Reset the clock again, CIA edition
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I briefly worked for the CIA more than 10 years ago. It costs the govt a great deal of money to hire a CIA employee. There are multiple rounds of interviews and background checks; they send investigators out to your workplace, school, family members, friends, etc; there are multiple rounds of polygraph testing. Once you're in, you're in.
The only case I ever heard of anyone getting fired was some dumbass who looked at child porn on the company network. Yes, the CIA's network, probably one of the most monitored networks in the world.
The CIA also has something like 30,000+ employees ("blue badges") and god knows how many contractors ("green badges").
Given how every CIA operation somehow involves creating a child sex trafficking network, I'm shocked they fired the guy for looking at child porn. I'd expect them to give him a hi five or something.
Person in question probably left too many trails, made it too obv. The stuck out nail and all that.
So they were browsing Reddit?
Hah, I don't think I count as a glowy if I quit AND acknowledge that I worked there.
Hell, it was largely that experience that made me as anti-government and anti-bureaucracy and anti-elite (CIA is fucking full of the elite) as I am.
Won't get into anything close to accurate details to avoid dox, but it was 10+ years ago, and I was hired in the analytical division (the "DI").
Depends. Once a spook always a spook for some things, like holding office.
I think that's true for most people.
The CIA was all about being part of the CIA as the head of the Intelligence Community. From day one, Entrance on Duty (EOD) training, the teachers went out of their way to tell you how you were special as the top of the IC, how the CIA operated independently of individual politicians, etc. The first 10 days were full of propaganda about CIA successes, how instrumental it was in various geopolitical actions, etc. Total indoctrination.
I honest to god knew within 10 minutes it was not going to work out for me.
So if that induction was applied in say a civilian setting.. it would be classified as a cult. Right?
I don't mean individually you're untrustworthy, but as a class it's impossible to tell the difference between you and somebody just lying about rejecting the Company so they can get elected and take orders from John Brennan.
True enough. I would be very cautious about voting for anyone who worked at CIA (or any government agency) and was proud of it.
Military service a bit different.
Looking at you, Mat Best.
This.
People who work for the government either directly or as a contractor end up with front row seats to just how horrible things are on the inside and become revolted if they weren't already.
Well... I can't say it applies to you, but it's actually a pretty common tactic for "former" agents to be completely honest about their "former" association with their new targets. It builds trust they exploit to give disinformation, and explains away any inconsistencies in their background if by chance they are ever found out. I suppose that tactic wouldn't make sense on an anonymous message board.
As an aside, what do you think of the rumor that they moved most of their real ops to the National Endowment for Democracy? The stuff at Langley is just a cover.
Never heard of that. Literally tens of thousands of people work on Langley. Most of them are juts desk jockeys, support staff, etc. The real secret stuff is what used to be called the DO / Directorate of Operations and is now called NCS / National Clandestine Service. That's like a minority of CIA employees, but there are the real spies. The most undercover people are NOCs ... Non-official cover. CIA employees who never set foot in Langley (McLean), might spend their entire career working for Microsoft, or Bob's Widgets, or whatever, but who are secretly CIA agents working deep under cover.
Bill Burns. Look into it.
He's a creepy weirdo from the deep state who has been around the block for 40 years. Have interacted with the guy; persona of the shadows. Utterly questionable.
This isn't just some guy that got appointed to be a diplomat as part of usual political back scratching. He has spent his entire working life in the foreign service, one of the most child-rapey evil organizations in the world.