HAVE THEY LOST FOCUS OF THEIR MISSION?
IS IT TIME FOR EVALUATION AND REFORM?
No one can deny the importance of intelligence gathering in todays world. We have many threats to the security of the nation both internally and externally. We have been fortunate to have not had a mass terrorist attack since 2001 and much of that success can be attributed to our intelligence community. We can have no doubt that the vast majority of the people in the service of the intelligence community are dedicated patriots, but it does appear that some of the leadership has become politically motivated. We hear that the past administration has been involved with surveillance of U.S. Senators, political candidates and reporters. It appears that James Comey was compromised by the Obama administration to control Hillary Clintons campaign. Comey has been touted as to be above reproach and a non-partisan public servant. I am sorry to say that the label, " above reproach and a non-partisan public servant" may be just a cover for just the opposite. I also wonder if Robert Mueller, who has been blessed with the same label, is more interested in protecting the reputation of the FBI than finding the objective truth. I fear that we will see years of investigation in an attempt to control the Trump administration in a similar manner that Comey controlled Clinton. Ever since Trumps nomination, the establishment has been pressuring Trump to nominate their political hacks to serve in the administration. Then they can set the agenda, which is to continue with the policies of the past. We also see the past Obama appointees, who seem to be more loyal to the ideology of Obama than to the country.
We hear that we have 17 or 18 intelligence organizations. It seems no one seems to know for sure. Why should we have 17 or more separate intelligence organizations, each with its own leader and mission? Is it because since 911 we have increased funding for intelligence gathering way beyond the level that could be reasonably absorbed? Is it because it has been expanded and lost its vision as to what it should be dedicated to do? Does it now believe it has duty to control the direction of the country by any means possible rather provide information? We have seen massive leaks coming from the intelligence community, without any attempt to control or stop the leaks. This is either incompetence or corruption. Has it become the policy of self preservation and expansion of power rather the law and competence? In the last few years we have seen that the NSA is compiling and storing information on citizens without any probable cause or warrant. Is this for future use as leverage against political candidates or opponents? Why is it buying information complied by computer companies on their customers? Is it to combine all this information and profile Americans as to their suitability, in their view, in the future. We see that they have constructed a massive building in the western U.S. to store all this data. All the while we have also seen that all the lone wolf terrorists where known to our intelligence agencies before they acted. We also see a Ransom ware attacks which requires a payment but the culprits cannot be found. I had a ransom wear attack and they requested payment by MasterCard or Visa. No intelligence agency ever reported Hillary Clinton's private server or produced her missing e-mails. Does it pick and choose what should be enforced and what to ignore?
I don't assume to have all these answers, but it does seem to have become much more politicized than ever before. It could be that this started in the Bush 2 administration and exploded in the Obama administration and has now become an independent entity answerable to no one. With the partisan politics in Washington, with each side hoping to control this power, will it be possible to bring it under control? It may very well require a massive shakeup to again place a clear mission for each agency. This would need to be a Bi-partisan undertaking, I am not sure such a thing will be possible in the near future. If done one agency at a time this could be accomplished without compromising national security.
