My original perception of the US Intelligence Community was based on logic. My belief, how ever naive it may have been, was that in the arena of National Security, only the best, brightest and most creative minds would be involved. I calculated that when it came to the security of a nation; it would be a travesty if the world's most committed, creative and patriotic minds were not gathered in service of a greater cause. Additionally, I believed that any such agency/organization would have/provide the best tools to maximize and enhance creativity.
My experiences post Foreign Service Officer test (getting "chopped up") were completely the opposite. The final conclusion that I came to by mentally reverse engineering my experience and analyzing cause and effect was that, whomever was running my operation, heretofore referred to as (X), was a very "sick" individual. Not only was X sick, I concluded, but some of his personal preferences were very interesting.
In hindsight, I realize that with the military controlling 90% of the Intelligence budget that the likelihood of creative development is very unlikely. The military's purpose, in general, is to create soldiers who follow orders. Creativity is not a highly valued asset. This is an unfortunate scenario since "terrorists" are very creative. In fact, the creativity of terrorists attacks appears to be there greatest asset i.e., USS Cole, WTC, etc..
Michael Andreggs words pack a punch; they are precise and concise. His handling of Compartmentalization, Clearances and Controls is exceptional.
Thank you, Michael Andregg, for shining a piercing light of understanding on some very serious realities within the IC. This piece is my favorite inside look on the subject matter that I have ever read. Frankly, it was Delicious! Mahalo, also to www.oss.net for showcasing such fine talent like William Clark and Michael Andregg.
The following is an excerpt from the end of a chapter called:
Previous efforts at Reform, Citizens as Enemies, and Good People in Evil Systems
Figure 22 illustrates another significant part of this problem (29, pg. 118). Systems matter. “’The turning of a few valves can mean the difference between a pharmaceutical company and a chemical or biological plant.’ said the Agency’s leading proliferation specialist.” (in 9, page 3) You can put 100% exemplary people into an evil system, and if information controls are artful those good people will chug away doing excellent, hard-working, first-class work … for evil. In their heads, they will be super-patriots, and the best will sacrifice even life itself. Many will sacrifice families, since the work is ‘so urgent’ and the management so indifferent to real welfare among workers’ families, or to squishy concepts like love, God, or genuine patriotism. Nazi Germany provided many examples of the good German worker serving evil ends, but Stanley Milgram (30) and the Mormon Church among many others have shown that “good Germans” are everywhere. Good Germans, in fact, are just good workers – exceptionally good workers who strive to please by doing exactly what they are told without excess questions or introspection.
Lest I offend everyone unnecessarily, a few words on the good German phenomenon might help here. We are ALL vulnerable to this, because we are ALL social creatures with some desire to conform. This was indispensable to early tribal groups that depended on each other for survival. Being social creatures, we calibrate our moral compasses by reference to the social group around us and its moral leaders. When your moral leaders and creators of institutional structure include deeply disturbed individuals like James “Jesus” Angleton (the previously noted and spectacularly paranoid former chief of Counterintelligence at CIA), you are at serious risk. Isolation from other worldviews by exaggerated fears for “information security,” and concepts like “disinformation” or “Satanic influence” encapsulate the dysfunction, and prevent correction.
This is the basic mechanism by which genuinely good, hard-working, sincere people who often call themselves Christians * can, with the best of intentions, be co-opted by evil systems. * (In America these will usually be Christians, but in MOSSAD these will be especially devout Jews and in Arab Mukhabarats [secret police] they are especially devout Muslims. Another thing learned long ago was that people in morally stressful occupations often adopt especially devout religious practices for compensation and frankly, relief from the stress.) Subsequent control mechanisms by the organization reinforce the fears, the penalties for talking to outsiders, the paranoia, black-white thinking, and ultimately the desire to conform. It is a mind control regime well understood by cults, and studied closely by the CIA during the MKULTRA days.
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