There comes a time when big things should be considered rather than tinkering at the edges. It is certainly what the Left – as embodied in the Obama administration – thinks. It is certainly worth considering by those of us on the Right.
So let’s look at the CIA; an agency that has – at the highest levels – individuals who pursue their own foreign policy. That may be forgivable if the result is improved intelligence and improved safety for the US. Unfortunately, the list of intelligence and judgment failures is piling up to such an extent that it now appears that there is a question about whether the CIA is an asset or a liability for the country.
Failures include the surprise regarding the Indian an Pakistani nuclear weapons programs, the question of where Saddam’s WMDs went, the failure to stop 9/11, and now the NIE estimate from a mere two years ago that said the Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program.
These are failures not just of intelligence gathering, but of judgment that have costs thousands of lives and put the world in peril of a nuclear holocaust. These are failures – in part - of resources, but more obviously a people problem. People who do not have the best interest of the US at heart. That is not acceptable in a national intelligence agency.
Like a building that has outlived its usefulness, it may be best to raze it and start over again.
So let’s look at the CIA; an agency that has – at the highest levels – individuals who pursue their own foreign policy. That may be forgivable if the result is improved intelligence and improved safety for the US. Unfortunately, the list of intelligence and judgment failures is piling up to such an extent that it now appears that there is a question about whether the CIA is an asset or a liability for the country.
Failures include the surprise regarding the Indian an Pakistani nuclear weapons programs, the question of where Saddam’s WMDs went, the failure to stop 9/11, and now the NIE estimate from a mere two years ago that said the Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program.
These are failures not just of intelligence gathering, but of judgment that have costs thousands of lives and put the world in peril of a nuclear holocaust. These are failures – in part - of resources, but more obviously a people problem. People who do not have the best interest of the US at heart. That is not acceptable in a national intelligence agency.
Like a building that has outlived its usefulness, it may be best to raze it and start over again.
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