Okay, we all know that we lost a great intel asset in Valerie Plame, but did you know that 50% of the CIA has been turned over since 9-11? And most of this turn-over has come in the middle and upper ranks. Gone are the days of the long term analysts at the agency, and I have a bit to fear over where they found all their new young pups to carry pocket litter.
I hope it's not like the *** cough DOJ cough ***.
Lord help us all if it is.
Hayden Works to Absorb New Hires at CIA
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post
Sunday, April 15, 2007; Page A09
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
"Fifty percent of the agency has been hired since 9/11," Hayden said, adding: "One-fifth of our analysts have been hired in the last 12 months."
The movement can be traced to several causes. The 18-month tenure of former CIA director Porter J. Goss led to a large number of resignations, particularly in the middle and upper management ranks.
Another drain took place as trained agency analysts and operatives, possessing valuable security clearances, resigned to accept higher-paying jobs offered by companies who had won contracts to perform intelligence activities for the government.
When the problem was examined in 2002 for a new National Intelligence Estimate, Hayden said those looking back found that the first draft was "crafted by people who focused on weapons of mass destruction . . . not by our people who focused on Iraq as Iraq." One lesson learned, he said, was "when we do these kinds of things in the future, you have got to fold both of those things in together. . . . What does the acquisition of that dual-use chemical mean? You have to lash up the people who know how the Iraqi government makes decisions and who really makes decisions."
Oh man, oh man, this is quite a pickle. No wonder Bin Laden is enjoying himself at his gulf side resort, we have a herd of greenhorns at the agency. Besides the fact that it takes years to get people on the ground and it takes longer to build fronts, we have obviously bleed some of the best CIA people out there, to the tune of around 15,000. That is a serious amount of people in this off-the-books club. No wonder our current intel ops are so "amateur", because they are basically being ran by so. This is a dark day, like the U.S. Army going to war without the 101st!
So nothing really more to add then this:
- Don't expect any intel miracles anytime soon
- Pray all these C.I.A. analyst aren't from Regent University and were gathered in the traditional sense
But with Bush and the Gang's record, be concerned, very very concerned about what has become of what was once the world's best intel agency.
50%, wow.