According to the Washington Post, the Defense Department is cultivating its own human intelligence capabilities so that it will no longer be exclusively dependent on the CIA.
The mainstream media and many lawmakers are in a tizzy at the news. Their shared objection seems to be that Sec. Rumsfeld might be circumventing the CIA and the Senate Intelligence Committee.
If so, good.
Both the Intelligence Committee and the CIA leak like contestants at an Olestra-eating contest. Thanks to them, the term "state secret" has become an oxymoron. Duty and patriotism have been discarded in favor of petty political advantage, axe-grinding, score-settling.
If it were up to me, the first job for the new Defense Intelligence branch would be to infiltrate the CIA and the staffs of Senate Intel. Committee members to identify the leakers. Lovely public trials would ensue -- trials of real national importance unlike the idiotic celebrity rubber-necking trials that dominate television news with such regularity.
Regrettably, the latest Washington Post story indicates that the Defense department needs to give the CIA 72hrs notice before any operation. Oh well. Maybe that's just part of their ploy to catch the leakers.
Posted by Andrew Coulson at January 24, 2005 10:12 PM | TrackBackThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
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