So in the late 1980s and especially 1990s the CIA went through a long delayed, but probably inevitable, American institutionalisation. Whistleblowers and ex-removed who straddled the era still talk about this split. And it's institutional, not just political.
Point being, especially post 2021, the CIA (like every other agency) ballooned massively. The bottom rungs expanded massively. Why not after all? Wouldn't it be useful to actually have analysts who spoke some of the dozens and dozens of languages spoken in countries where the US is based.
That's part of the reason you have Havana syndrome. It's part of reason you have Office dipshits being PR guys like it's the Navy or whatever. It's bloat bullshit.
Don't get me wrong. It might not be the same private club of a dozen people it was in the 50s/60s and a load of cutouts. But theres no evidence or reason that the upper echelons of that famously extra-legal, extra-political org has really changed in term of dynamics. It's just a different set who, like they did historically, mostly operate outside the official institutional mandate.
So in the late 1980s and especially 1990s the CIA went through a long delayed, but probably inevitable, American institutionalisation. Whistleblowers and ex-removed who straddled the era still talk about this split. And it's institutional, not just political.
Point being, especially post 2021, the CIA (like every other agency) ballooned massively. The bottom rungs expanded massively. Why not after all? Wouldn't it be useful to actually have analysts who spoke some of the dozens and dozens of languages spoken in countries where the US is based.
That's part of the reason you have Havana syndrome. It's part of reason you have Office dipshits being PR guys like it's the Navy or whatever. It's bloat bullshit.
Don't get me wrong. It might not be the same private club of a dozen people it was in the 50s/60s and a load of cutouts. But theres no evidence or reason that the upper echelons of that famously extra-legal, extra-political org has really changed in term of dynamics. It's just a different set who, like they did historically, mostly operate outside the official institutional mandate.