Whining CIA Officials, Leon Panetta, and Einstein's Definition of Insanity

CIA's spokesman came down out of his tree in time for the Wednesday media cycle to let everyone know: CIA is not happy that everyone thinks it's an agency that could use some fixing by the likes of Leon Panetta.

Spokesman Mark Mansfield told the Washington Post and US News and World Report that senior CIA officials resent that everyone thinks their agency has morale and leadership problems.

"We've read a lot over the past few days about the status of morale at CIA," Mansfield told USN&WR reporter Paul Bedard. "A lot of this appears to be coming from has-beens, wannabes, or never-weres."

(Da-a-a-ang! Can that Mark Mansfield lay down a smack talkin' sound bite, or what? I need some ice for that burn!)

Bedard goes on to regurgitate some CIA-provided "statistical evidence" that purportedly indicates that CIA employees really are feeling better about their agency. Overall attrition is down (by a mind-blowing 1.9 percentage points) and the resignation rate, 1.8 percent, is the lowest ever.

Of course that resignation rate is low--everybody at CIA is either at the very beginning or very end of their careers. Marc Ambinder reported earlier this week that most of the CIA workforce either entered on duty sometime within the last seven or so years, or is hanging on for another couple of years for retirement because they started while Brezhnev was still running the Soviet Union.

Mansfield's talking points apparently didn't mention this gaping absence of mid-career intelligence officers. Everyone who could resign already did and became contractors.

Mansfield's talking points also left out how nothing really bad happens to CIA leaders when they screw something up. Plan a bad operation that runs afoul of an allied government and lands a couple dozen CIA officers in serious criminal trouble? According to Jeff Stein of Congressional Quarterly, the punishment is a kick upstairs to a high-visibility prestige assignment. Break the law by improperly awarding sole-source contracts to your pals? Come back into the building to work as a contractor employee making way more than you did as an government employee, according to the Spy Who Billed Me.

If CIA Spokesman Mansfield read more Dilbert cartoons, he might know that a culture of incompetent leadership tends to be accompanied by sagging morale.

Not that Mansfield and senior CIA leadership are living in a bunker, disconnected from the legions of National Security Drones who fill the vaults at CIA. As has been reported by CQ's Jeff Stein and Wired/Danger Room's Noah Schachtman, the reaction within CIA ranks has been "overwhelmingly negative." Sam Faddis, a veteran of pre-invasion covert operations in Iraq told Stein that Panetta is "a disappointing choice." The most common complaint against Panetta was voiced by another veteran officer, who told Schachtman that Panetta "won't know a good piece of intelligence from a shitty piece of intelligence, and wouldn't know a good intelligence officer [from a bad one]."

That last bit is an interesting observation: the past three CIA Directors claimed intelligence resumes of varying length and description. Tenet was a long-time congressional intelligence staffer; Goss, a former case officer; and Hayden, a career military intelligence officer.

A couple of them couldn't tell a good piece of intelligence from a shitty piece of intelligence, or know a good intelligence officer from a bad one, if the record is any indication. For all these wise old intel guys' vaunted experience, US intelligence has managed to decline nonetheless.

If the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results--can we trust these intelligence voices telling us to do the same thing, over and over again?

Comments

[Jim Ellis]

Awesome, awesome article.

[taddles]

"can we trust these intelligence voices telling us to do the same thing, over and over again?"

The answer is no. That' s why the first order of business for Panetta should be to fire Mansfield and either fire or reassign every other senior CIA official. They either play ball or they play alone in the street.

The CIA has been an incompetent and pandering operation for the past 8 years. The "experienced" people in charge have been an utter failure. It's time to get rid of the bad "experience" and bring in some new smart "experience".

[Gatormouth]

"Oh wad some power the giftie gie us To see oursel's as others see us".

[sonoffestus]

Oh no.............we may be held accountable.

[Libarchist]

9/11 was caused by CIA blowback -- and it, therefore, should be abolished...and all records should be sent to the US Army intelligence service.

[AnnfromCA]

Maybe Gupta can run NASA. :)

[GoneAreRepugs22]

Listen to these piggies squeal over here.

"Wah wah, what about our shares in defense contractors, wah wah?"

Free ride's over kids.

DEAL WITH IT.

[thecanadian]

Great Article again. Thanks

[BUTCHER111]

Maybe if the CIA would stop complaining about how everyone is saying they have problems that need fixing and actually fix them, then maybe the problems would be fixed and there would be nothing to complain about? After all, if you’re incompetent it seems unreasonable to be surprised when everyone points that out.

[JenMI]

Oh well..."while the cat's away the mice will play"..... but the cat is back and the mice are whining.

[blueskybigstar]

The foxes have been watching the hen house, but the chickens will come home to roost.

[lovethesinner]

Watch Michael Scheuer trying to cover his backside in an interview with Ray McGovern on PBS:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june09/intelteam_01-06.html

MICHAEL SCHEUER:
"... you know, this whole business on rendition and prisons and the rest of it has been a very politicized issue. The fact is, America is much safer today for the people that have been rendered and imprisoned.

Mr. Obama, Mr. Panetta, Mr. McGovern are all very good at wanting to destroy that function, that operation that has protected America. They have nothing to replace it with."

If you listen closely at the end of the video, you can hear Ray McGovern let out a surprised "ooh" at Sheuer's shameless and desperate attempt at disinformation.

[avocats]

Dear P-E Obama: Please get rid of the all the high-paid government agency flacks whose only function is to justify (or attempt to justify) what their bosses are doing. They must number several thousands--put them to work cleaning schools or public toliets. I'm tired of seeing their faces.

[magen]

The fact that the "highly respected intelligence professionals" are very upset that "one of them" wasn't nominated to head the CIA makes me very happy.

In the real world, when you get something as wrong as the CIA cherry-picked intelligence on Iraq----there's consequences.

[GaryWolf]

Right on! I think that's the point here. Obviously, the CIA isn't going to be happy with increased oversight and accountability. Tough luck. Better get used to it.

[kareemachan]

And do I hear the sound of paper-shredders going into overdrive?

[zendem1]

Funny I didn't hear the cries of outrage from the CIA when Cheney outed one of their agents.

[blueskybigstar]

Very good question.

[GaryWolf]

Good point!

[judesedit]

Maybe had the CIA been "intelligent" enough to be honest and denounce Bush, Cheney, Rice, Powell, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Gonzales. etc.etc. when they were blaming the CIA for giving them misinformation, they would not have the reputation of incompetency they are burdened with now. Instead they kissed the butts of the administration, even after The Downing Street Memos became public, and let hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis and over 4,000 Americans be killed, 30,000 be injured and/or maimed for life, agents be exposed with no repercussions, and assisted with the torture of, hundreds, I am sure. Good-by CIA as it was...HELLO Panetta, sensibility, professionalism, integrity, and, hopefully, competency. And when the truth about 9/11 becomes more widespread, many "so-called" agents may be convicted, or inconveniently commit suicide. We need the intelligence we have not had since the 50's.

[blueskybigstar]

I'm a new fan.