During an interview on Wednesday evening's edition of Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor," ABC News' correspondent Brian Ross discussed the adverse effects of President Barack Obama's aggressive investigation - and possible prosecution - of allegations that Central Intelligence Agency agents used torture when interrogating captured terrorists.
Ross claims that members of the CIA are down in the dumps and that many of them are considering a career change - including its current director, Leon Panetta.
The Obama Administration appears intent on re-creating the same environment in Langley, Virginia that was the hallmark of the four-year Jimmy Carter presidency - drastic reductions in staff and operations. Efforts to combat terrorism have become an increasingly important part of government activities, and these efforts have also become important in the United States' relations with other countries and with international organizations.
However, according to former military intelligence officer and NYPD detective Sid Frances, rebuilding the CIA and other intelligence agencies so that they actually serve Americans is more important than protecting left-wing political leaders who believe in dirty tricks to further their goals.
"The United States' intelligence community is undergoing the most extensive - perhaps even radical - transformations since the Office of Strategic Services gave way to the Central Intelligence Agency," said Det. Frances.
During Panetta's days in the Clinton White House and during the Clinton scandals, Human Events said this about Panetta: "The media has lost count of all the shills the Clintons have sent out to do their dirty work with the press and the talk shows, from Leon Panetta and Lanny Davis to David Kendall and Jim Carville. There is no end to the line of opportunists prepared to face the public in defense of a rogue President and a corrupt administration."
"Recognizing that people are the critical element in transformation initiatives is key to a successful transformation of the intelligence community and related homeland security organizations. However, an agency headed by a politically motivated party hack is a dangerous thing for the American people," political strategist Mike Baker said.
The CIA is responsible for coordinating U.S. counterintelligence activities abroad. Each of the military departments also has a counterintelligence element that operates domestically and overseas.
The mission of intelligence agencies is to collect, analyze and disseminate intelligence to their "consumers." Human sources and technical collection systems can be developed only over long periods of time and often at great cost. They are easily compromised and, when compromised, often cannot be replaced. Accordingly, intelligence agencies are by nature reluctant to permit consumers, including law enforcement agencies, to use intelligence in any way that might result in the loss of a source or collection method.
These elements have offensive and defensive missions. Offensively, they attempt to recruit agents within foreign intelligence services to ascertain what, if any, operations are being undertaken against the United States; they monitor the activities of known or suspected agents of foreign intelligence services; and they undertake operations to ascertain the targets and modus operandi of foreign intelligence services.
Defensively, they investigate cases of suspected espionage and prepare analyses for government and industry concerning the foreign intelligence threat. While the FBI has principal jurisdiction to investigate suspected espionage within the United States, all intelligence agencies maintain internal capabilities to undertake preliminary inquiries of their own employees. Military counterintelligence elements have concurrent jurisdiction to carry out counterintelligence investigations of their respective military personnel.
"Counterintelligence, as a function of intelligence agencies, however, goes well beyond detecting and monitoring the activities of foreign intelligence services and investigating employees suspected of espionage. Counterintelligence is an integral part of the entire intelligence process," said Lt. Stephan Rodgers of the New Jersey police.
"Historically, intelligence agencies have not performed this crucial function very well. Virtually all have suffered severe losses due to a failure to recognize anomalous behavior on the part of their own employees. The agency ends up spying on political enemies rather than true enemies. And into this mix, President Obama inserted the likes of Attorney General Eric Holder, a left-wing Democrat Party operative," said Detective Lt. Rodgers, also a former military-intelligence officer.
One of the major challenges facing the intelligence community is moving from a culture of "need to know" to a "need to share" organizations, while maintaining secrecy. The experience of leading organizations suggests that performance management systems - that define, align, and integrate institutional, unit, and individual performance with organizational goals - can provide incentives and accountability for sharing information to help achieve this shift.
Some critics of the CIA claim that over the years it has become more of a liberal-left "think tank" than an intelligence gathering and counter terrorism organization. One official alleges that politics within "The Company" resembles the politics exhibited at American universities, with bureaucrats "living in ivory towers far removed from the real world of espionage, terrorism and the people they're supposed to be serving."
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FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Jim Kouri, CPP is currently vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org) as well as a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he is syndicated by AXcessNews.Com.
