Quote Originally Posted by John T. Fishel View Post
The reason to separate covert action from intel is to avoid contaminating the intelligence and policy to the maximum extent possible...
I am not suggesting that seconding personnel with appropriate expertise to my covert action agency would be wrong... seconded personnel often develop a loyalty to their new organization...
Bottom line is that I think we can do much better than the current arrangement. Intel consumers should not be their own analysts.
Regarding the hybrid career paths for SOF/CIA mentioned earlier in the thread, it seems to me that allowing 18F's and certain WO's to run the hybrid path would help to bring out the positive aspects of the "seconded personnel" dynamic while familiarizing the military and CIA with one another. Maybe they worked together better than I got the impression they did, but I sensed a fair amount of friction between the SOF and CIA (and other) organizations in Iraq. My impression was that it was the result of a clash of organizational cultures. Some hybrid career paths could smooth this out, imo.

If limited to 18F's and WO's, I'd think that this could also avoid the danger of intel consumers being their own analysts. To the extent that an 18F is already an intel analyst consuming his own analysis, it doesn't seem that the hybrid career path would exacerbate this.