA just when its capabilities are being restricted"; of hamstringing its ability to supply intelligence on Third World countries even as it is needed most. The article exposes how intelligence agencies, contrary to intent, are being run from the White House by political figures. "When last week's executive order was finally hammered out, Admiral Turner, perhaps only half in jest, threw up his arms, sighed and told Brzezinski: 'They call me the intelligence czar, but you're the boss.'" Long time agency veterans complained about the new Director's abrasive style. "With scant regard for the feelings of people who had served their country unsung for decades, he permitted a photocopied memo informing 212 employees of their dismissal to be distributed last Oct. 31. Some of the people fired thought he bore them a personal grudge."
Commentary
If journalism were held to the same standards as fiction, the courts would be clogged with accusations of plagiarism. Although plot details may vary, news "narratives" bear a closer resemblance to each other than Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code did to Baigent and Leigh's Holy Blood, Holy Grail. That plaigarism case went to court, though Baigent and Leigh lost; and Time doesn't have to sue itself. The real function of an editorial room isn't to maintain stylistic consistency. Its true purpose is to enforce a certain point of view. The mainstream media's strength lies in its role as a foundry of news objects; as the creator of stories and masters of its lifecycle. Media power consists in being able to determine a narrative's birth, evolution and its final fate. The media has, as Orwell said, the power over history; a history which as Marx observed and Time demonstrates, always appears twice, first as tragedy and the second time as farce.
48 Comments:
There has been a forty five year old war against all US institutions. You can broaden that to Western and stretch it without distorting truth to include Christianity. The lies and distortions are spiked with hate and revenge. The agenda is to discredit and destroy. The abuse has been mostly conducted in the courts with the MSM singing chorus. The draft dodgers, via student deferment infiltrated the schools and universities. The likes of John Heinz Kerry destroyed the good name of many a better man than anyone would have ever dreamt possible. Jimmy Carter, Nobel Laureatte, provided them cover. The schools of journalism joined the crusade boosted by the endorphins provided by Watergate. The CIA is an easy target, as it cannot defend itself on the chosen field of battle, the media. Lies quickly become repeated and thicken to dogma and soon to “Truth”.
I had an ugly exchange in this forum when someone repeated the lie about a certain incident during Iran Contra. I knew the situation and persons involved first hand and it is now and was then an outrageous slander. My knowledge and witness is of no use because the damage has been done The lies have been repeated and are now dogma. The culture is sick and getting sicker. As in most times in history a man of decision, action and conviction will seize the moment when things get universally recognized as intolerable. The time and man has not yet appeared, but it and he will. The CIA will be diminished to the joy and disbelief of our enemies.
One never knows just how effective the CIA is since, by definition, what it does is secret. However, if the whole series of lame estimates--from their failure to devine the true state of the economic,political and military situations in the pre-collapse Soviet Unio and their inability to predict the likelihood of the collapse, to the recent Iraq WMD thing (although I think the jury is still out on this count)--is any indication, they are doing a rotten job on the analytical front.
Add to this the increasing number and seriousness of leaks from the Agency and it seems to me that any sensible President would try to basically purge the agency. However, the fact of these leaks tells me that not only are analysts leaking but that some of their supervisors are probably looking the other way and silently cheering them on. The Plum Book lists only eight key positions in the Agency that a President can appoint his advocates to. Ridding an agency of a pervasive mind-set, it seems to me,would be next to impossible with only eight people on your team. You can't get rid of everybody because you do need people to take care of business at some minimum level. If supervisors are sympathetic to the leakers or think as do the always wrong analysts, they are hardly going to show their true colors or nominate their favorite subordinates for purging are they?
Newsweak has an article describing the "real" story at the CIA
"... May 24, 2006 - As controversial CIA Director Porter Goss exits the agency, NEWSWEEK has discovered new details about a purge of top agency operatives shortly after Goss's arrival in 2004. A bitter secret feud over a Clinton-era counterintelligence case was apparently a major motivation behind the loss of those seasoned intelligence veterans, sources say. Gen. Michael Hayden, President Bush's nominee to replace Goss as CIA chief, has signaled that when he is confirmed by the Senate, probably later this week, he intends to appoint one of the principal victims of the feud, former CIA operations chief Stephen Kappes, as deputy CIA director—a move that is regarded inside the intelligence world as a final insult to Goss and his inner circle. ..."
At Newsweek.
Dems in the House and Senate threw the agency under the bus in the mid seventies. Seems they wanted to know what covert activities they were up to and weren’t too pleased with what they found during the Church and Pike investigations. They blocked various activities in South Africa In the end the agency was put on the end of a leash, ultimately held by the president. It is ironic that an institution that was born out of WWII and performed so ably during the Cold War would become the sheep dipped bastard step-child in the midst of 15 other agencies. What the committees started Carter ably finished.
Psychotics around the world are certain that the CIA is invading their minds and running things from a vast satellite network. An agency that can inspire that kind of paranoia is to be respected. Jihadists have fitful dreams of the agencies black ops bagmen who might come in the dead of night.
The CIA has become a sh!t magnet for the political drama that has been quietly ripping the country apart ever since the Clintonistas lost their seemingly endless grip on power. Throughout the nineties the administration was busy repopulating the dens of power with it’s true believers and when the 2000 election didn’t go their way they felt more than justified to ankle bite at the GWB government. In the end, I hope they turn the whole thing up side down and give it a good shaking. The cling-ons that don’t fall out should be scoured out with a Brillo pad. V. Plame comes to mind.
1st type an < then without space type
a href=
then paste in the address from the Navigator bar
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=12136206&postID=114858555605687508
then type > becomes the blue letters <
then type /a and then without a space >
MSM's strength? Or its purpose? Should its ad money, predominantly from large corporations, dry up, what strength would remain? Maybe if that connection were highlighted more, perhaps by replacing MSM with the phrase "corporate media," the reform or die mechanism will be finally forced to the fore.
But you won't take this advice, will you? NIH?
Legal Letter To ABCNEWS President Westin...
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Hey, didn't you like my Hieroglyphics Habu?
SHANKLIN SUPERNEWS
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http://help.blogger.com/
"premier defense agency"
LOL!!
"Throughout the nineties the administration was busy repopulating the dens of power with it’s true believers "
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Then "New Tone George" steps in, and leaves them, or excuses them when caught.
What a Wuss!
Weakness is Provocative!
Habu:
The tips when you preview comments are actually helpful:
Tell you what mistake you made.
Once you get 'Rat's down right, save it in notepad so you can just copy, paste, and replace address and link name.
...or type it every time, and in no time it seems like Spanish.
...er ENGLISH.
Continuity is everything, doug.
They teach that at Yale, I believe,
or Harvard. Or perhaps at Mr Bush 41's dinner table.
The Democrats are said to have "stacked the deck". Well that's to be expected, when the "deal" is passed, it's also time to change the cards.
Real poker players know that. Fresh cards are important.
Unmarked, unbent & clean.
Mr Nixon, no silver spooner, knew that much, and more, about poker.
What's diss mean?
HAYWORTH/Blackwell '08!
REP. J. D. HAYWORTH: An amnesty is an amnesty.
Call It What It Is.
2:50 PM
What's up with dat?
Diss and dat.
I'm fine.
Robin Sloan's flash documentary on how the current global media will change by 2014 and how media events will be systematically changed based on how we want to perceive them.
"The Fourth Estate's fortunes have waned."
http://epic.lightover.com/
Dowd deserves Dissing!
Just Desert:
Maureen Dowd, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary.
If for some reason you still think Bush’s plan is tough on illegal immigrants, ask yourself what would happen if we set up a booth at the border charging $2,000 to come and live and work in the U.S. with the possibility of citizenship down the road. My guess is the line would stretch from Nogales to Buenos Aires and we’d erase our budget deficit overnight.
The idea that this plan would be onerous for illegals is insulting, especially to legal immigrants who have patiently gone through the laborious process of lawfully coming into this country.
The American people see through the White House spin. They know an amnesty when they see it. And the president’s plan is an amnesty.
—Rep. J. D. Hayworth is a Republican U.S. congressman from the 5th District of Arizona.
Let me guess:
They "have" to pay taxes for THREE out of the last 5 years, right?
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Become an illegal:
Sure beats Citizenship in the New, New US of A.
• Chuck Grassley's Top Ten Flaws in the Senate Immigration Bill
Our Hero
McCain Sings:
You're Our Guest Worker Now!
Mr McCain came as a carpetbagger, moved into John Rhodes's District and won that safe seat, war hero that he was.
He married the local Beer baron's daughter, the Phoenix Budwieser market is rather lucrative.
Mr McCain and his wife still live in her families home, though it is on the market after it's AD profile.
He became Senator when the seat became open. He'll remain one of the Senators, 'til he's not.
Snow interview with Rush
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Skip first 10 min to get to immigration:
Snow might as well be from Mars imo.
"It's going to take a couple of years to secure the border."
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HELLO!
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Earth to Tony: 2001 was FIVE YEARS AGO!
Geez.
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Code word:
"binky"
Like Condi:
Talks fast, says nothing!
(At Truman level, that is.)
"Stepped up Enforcement Lately"
2 months.
Pure Crap.
Sept 11, 2001
Col. Fletcher Prouty’s, “The Secret Team”, from the mid-70’s was probably the most “scholarly” of the “CIA in control of the world” books but as I recall its main point was that the CIA insisted on doing things independently from the DoD, even when that made little sense from the logistics standpoint. It is amusing to recall that issue in the midst of the current “With an Air Force General in charge the CIA will not be independent” concerns emanating from DC.
But I think that the descent of the CIA as an independent force was to some extent inevitable due to technology. The NRO and NSA had to become proficient in their areas and the CIA had no chance of keeping up – it became a user of other’s intelligence resources rather than an independent acquirer. That meant it had to defer to others in some very critical areas. And that included turning to those same agencies when it needed the expertise to understand what it was seeing. I have personal experience with that aspect.
It's goin' be a "long war" on the Border, doug.
Nothin' ever ends, it's just another "Program" to be continued forever.
We ought to put Greencards on ebay, see what they really are worth. How much is a guest worker visa really worth?
DC as a whole has become so bloated, the connection with the people and reality has been largely lost.
Snow talked about how thrilled everyone is to be included in the Aura of the Regals.
I'm sure Steyn will have a Jewel soon.
DC:
Black hole for information from the Real World.
Rat: Somebody said $100,000
Washington has 'em @ $2,000 per.
I gotta dig out Sowell's:
VISION OF THE ANNOINTED
More timely than ever.
Habu:
How is human intel divided up now among agencies referenced by rwe?
Hewitt is interviewing Stalag 17 Vet played by William Holden!
Brian Ross Dan Rather Moment
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Incidentally, Brian Ross was behind the NBC Dateline report in the early 90s whereby NBC rigged explosive devices in an attempt to argue that pickup truck gas tanks were dangerous. Essentially, the story was made up.
My son is responsible for securing compartmentalized info for the Air Force.
Everyone I've known, from Lockheed to the Military, treated it exactly as it is supposed to be treated, following procedures to the letter.
Sure would have been nice to see some Clintonistas burn.
Local lawmakers split on Mexican president's visit to Sacramento:
Sen. Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego, and Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, attended Fox’s speech to a joint session of the Legislature.
Regardless of differences, Garcia said California should receive Fox with respect. ‘‘It is extremely important that we be respectful of a visiting dignity whether or not we agree with his point of view. He represents million of people and is the head of a country,’’ she said.
‘‘I have a personal interest in what he has to say (about) what responsibility both of our countries have in stopping illegal immigration and working on a comprehensive immigration policy that allows for legal entry into our country and allows for finding solutions to keep people within Mexico to wait for a legitimate path and to address the people who are here and how they can earn their right to citizenship,’’ she said.
Local Lawmakers Split
Yeah, I wondered also:
Maybe she means wrt the CIA?
I can assure you, the DOD is involved elsewhere!
pascal said,
"Should its ad money, predominantly from large corporations, dry up, what strength would remain?"
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From what I've read, significant quantities are being shifted from MSM to Google, and the Web in general.
And then there's Craig's List and etc to Bankrupt the papers.
I'll be sorry to see them go, actually. (the papers as a whole, not their politics/sedition of course)
Trish:
I don't think I know the meaning of the terms:
I'll go look.
Any special place to do that?
Experts says Cheney can't avoid testifying:
Cheney would have a tough time arguing that his notes on Wilson's article qualify as a national security secret, said attorney Stanley Brand, a former general counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives.
"He's commenting on something he read in the press, and that is hardly a national security issue," Brand said.
Cheney
Secrecy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Covert)
Jump to: navigation, search
Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from others. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret.
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Clandestine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Clandestine is an adjective meaning that its reference is something secret or guerrilla in nature, such as certain activities executed by spies.
Clandestine operations, secret or covert operations
National Clandestine Service, formerly the CIAs Directorate of Operations
Covert: Not openly shown.
Clandestine: Conducted with secrecy.
Webster
Any way to have specific examples?
Like in the old days, satellite photos?
Resolutions were kept secret, as were orbits.
They were "Spy Satellites"
Is that a covert mission, clandestine, or N/A?
...and that legal definition would be?
Don't we still have some military stuff/hardware that is completely denied?
Unless by a Democrat or Official Member of the MSM.
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