One can argue about the wisdom of their Kissingerian, balance-of-power, don't-rock-the-boat school of foreign policy. I laughed out loud when Milt Bearden, an ex-CIA honcho, said such thinking has served the world pretty well since the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia (the end of the Thirty Years' War). Mr. Bearden must have slept through the 20th century.
Also, I thought Robert Baer, another CIA dude, bordered on anti-Semitism with his snide little remark about how the neocons have never set foot in the Middle East, save for Tel Aviv — meaning they're all Jews.