http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/01/is-bush-departure-good-news-for.html

Panetta’s priorities are, first, to keep the CIA from sabotaging the Obama administration the way it did the Bush administration and, second, to keep the CIA from obstructing the work done by the rest of the intelligence community. Basicaly his job is to keep the CIA from causing trouble for the rest of the federal government.

The neoconservatives backing the Bush Administration had been looking for a casus belli to invade Iraq since the aftermath of the First Persian Gulf War. Lean on a federal bureaucracy long enough, and it’ll say whatever you want it to.

He’ll just quietly continue the Bush administration policy of having the rest of the intelligence community do the job the CIA won’t and can’t do.

None of the other members of the defense intelligence community do civilian human intelligence gathering. Ergo, most of the DoD agencies cannot do what the CIA does because their missions are different and more specific.

Law enforcement is a bad substitute for that. No one in their right mind would want equally-scandal plagued agencies like the FBI and DEA, which already do their own minor intelligence work, to suddenly take on the additional power that the CIA has.

I suggest two books by Amy Zegart. Read them in this order:

Flawed by Design: The Evolution of the CIA, JCS, and NSC

Spying Blind: The CIA, the FBI, and the Origins of 9/11

There are lots and lots of books on how dysfunctional the CIA is. I also suggest this post about an email by an intelligence from an intelligence professional at NRO’s Corner:

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDQ3ZmRmNTQyY2ZiNzY5NjIxMzk3NjJkZTNhNGMzNTY

Note these points in particular:

“Q: Is the CIA salvageable?

A: I do not believe incremental reform will work, because it will not address the CIA’s systemic lack of accountability. The CIA has never suffered the consequences of its failure to perform. No manager has ever been demoted, no change has occurred.

The CIA should be dismantled and its parts assigned to functioning organizations. The clandestine service should be placed under the control of the U.S. military. Because the military is subject to the consequences of its actions, it is an efficient and accountable organization. Domestic CIA activities should be placed under the FBI, and embassy and diplomatic functions should be placed under the State Department.”

I did as you suggested and googled your name with many results. Did a little grazing and familiarizing and will continue to.

Is there anything specific/recent (noticed alot of what I found is dated 2006 and earlier) that you have posted/published that discusses background/support to your statements in the first two paragraphs of your post 27?

I have tried to read books in recent years that explore the function of various agencies involved in defense issues, but am not aware of any that deals with the dynamics (destructive or otherwise) between the agencies* and the results of that in policies and operations. What reading (books or magazine) would you recommend?

(*or between the agencies and the Executive branch)

I WILL keep speaking out and asking questions, but it is certainly my intention to have more understanding 6 months from now than I presently do. Silence is no longer acceptable and ignorance is not necessary. Thanks for any suggestions.