Still, I would be perfectly useless as a spy.

Jamie Irons

And this time, instead of the J Leverett “Buzzy” Saltonstall types, perhaps the geniuses at the Directorate of Operations might recognize the wisdom of recruiting young of this country’s thousands of brilliant young asian-americans who actually speak pashto or farsi or mandarin.

“I long ago concluded that a liberal arts degree from Harvard or Yale should be looked upon with a certain degree of suspicion. Elitist snobbery underpins the thinking processes of many of their graduates.”

He was responding to Frank Martin’s

“We need to stop hiring from Harvard and Yale.”

I would like to mention that Porter Goss is a Yale graduate.

Let us not replace one kind of snobbery with another.

Steven Dutch’s website is enormously entertaining. I don’t know why I clicked on your La Trahison des clercs link since I don’t know French but I’m glad I did.

I also want to preemptively debunk on this thread the oft repeated claim that any clandestine service like the CIA will look bad since their successes must of necessity mostly stay secret. Porter Goss knows the CIA’s secrets, even their successes. So if he has changes to make he probably has good reason.

I long ago concluded that a liberal arts degree from Harvard or Yale should be looked upon with a certain degree of suspicion. Elitist snobbery underpins the thinking processes of many of their graduates. It took our host, after all, decades to undo the damage inflicted upon him during his school years. I normally consider anyone associated with Harvard as an idiot until proven otherwise. This is a common sense approach that should be encouraged.