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| FBI - CIA Turf War |
| 2005-02-11 |
| An ambitious new effort by the F.B.I. to recruit foreigners in the United States and use them as spies overseas has created new frictions with the Central Intelligence Agency, which views the bureau's actions as a serious encroachment on the agency's traditional primacy in intelligence gathering, senior government officials said. The rift reflects the fundamental changes sweeping through American intelligence agencies as the C.I.A. and the F.B.I., as well as elements of the Defense Department, face increasing pressures to improve their intelligence capabilities in the aftermath of the September 2001 attacks. All three agencies are still struggling to grapple with the transformation in the threats facing the United States since the end of the cold war and are due to report to the White House next week on their plans to improve counterterrorism efforts. In a departure from past practice, the F.B.I. wants to manage the foreigners it recruits under the new program after they return to their home countries. The C.I.A. wants to maintain its lead role in recruiting and managing these sources. The transformation of the F.B.I. into an agency that collects intelligence overseas is causing unease within the C.I.A., where officials question whether the F.B.I. has the expertise to play that role. Among the particular sources of friction in the last year have been several episodes in which senior intelligence officials said the F.B.I. failed to inform the C.I.A. fully about its relationships with intelligence sources overseas or practiced poor tradecraft in its dealing with them. F.B.I. officials acknowledged lapses, but said there were also instances in which the C.I.A. had failed to keep the bureau fully informed of its activities. Those problems, the officials said, underscored the necessity of reaching a new understanding. In interviews, senior officials on opposite sides of the debate laid out their views in stark terms. "Today the C.I.A. is the only one who can handle the overseas mission," an intelligence official said. "The C.I.A. hires and trains people to be intelligence officers; the F.B.I. hires and trains people to be law enforcement officers. They flash a badge and say, 'Tell me what I need to know,' and that gets you nowhere outside the United States." |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #1 New York Times -- I need say no more. |
| Posted by: Tom 2005-02-11 8:49:00 PM |