[Originally published in the Rutland Herald.]
In our democracy, credibility is the lifeblood of any national intelligence organization. If the public, or the administration in power, doesn’t believe it is getting told the truth, then the organization has lost its purpose and effectiveness and it is the public perception of credibility that matters most. Thanks to current White House tasking and use of the CIA, the Agency appears to be losing that battle today.
The role of any intelligence organization is to examine the facts and provide intelligence information and estimates to policy makers in support of security and foreign policy issues.
During the Cold War, the CIA did its best to do just that. It was not always as effective as it might have been, but it was a principled organization staffed by motivated, reputable people who did their best to do their job and do it right. The Cold War CIA did not lie or fabricate intelligence for policy makers or for public consumption.
CIA management occasionally suffered from poor judgment and did some really stupid things, however, with the possible exception of Iran/Contra – who knows if Reagan knew and approved? – The CIA never undertook covert activities without White House direction. It was never the “rogue elephant” that its fiercest critics persistently alleged it to have been.
Unfortunately, concerns about CIA credibility have grown since 9/11. The role of the CIA in enabling the Iraq invasion is probably still not fully understood, muddled as it is by the machinations of the Bush Administration. The persistent, unprecedented visits by Vice President Cheney to CIA Headquarters during the run-up to the Invasion, reportedly to seek changes in CIA estimates on Iraq which would support such an invasion, have never been fully explained.
Perhaps most importantly, the Bush administration has permitted, if not encouraged the country to believe that CIA was responsible for the intelligence failures that lead to 9/11. Further, the “slam dunk” moment on Iraqi WMD; allegations of CIA waterboarding, renditions, a gulag of prisons around the world and, most recently, the question of why the waterboarding tapes were destroyed have all added fuel to the credibility fire.
Structural changes have weakened CIA credibility, as well. The post-9/11 creation of the new Office of the Director of National Intelligence at the expense of the CIA was senseless and bureaucratic. The persistent efforts of the Pentagon under SecDef Rumsfeld to usurp CIA functions and to denigrate the CIA, its processes and its products have added further to an atmosphere in which CIA credibility is routinely publicly questioned.
In early September 2007, Israeli jets flattened a structure in the Syrian Desert. Israel, Syria and America all acknowledged the act, but none gave any explanation for it, that is until recently. Now we see pre-raid photos of the inside of the Syrian structure with virtually identical companion pictures of North Korean nuclear sites. The Syria photos presumably were obtained from the Israelis.
In the meantime, the Syrian Ambassador in Washington, who can hardly be viewed as impartial, claims the photos are CIA fabrications. This claim has since become the object of speculation in the American media! What’s going on here? Why was this information held so tightly and only released now, 7 months later? Is the CIA lying about this issue? Has the CIA fabricated these photos? Have the Israelis done the fabrications and passed them on to us? All of these questions and more are now under media examination.
Ultimately what is true and what is false about this Syria incident is of secondary importance to the effect that a media examination of the subject has already brought and will continue to bring. What will matter is that further doubt will arise in Americans’ minds about CIA credibility.
For better or worse, the CIA provides the only real organizational capability the US government has for the clandestine collection of intelligence. Unfortunately, the US involvement in the “War on Terror” and in Iraq have put tremendous pressure from the White House on the CIA to undertake activities which even if not illegal, create an aura of mistrust in the public mind. In today’s world, no one is quite sure if the CIA is on the “right” side of anything.
That creates a legacy of mistrust in and a lack of credibility for the CIA that will continue for years after the Bush Administration is gone. This legacy may be serving this White House well right now, but it will disastrously serve its successors. In a world plagued by terrorism, the US can ill afford to have in doubt the credibility of its only effective intelligence service, its best potential protection against that terror.
Haviland Smith is a retired CIA Station Chief who served abroad in Europe and the Middle East, as Executive Assistant in the Director’s Office and as Chief of the Counterterrorism Staff. He lives in Williston.
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