In the days when we had the CIA for external intelligence activities, and the FBI for internal intelligence activities, to include the background investigation of every applicant to the U.S. military, why was the “NSA’ formed? Who ordered it’s birth? What was “the need” for ANOTHER intelligence office, since the U.S. Army; Navy; Air Force, had offices already established, and worked in conjunction with BOTH the FBI and CIA???
You want to cut the budget, cut out extraneous intelligence services, and furlough the workers.
wiki: Originating as a unit to decipher coded communications in World War II, it was officially formed as the NSA by President Harry S. Truman in 1952.
Q. Who wanted to “splinter the C.I.A. in a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds”?
NSA gatherers, collects and processes information and electronic data. The separate military services are its clients - they do not have the budget, the infrastructure, nor the expertise to do what NSA does. The old way was a disaster.
Seems that the new way isn't working too well these days either, However, a big however, most people do not know that in the old days up until the 1990s FBI clearances were extensive and very thorough, generally costing over one million dollars per applicant, with live interviews. That changed under Bill Clinton when an applicant merely had to supply phone numbers to be called - who was on the other end, well you just have to trust someone; this saved a lot of money and time, plus, it made it easier for Bill to sell secret stuff to the Chinese for campaign cash.
So now we get our Mannings, Snowdens, black hackers and other nefarious folks. Why are you surprised?
They wanted a secret organization that could do anything it wanted, since there was No Such Agency.