There are roughly eighteen intelligence gathering agencies in the U.S. Government. Most people lazily lump them all together under the rubric of the CIA. The CIA has two main missions, and some minor ones. The CIA has an intelligence wing and and an operations wing. Most of the controversy surrounding the CIA comes from the operations wing. Under the Bush administration, both wings have come under withering criticism.
The intelligence wing is capable but it can be hijacked for political purposes. The operations wing is also capable, but it is in the business of doing unsavory things that cannot stand the light of day. Spying is a dirty business. But there’s a difference between doing dirty work and doing work that violates human rights and the U.S. Constitution.
The CIA is fairly consistent in complaining that they are asked to violate the law and then blamed for violating the law. Bush’s rendition and torture programs are a case in point. But the crying over left-wing criticism of the CIA is hard to take. Some good spies are going to be set back in their career track because they tortured people (or stood by and said nothing). Too bad. You’re lucky we don’t have a guillotine.
