Without Repair: The Fall of the Central Intelligence Agency, written by Charles S. Faddis and published in 2009 with the ISBN 9781599218519 As is evident from the title, the author, who has served in the CIA in the past, does not feel that the Agency need any “tweaking” or “fixing.” He is adamant in his conviction that it ought to be completely evicted and rebuilt from the ground up. When the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was in existence during World War II, an individual or group would be assigned a task, which often included being dropped behind enemy lines, and then instructed to carry out the objective. These individuals regarded working with intelligence as if it were a sacred vocation. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is now saturated with bureaucrats and buck-passers who see it as nothing more than another government job. Making waves is considered to be a cardinal sin, even if it comes with the potential to save lives in the United States. Instead of lowering the amount of bureaucracy and “coordination” that exists, it seems that the remedy to intelligence failures such as 9/11 is to create more levels of bureaucracy. The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program continues to train and assess prospective officers. If an individual does not meet the requirements set out by the Army, they will be requested to withdraw from the program. There is no training program of this kind at the CIA. It’s possible for someone to be an excellent case officer yet completely useless in a leadership role due to their lack of experience. Even though the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has a bureaucracy that is very rigorous, they are nonetheless able to pull together a covert operation in a matter of days or even hours when an intelligence opportunity presents itself. Briefings, re-briefings, appraisals, and permission from a variety of individuals are required from a number of different agencies, including as the military and the FBI, before a final approval can be granted. This process may take several months. Because of this, the author is adamant in their belief that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ought to be the exclusive foreign intelligence agency, and that other agencies need to cease their efforts in the field of foreign intelligence. When the United States maintains an embassy abroad, the ambassador serves as the head of the organization. The consent of his (or her) is required for any covert operation to take place. It seems that the State Department’s most important regulation is “Don’t offend the host nation,” even if the covert operation in question would save lives. The ambassador works for the State Department. On occasion, there will be visits from officials in Washington, who, even if they were to stumble into a clandestine program, would go completely unaware of its existence. In most cases, they have this tremendous intelligence notion, which, although it may sound great at a conference room in Langley, is a really foolish idea when it comes to the ground. In the past, covert operatives were required to undergo very strenuous physical training since they were expected to be able to operate in almost any environment. Throughout the years, standards have been lowered to an almost insignificant level. Training that was formerly considered “extremely tough” is now considered to be more like somewhat stressful. Because the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is in desperate need of personnel on the ground, the physical requirements have been lowered to the point that individuals from other divisions have been allowed to participate in the program. Regardless of whether they suffer from asthma, diabetes, or any other serious illness, it makes no difference. They suddenly believe that they are competent to travel abroad and work on genuine covert operations, right next to someone who has twenty years of experience, assuming they are successful in completing the training: there are no consequences for them if they do not finish the course. Although it is a highly critical book, there is a significant demand for it. Regardless of how you feel about the acts taken by the CIA in recent times, the United States of America needs some kind of foreign intelligence organization. The appropriate approach to begin putting up such an agency is to begin with this book, which is a wonderful place to start. Dead Trees Review, the blog that Paul Lappen writes as a freelance book critic, has an emphasis on books that are self-published or published by small presses.
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