Ex-Operative Writes of Decline at C.I.A.

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Read the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/27/international/27SPY.html"; target="_blank">NY Times article</a>



[quote] A veteran Central Intelligence Agency field operative has charged that before Sept. 11 the agency had largely been out of the spy business for years, not hiring new agents and avoiding delicate inquiries for fear of embarrassing itself, other nations or the White House.



The only way to defeat terrorism, writes Robert Baer in "See No Evil," published this month, is for the C.I.A. "to once again go out and start talking to people ? people who can go where it can't, see what it can't and hear what it can't." The agency must "let those who know how to learn secrets perform their jobs, no matter how murky the swamp is."

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And...



[quote] In 1988, he took over an agent in Paris who was pleased to see him because his previous handler had paid no attention to documents he offered and spent time trying to convert him to her church. One of her converts, a C.I.A. administrative officer, spent business hours handing out church leaflets. But Washington advised the Paris station chief not to interfere with the administrative officer's First Amendment rights. <hr></blockquote>
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