Spencer Ackerman has a provocative piece up at the Washington Independent website. The article deals with the increasing militarization of U.S. intelligence agencies. The current directors of the CIA and NSA are both active-duty military officers. I remember when Bush named General Michael Hayden as the Director of Central Intelligence I was surprised that there wasn't more of a shitstorm. After all, the CIA is a civilian agency. Civilian agencies are, last I checked, supposed to be lead by civilians.
Anyways, Ackerman's articles explores the implications of the military's enlarging role within the intelligence community. He provides evidence that this has lead to a constriction of viewpoints. While the military definately has a number of brilliant minds in its possession, these talented men and women approach intelligence very differently than civilian intelligence agencies. Consequently, this can lead to difficulties when the director of agency must contend with an apparatus that functions, by design, in a manner that is at odds with their way of thinking.
Needless to say, the civilian intelligence agencies have had their fair share of failures under civilian leadership. However, these organizations function most effectively when they are guided by an approach that champions analysis of multiple viewpoints. While I'm sure the military is full of many different perspectives, civilian agencies are much better practitioners of this model.
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