Copyright May 1994 by John Macartney, 72262,660 Washington, DC INTELLIGENCE AND THE CIA INTELLIGENCE is MISUNDERSTOOD. Forget James Bond. US Intelligence exists for just one purpose, to support US foreign policy. Basically, intelligence is an information support service for government policymakers. (Similar to a news bureau or think tank. More PhD's than cloaks and daggers). But unlike those others, intelligence deals only with foreign information, especially threats and other bad news. Also, intelligence tailors its products for specific customers. ^G Contrary to fictional caricatures in books and movies, neither Russia or the KGB is the "enemy" of the CIA or other US intelligence agencies. They deal in information and their "enemy" is ignorance, uncertainty and misunderstanding. ^G Within the US foreign policy process, intelligence plays a vital role. The intelligence officer is a "producer," who supplies relevant information about foreign matters to "consumers," the government policymakers, planners and operators who make, plan or carry out US foreign policy. Increasingly in recent years, US intelligence is also supporting consumers at the UN, the IAEA and other international organizations. (At the same time, the UN and the IAEA and other IGO's have been setting up their own in-house intelligence capabilities. But they still rely primarily on information supplied by member states, especially the USA.) ^G Intelligence supports policy makers, but is not allowed to make (or even comment on) US policy ^G Two major divisions within the intelligence business are collection and analysis. Collectors specialize in either technical sensors, such as spy satellites, or in human intelligence, spies. The techint collectors are mostly engineers and scientists. Humint collectors, on the other hand, have engaging personalities and are skilled in handling people. They serve, for the most part, overseas where they recruit and handle agents, or spies, the foreigners who provide information to the US government. Analysts are basically intellectuals, very much like a university or think tank faculty. Employment in the US Intelligence Community is very competitive much like the State Department's foreign service. As a result, intelligence officers, especially CIA officers, tend to be sharp. And very well educated. (PhD's abound out at Langley.) ^G Most intelligence information comes from open, unclassified sources, although secret agents and elaborate systems of high tech sensors play a very important role, especially when foreign governments or groups try to deceive us, or conceal hostile or illegal activities such as surprise attack preparations, nuclear proliferation, human rights abuses economic analysis, drug smuggling, unfair trade practices, ecological threats, bribes or kickbacks, terrorism, treaty verification, support to peacekeepers and other UN operations, arms control support, and so on. ^G There are two basic categories of information, "secrets" and "mysteries." A secret is an item of foreign information that exists, but has to be uncovered or stolen. Example: Does North Korea already have nuclear weapons? A mystery, on the other hand, is a question about the future, the answer does not now exist; it can only be estimated. Example: What will Russia's inflation rate be next year? Policymakers need answers to both types of questions, and intelligence tries to provide both. ^G Intelligence serves three categories of government consumers: national policymakers, planners and operators. NATIONAL POLICYMAKERS include the President and scores of senior government officials, most of whom are based in Washington, like the Secretaries, Under Secretaries, and Assistant Secretaries of State and Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and other Pentagon brass, senators and congressmen, and the deputies and staffs of all of the above. They need broad geopolitical information. PLANNERS are those junior and midlevel government officials, mostly in the military, who write and maintain the hundreds of US contingency plans. They need masses of detailed and continuously updated installation data (What is the emergency refueling capacity at the Islamabad airport? What is the daily offload tonnage capacity at the port of XXX. Is there refrigerated storage there?), planners require by far the most intelligence support. OPERATORS (or implementors) are the diplomats, trade negotiators, commercial attaches, immigration and customs officials, attack pilots, soldiers and sailors who actually carry out US foreign policy. They need immediate "tactical" information. (How well does my counterpart negotiator speak English? What is his or her personal relatonship to their Prime Minister? How much authority does does he or she have to make an agreement? What is their fallback negotiating position? How many enemy tanks are behind those trees? What are the air defenses in the target area? Where is the ship suspected of smuggling illegal immigrants? ^G Again contrary to spy fiction, CIA officers do not themselves steal documents, crawl in windows, or break into safes. Instead, they recruit foreign "agents," or spies, who do that. The relationship between an intelligence officer and his or her agent is very much like that between an investigative reporter and his or her "confidential sources." ^G US intelligence officers have no police or law enforcement function, no arrest authority. They seldom, if ever, carry firearms. (They would do so for self defense when operating in chaotic and lawless environments, like Somalia.) Sorry, James Bond. This is very different, of course, from some foreign countries where intelligence and police functions are intertwined, as they were, for example, in Nazi Germany and the USSR. ^G Because the future is basically unknowable and intelligence analysts have no crystal ball, we should not expect so much of their estimates. ^G Congress puts intelligence into two categories: intelligence (as an information support service, discussed above) and "intelligence related activities," counterintelligence and covert action. ^G COUNTERINTELLIGENCE is protecting US government secrets from espionage, or leaks. It includes physical or procedural safeguards, like locks and security clearances. It also involves counterespionage, which is trying to defeat or penetrate foreign intelligence services. This is more law enforcement than intelligence and the FBI has overall responsibility. Aldrich Ames Case: Why didn't they catch him sooner? We don't know the whole story, but here's some things to keep in mind. The CIA is not a law enforcement agency and it is against federal privacy laws for the CIA (or any government agency) to check up on any American's personal finances without written permission. Asking permission, of course, would have tipped off Ames he was under suspicion. (Legislation to fix this for CIA employees has failed several times in recent years, but will almost certainly pass now. Also, spies are very difficult to convict and in order to make a solid case the Justice Department believed they needed to catch Ames in the act of communicating with, or passing documents to, his Russian handlers. But Ames was an expert in tradecraft and they never did catch him at it, although they had him under physical and electronic surveillance for about a year. (That's what delayed his arrest.) Fortunately, as it turned out, he left masses of incriminating evidence in his home, so conviction was not a problem.) ^G Covert action is really policy rather than intelligence. One of six major foreign policy tools, CA is used by most governments, especially ours. Basically, covert action is one of the other five FP tools, like diplomacy, public diplomacy, or foreign aid, done covertly. Examples: Secret diplomatic contacts; causing favorable stories to appear in foreign press; smuggling money, fax machines (or guns) to foreign governments, or dissidents; foiling illegal arms transfers, and so on. Covert action gets a great deal of press and congressional attention, but is less than 1% what US intelligence does. The hand of US govt is not to be revealed or acknowledged, ever. The CIA carries out but does not make CA policy. Senior policymakers in both the Executive and Legislative branches do that. There is a formal review process and orders (findings) must be signed by the President and briefed to Congress. ORGANIZATION. The CIA is just one part of our "Intelligence Community," which is headed (really coordinated) by the DCI. Each of the armed services has its won intelligence organization, as do the State, Energy and Treasury Departments. All together, intelligence reportedly costs about $28 billion a year and employs some 150 thousand military and civilian personnel, including many women. The CIA is believed to account for about 15% of those totals. Like defense, Congress has been cutting back on intelligence funding and personnel since the Cold War ended, despite the fact that Bush tried to hold spending level and Clinton actually tried to increase it this year. Culturally, intelligence officers, especially the CIA analysts, tend to be intellectualsintrospective, scholarly, tweedy, and often rather liberal (as compared to their counterparts in the Pentagon and the State Department). INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT. Contrary to Hollywood legend, CIA officers (and other US intelligence personnel) are not above the law. They must obey all US laws, and they are scrupulous about doing so. (Their jobs, of course, may involve violation of foreign espionage laws.) Nevertheless, secret agencies are hard to monitor and there can be (and have been) abuses. Since the 1970's, an elaborate array of oversight mechanisms has been in place including various Executive Branch legal counsels, inspectors general and review committees, as well as the very active Senate and House select committees. Then there is the unending scrutiny of the press. ..................................... Comments welcome and encouraged. John Macartney, June 26, 1994 72262,660