Problems in the Intelligence Community (IC) and how they Affect the Causes of Peace and Peace Studies
2005-03-04
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Problems in the Intelligence Community (IC) and how they Affect the Causes of Peace and Peace Studies
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2005-03-04
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This has been a year of major distress for the American Intelligence Community (IC). Questionable intelligence about weapons of mass destruction led to questionable decisions about going to war in Iraq, which alienated large sectors of civil society and governments around the world. Of course, there are also big fans of this decision, both in the IC and elsewhere. But that is only one of the major problems that spies and intelligence analysts face. For example, there is a purge going on in the CIA as we meet today, as the fans of global intervention drive off critics there. A major “reform” bill was passed, and neutered by the Pentagon among others. This paper will focus on a largely taboo topic, the many ways by which intelligence tradecraft induces mental illness among many (not all) intelligence professionals. This leads in turn to errors of every kind. It leads to difficulty learning from past mistakes, and coping with novel problems. It also leads to very high rates of divorce, alcoholism and pain among our spies and analysts. And finally, it leads to confusing friends with enemies. Of particular importance to the field of Peace Studies is a common confusion between peace activists and “terrorists” (or in an earlier era, with communists). When fear is great and security institutions are stressed to find some bad guys, some of them literally cannot distinguish between “peace activists” and whoever the source of fear for the day is. Dissent is confused with treason. Thus did J. Edgar Hoover target civil rights activists, anti-war activists, labor activists and many others during the infamous COINTELPRO days. Some of the less stable people in our current FBI and DHS (Department of Homeland Security) are compiling lists of “potential terrorists” today that include peace activists, labor, human rights enthusiasts, environmentalists, feminists, “liberals,” etc. This problem is particularly acute in the Joint Terrorism Taskforces that have been ordered to identify “potential terrorists” in every county in America. Since actual terrorists are rare and very hard to find, but peace activists and other liberal groups are relatively abundant, public and easy to find, many peace people are on such lists today. The paper that follows looks at a range of clinical mental problems that are induced or exacerbated by the practices of IC agencies (called “tradecraft” in their jargon) and how such problems make working for peace more difficult during times of war. Paradoxically and tragically, they also make solving traditional and legitimate security problems of intelligence more difficult too. In both ways protecting our people and preserving freedom become harder. Stressed out spies and CI guys (counter intelligence) make many errors, of which confusing peace people with terrorists is just one especially irritating example.
[A paper follows that was prepared for the CIA and a variety of spies about ten months ago. At the end is a postscript for our peace community on why psychopathology among spies is especially important for us.]
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This is a lightly updated and modified version of a paper first presented to OSS-04 on psychiatric problems encountered in espionage tailored to the more academic audience of ISA. Nonetheless, it covers some very sensitive topics rather bluntly as operators must, with an eye toward mitigating some of the more corrosive effects of what they call "tradecraft."
The bottom line on that is that "tradecraft" induces mental illness in a large proportion of people who use it continuously. This is a problem for everyone. On the other hand tradecraft works shockingly often. Therefore, a certain cadre of psychopaths and other-paths with rare skills and low morals appear to be parts of most or all large spy organizations. BUT, psychopaths can also be notoriously hard to control, and there are other issues for managers to worry about, like being killed by your employee. So a solutions orientation is essential for any progress on this universal and punishing problem.
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Andregg, Michael M.. (2005). Problems in the Intelligence Community (IC) and how they Affect the Causes of Peace and Peace Studies. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/208852.
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