THE SCHIZOPHRENIC CIA

WE DON'T HAVE ONE BAD CIA - WHICH UNDERMINES OUR NATION'S DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED ADMINISTRATION'S FOREIGN POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY.

WE HAVE A SCHIZOPHRENIC CIA:

• TWO CIA'S WITHIN ONE:

• ONE WHICH WORKS COURAGEOUSLY HARD TO DEFEND THE FREE WORLD,

• AND ONE WHICH FIGHTS EQUALLY HARD TO ENACT IT'S OWN FOREIGN POLICY BY WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY.

POWER LINE: About those videos the CIA destroyed, Part Two

Jose Rodriguez, Jr. is the CIA official who is said to have ordered the destruction of the video tapes that memorialized the interrogation of two leading al Qaeda terrorists. At the time, Rodriguez was the CIA’s Director of Clandestine Operations.

That title reminds us that much of what the CIA does is supposed to be clandestine.

In essence, the CIA was conceived as an organization that would do secret things to obtain information, and then analyze that information.

It was always understood that some of the secret things would be unsavory.

It was never understood that the CIA would keep recordings of these actions just in case a court, a congressional committee, or a newspaper might want to take a look. The idea was to win the Cold War, not to create an album.

The image of the Cold War CIA is captured, albeit over-dramatically, in the old Mission Impossible show, when the clandestine operative is informed that, if he or any member of his team is caught or captured, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of their actions.

Five seconds later, the tape self-destructs.

Jose Rodriguez may be wondering where that manufacturer of self-destructing tape was when he needed him.

Times have changed, to be sure.

Nowadays the CIA’s main functions seem to be leaking to the press and producing guesses (called assessments), hoping against hope that a few of them will prove to be correct.

Rodriguez did the right thing: he protected the USA from the possibility that these tapes would fall into enemy hands - LIKE THE NYTIMES! - and be used for propaganda by the enemy - (as they did with the Abu Ghraib images).

But this episodes proves one thing more: we have a schizophrenic CIA:

• THE ERASED INTERROGATION TAPES - AND THE INTERCEPT PROGRAM, THE SWIFT PROGRAM, THE RENDITION PROGRAM - ALL PROVE THAT THERE ARE INDEED PARTS OF THE CIA WHICH DO FUNCTION.

• SADLY, THERE ARE ALSO PARTS OF THE CIA WHICH ARE FIGHTING JUST AS HARD TO UNDERMINE THOSE ELEMENTS WITHIN THE CIA WHICH DO WORK, AND THAT IS THE PROBLEM.
• THEY WILL LEAK WHATEVER THEY CAN DO UNDERMINE ANY POLICY THEY DISAGREE WITH - EVEN IF IT HELPS THE ENEMY.
  

• I DON'T GET THE SENSE THAT PUTIN'S KGB HAS A SIMILAR PROBLEM.

• I THINK THIS IS BECAUSE THE KGB IS COMPRISED OF PEOPLE WHO ARE ALL OF ONE PARTY, AND THAT THEY ASSASSINATE ANY WHO DON'T FOLLOW PARTY ORDERS - AND THEY HANDSOMELY REWARD THOSE WHO DO.

WE NEED TO TAKE THE ANALYTIC FUNCTION OUT OF THE CIA COMPLETELY, AND FIRE THE WOULD BE POLICY-MAKERS SO THAT THE HEROIC CLANDESTINE PEOPLE AND COVERT COUNTER-ESPIONAGE AND COUNTER-TERROR AGENTS OF THE CIA DON'T HAVE TO BE CONSTANTLY BE LOOKING OVER THEIR SHOULDERS.

*******UPDATE: DER SPIEGEL/REUTERS: Bolton calls report on Iran quasi-putsch

'POLITICS': "This is politics disguised as intelligence," said John Bolton, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, in an article appearing in this week's Der Spiegel magazine.

The former ambassador to the U.N. says the the latest intelligence estimate is meant not to inform but to influence policy.

U.S. intelligence services attempted to influence political policy by releasing their assessment that concludes Iran halted its nuclear arms program in 2003, said John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Der Spiegel magazine quoted Bolton on Saturday as alleging that the aim of the National Intelligence Estimate, which contradicts his and President Bush's position, was not to provide the latest intelligence on Iran.

"This is politics disguised as intelligence," Bolton was quoted as saying in an article appearing in this week's edition.

Bolton described the report, released Monday, as a "quasi-putsch" by the intelligence agencies, Der Spiegel said.

I AGREE.