Should a government organization have the ability, or the capability, to influence popular opinion? The recent Cheney problems had the CIA putting a lot of of spin and contrived information in the press. As an example, all the early disclosures by government officials, (on the record) only describe the program as secret, no other information.

The press began circulating it was a plan to kill high members of Al Qaeda. Who could be against that, that is just like mom, apple pie, and napalm. Where in the constitution does it say that a government agency can compromise and influence the operation of a free press?

Most of the CIAs real work is done below the political ruling class. The political ruling class are the problem. There are two ways to get a CIA that does not try to infringe the rights of citizens for political ends. The first is using massive political intervention and oversight accompanied by a waterfall of politically driven leaks. The second is to hire people with integrity and get out of their way.

The job of the CIA should only be information, not covert operations. If an administration wants to go berserk on somebody it has to create, (and hide) those resources, not the CIA. A system of checks and balances could be created by separating the CIA along two teams. The reports produced by one team would be checked by the other team. The report could be graded in time periods, 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years etc. after the report was issued. The reports would be rated by the opposing team as to accuracy and content. The authors of the report would only be known to the team that generated the report. The grades would then be broken down and assigned to the people who wrote the reports.

All reports must be given to the opposing team immediately. If a report is pure nonsense the opposing team can throw up an immediate red flag.

After a while the system will give the administrators a track record and a concrete way of determining personnel strengths and weaknesses. Also reading the reports would give both teams insight and training through competition. This would also assume that the administrators can overcome their paranoia about having a few more people know what is really going on. Make any attempt to artificially limit information a hanging offense, since criminals really do like to hide what their doing.

Get the politics out of the CIA and make it a meritocracy that understands integrity.

Senator Bill Nelson is on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that oversees the C.I.A. He is C.I.A. or is in their pocket. I don’t mind a C.I.A. operative running for political office. I do mind when he is in a position to compromise any investigation into the C.I.A. How many people with integrity who try to come forward did he rat out. You want to know why congress didn’t get the information it needed? Some of the people in the C.I.A. knew the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was compromised. And since Cheney could put surveillance on anybody in the agency, for any reason, he controlled all other channels for getting the truth out.

Read the following and then investigate for yourself.

Please acknowledge receiving this, and yes I am paranoid.

Louis P. Quinn
louis@marsemb.com

Excerpt From http://billnelson.senate.gov/

Biography

Florida’s own Bill Nelson was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2000, after serving six years as a member of the Florida Cabinet. He currently serves on the Senate Commerce, Armed Services, Budget, Finance, Intelligence, and Aging committees and is recognized as the leading congressional expert on NASA.

In January 1986, Nelson spent six days orbiting Earth as a payload specialist aboard the space shuttle Columbia. That experience gave him a new perspective on the Earth’s fragile environment and a greater appreciation of the importance of our nation’s space exploration program. –How did someone with these academic credentials get to be a payload specialist. –

He attended the University of Florida for three years, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi, and then transferred to Yale University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1965. –Why would someone with a a bachelor of arts (from Yale, the university of the CIA), get a coveted payload specialist job for what is typically a position filled by someone with a masters degree in engineering. The CIA was grooming him for politics and pulled strings to have him sent up as a payload specialist. An astronaut looks really good on a political resume.–

From Wikipedia
While at Yale he was also a member of the University’s secret society, Book and Snake.

A fifth-generation Floridian, Nelson was born in Miami on Sept. 29, 1942, and educated in Melbourne’s public schools. He served his country as a captain in the U.S. Army from 1965 to 1971, both on active duty and in the Reserve. –Typical CIA background–

From Wikipedia
Nelson was born in Miami to Nannie Merle and C. W. Nelson.[2] In his youth, he served as the world’s International President of Key Club. He attended the University of Florida for three years, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi, and then transferred to Yale University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1965. During his time at Yale, Nelson was tapped for membership in the University’s secret society, Book and Snake. He served in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1965 to 1971. During this time, Nelson studied at the University of Virginia, where he received his law degree in 1968.

Bill Nelson (D) FL-Senate B.A., Yale University; J.D., University of Virginia