Posted by
American Sentry on Thursday, August 27, 2009 12:07:15 PM
As I watch the CIA investigation situation unfold, I can’t help but see an eerie parallel with the Tailhook debacle and the potential for evisceration of highly skilled, experienced and valuable CIA operatives as the news outlets are reporting morale is at an all-time low, and quality career officers are said to be seeking employment elsewhere. I have a unique perspective as both a former Naval Aviator and Intelligence Operator while on active duty. As a young Marine Officer back in the early Nineties, I was interrogated, not once, but twice, by the Naval Investigative Service. My crime; I was a Naval Aviator living in Southern California, and
could have been at the Tailhook convention in Las Vegas in 1991. (I was not) Briefly, at the convention, there was a small group of participants that displayed uncouth and sexually aggressive behavior, that was ultimately deemed as un-officer like conduct, and in some cases assault and attempted rape. It took on a very politically charged tone, and the NIS and DoD investigators proceeded on what is widely recognized as a Witch Hunt, going far beyond the initial parameters of the investigation against the original few perpetrators. I remember distinctly hearing of a Navy Captain, who just had taken command of a fighter squadron at Miramar NAS, who received a phone call from a peer that he just heard the Captain was relieved of duty as reported by a local TV station. In short, this poorly conducted, politically-correct charged investigation took a turn for the surreal, and went way beyond the original scope, and targeted several Navy and Marine Corps Flag Officers, and young Naval Aviators, many whom were not even at the convention, which included Yours Truly. It was a despicable act that this small group conducted on that fateful night in 1991, only to be outshined in its damage and impact by the follow on investigation that lead to the whole sale resignation and dismissal of hundreds of the nation’s top military pilots.
Like the CIA officials of today, those pilots were highly trained, critical assets to national security. The running joke was, “The investigation did more to gut Naval Aviation than Saddam Hussein could ever dream of doing”. Long after the perpetrators were meted their just punishment, the stench and accusatory nature of the botched investigation lingered. Many officers were forced to sign written disclosures as to their whereabouts during Tailhook 91’, most never having attended at all, years after the incident. Many colleagues and fellow pilots resigned their commissions, and many aviators, to this day, held considerable resentment toward the NIS and DoD investigators. It was tragic that the incident took place aat all, and most officers believed if they would have just acted quickly enough, sending the clearly guilty bastards to the “Yard Arm” for hanging, it would have alleviated the prolonged damage to the greater institution.
Operatives, and contractors, within the Agency could very well be found guilty of crimes. What is a very disconcerting thought is the notion of another politically charged investigation that challenges the other 99% of quality, respected, and professional officers with the CIA, all viewed as “guilty until proven innocent”. In extraordinary vocations such as Fighter Pilots and Covert Intelligence Operatives, trust, and knowing your superiors and their “overseers” have your best interests in mind as you are asked to perform unusually dangerous and difficult tasks, is paramount. The CIA was perceived as risk-averse before 9/11, and then was thrust into the greatest challenge to our national security, in a new and unorthodox covert and intelligence war against very ruthless and dangerous terrorists. CIA officers, like pilots, are any things…but they are not stupid. If you want me to either fly a $30 million high performance aircraft that is just as prone to try and kill me as the missile envelope you are ordering me into, or task me to clandestinely recruit and run enemy agents in a hostile environment, in a foreign language, and pay me “Bupkis”, then I had better know, in my heart, I can trust you to back me up! Believe me, without the trust, the low pay, hard life, little recognition, and tin medals don’t mean much.
The Obama administration is on the precipice of potentially losing hundreds if not thousands of extremely talented and experienced intelligence operatives during a time of unprecedented challenge in an unconventional and dangerous conflict. Like pilots, these folks don’t grow on trees, nor is there a huge storage bin of former folks that would be willing to pick up the slack from such a mass exodus.
Perhaps they can turn to the ACLU. I hear they have a pretty good spying program now.