>> The CIA has been running things for a while now. I thought their mission was FOREIGN intelligence. Am I mistaken?
yes it was. In fact, it’s primary mission (based on what I recall and some things I’ve read lately) was to fight against USSR/communism during the cold war. Then after USSR disintegrated (Thank you, Pres. Reagan!), their mission had been mostly fulfilled.
My guess: No organization ever shrinks or disbands when its purpose has been accomplished. They do one of 2 things: find a new mission or deny that the mission has been accomplished.
Examples: The March of Dimes was created to fight polio. Polio is long gone, but the MoD is not. It would be a shame if all those execs lost their fat paychecks, no? The NAACP was founded to get equal rights for “colored people”. If they admitted that they’d achieved their goal, no more fat paychecks for their leaders. So they have to continue to find racism everywhere, or actually stir it up to justify their existence.
Anyway, the CIA has probably grown out of control for similar reasons. Then add to that the fact that they have nearly unfettered power and virtually no oversight, no controls on them, and you have a recipe for the organizational form of cancer.
I’m not saying that we should not have the CIA or some similar organization. But the CIA as it currently exists seems to have morphed from an agency that fight communism and protects US citizens to an agency that promotes communism and targets/harasses/spies on US citizens. Just like a cancer.