HEY!!Originally Posted by quercus alba
I was part of the "I" between the C and the A!
(I know, I'm leaving myself wide open for abuse here)
Having worked with, for and beside the CIA for 4 years, that's what they do. Yesterday, I started to write about things that I was personally involved with, without crossing certain lines, but it turned into a book ... NOT a Thump post, I'm talking a frigging novel! I finally deleted it after realizing there was no end in sight. I tried again last night ... same results and I again deleted it. The thought crossed my mind to try again this morning, but I simply don't know how. We (the US) have these perceived morals ... we are the high and mighty who "follow the rules". The problem is, NO OTHER COUNTRY ON EARTH follows the rules. Face it, you will NEVER win a ball game if you're playing by the rules and the opposing team ignores all of them. It just ain't gonna happen. The answer is the CIA. There are no rules ... well there are ... supposedly ... but the CIA does not follow them. It's a bit of a Catch-22 situation. If the CIA has any rules and follows them, they cannot perform the job they need to do. PERIOD! Where the lines become blurred is when the corruption creeps in, especially when it involves our own Presidential elections! (can you say Watergate boys and girls?) They're not supposed to spy on US citizens. Ha! That's the joke of the century! When they are bending the rules in OUR country and are in bed with the POTUS, that's when things can get out of hand. It's when they get CAUGHT that things get really, really sticky. We're worried about the Russians interfering with our elections, we also need to worry about the Americans!
But enough of that, it's pretty much common sense. Back to my PERSONAL experiences. Much of what we did, Congress was not even aware of. SOME things that were done, even the POTUS wasn't aware of. Many times, regarding the POTUS, it was one of those "Do what you need to do, but I don't want to know about it" (and nobody else needs to know about it either) type situations. Face it, that's what the CIA does. If I sat here for a while, I could probably list 50 of those exact situations off the top of my head that I was personally involved with (and DURING those ops, if broken down to individual instances, it would easily reach the thousands). That's a tiny 4-year period for me. Imagine the history of the CIA ... it would boggle the mind.
The CIA CANNOT play by any rule book. As for budget? Who knows? It used to be called the "Black Budget". I have no clue if it still is or if it's called something else now, but the "budget" was whatever was needed. Pretty much a bank account that was impossible to be overdrawn AND there was no paperwork needed for those withdrawals. (paper trails are a no-no) The House Oversight Committee? Ha! That's a joke ... THEY don't even have a clue. They'll get thrown a few tid-bits from time to time, but with no paperwork to back it up. IF any scraps of info are thrown their way, they're threatened with disappearing from the face of the earth if anything is mentioned outside of the room. Now mind you, the Black Budget is a bottomless money pit, so corruption is always a threat. Also there is no accountability for failed missions or just plain stupid ideas that simply cost a LOT of money, but gain nothing in return. I guess you just have to take the good with the bad. The CIA is a necessary evil IMHO. Once being a part of it, I see and understand the need. I also see and understand the need for total secrecy, ESPECIALLY since "secrets" seem to flow out of Washington like water through a sieve these days.
In the end, I understand how it needs to work, plus I agree that it's needed in this day and age. That said, I have no clue how to make them accountable other than making the best attempt possible to guarantee a "good" Director. But who's gonna know if he's a shithead or not? The fox is assigned to guard the hen house ... you just need to find a tame and well-fed fox!
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