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The C.I.A.
Overview:
Join us as we examine the history and current challenges facing the Central Intelligence Agency. We will discuss the recent (2008) controversy regarding destruction of interrogation tapes as well as the origins of the C.I.A. after World War II and how the C.I.A. functioned during the Cold War. We will end by looking at how our needs for intelligence have changed in recent years and how this impacts the role of the C.I.A.
Key Lecture Points:
• Formed at the beginning of the Cold War, the Central Intelligence Agency was charged primarily with combating Communism through intelligence gathering and interpretation, and through covert operations to undermine the Soviets and support US national security goals.
• In the wake of the Watergate scandal, and the subsequent Congressional investigations into the abuses by the executive branch, the CIA’s operations were reigned-in—a huge departure from the relative independence of the Agency. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) created direct Congressional oversight of CIA operations.
• Following the end of the Cold War, the CIA was left with a rather vague mandate—with the Soviet Union dissolved, what was the CIA’s purpose? The CIA’s post-Cold War effectiveness came tragically into the public eye in the wake of 9/11. The CIA, FBI, and other intelligence agencies were is charged with “intelligence failures” that resulted in their inability to predict the attacks. Since 9/11 a number of changes have been made to CIA organization and operation, in the hopes that the Agency can be updated to deal with 21st century security issues, like the War on Terror. Still, many argue that the CIA is drastically underprepared to deal with these new sorts of threats.
• At the same time, CIA efforts in the War on Terror are being criticized by those who feel that the agency is acting beyond the legal bounds set for it by Congress, reminiscent for them of executive abuses of the Watergate era. In this context, the CIA’s use of extreme interrogation techniques has been widely criticized. In 2007, the New York Times reported that in 2002 the CIA recorded interrogations of prisoners in which the controversial technique of waterboarding was used. After several months, the videotaping was stopped, some believe out of concern the treatment of prisoners was not allowed under the Geneva Convention and established guidelines for the treatment of prisoners.
• Defenders of these techniques suggest that they are an integral tool in the War on Terror, and that Congressional action/oversight may do irreparable harm to the Executive bracnch's ability to protect the nation. They note that the prisoners recorded included Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, alleged senior operatives in Al Qaeda.
• In November, 2005, the tapes of the interrogations were destroyed apparantly by order of the director of the CIA’s clandestine services division, Jose A. Rodriguez. In January 2008, Attorney General Michael Mukasey appointed a federal prosecutor, John Durham, to open a criminal investigation to determine whether any law was broken or if any government official lied concerning the destruction of the tapes. Furthermore, U.S. District Court Judge Henry H. Kennedy, Jr. set hearings to review whether the United States had violated a court order to preserve evidence in the cases facing Zubaydah and al-Nashiri.
Exploration Questions:
• What is the best way for the US government to balance the need of protecting the nation against acts of terror and the need to hold government entities like the CIA accountable to the rule of law?
• The CIA was created in the Cold War. Now that the Cold War is over (or at least the threat of Russia is reduced), what is the purpose of the CIA? How do its new mandates differ from those of the past? How must the CIA change in order to meet those mandates?
Reflective Question:
• As a spying entity, the CIA is often the subject of Hollywood portrayals. What is your favorite fictional depiction of the CIA?
• What are your recollections of rumors about the CIA? Have any of those rumors proven to be true or false?
More to Explore:
• The CIA: www.cia.gov
• On the birth of the CIA: www.cnn.com
• The 9/11 Commission’s Report: www.9-11commission.gov
Books For Further Reading:
• Baer, Robert. See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA’s War on Terrorism. Three Rivers Press, 2003. This New York Times bestseller is told by a former CIA agent. Baer worked for the CIA in the Middle East for 20 years, and explains, with some bias, how the CIA could have failed to predict the 9/11 attacks. Click here to order.
• Thomas, Evan. The Very Best Men: The Daring Early Years of the CIA. Simon and Schuster Press, 2006. This books tells to story of the CIA's early days through the careers of four glamorous, daring, and idealistic men who ran covert operations for the government from the end of World War II to Vietnam. Evan Thomas re-creates the personal dramas and sometimes tragic lives of Frank Wisner, Richard Bissell, Tracy Barnes, and Desmond FitzGerald, who risked everything to contain the Soviet threat. Click here to order.
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