Actually no, the incompetence is firmly rooted in the CIA. They have demonstrated for decades, time and time again the inability to provide timely and accurate predictive analysis which resulted in little to no relevant intelligence to decision makers.
Sure the argument can be made that those on the outside have no insight into what the CIA provides and therefore can't accurately assess whether my statement is true. Yes, that's their game and its a good one, until you simply look at the results. Intelligence failure after intelligence failure - piled high upon strategic surprise.
Certainly, we have an epic competence-deficit at nearly every echelon in this Administration and Congress. However, if these aspects of the government were routinely getting sound intelligence and clearly delineated policy opportunities - periodically, wouldn't one set of leadership or another make a good choice eventually?
If the results of our geopolitical policies over the last thirty years, are pointing toward this tranche of policymakers being the sole limiting factor or sole responsible party in this clusterfuck - well then, look more closely.
I can’t fault you for anything you have said, and in-part and from those perspectives, you most likely are correct. And my experience is very peripheral and compartmentalized, only possessing perspective from the contractor side of things for a specific period of time. I will speak from both personal experience and then provide a few examples.
I can not tell you how many times I saw pre-action plans (PAP), squashed by staffer-leadership and/or “the authority,” on floor 7 (think senior administration at CIA), due to what seemed to be mostly, if not completely, a concern stemming from political posture, correctness, and care to keep your bosses, who appointed you, pleased and validated - see the issues here with that kind of system?
Think back to 2001, Tora Bora mountains, Afghanistan. The singular reason OBL was not scrubbed at that time, was due to direct orders from higher-level authority than USSCOM and CIA not to green light the hit. EVERY SINGLE TIME the operation forces, made up of recruited Afghan fighters, an ISA unit and members of SAD/SOG, under authority of CIA proposed a PAP, red light status remained. There wasn’t even at one time, yellow light status was approved (think the work-up to action), for any of the numerous PAP’s proposed.
Historians all agree the lack of action taken by the agency, directly due to this lack of approval from someone above their level of authority we will discuss here in a moment, actionably and successfully allowed OBL the time and ability to escape over the TB mountains into Pakistan. So in this example, how exactly is this any way shape or fashion a failure of CIA - which countless pundits and persons of all backgrounds attribute as “the CIA’s failure to capture or kill OBL, even to this day?” Those orders to disapprove the numerous PAP’s came from above the level of “the authority,” so we’re talking now Pentagon/White House type stuff here…that’s it! Now someone like I and likely you I suspect, will never know WHO, or which GROUP of “who’s,” made those calls, but what we DO KNOW is, where said calls had to have come from.
Now I can go on-and-on-and-on with other examples of the exact same constructs of various operations on both the special operations and political action side of things at CIA, falling disaster to “political correctness” and the ROE - the only rule of engagement there should be is hit your target with as little round count, and colateral as possible…that’s it, anything else is a go! (case-in-point, Red Wings - it pains me to this day to think of how the outcome of that op would have most likely been vastly different, if NSW had the legal authority to waste those Taliban-loyalists on that mountain side that day). And yet do we say that Marcus and his brothers, or NSW was somehow incompetent or stupid for what happened up there - of course not! They were only navigating through the constraints of which they were given at levels above them, and NSW. At the end of the day, the impairment of CIA to most successfully perform, always comes back to it’s inability to dissociate itself with politics and politicians (both from within and outside the agency). When any unit, agency, person, is held to a higher standard than those for whom they oppose, that unit, agency, or person, already starts from much farther place behind the curve. There IS a lot of truth to the fact that the most expeditious way to kill an apex predator, is for you yourself be more violent, ruthless, and outright savage than said predator. You should not only meet their level of violence and action(s) but EXCEED their levels, to stack the odds, so ever in your favor - and that of course is just not (and in my opinion, unfortunately how we as governed-Americans), are allowed to handle business.
Now are there mistakes CIA makes that are solely of their own volition, OF COURSE, CIA is not infallible, as it’s made up of fallible humans, how could it be. Though I can assure you, the majority of men and women, and those who have yet to be decided, lol (perhaps withstanding the one unfortunate women who caused this entire thread in the first place), truly are an elite and extraordinary group of humans performing an extraordinary mission set.
Perhaps I am too bias, and close to all of this myself to have the mental clarity and objectivity of mind to believe anything else. That most everything can and could be distilled back to politicians and political persuasions having caused snafu’s and impediments to those who are trying to do amazingly difficult and challenging work under amazingly difficult and challenging conditions throughout the world. I just can’t get past how much better, for mission success, it would be to be allowed to take a, “just get it done,” approach.
I appreciate having the opportunity to discuss all of this with you, and to hear and learn from your perspective as well. Stay safe out there brotha!
~S
*My statements are mine and mine alone, and in no way represent actual or implied positions of CIA or any other entity other than I.
YOU!
brotha, Amen…and that I have seen, far too often, even with myself, and my own injuries sustained. On a personal note, it took me just over 1 1/2 years, to get the definitive care I required, following an on-the-job injury (read in: being shot twice). I JUST had surgery yesterday, and am finally recovering. Though why did it take just over 1 1/2 years for me to start the road of recover and healing?! Though all of that fails in comparison to those who give the ultimate, as your referenced, in 2012.
