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2009-06-14 Home Front: Politix

Dismantle the CIA's Station-Chief System

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Posted by Sherry 2009-06-14 01:46|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 well said. Been calling for reform of the CIA for years. Or even its complete demolition, and rebuilding into properly separated agencies that each specialize in a given INT area. This would re-invigorate HUMINT, as well as covert operations.

Posted by OldSpook 2009-06-14 02:00|| 2009-06-14 02:00|| Front Page Top

#2 Dismantle it, replace with an agency which only employs veterans.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2009-06-14 03:16|| 2009-06-14 03:16|| Front Page Top

#3 Sounds like he's asking them to move from a Location Centric setup to a more "project" oriented approach.

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2009-06-14 06:33|| 2009-06-14 06:33|| Front Page Top

#4 -- who seek to conduct operations abroad must first obtain permission from the CIA's station chiefs

It is a 'coordinating process' established by law and CIA Directive which permits all intelligence entities to be in the chop chain of proposed operations or activities and approve or disapprove. The difficulty is the Director of Central Intelligence sits at the top. He's the 'Sheriff' and is the final arbitor of the project approval process. Anyone in the Agency's coordinating process can request disapproval of a project or activity. The final arbiter can endorse disapproval or issue disapproval without cause. The services can conduct an intense amount of, let us say 'spade work' only to see the project go down in flames during the approval process. Of course all of this work is carefully noted by the Sheriff for his current or future use and credit. To say the process is parochial and politically risk averse is an understatment. The 'Sheriff' or Chief of Station (COS) keeps the Chief of Mission (COM) Amassador out of the privy in his low risk-no risk continuum, thus keeping the administration out of the privy and everyone lives happily ever after.

Dismantling the Station-Chief System is a start, but the approval process and directives should also be rewritten to put the ODNI in the Sheriff's chair.

Posted by Besoeker 2009-06-14 08:12|| 2009-06-14 08:12|| Front Page Top

#5 What about these?

United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

* Dianne Feinstein, Chairwoman, California
* Jay Rockefeller, West Virginia
* Ron Wyden, Oregon
* Evan Bayh, Indiana
* Barbara Mikulski, Maryland
* Russ Feingold, Wisconsin
* Bill Nelson, Florida
* Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island

* Kit Bond, Vice Chairman, Missouri
* Saxby Chambliss, Georgia
* Orrin Hatch, Utah
* Olympia Snowe, Maine
* Richard Burr, North Carolina
* Tom Coburn, Oklahoma
* Jim Risch, Idaho

Ex officio

* Carl Levin, Michigan
* Harry Reid, Nevada
* John McCain, Arizona
* Mitch McConnell, Kentucky

Posted by Willy 2009-06-14 10:29|| 2009-06-14 10:29|| Front Page Top

#6 This type of entrenched bureaucracy allows control by a handful of carefully chosen people, whether easily duped or outright corrupt. It endangers the other agents, stifles the good ones, and allows moles to operate freely. Needs to go.

Posted by Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2009-06-14 11:48|| 2009-06-14 11:48|| Front Page Top

#7 I agree. Devolve it completely and beside being a vet you have to have graduated from a school within 500 miles radius of Memphis or Des Moines.

Posted by Jack is Back!">Jack is Back! 2009-06-14 12:14|| 2009-06-14 12:14|| Front Page Top

#8 "Central Intelligence Agency... Now, there's a contradiction in terms."

(The Hunt for Red October)

Posted by European Conservative 2009-06-14 15:44|| 2009-06-14 15:44|| Front Page Top

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