If there is one bureaucracy within the federal government that needs flattening for efficiency it is the discombobulated Intelligence Architecture (IA) . A blind man can see that with one look at its’ organizational line and block chart. “Redundant” doesn’t even begin to describe the problem.
The Central Intelligence Agency was established by President Truman on September 18, 1947 in response to a glaring political error. During World War II, FDR became acutely aware the U.S. was grossly lacking in a professional intelligence apparatus. His closest advisor, the “Man behind the President” suggested successful New York lawyer and WW I Medal of Honor recipient, William “Wild Bill” Donovan. FDR demurred because Donovan was a nasty Republican. Despite his reservations, he gave an interview to Donovan with the intent to establish a war time intelligence agency. When Donovan entered the Oval Office, FDR was on the phone and gestured for Donovan to take a seat. While FDR was conversing on the phone, Donovan emptied a full magazine from a .22 caliber pistol into a potted plant adjacent to the president’s desk. FDR heard nothing.
This so impressed FDR that he immediately commissioned Donovan to organize what became known as the Office of Strategic Services that collected and analyzed intelligence on Germany and Japan throughout the war that culminated in the OSS capturing critical Nazi documentation provided at the Nuremburg War Crimes trials – resulting in over 300 Nazis being hanged. During the war the OSS operated Jedburgh teams behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied Europe and in the China-Burma Theater (CBO).
After World War II, Secretary of State Henry Stimson disliked the idea of spying and said famously “Gentlemen don’t read other gentlemen’s mail.” As a result, instead of supporting Donovan’s efforts to make permanent a national intelligence gathering capability, Congress shut the OSS down.
Until it quickly became obvious after “a great Iron Curtain had fallen” over Europe (Churchill) just such an organization was recognized. This resulted in the Central Intelligence Agency being established.
The mission statement of the CIA is simply: “Leverage the power of information to keep our nation safe.”
“The CIA is a U.S. government agency that provides objective intelligence on foreign countries and global issues to the president, the National Security Council, and other policymakers to help them make national security decisions.” – cia.gov
Pure and simple.
During the ’60s and ’70s competition for input to the president’s national security decisions was sought by other departments within the federal government (translated: their political input). This was accompanied by various presidents security advisors having different political loyalties – and the Bay of Pigs fiasco (which was not the CIAs fault – see: A Dagger in the Heart by Mario Lazo)
This battle for influence resulted in the State Department creating the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) as a way for ambassadors to conduct end runs around the CIA with their non-objective, politicized “intelligence” input. The problem with this is ambassadors are political appointees, almost always major political campaign contributors with a nose more for business than strategic intelligence.
That explains a lot of failures from the Berlin Wall going up to the evacuation of Afghanistan.
The purported mission of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is to “Provide intelligence on foreign militaries to prevent and decisively win wars.”
Based on performance alone back to WW II, the DIA should be abolished.
Besides, the various branches of the military within the Defense Department already do their own collection management on foreign militaries with their own intel assets – mostly from open sources like Jane’s.
DIA’s “Values” statement reads like a Kamallah Harris interview – a chef’s masterpiece of word salad:
“DIA has a long legacy centered on our ability to confront and overcome challenges while maintaining our core values. Embedded in these values are the leadership principles that guide us. These principles are the driving force that keep our workforce grounded [employed], and are represented throughout the DIA enterprise.”
How’s that for specificity.? DIA’s moral compass has no North-seeking arrow!
Never in my military career did I ever submit an RFI (Request For Intelligence) to the DIA for mission support. I don’t know anyone who did. We avoided it because it was an appendage of the State Department. Having been the recipient of some of the most supercilious policies of the State Department – in several cases causing Green Berets to be killed – we avoided the DIA (and the State Department as much as possible) like the plague even though our classified missions were nominally directed by the State Department. We obtained our intelligence from the CIA and the National Reconnaissance Office. We collaborated in-country with the CIAs Chief of Station located at the U.S. embassy in each foreign country.
The redundancy of a CIA Chief of Station reporting objectively to the CIA and the ambassador reporting his opinions to his DIA were rarely synonymous. This caused us problems on the ground level.
Though the CIA has been politicized at times due to political appointees with no intelligence experience being put at the helm of the Agency, their mission is the most clear cut and objective..
The only time I saw any interest in the DIA was for home-grown MI officers seeking a resume’ building boondoggle attendance at the Defense Intelligence College where most DIA employees hide out to work on their PhDs. – at taxpayer expense.
If you’re looking for wasteful redundancy and reducing politicized intelligence, look at the Defense Intelligence Agency.
