SLD
Contributor
I'm shocked. Utterly stunned that we would have CIA agents, in friendly nations.
http://time.com/2988168/germany-us-spying-cia-nsa/
OK. Duh. I think this whole shebang is about internal German politics. Interesting.
But I must really question the efficacy of what our intelligence agencies are doing in places like Germany. Last time I had access to SIPR i looked at the CIA's website just for shits and giggles. Sure enough you can find any kind of political analysis on virtually any country in the world. Discussions of some politician's election chances. And all I could think of was, who reads this shit? It's nothing more than one could find in the editorial pages of the WaPo, or NYT. Yet it's all classified SECRET NOFORN. I mean who gives a shit if some government bureaucrat is giving his analysis of Sarkozei's re-election chances? If I wanted to know that, I'd get a translation of Le Figaro. Being French, they probably do a better job. But we are paying billions of dollars to do this stupid shit. And I doubt anyone reads it.
The real truth behind the CIA is that it is one of the most useless and counter productive agencies in the federal government. From the start of their organization they have fucked things up. They put the Shah in power (which ultimately led to 9/11). They exagerrated the Soviet bomber gap. I mean they missed the fact that the bombers were making loops over the Moscow parades! They missed completely the break up of the Soviet Union. Even after the Communist downfalls in eastern Europe, they were saying that the Soviet Communists would retain power in Russia. They missed the coming of 9/11. They missed the Iraq WMD's. They screwed up by torturing suspects in Gitmo and thus fueling the flames of insurrection against us. They did get and kill OBL, but that's about the only really successful thing they've done.
We have something like 45-50 different intelligent agencies, and they are all doing the same type of bullshit. i'd bet you'd see articles on the same topics at DIA as well as NSA on their SIPR sites. That's a real waste.
Don't get me wrong, there's a need for intelligence agents, even in friendly countries, and aas the article points out the German intelligence agencies operate here just as much. But a lot of what we do is just pointless.
http://time.com/2988168/germany-us-spying-cia-nsa/
OK. Duh. I think this whole shebang is about internal German politics. Interesting.
But I must really question the efficacy of what our intelligence agencies are doing in places like Germany. Last time I had access to SIPR i looked at the CIA's website just for shits and giggles. Sure enough you can find any kind of political analysis on virtually any country in the world. Discussions of some politician's election chances. And all I could think of was, who reads this shit? It's nothing more than one could find in the editorial pages of the WaPo, or NYT. Yet it's all classified SECRET NOFORN. I mean who gives a shit if some government bureaucrat is giving his analysis of Sarkozei's re-election chances? If I wanted to know that, I'd get a translation of Le Figaro. Being French, they probably do a better job. But we are paying billions of dollars to do this stupid shit. And I doubt anyone reads it.
The real truth behind the CIA is that it is one of the most useless and counter productive agencies in the federal government. From the start of their organization they have fucked things up. They put the Shah in power (which ultimately led to 9/11). They exagerrated the Soviet bomber gap. I mean they missed the fact that the bombers were making loops over the Moscow parades! They missed completely the break up of the Soviet Union. Even after the Communist downfalls in eastern Europe, they were saying that the Soviet Communists would retain power in Russia. They missed the coming of 9/11. They missed the Iraq WMD's. They screwed up by torturing suspects in Gitmo and thus fueling the flames of insurrection against us. They did get and kill OBL, but that's about the only really successful thing they've done.
We have something like 45-50 different intelligent agencies, and they are all doing the same type of bullshit. i'd bet you'd see articles on the same topics at DIA as well as NSA on their SIPR sites. That's a real waste.
Don't get me wrong, there's a need for intelligence agents, even in friendly countries, and aas the article points out the German intelligence agencies operate here just as much. But a lot of what we do is just pointless.
