NYT: Empty Office Adds to Sense of Isolation at CIA ("dark, bitter mood")

[DeepModem Mom]

THE AGENCY
Empty Office Adds to Sense of Isolation at the C.I.A.
By DOUGLAS JEHL

Published: July 13, 2004


WASHINGTON, July 12 - The spacious seventh-floor office of the director of central intelligence sat vacant in northern Virginia on Monday, leaving officials of the Central Intelligence Agency to ponder its future in a very new era.

As planned, George J. Tenet stepped down over the weekend, making Monday the first day in seven years that he had not presided over American intelligence agencies. In his place, John E. McLaughlin, the new acting chief, took Mr. Tenet's place at the early morning Oval Office briefing for President Bush, intelligence officials said.

But after last week's Senate report, which lambasted the C.I.A. in particular for misjudgments related to prewar intelligence on Iraq, the mood at the agency has turned dark and bitter, current and former officials said in telephone conversations on Monday. Many said they were waiting for the next shoe to drop.

On a wooded campus surrounded by high-security fences, the C.I.A. headquarters has always been geographically isolated from the rest of government. Its empty hallways and closed doors reinforce that isolation, as does its nominal mission: to provide independent, unbiased information in a political, policy-driven town....

***

On Monday, that environment only seemed to have compounded what one official described as a sense of being besieged....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/13/politics/13agen.html

[SoCalDem]

1. Gee, THAT'S a real reason to hire someone ...

So they don't get "lonely"..DUH !!!

Personally I would like to see them just wait a few months, and let Kerry "clean house", and get some new blood in that place..:)

[amber dog democrat]

2. I have a hard time feeling sorry for them

I wonder what John LeCarre would make of this situation. From what I can see the C.I.A. has been next to useless regarding being of service to the nation.
I certainly have no confidence in their ability to carry out its mission - and even when they are truthful, who listens to politically inexpedient information?

I am going to try to suppress a yawn right now.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. You have absolutely no clue, do you?....

Yes, the CIA has made mistakes in the past, but under the NeoCon Junta, the CIA's advice/input/recommendations was largely ignored.

The CIA wouldn't play ball with the NeoCons, so Rummy threatened at first to have them report to him so that he could oversee the intelligence results the NeoCons wanted. When that didn't work, the NeoCons created the OSP, a Pentagon-based "intelligence" group that had ties to Iraqis with a major vested interest in seeing us invade Iraq, and the willingness to rewrite intelligence estimates from all sources, to include information coming from the CIA.

No better example of this can be found than in the wording in the CIA's CLASSIFIED National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) containing qualified data indicating the lack of hard evidence on WMDs, and the resultant wording in the UNCLASSIFIED version of the NIE presented to Congress and other major decision-makers on Iraq. Who changed the wording? The CIA states that they don't have any idea how the qualified statements made in their version became definitive statements of fact in the summary version.

Do you understand that the CIA is being used as the fall guy for the NeoCons?

As to your comment about the CIA being "next to useless regarding...service to the nation", I have to wonder what source or sources you're using to make that kind of clueless blanket statement.

[KoKo]

11. You make a good point, but CIA is not a good guy....Cold War, Vietnam,

Clinton taking a fall for bombing "baby milk factory," South America and other parts of the world where agents were manipulated or somehow didn't see what was going on before things got so bad that genocide occurred.

I think there's been a history of "cherry picking" information by them before. It's only the the dedicated folks who work there as a "counter-balance" that have kept even a semblence of balance against what's always been "rogue" elements.

CIA should have "whistle blown" loud and clear before we got into Iraq.
The fact that there were some leaks speaks to some honesty, but the fact is we are now in the Middle East and hashing out who is responsible isn't going to get us out of there. It could all be seen as a marvelous plot where some folks will take the fall for it (and I hope he PNAC'ers end up behind bars for "treason" but in the end, we are there.

So there's much dark about that agency and we will never know more than a bit of it...Just my humble opinion.

[amber dog democrat]

19. Results are what matter.

If one of the things the C.I.A. is supposed to do is look out for American Foreign Policy interests, then I think largely they have failed to do a very good job.

Having read John Stockwell's In Search of Enemies, Agees, Inside the Company and just reviewing American Strategic policy since the Cold War, ( The C.I.A. got started in 1947 out of the old OSS ) my general impression is not very favorable.
I see the C.I.A. involved in a lot of annecdotal historical events that I am not proud to be represented by.


• The Bay of Pigs
• Iran 1954
• Operation Phoenix in Vietnam
• Noreaga
• Afhghnistan in the 80s ( and drug smugglilng ops )
• Contras in Nicuraga
• Chile
• Dominican Republic
• Ferdinand Marcos
• Sadam - we created him
• Osama - we helped him too.
• Iraqi Kurds, - twice incited to rebel and tiwce abandoned to Sadam's retaliation.
• MK Ultra and MK Artichoke ops in the US in the 50s and 60s
in violation of its charter
• failure of intelligence to protect us against 9/11
Think about it - one of the key mission statements of the agency is to have no more
Pearl Harbors. But look at what happened - blame the Commander in Chief but
still this was not supposed to happen. Do I feel any safer?

• Murder of Patrice Lamumba in 65
• detention of enemy combatants...around the world with no accountability for them.
• Murder of thousands in Indonesia under Sukarno ( State Dept gave names )
• Murder of President Diem in Vietnam
• coup that replaced Prince Sihanouk ( sp ) with Lon Nol in Cambodia
creating a political vacum that paved the way for Pol Pot
• suspected in the sabotage of Ziah Alhaq's C-130 in Pakastan
I can tell you this list goes on.

I tend to think of this agency as inherently not acting in the nation's best interest
and granted its used a a political tool at the behest of the executive branch.

As Kissinger used to say, " Diplomacy is the acid test of a foreign policy. "
I agree I am not very informed, but still I do not feel that sorry for the agency.
If there are honest and courageous people in it, how will we ever know.?

I am sad to agree that yes, the agancy was compromised and then ordered to fall on its sword. I totally agree in this regard it is used as a fall guy. the other thing is it is not very smart on the part of the Bush Admin to play this game with the agency.

I suspect like any one in the Defense dept, one takes an oath to protect the Constition against ALL enemies foreign AND domestic. The Bush admin is messing with the wrong people. I anticipate more whistle blowing revealitions of greater embarrassment down the road. There is going to be payback.

[teryang]

20. I agree

The "they do more good than harm" apologists for the CIA don't really understand its structure or its history.

The desk top analysts that do the published estimates generally do pretty good work. However, they have nothing to do with covert operations. The analysts are manipulated by the operators when it suits them.

Therefore the analysts generally find themselves in a sympathetic light as midlevel employees doing their patriotic best. The provide the necessary cover for operations who are generally responsible for the laundry list of murderous jobs, coups, assassinations and other sundry work. The latter are guilty as hell and this includes the top echelons.

The operations side generally do more harm than good, recent events, blow back, 911, and fraudulent war are among their current claims to ignominy.

However, the basic falsehood being trotted out now to save the neocon butts politically is that this is all "an intelligence failure." Nothing could be further from the truth. The run up to war was planned (obviously) and the CIA participated, especially at the highest levels. There was nothing "negligent" about it, it was deliberate with malice aforethought.

[teryang]

3. What melodrama!

From the hard nosed bastards who topple governments and start wars.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

5. The last time the CIA was in this kind of mood was shortly after Dulles...

...had been fired following the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

Shortly after that, JFK was dead.

The next closest CIA foul mood was when Nixon tried to intimidate the agency into helping him stonewall the Watergate investigators. It seems that Nixon had some background information concerning the Bay of Pigs operation and surrounding activities that the CIA did not want to get out.

The next thing Nixon knew, he was being asked to resign.

Yes, the CIA has had some notable failures, but they've had far more successes than failures.

I'm personally hoping that they will eventually prevail against the NeoCons. The next few months should be very interesting.

[October]

6. I too hope they prevail

against the neocons. It's jaw-dropping how they're taking the heat for this administration (especially considering the Valerie Plame incident).

But won't their new "leader" be appointed by *Bush? Another figure-head serving the neocons?

[Leilani]

10. But Congress has to approve the choice..

At least the Senate has to vote.

If the Dems roll over, as usual, then Bush can get his choice.

The Dems can block anything they want, if they have the guts to filibuster.

[ewagner]

7. Amen, Media_Lies_Daily

Yes, the CIA in the past has abused their power, but those abuses usually came on orders from the top, more politically motivated appointees. The professionals in the organizations are dedicated, patriotic people who are just as committed to keeping America safe as any person wearing a military uniform.

I hope they prevail in this struggle.

[Gin]

8. I just watched the movie "Network" and I think that.. soon.. the CIA will

get fed up with being depressed...shift to anger...and all of them will stick their heads out their windows and yell..."I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"

Then the truth (that we, at DU, already know)will come out!

[wrate]

15. Agreed! When are this people going to stand up and defend themselves

from the lies of the Neo-con administration! If Americans think the CIA is a failure it has as much to do with the Neo-con lies as it does with the CIA's taking all this crap sitting down.

[DeepModem Mom]

16. Hi, wrate, welcome to DU -- in post 13 below...

Andy Tiedye points out something I'd never thought of: any number of Plames could be "outed." Maybe this holds the CIA back.

[yellowcanine]

9. If I were * I would worry about the CIA being in a "dark, bitter" mood.

They could do him some political damage with a few well-placed leaks.

[DeepModem Mom]

12. What about "waiting for the next shoe to drop?" On the CIA, or elsewhere?

How are people reading this line from the article: "Many said they were waiting for the next shoe to drop"?

[AndyTiedye]

13. They've Got As Many Shoes to Drop as Imelda Marcos

but the BFEE has probably threatened to out the rest of their agents,
and engaged in various other blackmail, so who knows?

[DeepModem Mom]

14. OMG, you're right -- they could "out" any number of Plames....

That's the card they hold, isn't it?

[tom_paine]

17. Just wait until Bushevik MONSTER Porter Goss takes over

Say goodbye to the last few honest CIA agents.

[goclark]

18. My tinfoil hat is on

for this issue, I think I am feeling that the CIA was forced to take the fall for BushCo.

But one of the things that keeps sticking in my mind is the role that GHWB had/has with the CIA. I recall reading that GHWB is probably the only human being on the planet earth that can't remember where he was the day Kennedy was killed. I remember reading that GW and his stupid Mom just happened to be two Republicans greeting the motorcade for Jackie and John Kennedy. Why would they be there? They were having a fun day in the sun and Poppy was AWOL that day? - NOT

I also read, I believe here at DU, that GHWB was spotted at that same event on that horrible day. He has not admitted it yet.

Then I recall the friendship of the Bush family and the Hinkley family. Neil even had dinner with the family the night that Reagan was shot. IF Reagan had survived, GHWB would have been President. Huuum

It seems to me that GHWB is probably still controlling the CIA like Cheney controls GW for his dad. In fact, from my view, GHWB controls Cheney. Poppy is always on the outside, with his hands clean, and looking like " who me?"

I am praying that the CIA agents that were getting their marching orders from Bush are now of retirement ages. All we really need is one of them to start leaking and it is "Katie bar the door" for this horrible family and the Rethug Neo Cons.:tinfoilhat:

[Domitan]

21. Can anyone see the CIA assassinating some key neocons?

Is the CIA's rage for revenge that black and determined?

[Disturbed]

22. Tenet.

Tenet gave BushCo what they wanted. The OSP took raw data and Chalabi's con artist's intell. and spun it into reasons for the Iraq Invasion. Powell was the messenger. They all knew it was bullshit!

The rank and file are the ones that got the stabs in their backs. Will they just take it and not make any waves?