December 20,2008:
There's a bit of a war going on inside the CIA, between those who want to
make greater use of commercial intelligence resources, and those who believe
that the agency has ample, and safer (from a counterintelligence angle)
internal resources to handle its needs. Since much of what the CIA produces is
classified, and thus never (or not for a long time) made public, it's difficult
to get into details.
However,
many people in the "business intelligence" and "risk
assessment" industries run into their CIA counterparts and are amazed at
how ill informed the government spooks often are. Part of this is due to the
rapid expansion of the CIA after September 11, 2001. The CIA suffered a hiring
drought in the 1990s, and has had a hard time attracting top talent since the
Congressional witch hunts of the late 1970s (the Church Committee and such).
Meanwhile, lots of bright young intel types went into the commercial sector
("business intelligence" and "risk assessment"), where
there was much money and reputation to be made. While the commercial sector is
also secretive, they get a lot more of their product out where people (at least
paying clients) can see it. The operators who produce, gain prestige and
remuneration. Those who don't, fade from sight. It doesn't work quite that way
in the CIA, where failure is not punished as quickly and ruthlessly. Not
surprisingly, this results in far more proven talent working for the commercial
sector. Thus the eagerness of some CIA insiders to make use of these
"survival of the fittest" type analysts and field operators for help
in gathering human intelligence (HUNINT), as well as more perceptive analysis
in general. Actually, despite opposition inside the agency, the outsiders are
called on more and more. Often this is done informally, playing upon patriotism
or the vague prospect of a government contract. Waving the flag seems to work
better, as the agency insiders have resisted throwing much money at outside
experts (who too often just make agency efforts look lame.)
A lot of
people in the CIA are more comfortable with keeping success, and failure, and
how things are done, inside the shop and secret. It's not that outsiders can't
get a top secret clearance, and be trusted to keep quiet about stuff. It's just
that, well, tradition plays a role, as well as the tendency of bureaucrats to
maintain things as they are and protect their turf. Even in wartime.
