Let me say right up front that I recognize that nothing I could say will sway the opinion of those who are predisposed to view the CIA as an evil, corrupt, and out of control entity. Some will not be open to a conversation that presents another point of view. Much of that feeling is based on some of the admittedly stupid things that the CIA has done over the years, certainly including in more recent years.
That being said, let me point out that while the CIA’s failures and sometimes questionable activities always become public knowledge, the successes of the CIA are almost never known by the American people. Those successes far outnumber the CIA’s failures by a large margin.
The times when the CIA has saved lives protecting the country from terrorist attacks, or the times they have provided America’s decision-makers with high quality intelligence to help them formulate our national policies, or have given us the edge in any international negotiations by providing our side with a better understanding of our adversaries weaknesses and bargaining positions are rarely, if ever known. If Americans knew about those successes then our enemies would as well, and they wouldn’t be much of a success after all.
Agency employees toil in anonymity. They don’t get the ticker-tape parades, the chests full of medals, or any public accolades afforded to others. They go about doing their jobs quietly, accepting that theirs is a profession that by its very nature has to be anonymous.
That leads to much of the mistrust of the Agency on the part of the American public. The Agency operates in the shadows, aptly described by the title of the book “Wilderness of Mirrors.” When all one hears about is the times the Agency has ‘stubbed its toe’ and never hears anything positive, it’s pretty natural to develop a sense of skepticism about anything the Agency is involved with.
Hollywood contributes by continually depicting the Agency negatively, showing Agency employees as corrupt and dishonest, and rarely presents even a balanced view of the Agency or the people who work for it. Movies based on historical events that the Agency had involvement with very often distort what actually happened, or at the least take a perfunctory jab at the Agency. It’s hard to combat the millions of dollars and popular personalities that Hollywood can invest into a project that’s sole intent is to show the Agency in an unfavorable light.
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Much of that public mistrust is also deliberately being bred by our nation’s enemies. How better to distract the Agency from its important work than to have the Agency be constantly dealing with accusations, distortions, and outright fabrications created by covert influence operations conducted by our enemies? Made much easier nowadays by social media, not to mention a biased and corrupt news media. Mark Twain once said that “a lie can travel around the world before the truth can put on its shoes.” Certainly a true statement in the age of TikTok, Facebook, and ‘X’ (formerly Twitter).
All one has to do is plant a false, distorted, or misleading story and let it grow legs of its own. Before you know it the story will have amassed a million ‘Likes’ and ‘Shares,’ with not one person bothering to dig into things a little to find out whether it’s accurate or not. Our enemies are very adept at this and are spreading false information regularly. And Americans buy into it and pass it along every day.
Now let me talk about some of those stupid things the Agency has done over the years.
The CIA is part of the Executive Branch of our government, and they report to and answer to the President of the United States. Throughout the Agency’s history the head of the CIA has been directed by the president to conduct a variety of tasks deemed important and necessary by the president for our country’s national security. Often times in the past the president and his most senior advisors would give their marching orders, adding the caveat “I don’t care how you do it, in fact I don’t want to know how you do it, just make it happen.” This has led to some of the stupid things the Agency has done. So there’s a shared blame. The Agency certainly merits criticism for choosing the method in which they carry out the president’s orders, just as the president’s administration bears responsibility for giving often vague and ambiguous orders, opening the door for mistakes and poor judgment.
It’s also important to understand that “The” CIA doesn’t do anything collectively. More appropriately would be to say that “certain elements of the CIA, usually a small, senior, and select group have been involved in something that crossed the line into the political realm, was a violation of the Agency’s charter, or even a violation of federal law, or American’s Constitutional rights.”
Few Agency employees serving both overseas under cover or inside the U.S. have a clue what some political appointees in Headquarters might be up to on behalf of a particular president and his administration. So let’s not paint them all with a broad brush.
“The” Agency is made up of thousands and thousands of conscientious and dedicated patriots, many of whom put their lives at risk daily in some of the worst environments around the world on behalf of the American people. The Memorial Wall in the lobby at CIA Headquarters has a star etched into it recognizing each Agency employee who has made the ultimate sacrifice.
Let me finish by repeating what I said right up front. Many will summarily dismiss and won’t believe a word I’ve written. In their view the CIA is bad, and their minds are closed on the matter. But our nation and the decision-makers we elect need high quality intelligence information to help them lead, and to protect our country. The CIA certainly needs some fixing, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water. Good people at the CIA are doing their best to earn your trust. Don’t dismiss them based on the actions of a very few in senior leadership, or the brown-nosers who curry favor with them.
The Agency is much more than those individuals who bring discredit to a fine organization made up of patriots and heroes. That’s the truth about the CIA.
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