The Bravest soul you will meet today: CIA Whistleblower

[The Backlash Cometh]

I wish there was some way to send him our appreciation:

CIA vet may face repercussions for revealing agency secrets


A 25-year CIA veteran has written a unauthorized, 384-page book that sharply criticizes the mismanagement and misdoings of the agency, creating an unprecedented test of the rights of former employees to reveal potentially harmful information.
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"The Human Factor: Inside the CIA’s Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture" was written under the pseudonym "Ishmael Jones" to protect people the author has met who didn't know he was working undercover, CQ Politics reported.

Jones denies that the work contains any classified information and said he wrote the book to "improve the system and help it defend ourselves and our allies."

"I realized the CIA’s clandestine service was broken," the author said in an interview with FrontPage Magazine. "My mission has always been to defend America, and for many years I sought to do this by producing intelligence as an active CIA officer. Today, using this book as a tool, I seek to defend America by working to fix our broken clandestine service."

Jones is donating the book's earnings to the family of a soldier killed in Iraq and said he is ready for the consequences of publishing his book.

"I’m ready to take whatever they have to do," Jones said of his former employer.

He may have a lot to take.

Former CIA operative Frank Snepp faced heavy repercussions after he skipped agency censors and published an account of his Vietnam tour titled "Decent Interval: An Insider’s Account of Saigon’s Indecent End, Told by the CIA’s Chief Strategy Analyst in Vietnam."

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CIA_vet_may_face_punishment_for_0802.html

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. Best quotes were at the end, and very important to understand because it

also happens in the military:

But Jones saves his hottest anger for what he describes as self-dealing CIA managers who, he says, have avoided or mismanaged clandestine operations around the globe.

Since 9/11, he writes, many CIA "mandarins" (its most senior officials) have retired from the agency to "get rich" as private contractors with their old employer.

And they’re not being replaced by people with on-the-ground counter-terrorism experience, he says, despite the agency's constant ballyhoo about gearing up for "the long war" against terrorist groups.

[flashl]

3. Yes the 'mandarins' are being replaced, 'the decider' just announced overhaul of US 'intelligence'

and within hours Blackwater announced it is now in the 'intelligence' business. :sarcasm:

The 'overhaul' should place 'intelligence' squarely under control of private entities. The 'Intelligence' community will then mirror the MIC, where contractors manage contractors under the name of governance.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. They found the problems and now they are accentuating it.

[philb]

2. This book calling for indictment of Bush for murder uses CIA sources

Vincent Bugliosi (former state attorney)
Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20400.htm
(Congressional Hearing)

[formercia]

5. Welcome to the American Gulag

As a former CIA officer who questioned the system, I can assure mister Jones that he should grow eyes in the back of his head and maintain his proficiency with small arms.

They will do anything and spend Millions to discredit him in any way possible.

That psychological evaluation that all prospective CIA employees go through prior to employment will be used to formulate an attack plan to push every button and manipulate his psyche in order to make him crack.

They will drive him to poverty and then provoke him with multiple illegal lures in order to send him to prison where he will be under their total 24/7 control.

They will recruit members of his family and others close to him to engage in informing and initiating provocations.

Anyone who tries to overtly assist him will be targeted as well.

If, by some chance, he is able to find employment, it will be because they have access and they will provoke fellow employees to initiate industrial accidents in an attempt to kill or maim him.

Persons of influence in his community will begin a rumor campaign to turn his neighbors and city officials against him.

I know this from first-hand experience. It happened to me.

[Habibi]

6. I would be interested to know more of your story

should you feel inclined to tell it.

[formercia]

10. I have over 25 years worth.

It would be a very thick tome.

[Habibi]

16. Fair enough.

Memoirs then?

[formercia]

33. I just want my privacy and fair and due process for these assholes

It's more than they gave me.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. I hope that we are seeing a change in the tide.

People should not be afraid of their governments. Yes, the plural was intentional.

[formercia]

9. The governments we see and the ones invisible to all but insiders.

WE used to say at the CIA that there were two kinds of people: Those on the inside and those on the outside.

Laws only apply to those on the outside.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

18. That is my perception...

had a family member who was a CEO -- but was kept at arm's length from the back room conversations where the real motives and strategies were discussed. He battled to initiate positive change through negotiating other channels for capital. He stuck his neck out, he lost.

It is a merciless crowd in those smokey back rooms where the key focus is to protect their power and position.

[hootinholler]

8. Has your story been published?

I bet LaLa would like to talk to you about it.

-Hoot

[formercia]

11. It probably never will be.

The CIA would never allow that truth to surface.


Stalin had nothing on these guys.

[formercia]

12. To be fair.

There are multiple layers within the intelligence community.

Only a small core of insiders are engaged in the really dirty work, the rest are career government employees trying to do a good job.

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. Now that their standard procedure of operation have come to light,

how do they manage to recruit good people?

[formercia]

14. The Russian comedian Yakob Smirnoff had it pegged.

In Soviet Union, no need to look for party on Saturday Night, Party find you.

When I was recruited back in the late 70's, very few people who submitted applications without being approached first were ever hired. I only knew of one and he had some very specialized skills and prior service in Special Forces.

My first contact was 10 years before becoming a career employee. Most are referrals from other CIA officers or sons and daughters of current or former employees. My father had been a member of the OSS, so that helped.

I heard one figure of 1 in 35,000 were hired off the street. Over the years, it created a climate of nepotism and cronyism that was to the detriment of the Agency and the security of the US.

I remember one case of a son of a senior CIA manager who came on as a summer intern and worked in my shop. The boy was a classic incompetent frat rat with a sense of entitlement. My supervisor had to write his performance report and even asked me to review it to ensure is was as fair as possible. He gave the kid more than an even break but his father blew his stack over it and ordered it be re-written. My supervisor, was almost demoted for it and resigned soon afterward.

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. This explains a lot!

Nepotism explains why things never change, and why a level of arrogance continues in the agency to the detriment of the good civil servants who still exist there. I've seen this same crazy thing with ex-military. Family members in the military network, and before you know it, they have enough power to extend their influence into the community through people with similar backgrounds and interest. And they do the most underhanded things to take care of their own. Like beefing up a kid's resume by overstepping the process so that on paper, they look like they are a step in front of the pack. It's a weird system where you can have someone who took off on an extended vacation during the school year, missing out on classes and games, and injured during the rest of the season, and still, at the end of the year, they're given the most Athletic Award! The only thing you can deduce is that they got the award for signing up for the military! Meanwhile the young player with talent or the old player who played through hurts and made every important game, gets treated like they didn't measure up. Because the coaches have to talk them down, in order to sell the swindle. Well, the community has eyes. The problem I see with this system, is that I don't for one minute believe that that first bump they got to help them get into the military, is the last of these dirty tricks. If it was, I could live with it. These kind of dastardly things undermine the entire process and when people lose confidence in the system, the system loses that which it needs the most. Freedom to maneuver behind closed doors.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

17. Read about this yesterday.

Thanks for getting this more visibility.

K & R

[MadrasT]

19. K & R

For the OP *and* for the comments. Holy crap.

:kick:

[judasdisney]

20. Sibel Edmonds' whistleblowers organization is what he should join

[Gabi Hayes]

21. I talked to him on the radio Friday night; a right wing shill show.

he VERY suspciously denied that Plame spent any meaningful time outside her Langley cubicle, and questioned her value as a NOC.

he also defended Bush as being a victim of the CIA.

see for yourself:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3718658

[Gabi Hayes]

22. google his name and see how many right wing sites come up. you did

notice that the OP link was FrontPage, yes?

no warning bells there?

I'm telling you, he vociferously denied that Bush had ANY blame WRT CIA disfunction.

haven't any of you heard about/read State of War? that one, thin book puts the complete lie to any craven defense of Bush regime innocence in the face of CIA 'incompetence'

I smell a plant in the Bush regime war vs. CIA

anyone care to comment on that, which has been a not infrequent topic of discussion here

I wonder if Lala is aware of this

[The Backlash Cometh]

24. Gabi, this is my gut reaction, without having further information:

Yes, he could be a Bush shill, but that doesn't mean that everything that he says that is negative about the CIA is wrong or false. Sometimes, the only way that we peons can see what really goes on in the backroom, is when there is a mayor conflict in the backroom -- a Clash of the Titans between two opposing powerful forces. Then, each side will try to weaken the other side by revealing the other side's secrets to the public.

The CIA has already done this. Remember the CIA already revealed information about the Bush Administration in order to discredit them, and that information turned out to be true. Now, maybe with the Bush Administration's green light, this CIA guy retaliates by spilling information to discredit the CIA. WE in turn, must separate the chaff from the wheat. Now that he has our attention, he might think he has our confidence to plug the Bush Administration, but if we're wise, we'll just milk the information we find useful, and then use it to mount a scorched earth scenario between the dark side of the CIA and the White House.

Sometimes these inner fights are the closest thing to the truth that we peons will ever get. That is the only way that the "shadow government" will be seen -- when it begins to implode. So, don't think in polar terms. I think this guy brings information that we need to hear, but he is obviously not 100% saint according to the information you bring to the table.

[The Backlash Cometh]

23. You would think by now I would be use to the head spinning.

I have to go back and read the article to find out if he was still working for the CIA. I would not be surprised if he was angry at the CIA, but still held Republican values.

[Gabi Hayes]

25. did you see the Amazon page? apparently the same Ishmael

had something to do with the Starr Report

check it out.

WTF is up with that?

I think he's a player in the game between Bush and the CIA. the fact that he says the CIA needs to be broken up and started over again is a good thing, but that comports with the entire new realignment of the intel agencies, which puts the DCIA no longer at the head. his support for Bush reveals his true agenda, and makes me skeptical of his motivation, despite what I posted in my thread about his taking no money

his disingenuousness re: Plame is also a warning light

it's an interesting game this guy is playing. why the pseudonym? what' his real name?

[The Backlash Cometh]

28. Oh, I support a realignment of the CIA,

but he won't get to decide where the lines get drawn. He'll just help the dismantling to come along sooner.

You do remember that the CIA almost got completely dismantled in the early 90s? The FBI was giving Congress the information they needed to support it. I believe that's when the FBI's jurisdiction grew outside our borders? No selfless act on the FBI's part, but, the CIA's dirty tricks and spy problem had come to light and the agency lost popularity with the public, which makes Bill Clinton's decision to appoint James Woolsey as CIA director in the early 90s all the more curious. Woolsey is a known neo-con and he flows easily between the Democratic and Republican party. Yet, it was well known that Clinton did not have regular meetings with Woolsey. In fact, I think he had none. Don't you find that curious? Why appoint someone you are not politically aligned with to a position in an agency which could really hurt you? Yet, that was a pattern with Clinton's appointments. For all his brilliance, his attempts at partisanship appointments was what destroyed him.

Frankly, I think all this talk from our Democratic candidates for partisan healing is a bullshit attempt to protect neo-con types within the Democratic party who don't want to feel the full force of our wrath. They must be pretty good donors.

[formercia]

29. The true motive for dismantling the CIA

is to remove the remaining career civil service officers that try to make an honest analysis and present the intelligence in an unbiased manner, replace them with true believers and turn the CIA into a taxpayer funded academy for private contractors.

I think the opposite should be done. Get rid of all the secret society types and those who owe their allegiance to other than the Constitution, get rid of all but the most necessary private contractors and rebuild the career service with talented and honest employees.

[The Backlash Cometh]

30. Then we need more articles to get into the mainstream to convince them

that there is a darkside, and an upside to the CIA and the military, and the darkside is often found in the mandarins who try to use their positions to build their pension plans.

It would help if the next president understood this trap, so he wouldn't capitulate to the darkside by giving them mandarin positions, the way that Clinton did.

I like your analysis. I wish someone would hire you to be a consultant for the transition.

[formercia]

31. Please don't put any ideas in someone's head.

I've had enough of Washington to last several lifetimes. I like where I am. They tried so hard to disconnect me from the system that, eventually, I realized I didn't need any of it. I have my family and live somewhere that people are beginning to conclude that I was right in what I say about Bush Gang and their masters.

Anyway, who would water my garden when I'm gone?

I appreciate the thought. Thanks.

[The Backlash Cometh]

32. I hope that before we decide to move out of our community, that I

will see the same changes in the neighborhood that you are experiencing. I understand the garden problem. It's a conundrum.

[KharmaTrain]

26. You Have A Far Stronger Stomache Than I Have

This was to be expected...the misinformation campaign has begun. Last night I was scanning around in the car..how silly of me to think I could find something worth listening. I ended up on a 50,000 blowtorch with some right wing asshat interviewing some goon who keep up the "what we don't know about Obama" crap...and of course, this was all about his really being a "Muslim" and how his birth certificate has been doctored.

Who cares what this schmuck says...a Judge determined her NOC status...case closed, Scooter is a traitor and so are the other chickenshits in this regime hiding behind him. My hopes are that the Wilsons get their day in court and out comes all the dirty secrets.

[The Backlash Cometh]

27. We'll have to dissect the information with a finely sharpened scalpel.