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Thursday, December 23, 2010

You can't BUY this kind of publicity
Posted by Jill | 9:46 PM
I don't know if Marc Maron should be thrilled or call his lawyer about this:
The CIA has launched a taskforce to assess the impact of 250,000 leaked US diplomatic cables. Its name? WikiLeaks Task Force, or WTF for short.

The group will scour the released documents to survey damage caused by the disclosures. One of the most embarrassing revelations was that the US state department had drawn up a list of information it would like on key UN figures – it later emerged the CIA had asked for the information.

"Officially, the panel is called the WikiLeaks Task Force. But at CIA headquarters, it's mainly known by its all-too-apt acronym: WTF," the Washington Post reported.

WTF is more commonly associated with the Facebook and Twitter profiles of teenagers than secret agency committees. Given that its expanded version is usually an expression of extreme disbelief, perhaps the term is apt for the CIA's investigation.

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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Does this surprise anyone?
Posted by Jill | 4:47 AM
One thing I've become aware of during my lifetime is that while the federal government has been touting its "war on drugs" for the last four decades, there's also a curious evolution of what the particular drug problem is at any given time in this country. While we were in Vietnam, the government focused on marijuana, which grows easily in that country's hot, moist climate. During our proxy war with the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the late 1970's to early 1980's, in which we armed the mujehadeen that later became Al-Qaeda, there was an uptick in heroin use. During our involvement in Central America during the Reagan years, we saw cocaine use rise. And ever since we've been back in Afghanistan, it's been heroin again.

Kind of a coinkydink, don't you think?

So why is it any surprise that Hamid Karzai's brother is simultaneously an opium trader AND working for the CIA:
Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country’s booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials.

The agency pays Mr. Karzai for a variety of services, including helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the C.I.A.’s direction in and around the southern city of Kandahar, Mr. Karzai’s home.

The financial ties and close working relationship between the intelligence agency and Mr. Karzai raise significant questions about America’s war strategy, which is currently under review at the White House.

The ties to Mr. Karzai have created deep divisions within the Obama administration. The critics say the ties complicate America’s increasingly tense relationship with President Hamid Karzai, who has struggled to build sustained popularity among Afghans and has long been portrayed by the Taliban as an American puppet. The C.I.A.’s practices also suggest that the United States is not doing everything in its power to stamp out the lucrative Afghan drug trade, a major source of revenue for the Taliban.

More broadly, some American officials argue that the reliance on Ahmed Wali Karzai, the most powerful figure in a large area of southern Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgency is strongest, undermines the American push to develop an effective central government that can maintain law and order and eventually allow the United States to withdraw.

It's disheartening that the faces may change, the promises may change, but there is something about Washington, and about what goes on at Langley, that turns every American leader's hands dirty.

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Monday, February 18, 2008

So the Bush Administration is buddies with the Saudis, and the CIA is incompetent
Posted by Jill | 7:45 AM
So remind me again why anyone at all is even considering voting for John McCain, who seems to be running on the "I'm George Bush's Third Term" platform.

Do you feel safe yet?

The CIA set up a network of front companies in Europe and elsewhere after the Sept. 11 attacks as part of a constellation of "black stations" for a new generation of spies, according to current and former agency officials.

But after spending hundreds of millions of dollars setting up as many as 12 of the companies, the agency shut down all but two after concluding they were ill-conceived and poorly positioned for gathering intelligence on the CIA's principal targets: terrorist groups and unconventional weapons proliferation networks.

The closures were a blow to two of the CIA's most pressing priorities after the 2001 terrorist attacks: expanding its overseas presence and changing the way it deploys spies.

The companies were the centerpiece of an ambitious plan to increase the number of case officers sent overseas under what is known as "nonofficial cover," meaning they would pose as employees of investment banks, consulting firms or other fictitious enterprises with no apparent ties to the U.S. government.

But the plan became the source of significant dispute within the agency and was plagued with problems, officials said. The bogus companies were located far from Muslim enclaves in Europe and other targets. Their size raised concerns that one mistake would blow the cover of many agents. And because business travelers don't ordinarily come into contact with Al Qaeda or other high-priority adversaries, officials said, the cover didn't work.

Summing up what many considered the fatal flaw of the program, one former high-ranking CIA official said, "They were built on the theory of the 'Field of Dreams': Build them and the targets will come."


Sort of like being showered with flower petals and sweets upon our arrival in Iraq, eh?

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Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Yes, Virginia, now old SNL-alum movies are inspiring the CIA
Posted by Jill | 5:37 AM
Your tax dollars at work: Meet the CIA's new "Terrorist Busters" logo:



John McCloskey at More, Better Lies thinks it evokes the Ghostbusters logo, and that's true. But the first thing I noticed was how much the brandished gun resembles the Heroes symbol:

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