KNOW-NOTHING'S

   It is obvious from the below plus a number of articles that the CIA
is in the midst of a major officer recruiting campaign that will determine
the future of that institution for the next few decades.

   In a number of posts I have quoted from case officers, to a director, to
an Inspector General, all on the general state of disaster in the CIA --
its moral, procedures, operations and the deficiencies of its personnel --
most at the top of the Directorate of Operations (DO).

   These did not happen out of the mists -- the CIA in the past (and
probably also now) has used psychological testing criteria to recruit
the naive, the innocent, the team-player and the not too academically
outstanding, to man its outposts. (In my case I and a large number of
recruits came directly out of the manpower pool of rejected NFL
hopefuls). It does not want the person who can see the implications
of its actions. It wants the "know-nothing" who believes, or as the
chant says, "I don't know and I don't care."  It wants the "operator"
not the intellect.

   Since leaving the CIA I have written a book, and began compiling a
data base on relevant information about the CIA.  As I processed
information into the data base I was stunned to see the universal
failure of its intelligence over the past fifty plus years.

   In short I discovered that the CIA used its intelligence as a means
of bolstering its operations, while avoiding any data that challenged
such goals.

   The CIA universally supported and supports militarized regimes around
the world, and in so doing implicates itself in the work of death squads,
drug smugglers, terrorists and other less than desirable elements.  In
so doing, it has destroyed the future "George Washington's" of dozens of
countries.

   But now the situation is somewhat different.  We are faced with
international terrorism, there is a real need for real information,
but you have against that need, the know-nothings of the DO and the
know-nothings of other segments of the CIA.

   Do we want an operational or an intelligence agency?

   What the United States and the CIA needs now is real intelligence,
not propaganda packaged as intelligence.  So my hope and prayer is
that the current leadership of the CIA or at least someone in the
process, looks to find and hire people with attributes of true intelligence
officers. Otherwise we face decades of more repression, more drugs,
more death squads, more terrorist attacks and more policy disasters.

Ralph McGehee
CIABASE

        CIA CONDUCTS RECRUITMENT CAMPAIGN TO FIND SPIES

   To counter the flight of experienced operatives trained in skullduggery,
the agency has embarked on the most aggressive recruiting drive in its
five-decade history.

   "We anticipate the current program will rebuild the operations-officer
cadre by more than 30 percent over the next seven years..." Augmenting a
national media campaign is the college-campus recruitment program that
has been under way for years.

   The worldly wise are also encouraged to apply. "We are also looking
for people with international experience, languages, business experience.
You are not necessarily going to get someone like that right out of
college...."

   The DO began experiencing sharp losses in personnel nearly seven years ago,
after the fall of the Soviet Union. By last year, the number of people
leaving the agency exceeded fresh recruits by 3 or 4 to 1. Insiders cite a
number of reasons for the departures....demoralizing headlines underscore
the agency's need for fresh recruits....

   What a CIA job can provide is the lifestyle of being a CIA agent - the lure
of being in the know on world affairs. The agency also recruits using a
rarely discussed theme these days: patriotism.

The Christian Science Monitor 10/7/98.