Retooling the intelligence community for a new world

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by Sam Faddis · January 17, 2017

The news media is abuzz with reports of the ongoing public confrontation between President-elect Trump and members of the intelligence community, particularly outgoing CIA Director Brennan. Alarms are being sounded over the danger posed by an incoming president in confrontation with his own intelligence agencies, and who publicly questions the value of the intelligence they provide. Dire predictions are being made about the implications of this widening schism and the price we may pay down the road.

Many of the questions posed are without doubt legitimate. A president and his intelligence advisors must work hand-in-glove, and it is imperative that a president have confidence in the sensitive intelligence he is provided. Lost in all the back and forth of Twitter exchanges and the president’s daily brief, however, is one inescapable and critical truth: The quality of the intelligence we are producing, particularly our human intelligence, is not what it must be, and it has not been so for a very long time.

About Sam Faddis

Charles S. (Sam) Faddis is a retired Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operations officer, a published author, and national security commentator Sam took the first CIA team into Iraq nine months in advance of the 2003 invasion of that country. After serving abroad in the Middle East, South Asia and Europe, he served as the head of the CIA’s Counter Terrorism Center (CTC)’s Weapons of Mass Destruction unit charged with pursuing terrorist weapons of mass destruction programs worldwide. He has run large organizations, worked across the U.S. Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense and been involved in national security matters at the highest levels of our government. He has also spent more than his share of time running sources and covert action campaigns in the field.

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Alexander C
Sam, Was there some sort of conflict with the Station Chief in Iraq and teams like yours leading up to, and in the initial phases of the invasion?
Jim J
Excellent article, well thought out. I agree with most of your conclusions. The DNI is a bloated administrative nightmare, the idea was to improve intelligence coordination but it's implementation was not well thought out. In many ways the CIA had become what the DNI was supposed to solve but failed to do so. I do not agree that strategic intelligence capability should be stripped from the military. However, it does need to be cleaned up. Thanks again for a great article. JimJ
Thomas M
Mr. Faddis, another insightful, informative article. Simply outstanding. Well done Sir.
William S
Excellent read. I wish a distinction was made between leadership of the various intelligence outfits and the bulk of the people doing the work day-in and day-out. The recent issues are being framed as "Trump vs the entire community" as opposed to "Trump vs a selected group from the community". Brennan, Clapper, and ilk are neither sacred nor infallible. If it takes a public upbraiding to change the culture at the top of these orgs, then so be it. What results should you expect when you let career bureaucrats run the show?
KEV
Great article on the CIA these folks are protecting not just US either.