CIA Headed In The Wrong General Direction -- Roy A. Harrell Jr.
Agency should not be paramilitary force.
More than 50 years ago, my resignation from the Central Intelligence Agency was effectuated. The Company, as it had always been known, had become a bit too militarized and was not what some of its founders such as Allan Dulles envisioned.
Intelligence was collected but rarely analyzed coherently so as to contribute to enlightened policies. Much of what was collected by the Company lay unused, some of us feeling it is too expensive to collect this data, not to mention the risk involved.
Moreover the trend was in the direction of militarization, a task that could be more expertly done by the Department of Defense.
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My Comment: I know that the U.S. military has the means to do the job that the CIA is doing right now (i..e having a paramilitary force that can quickly execute certain operations) .... but aside from certain legal reasons on why the CIA is doing this work, I believe that the Oval Office and those who run the CIA like the ability (and option) to use the CIA in executing covert military operations and/or drone strikes against targets like Al Qaeda leaders. Is this the proper job for the CIA .... I do not know .... but they are doing the job and their masters (the politicians) appear to be happy with their performance.