Back during the latter stages of the Cold War it became an article of faith on the left that the CIA was an agency out of control, or at least one containing certain rogue elements that were acting out paranoid delusional fantasies. Novelists and movie makers found in these assumptions a treasure trove of plotlines and menacing themes. They still do. But most people, myself included, simply assumed at least a modicum of integrity and competence among those who staffed our intelligence services. We were wrong.
Confidence in the competence of intelligence professionals was profoundly shaken at the end of the Cold War, when it became apparent that the intelligence community had badly misread the situation within the Soviet Union and had for years been supplying mis-information rather than realistic assessments of Soviet strength to political leaders. Assumptions of competence were further undermined by intelligence failures prior to the first Gulf War, and leading up to 9/11 and the second invasion of Iraq. It became clear that many veteran intelligence professionals simply did not know what they were talking about or were systematically distorting information to promote political, institutional, or ideological imperatives. A general housecleaning was in order.
Today as the intelligence services, especially the CIA, fight a desperate rear guard action against attempts to reform them, the corruption and madness that had long infected those agencies is on display for everyone to see. We now know that there really were rogue elements, like the VIPS, within the agencies, and hardly a week goes by in which a credulous press does not report some pronouncement from a former intelligence analyst or leak from within the agency that is blatantly biased or utterly out of touch with reality or, increasingly, both.
James Robbins, down on the Corner, writes about the latest of these lunatic statements:
So CIA analysts concluded that Osama bin Laden wanted George Bush to win the 2004 election, and this is why he released a video tape just days before the election? If true, this is just more evidence that the spy agency needs a thorough cleaning. There is no doubt that had Bush been defeated in 2004 it would have been seen as a resounding repudiation of his war leadership, and a humiliation of the United States, which are principal objectives being sought by Al Qaeda. The convoluted theory that somehow a Bush victory would sustain bin Laden's leadership against a Zarqawi challenge is simply nonsense. Yet, it apparently had a great deal of traction in the Agency.Read the whole thing here.
A lot of strange ideas seem to have gained traction within the Agency in recent years. Just read Richard Clarke's mad maunderings for an example of how these intelligence professionals viewed the world, the government, and their place in it.
It is interesting to note how public perspectives on this lunacy have shifted. Whereas throughout the Cold War the left was skeptical of anything the intelligence agencies said or did and warned us about their unreliability, now they are willing to credit almost anything said, no matter how absurd, by these "professionals" so long as it hurts the current administration. Similarly, those on the right, who long took pronouncements from the intelligence community at face value, are now belatedly waking to the idea that these people might not be credible sources of information after all.
But this kind of reversal is just politics as usual and is to be expected. Political activists use whatever tools present themselves and consistency be damned. What hasn't changed, though, is the fact that many of the old guard within the intelligence community are, and have long been, and have been known to be, stark..., raving..., mad.
UPDATE:
Reuters reports:
Michigan Republican Rep. Peter Hoekstra also suggested some unauthorized leaks could have been deliberate attempts to help al Qaeda.
"More frequently than what we would like, we find out that the intelligence community has been penetrated, not necessarily by al Qaeda, but by other nations or organizations," he said.
Verrrrry interrrressssting, no?
Read it here.
Either Pete has lost it completely, in which case his complaints against the administration should not be taken seriously; or he is on to something, in which case the corruption that pervades the intelligence agencies is far more dangerous than we suspected. If the latter it is comforting to note that Hoekstra also said that,
The Bush administration is preparing a crackdown on intelligence leaks to the media and will try to pursue prosecutions in some recent cases....
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