Skip to comments.
Spy Veterans Hit At 'Timid' CIA Agents
The Telegraph (UK) ^
| 2-21-2004
| David Rennie
Posted on 02/20/2004 5:19:05 PM PST by blam
Spy veterans hit at 'timid' CIA agents
By David Rennie in Washington
(Filed: 21/02/2004)
Today's CIA agents are spoiled, inexperienced, and hamstrung by safety rules, leaving vital operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in near disarray, senior American officials and intelligence veterans said yesterday.
Angry intelligence sources told the Los Angeles Times that the head of the CIA's Baghdad station - the largest in agency history - was sacked recently amid concern that his team of more than 500 was failing to penetrate Iraq's deadly insurgency.
In Baghdad, many CIA employees are sheltered in secure compounds at the airport or in the capital's heavily guarded "Green Zone", where the Coalition Provisional Authority is based, making discreet meetings with informants extremely difficult.
Security fears are proving equally disastrous for CIA operations in Afghanistan, where several small stations outside Kabul have closed in recent months because agency bosses "feared for the safety of their people".
CIA spokesmen insisted that there was no problem recruiting officers for dangerous assignments and one senior US official said base closures in Afghanistan were for "reasons of efficiency", not timidity.
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: agents; cia; hit; intelligence; spy; timid; veterans
1
posted on
02/20/2004 5:19:08 PM PST
by
blam
To: msdrby
ping
2
posted on
02/20/2004 5:28:37 PM PST
by
Professional Engineer
(Chief recruiting officer, BicycleSpankenTruppen)
To: blam
Thanks to 'Rat Senator Frank Church - along with traitorous garbage like Kerry - we are now reaping the results of their sanctimonious stupidity.
3
posted on
02/20/2004 5:36:41 PM PST
by
ctonious
To: blam
To: blam
If real info on the CIA and American intelligence gathering is something that interests you (and it should) I cannot recommend Robert Baer's books enough.
I've read many books written by retired CIA officers but none compare with Mr. Baer's. They are very current and up-to-date. They directly deal with how we got ourselves in this mess leading up to 9/11 and what has been done since.
This guy was there and he's POd. It is a scandal of epic proportions and not that much has been done to address it. No it's not a scandal. It's an ongoing trajedy and all our lives are at stake.
5
posted on
02/20/2004 5:40:14 PM PST
by
mercy
To: ctonious
It goes way beyond them. Way beyond.
6
posted on
02/20/2004 5:41:03 PM PST
by
mercy
To: blam
Some news articles last year suggested that counterinsurgency in Iraq was going nowhere until it was basically taken away from the CIA and given to the military. After that change was announced, they started catching Saddam's men.
7
posted on
02/20/2004 6:16:30 PM PST
by
Cicero
(Marcus Tullius)
To: Cicero
Your # 7........right!.....'Go'.
Angry intelligence sources told the Los Angeles Times that the head of the CIA's Baghdad station - the largest in agency history - was sacked recently amid concern that his team of more than 500 was failing to penetrate Iraq's deadly insurgency.
Same old, same old!
:-(
8
posted on
02/20/2004 6:30:41 PM PST
by
maestro
To: mercy
Could you recommend a specific book(s)?
9
posted on
02/20/2004 7:39:38 PM PST
by
Ranger
To: blam
This is what happens when Clintoon holdovers are kept on the job.
To: blam
In Baghdad, many CIA employees are sheltered in secure compounds at the airport or in the capital's heavily guarded "Green Zone", where the Coalition Provisional Authority is based, making discreet meetings with informants extremely difficult.
Yeah, but the babes, booze, and night clubs are in the Green Zone. It may not be convenient for meeting informants, but hell's bells, there's a war on, people. I mean, this is the agency that failed to foresee the collapse of the USSR. What do you expect?
11
posted on
02/20/2004 8:40:32 PM PST
by
gcruse
(http://gcruse.typepad.com/)
To: Ranger
First read 'See No Evil'. Couldn't put it down. I read it in eight hours straight. Then 'Sleeping With The Devil'. Your perspective of what is going on around this planet will be changed forever.
12
posted on
02/20/2004 11:10:16 PM PST
by
mercy
To: Leroy S. Mort
"Green Berets take on spy duties"
The more things change...
Funny thing is that the downfall of the 'old' SF was a history of close relationship with The Company, something the regular Army didn't like at all and acted on.
13
posted on
02/20/2004 11:45:43 PM PST
by
norton
To: ctonious
14
posted on
02/20/2004 11:51:31 PM PST
by
autoresponder
(JAMES BOND: http://00access.tripod.com/007.html J-FK: http://00access.tripod.com/Kerry.html)
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson