Elizabeth says,
:I used to wonder why the CIA has such a terrible track record
at analyzing intelligence. Then I found out that almost all
CIA analysts are recruited from the Ivy League colleges.
Later, I found out that you can’t be hired by the CIA to
analyze intelligence if you’re over 37. ”
“Okay, so that’s two good reasons for their lousy track
record. ”
“Supposedly, they’re working on the Ivy League fixation.
(I don’t know how to italicize “Supposedly” here.)”
“Another intelligence agency supposedly doesn’t have an
age ceiling for civilian analysts. ”
MY REPLY:
Let me concentrate onthe Ivy League fixation first.
If you cut all the crap, we know htat the Ivy League is dedicated to putting out Marxists and other who believe that the “intellectuals” – meaning htose who hop through all the hoops in the educational establishment– should rule the rule.
We know that all debate allowed inthe Ivy League is between the left and the far left.
Then we take the resulting people on to run the intelligence estalishment.
If one resides on the planet earth, it is clear that the Ivy-League-dominated CIA cannot tell whether someone is an actual traitor or not.
To quote one editorain, “I am not loyal to a particular people or a particular cnountry — that is nationalism. I am loyal only to ideals of hte United States.”
Traitors ALWAYS — pace Joe — claim to have been loyal to a set of Ideals that are higher than patriotism, which is considered nationalism by Political Correctness, our estabished faith. A Marxist genuinely believes he is loyal to Ideals, and that is the opposite of treason.
So how does one CIA Ivy Leaguer tell whether another is committing whatever is currently in favor at the Harvard faculty as “lotalty.” The Supreme Court regularly changes whatever the meaning of America is.
Which brings us full circle. A Wordist society has no fixed loyalty of any kind. That is in a state of flux, depending on what the “living Constitution” means right now. Like all forms of Wordism, loyalty depends on what set of priests is in power at the moment.
This makes the whole idea of intelligence incomprehensible. You need some rednecks and Irish Micks, who not even a PhD can get off a fixation with Us Versus Them, to do the Real Work while the budget goes to the Ivy Leaguers.
The Torricelli amendment destroyed intelligence on the ground. It said that no informer could be hired unless he were cleared with the head men at the CIA. The head men at the CIA are a bunch of Ivy Leaguers. NOT ONE SINGLE head of station even sent one of their reliable informers names in for clearance.
“Head of station” is a British term but it is simpler and more familiar to everybody because of the Bond novels. In the various American intelligence outfits, it’s a little hard to tell exactly who the head of station is, so I use the term for simplicity.
That last sentence was for Joe. I’ve used the term before and nobody had any difficulty understanding what I meant.
Why wouldn’t people on the ground submit the names of their informers to what Brits once called home station or HQ?
Obviously they trust the Ivy League machine to keep any secrets. The names could easily go to Senator Kennedy’s staff and anyone else who might find them profitable.
As one diplaomatic official of the USSR said after the Cold War ended, “Contacts, contacts. That was always the real job of EVERYBODY (pace Joe) sent to the West, the UN, embassies, or anywhere else.”
Those contacts, Americans recruited to get infomration, knew how to get the names out of Kennedy staff or their fellow Idealists in the CIA. If you give the names of your informants to CIA headquarters, it would be a lot kinder just to shoot them first.
And I repeat, the reaction to the Torricelli Amendment demonstrated that everybody KNEW that.
In fact, even the media agreed that the Torricelli Amendment destroyed on-the-ground intelligence. Nobody discussed why, because it was assumed everybody knew why.
In fact, thought the Torricelli Amendment was talked about a lot for a few months after 9/11, I haven’t seen a word about it since.
Everybody knows about the informers, but if you can concentrate on other things and forget this incident, they can continue to hide in plain sight.
#1 by joe rorke on 12/27/2005 - 7:57 pm
Good piece. Very informative to say the least. I had no idea these outfits were so pathetic. I’d fire the lot of them if I had the chance and send in some folks who knew how to get the job done. College pukes. I should have known. Damned shame if they get paid more than minimum wage but they probably do. Thanks for stooping down to help me out with that more difficult concept, Bob. I need special help from time to time. The piece tells me a lot about intelligence outfits. Maybe they ought to call them something other than intelligence outfits. I wouldn’t want to work with a bunch of characters like that. They should be ashamed to collect a paycheck.
#2 by Bob on 12/27/2005 - 9:06 pm
Aw, come on Joe!
Laughing at those guys calling themselves “intelligence” is one of the few real joys in
dealing with them!
I don’t stoop down to anybody, Joe. Either you’re worth explaining to or you’re not.
As I have made it abundantly clear, you are.
#3 by CL on 12/31/2005 - 8:53 pm
I was in a big chain bookstore today, and on one of the many racks of discount books (ie, those that didn’t sell) was a big stack of blue hardcovers that caught my eye: “Intelligence in War.” Sitting on top of it was a little sign that said “FICTION.”