Former Senior CIA Officer Blasts Spy Agency, Preaches Accountability

By Jeff Stein | December 15, 2008
CQ Politics

The headline was boring, but not the material.

"Intelligence Boosters," the headline read, at the bottom of page 11 of the Sunday New York Times' "Week in Review" section.

"This is the article I never intended to write," began Art Brown, a 25-year CIA veteran and head of the Asia division of the agency's clandestine service from 2003 to 2005.

But then Brown went on to excoriate his former employer's performance in its main mission: human intelligence.

"If the CIA's human spy arm was operating as a private business, it would be running at a loss. Think Detroit, not 007," Brown wrote.

"In my years in the agency, I cannot recall a single case where anyone was fired for failing to perform. I cannot even remember anyone being demoted. There is simply no job-threatening penalty for mediocrity."

(More here.)