Today's CIA Missions
What are the 'Family Jewels' files that were recently released by the CIA?
The Family Jewels files that were recently released by the CIA refer to a number of operations in the CIA's history that were frowned upon. Assassination attempts, some of our operations overseas, particularly in Latin America, that the American Congress did not know about at the time and that the American public didn't know about it at the time, and the CIA has never divulged details about but just has done so recently, even though a lot of the instances are common knowledge now.
How has the War On Terror changed the CIA?
The War on Terror has changed the CIA in that it shifted our overall mission. We had the Cold War, which lasted for several decades. It was the Cold War that tended to govern the way that the CIA did things, the way that it did training, and the way that we conducted operations. Traditionally, Russia and the Eastern Bloc and Eastern Europe was our primary focus. Somehow we missed the collapse of the Soviet Union, in terms of our predictions. As a result of there no longer being a Soviet Bloc, our attention has been shifted elsewhere. And the terrorist attacks, particularly those of September 11, 2001, really changed the way the CIA looked at the world. It was a real wake-up call to the CIA, about how we have to train our officers and where we have to focus our energies, because that's the primary threat that the CIA, and that this country, faces now.
How involved is the President with the CIA?
What types of misinformation does the public receive from the CIA?
The CIA does not set out to directly misinform the public, but the CIA definitely keeps a lot of its information to itself and so the public is left in the dark. One example that we have seen recently of the public being grossly misinformed is the build up to the war in Iraq where the public was led to believe that the CIA had evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that Iraq was a threat to our country. Also, that it had evidence of the link between Iraq and Al Qaeda. All of these claims proved to be false. In fact, those of us working at the CIA knew that they were false, but really had our hands tied in terms of nobody knew that we're working at the CIA. And we were in no position to bring it to light that they were false claims.
What are examples of current missions of the CIA?
What are some myths about the CIA?
Why does the CIA deny events, then admit to them decades later?
The CIA denies events and then admits to them later because this is the way that espionage is conducted. We were trained and we were told that if you are caught, first of all, don't get caught. Second of all, if you are caught, deny, deny, deny. Whatever you do, deny. That's the rule of thumb at the CIA and then later, as the issues are less sensitive, decades later, then it becomes OK for the CIA to say okay, we did this. There is a certain spirit of the Freedom of Information Act that compels the CIA to divulge yes, this is what we actually did and again, most people at the CIA and involved in the operations believe that whatever they are doing, whatever the consequences, it's all for the greater good.
Is there an alliance between the CIA and FBI?
