Spare a kind word for the CIA

Observations from a former officer, turned novelist:

[...]

All but a handful of the people I knew half a century ago, when for about a decade I served overseas as a CIA agent, are either dead or otherwise absent, and I don't know a soul who is employed in today's agency. Despite rumors of deep bureaucratic problems and deeper dissatisfaction in Langley, the profile probably hasn't changed much since my day. As in the past, the personnel likely are brighter than most, workaholic, patriotic, ambitious, a little too impressed with success in what they suppose is the real world. I hope for their sakes that they don't drink as much as the old boys used to do.

Also, I suspect that they are doing a better and a more ethical job for our country than most people think or would be willing to believe. And no doubt they are more than a little nervous at the prospect of a new administration, a new director, a new political orthodoxy, and quite possibly, yet another purge. New presidents and new directors have sometimes been hostile, and heads have rolled in the past for reasons that baffled.

[...]

Since the CIA rose to the top of the news this week with the nomination of a new director, the idea that the agency needs to change its culture yet again has come to the fore. If that means tighter control and more bureaucracy, one trembles for the future.

...But wouldn't it be grand if the new management, as its first act, offered reassurance instead of recriminations to a troubled agency? Suppose, for starters, the boss said that on his watch, protocols would be clear, instructions would be plain, boundaries would be well defined, and within those limits, initiative would be valued, and that there would be no ex post facto rules.

He might also state that the allegations of abusive interrogation of captured enemies of the United States is a big issue for the CIA, but a separate issue, and that it will be handled and settled by due process in isolation from the good work that has been done by men and women who have been given a very difficult assignment and deserve credit and praise for what they have accomplished. After all, there has not been a single terrorist act on American soil since 9/11, and al Qaeda and other terrorist groups have seen large numbers of their leaders and operatives hunted down and neutralized. Obviously the credit for this belongs to many people in and out of government, not just Americans but also some of our allies and friends. But surely the CIA was among the players.

Maybe the CIA, disheartened and distanced from its countrymen, could use a word of acknowledgment and a hint of better days to come. It might not be a bad idea to omit, for once, the customary spongeful of vinegar before proceeding with the usual reforms.

Mr. McCarry is the author of 11 novels and eight nonfiction books. He is at work on a new novel.

Mark C.

Posted by markc at January 11, 2009 12:10 PM