Go along, get along, or get out
The Washington Post and the NYT ran a pair of interesting companion pieces relating to the current troubled relationship between the CIA and the Bush Administration.
In classic Beltway fashion, today’s WaPo breathlessly announced that several CIA staffers are feeling disrespected by the Administration, leading to resignations and threats of resignations.
David Brooks’ op-ed piece, on the other hand, shows that the disrespect between the two groups also cuts the other way:
Over the past several months, as much of official Washington looked on wide-eyed and agog, many in the C.I.A. bureaucracy have waged an unabashed effort to undermine the current administration.
This sort of dust-up was perhaps inevitable. The 9/11 Report and other investigations showed that the intelligence agency has had some competency “issues” regarding the GWOT, as some would say. Therefore, it’s natural to expect some keen defensiveness issuing from Langley as the Administration tries to carry out its policy choices.
Running to the newspapers to complain is simply a standard tactic.
On the other hand, it appears that some members of the Bush Administration are giving Langley’s long-time staffers a choice of either one of the two options made famous by Rodney King.
The agency staff can either get along with the ones who were elected and who are therefore in charge, or some folks could get the crap beat out of them—figuratively speaking, of course.
As Brooks notes, asserting one’s authority in order to accomplish fundamental goals is the Administration’s responsibility. They’ll only have themselves to blame if they don’t.
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