The CIA Today
What documents have been released disclosing parts of the CIA's past?
There have been releases of the so-called "Family Jewels" that document these abuses from the old days, but most of that was revealed during the Church Committee hearings. These are just more details. So there really isn't anything new about the latest disclosures.
How has the War On Terror changed the CIA?
The war on terror has certainly changed the CIA in terms of focusing the CIA on terrorists, and increasing it's funding, making its mission much more important. The CIA has expanded the number of translators in house for example. So the CIA today is a critical element in protecting us against terrorists and therefore it's much more important than it has been in many years during its history.
Who is the current head of the CIA?
How much time does the president spend with the CIA?
In the morning, when the President receives the briefing from the Director of National Intelligence, CIA officers accompany him, and so he spends time with them then. He spends time probably almost every day with some CIA official, in order to help develop strategy. Bush also periodically visits the CIA and the NCTC, which is the Counter Terrorism Center, which combines the FBI and the CIA and other intelligence agencies, trying to get all their information together, analyze it all together. When they say the FBI and the CIA don't talk to each other, the fact is, at the NCTC, they actually sit side by side, 24 hours a day, analyzing information.
What type of misinformation about the CIA appears in the news?
There's a wide range of misinformation about the CIA and the FBI. Any effort they make is portrayed as "spying on Americans." In fact, they only focus on possible terrorists. If a conversation, for example, from Bin Laden to someone in New York occurs, then of course they're on that conversation, and we need to know if they're about to detonate a nuclear device. That's not "spying on Americans." That's just protecting our lives. That's the kind of misinformation that you see all the time in the press.
Does the CIA actually have successful cases?
The CIA has successful cases all the time. Most of them are secret. The fact that 5000 terrorists have been rolled up since 9-11 are all due to the CIA and the FBI's cases. Plots have been stopped by the CIA. The CIA obtained from Obusa Vada information about future plots about other terrorist that were then rolled up. The CIA used what they call coercive tactics. They were not torture, but they were things like water boarding or putting them in cold places. They generally don't do that now because there's no feeling that there's an eminent attack, and there was back then. But these are all techniques that the CIA has used to get information from terrorists.
How is the CIA good for America?
The CIA is critically important for America because it uncovers plots. If we didn't have the CIA, we would be almost defenseless against terrorists because the most important way to stop a plot is through intelligence, which is just gathering secret information. The way to stop a plot is not to react after it occurs, but it is to stop the plot before it occurs, and that is what the job of the CIA and the FBI is.
Will the CIA always exist?
The CIA will always exist. People don't understand that the CIA is essential to our national security because it finds things out before they happen. That is so important. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, for example, the CIA found out that the Soviets were shipping missiles to Cuba. Because of that, we were able to prevent Cuba from actually erecting these missiles. That's an example of how the CIA works effectively to protect our national security, and they're doing it everyday today. That is why we have not been attacked in large measures since 9/11.
Why does the CIA have a bad reputation?
The CIA, in the '50s and '60s, did engage in some abuses, and so that certainly created a bad image of the CIA. Today, simply because the CIA is secretive, people think they must be doing something terrible. We have the press revealing, for example, that certain planes are being used by the CIA to transport terrorists. That's information that should be secret, because they're doing their job. They're doing what they should be doing. They're not abusing any rights. They are simply protecting us, and yet the press undermines the CIA and undermines the war on terror by revealing these secrets for no reason whatsoever, except to show that, "Wow, we got a scoop." That's the kind of thing that the CIA is up against every single day.
Why don't people trust the CIA?
In part, people don't trust the CIA because they think of some of the abuses that occurred in the old days, but things were so different in those days, and also partly because the CIA is secret. The fact is that we do have intelligence committees that examine the activities of the CIA, that act as oversight. Many of the activities that have come out, such as NSA intercepts, were disclosed to the intelligence agencies and to leaders of Congress when they started, and so these are not things that are done in secret from Congressional Committees today, whereas they were in the old days.
What does the CIA do for US citizens directly?
What the CIA does for U.S. citizens is to protect us. I feel so grateful every single day that we have not been attacked, because it would be so easy to bring a nuclear device in, or to bring in a major bomb. It's so easy to do that, and yet we keep uncovering these plots and we keep rolling up the terrorists who might start plotting. In other words, we roll them up before the point of starting to plot. That's why I personally feel so grateful to these people, because they work night and day without any credit. All they get is criticism in the press and from politicians, and yet they are saving our lives.
Does the CIA spy on American citizens?
The CIA does not spy on Americans. The FBI does engage in investigations where they will in fact target particular potential suspects but it's all done under the law and will result in arrests which we see every few months, and convictions and that's how the FBI contributes to the war on terror.
Does the CIA spy on its own spies?
The CIA certainly will investigate any allegations against its own spies but the CIA does not actually spy on its own spies per se.
