Spycraft and Idiotcraft

A little later the CIA [Directorate of Intelligence] asked if I was interested in starting the clearance process to join them. But the bureaucratic tribalism in that organization scared me. I consider CIA employees to be patriotic as individuals but when it comes to their Group Think and turf wars they are near-treasonous in their actions. Most of them are cowards who don’t want to rock the boat. That might cost them their job. They’ll just wait until they retire to write a critical book. The guy who was trying to recruit me gave up after three telephone conversations. I told him I was enlisting in the Army.

Bad news on the civilian DoD area. It is not that surprising. Neither for the CIA or for DoD.

Q: Enlisting? In intel?

A: Yes. As a 96b [intelligence analyst]. I had failed the medical before college and was rejected for enlistment. They lowered the enlistment standards so I was technically qualified after college. I tried a second time and was failed by MEPS [Military Entrance Processing Station] for the same reason despite the rules having been changed. It was obvious that they made a mistake so they sent my file to some Army doctor in Kentucky who rejected the waiver request for a condition that was not even disqualifying anymore. So I sent letters to three different Senators and 6 months later my waiver mysteriously appeared in a manner which my recruiter could not explain. So I went back into MEPS with a waiver and a maximum score on [the aptitude test]. I was qualified for every single MOS in every branch of the military. I signed a contract for 96b and was given a guaranteed date at Ft. Leonard Wood and at intel school in Ft. Huachuca.

Q: So what happened?

A: Well, you have to get by the civilian who does the security clearances. I need a top secret clearance. I was totally clean but I was not born in the United States and I technically have dual citizenship with [a friendly NATO country]. So the security clearance person rejected me on the spot. I offered to renounce my citizenship in exchange for the clearance. But it was like “You failed. Go home.” The funny part is my brother is in the same situation as me and he has a top secret clearance. I even met a fellow dual-citizen from the same country recently who was in Army intel until last year. So much for consistency.

Q: Can you do any other jobs for the US government?

A: No. I’m disqualified security clearance-wise from working for the military, CIA, NSA, FBI, State Department and Department of Defense contractors.

Top secret clearances take time. I don’t see how any civilian bureacrat from DoD or whatever outfit they have doing the checks, can say no right on the spot without actually traveling to the various people, places, and references to discover that this guy is who he says he is or not. It is not as if Sandy Berger got a Top Secret clearance because everybody knew he was a hack and saboteur, but that didn’t stop his security clearances from eventually being returned to him, you know. So it all comes down, in the case of secrets and competency, to political power and corrupt bureacrats. Which is I keep saying that you can’t go easy on the bureacrats and the folks.

More bad news.

Despite past high-profile security breaches, the FBI is providing top-secret clearances to 50 District of Columbia students this summer. The move is part of a recruiting effort to identify future agents and analysts for the fast-growing bureau.

The program, in its second year, is the only one of its kind in the federal government that grants such access to students, some as young as 16, for paid research and clerical positions…

[Assistant Director Joseph Persichini said] “This is our chance to provide opportunity to the youth of our city …

I don’t know how to better explain this. If you want to crack the intel field and be competitive with our enemies, then you need people that were once of the enemy or around the enemy or somehow or in someway MOTIVATED to fight against the enemy. Motivation first, competency comes afterwards. And I ain’t talking about financial motivations. In the case of Soviet defectors like this one, competency comes first, then motivation. But regardless you have to have one or two to start with. 50 District of “I ban all guns here except for the bodyguards of politicians” stuff is strictly…. DC. As in, insular and political.

I started off on this branch courtesy of Soob.

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