Defense Department Launching New Spy Agency

The Pentagon confirmed it would be establishing a new intelligence agency, the Defense Clandestine Service, meant to work with the CIA, that would establish spy networks to monitor long-term threats to U.S. national security interests, pointing to places like Iran and North Korea. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta approved the program Friday. Panetta previously served as the head of the CIA and the intelligence agency's current director, David Petraeus, previously served as the Commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The DCS would bring the federal government's intelligence agency total to 17**.

Officials indicated the new agency would not need Congressional approval, though the move was "communicated" to members of Congress, and that it created no new authorities. The creation of the DCS seems like a bureaucratic shuffle, with Defense officials complaining about losing talented intelligence officers to agencies like the CIA that provide more opportunities for career growth.

America's intelligence agencies have a long history of executing and affecting U.S. foreign policy. The Iranian threat cited as among the targets of the Defense Clandestine Services traces its beginnings to 1953, when the CIA backed a coup by the Shah against the democratically-elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq. That coup paved the way for the Iranian Revolution of 1979 that brought the Ayatollahs to power. Today's clandestine operations will have similarly unpredictable consequences in the future.

Instead of reflecting and reorganizing in the face of dwindling financial resources and evolving threats, the Department of Defense is affixing another agency onto a national security apparatus still plagued by the lack of communication that some say could have prevented 9/11 and that served as the impetus for the creation of the Department of Homeland Security bureaucracy in the first place.

**The 16 federal intelligence agencies are: the CIA, the FBI, and, in the Department of Defense, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. Army's Intelligence and Security Command, the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Marine Corps Intelligence Agency, and the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency, the Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis the Coast Guard Intelligence, the Drug Enforcement Agdministration's Office of National Security Intelligence, the Treasury Department's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, and the Energy Department's Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence

Comments

[Gladstone]

"The Iranian threat cited as among the targets of the Defense Clandestine Services traces its beginnings to 1953, when the CIA backed a coup by the Shah against the democratically-elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq"

How come the Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran that installed Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to the throne is always given short shrift?

[Cytotoxic]

For the same reason these people keep repeating bullshit about the "democratically" elected Mossadegh or don't mention that the clerics were in favor of throwing him out. They belong to the religion of noninterventionism, and all religions require historical fluffing.

[Gladstone]

Or Mossadegh holding a referendum wihthout a secret ballot.

At least the article didn't describe the coup as "installing" or "reinstalling" the shah though the description overlooks the fact that the intelligence agencies had to get the Shah's sister to convince him to go along with the coup.

Personally I think there are two reasons that the 1941 Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran is ignored. First of all the pretext for the invasion was that Reza Shah Pahlavi was supposedly pro-Nazi and most "anti-war" activists seem to favour intervention against fascists (especially by Communists). Second of all the USSR was involved and the anti-war movement was (and still is) infested with Communists.

[fried wylie]

the Energy Department's Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence

Secret Plan for Perpetual Motion? You decide.

[Evil Otto]

At least they don't do counter-counterintelligence.

[fried wylie]

that would imbalance the forces involved and completely ruin the whole scheme. now, if you wanted to add some Intelligent Counters, it just might work.

[Gladstone]

They should call it the Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion.

[Old Man With Candy]

Smert Shpionam?

[Jerryskids]

So I am guessing the former head of the CIA thinks that if we can't have a military free from civilian control we should at least have a military intelligence agency not under civilian control. It's such a restriction on the efficient operation of the military when they are only allowed to go into places that we are more or less at war with.

[Coeus]

he creation of the DCS seems like a bureaucratic shuffle,

Someone's making a power play. Who's gonna be the head of the DCS?

[RFID]

Not anymore you're not! This operation is being taken over by the FBI!

[yet another dave]

In order to eliminate overlap a new department needs to created. Fortunately my good friend and loyal supporter ___________ has agreed to head up this most important steamlined organization

[T]

Wait, what the fuck is the Defense Intelligence Agency for, then?

[Nicholas Card]

Shhh....

You're letting our secrets out. If you don't bring up the other agencies, then no one has to know about them...

govforliberty.blogspot.com

[AlmightyJB]

To be fair all of the current intelligence agencies aren't very intelligent. Since you can't fire government workers cause they're all so noble and such, you have to start a new department from scratch. Just like they do it in the private sector.

[AlmightyJB]

I know in the past, the various intelligence agencies have not always shown deference to the president. Maybe that's what this is about.

[Aresen]

IIRC, one of the problems that the review of the intelligence failures around 9/11 uncovered was that there were too many "Intelligence Agencies."

So they created a super-bureaucracy to oversee all the existing "Intelligence Agencies".

And now they want to create yet another "Intelligence Agency" outside of that.

The more things change....

[Gladstone]

Abolishing an intelligence agency means eliminating its head's turf and perks so no go.

[Dagny T.]

Why did Spy Vs. Spy look like Black Plague doctors?

[ChrisO]

The WashPost had an article awhile back claiming that the "intelligence community" already produces more analysis every day than can possibly be absorbed by the higher ups. The National Security Director gets a huge pile of reports on his desk everyday that would take more than a day to read, let alone act upon. And most of it is garbage.

It does support a lot of very high salaries in Northern Virginia, though.

[Evil Otto]

Ah, the Holder effect.

[Nicholas Card]

The defense bureaucracy should be the poster boy for smaller governments. Even if you demanded exactly the same services from the Pentagon and DHS, I bet you could cut upwards of twenty redundant agencies and/or sub-agencies, reducing the budget by at least 10%. There's no reason why we have to have so much overlap.

I propose that Defense/DHS look at large companies like Raytheon or Boeing for leadership. Their matrix management model means that people with like skills are kept in a first type of management pool (or matrix) where they receive similar training and career progress, while people with very different skills, but on similar assignments/projects are in a second type of management pool. This means that you have two bosses (one skills/promotional related and one related to your current assignment), but it's so much more efficient at producing and promoting skilled employees, while those employees work on tons of varied projects.