I found this very interesting.
That's the problem. Intel has become an acedemic exercise instead of a practical one. Few have any mental faculties to conduct covert operations, and those that do are rarely listended to. The State Department runs most overseas offices, and the "suits" don't know their asshole from a hole in the ground.
If your life depended on not being caught, would you trust these academics to not blab if they thought that they could get some personal attention if they did?