KelliPundit

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

CIA 'Cranks'


The Weekly Standard has some great questions for the C.I.A. The questions center around how the CIA decided to allow a book titled Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror", originally authored by 'Anonymous' who we now know was by a fella named Scheuer, be published:
No one I know of at the Agency was happy about what [Scheuer] was saying and doing. His seniors tried and failed to manage him. It was believed that perhaps he could anonymously blow off steam without being turned into a celebrity whistle-blower. Some believed, naively, that the media would actually read some of Scheuer's wacky rantings (e.g. "American soldiers are paid to die" or his laudatory comments about [Osama bin Laden]) and dismiss him as a crank.

But such an explanation only raises more questions. For one: Why would the CIA have a "crank" on its payroll? For another: How did a "crank" who was prone to "wacky rantings" and needed to "blow off steam" become the head of the CIA bin Laden unit, and then maintain that position from 1996 until 1999? And finally: Why must the CIA rely on media outlets to "dismiss" its own employees?

Go get all the details....The C.I.A. needs major housecleaning. One of the many facts I learned during the past election season is that the CIA is, sadly, a partisan organization that cares more about their own ideology than supporting the POTUS. This is a very sad state of affairs, because through my own delusions of CIA grandeur, I innately had a lot of faith in the organization. Probably due to all the "Spy" movies we watch growing up, where agents are doing everything they can and barely saving the day from world destruction as we go about our daily lives not having a clue. I now know different. The reality is quite the opposite. Another reason to pray every day for not only our personal safety, but for our nations safety.

(Hat tip: Jayson J. at Polipundit)