Practice questions for your CIA exam!
by JohnHuang2
U.S. intelligence missed Pakistans nukes, Indias nukes, the Soviets nukes, North Koreas nukes, Iraqs no nukes, the Soviet collapse, Cuban missile crises, the Holocaust, Tet Offensive, Iraq invading Kuwait, Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Sudans Aspirin factory, Osamas and Mullah Omars whereabouts. Other than these, U.S. intel is the best (except for the Mossad, Britains MI6, Russias SVR, Canadas CSIS, etc.) and theres nothing more intellectually challenging and rewarding than a career as an intelligence analyst. To qualify for employment in this demanding field, critical thinking is important. Analytical skill is essential. You must be able to look at seemingly unrelated bits and pieces of complicated facts and data points and consistently connect the dots, then methodically disconnect them.
To give you an idea of what to expect, and to see if you possess the amazing skills required, try the sample test questions below and see if you qualify to be a CIA analyst!
1. The 2007 National Intelligence Estimate says ignore the 2005 National Intelligence Estimate. It was wrong. The 2005 NIE judged with high confidence that Iran had a nuclear weapons program. The 2007 NIE judges with high confidence Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program or the program was mothballed in 2003 and it took 16 agencies only over four years to find out. In 2003, the U.S. was bombing Irans neighbor, Iraq, believing Iraq possessed WMDs, based on the slam-dunk 2002 NIE. Given these facts, which of the following is the most likely reason behind the timing of Irans suspending its nuclear program:
A. The Iranian mullahs did not want to suffer the same fate as Saddam, so the Shia Crecenters reached for the pause button, just in case.
B. The Iraq war had nothing to do with it Irans rulers were always filled with peaceful intentions, and were moved by the power of diplomacy, although it wasnt happening yet.
(If your answer was B, CONGRATULATIONS! Youre on your way to being a CIA analyst.)
2. Iran holds the worlds second-largest oil and gas reserves. Iran is the worlds fourth largest oil producer. Iran has repeatedly threatened Israel with nuclear annihilation, vowing (in Apocalyptic language) to engulf the Mideast in a nuclear conflagration, to pave the way for the return of the 12th Imam. So, given these facts, which of the following is the most likely purpose behind Irans uranium enrichment program, with 3,000 centrifuges going full tilt:
A. To produce The Bomb.
B. To generate peaceful electricity.
(Correct answer: B)
3. Iran has just finished successfully testing the Ashoura, a solid-fuel, multistage missile with a range of 1,240 miles, putting Europe in range. Given these facts, the Ashoura missile:
A. Represents a giant milepost on the road to developing a nuclear-tipped, Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), since an ICBM without a nuclear warhead makes little military sense.
B. Represents a milepost in peaceful Irans space program!
(Correct answer was obviously B, again.)
4. The 2007 NIE involves events in Iran in 2003, which took four years to uncover, by accident. Which means:
A. The latest NIE is four years out of date, useless in formulating current policy, since Iran could have restarted its nuclear program after 2003 undetected.
B. The NIE is very timely and accurate, Joe Wilson said so, and driving using only the rear-view mirror can be very safe.
(The only correct answer is: B)
5. The 2007 NIE claims that Irans uranium enrichment and weaponization programs were shelved in 2003. Ahmadinejad then gets elected, the uranium enrichment resumes, so its logical to suspect the weaponization program:
A. Resumed as well.
B. Did not resume. Relax. Islamic republics led by madmen are always peaceful.
(Only possible answer: B)
6. The 2007 NIE pegs its revised assertions about Iran almost solely on an Iranian defector, the kind of source which:
A. Should be viewed with suspicion, given Iranian deception.
B. Should not be viewed with suspicion because Iran would never use the oldest trick in the book. Trust us. Were the experts.
(No-brainer answer: B)
Now, to experience what it actually feels like to be a CIA analyst, think of your head as a thermometer. Next, take this thermometer and move it near the terminal section of the anal canal; insert the thermometer . . . there! Youre now a CIA ANALyst!
*** WE INTERRUPT THIS WONDERFUL CIA EXAM TO BRING YOU . . . some warmonger thoughts and observations ***
Thomas Fingar, Kenneth Brill and Vann H. Van Diepen the three honchos who put the NIE summary together suddenly discovered Irans not a threat by intercepting phone messages phone messages between Bush and Cheney about bombing Iran, oh, sometime soon. If youre Thomas Fingar, and you hate that George BusHitler, you want to take Iran off the table for 08, military-wise, and if the agitpoop about Irans Shia Crecenters turning a new leaf knocks the props out from under the sanctions regime, which already looked pretty shaky, all the better.
After that Syrian nuke site got taken out in a fly-by, Fingar didnt need a moist fingar in the wind to figure something big was cooking, militarily, Iran-wise. But Brill, Van Diepen and moist Fingar thought they had it all fingared out relax, put out the bogus report, the press signs on, sea change in opinion follows, talk skews toward doing nothing, mullahs off the hook, Bushs War Machine throttled back.
And with big chunks of Tehrans nuke operations probably compartmentalized further after 03 to keep the leaks down, and no real U.S. Humint on the ground, the three NIE stooges figured, dont worry, nothing to contradict us, 08 elections in the bag. Problem is, if theyre high on confidence at Langley, theyre high on confidence in Tehran, given how the mullahs arent playing ball, airing hourly updates on how much uranium theyre enriching. Ahmaneedajob said on Tuesday the goal now is getting 50,000 centrifuges up and running, enough fuel for one nuclear baby milk factory, Allah willing.
For the NIE chaps, another hitch is how the public opinion sea change part of the scam isnt sea-changing either just 18 percent believing Irans mullahs mothballed their nuke program in 03, according to a new Rasmussen poll, meaning its down to the Caliphate-loving, mullah-huggers.
The NIE isnt faring much better overseas. The Brits, the French, the Germans, NATO all laughed it off, and as far as the Mideast goes, no one there is buying either. Uranium enrichment is the biggest hurdle to going nuclear, but at the rate the mullahs are going, theyd get The Bomb by 2009, except that they wont. Fingar and the boys banked on their little goofy paint job shielding Iran from the moron cowboy chimperor, not realizing they were having another intelligence failure! The new NIE means Russia and China bail on tougher sanctions, but that puts the military option right back on the table. Awwww, poor mullahs. Breaks my heart.
Anyway, that's...
My Two Cents...
"JohnHuang2"
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