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December 07, 2004

The CIA Game

Matt Yglesias suggests that the fact the CIA is still leaking reports that contradict the administration position in Iraq proves that the CIA isn't leaking the reportsfor partisan reasons. After all, Matt reasons, President Bush will never run for office again, so if the leaks were partisan, they would have stopped after the election. Apparently it has not occurred to Matt that the CIA personnel leaking the information think that they can still be used by partisans to attack the administration. As we've seen for years, partisan battles don't end with elections; elections simply change the conditions of the battlefield. If the leakers are using these reports in an attempt to undermine administration policy, they will have some success with them. The Grey Lady has already proven that they'll take the ball and run with it, and guys like Yglesias will do their best to prove that these are facts and not partisan accusations.

Nor does it ever seem to occur to anyone on the left that these leaks are a bad thing regardless of what they say. I've spoken on more than one occasion of my dislike for the Bush administration's fetish with secrecy, and I stand by that. There are far too many things the administration attempts to hide behind walls of Secret and Top Secret cover sheets. But even a stopped clock is right twice a day, and the Bush administration is absolutely correct to try and stop leaks coming out of Langley.

The CIA is supposed to be America's premiere intelligence gathering agency. We expect them to go out and gather disparate bits of information from all over the globe, collect that data, analyze it, and use it to tell us how and where we can most effectively strike at our enemies. As with all wars, this is a dynamic battle where each side has to constantly update tactics in order to gain temporary advantage. Every leak is a boon to our enemies, because they help tell the enemy how we're gathering information on them, which allows them to plug leaks. Remember the idiots who told us that bin Laden's voice had been heard on cell phone traffic in Tora Bora? Guess what happened after that? The enemy stopped using his cell phones, and we lost a valuable source of intelligence. That's an infamous example, but it's far from alone. Even if the leak doesn't reveal how the U.S. came by the data, the very knowledge we know have the data tells the enemy to change whatever plans he based on that data and will help him determine how we acquired the data. Every leak helps dry up one more source of intelligence on our enemies. The leakers may soothe their consciences by telling themselves that they're doing the right thing, but they're lying to themselves.

Our system of government is very simple: we elect a President, 100 Senators, and 435 Representatives to pass and administer our laws. It is the responsibility of those 536 men and women to run the government based on their personal beliefs and their understanding of their constituents' wants and needs. And that is where the authority for running our government stops. It is not the place of some CIA analyst or administrator to decide that he knows better than everyone else, and so run policy on his own--even if he is right and the administration is wrong. He has neither the mandate nor the authority to do so. And the people who decide that their position in government somehow gives them the right to decide American policy in defiance of the duly elected representatives of the people are no better than any other dictator in history, deciding that the ends justify their means.

I don't know if the CIA is leaking reports because agents have personal or political agendas they're trying to fulfill, or if they're leaking because they honestly believe that the U.S. is on the wrong course. Nor do I care, because neither reason justifies their leaks. Not only are they jeopardizing America's ability to gather vital intelligence on her enemies, they are contributing to the very problem they claim they're trying to address: if the administration knows that people inside the CIA are willing to violate their oaths in order to press their own agendas, how can the administration trust anything that comes out of Langley? After all, if you're willing to release classified data to the public when you job is keeping secrets because of some 'greater good,' it's not hard to imagine how you'll slant your reports.

Fixing the leaks coming out of the CIA ought to be an area where both Republicans and Democrats can agree. The fact that it isn't speaks volumes to our near-term chances for success in this war.