The Pros And Cons Of The CIA

“President Bush has stated that about a hundred detainees were held under the Central Intelligence Agency secret detention program, about a third of whom were questioned using “enhanced interrogation techniques. The CIA has a way of very publicly blowing their cover seeming to pop up wherever turmoil, and political problems arise. The CIA exists to prevent threats, its operations involve covert actions or spying through various means to gather critical intelligence data. The CIA dates back to 1947. The qualifications and skills are above average. The job of the CIA is to anticipate and quickly assess rapidly evolving international developments and their impact, both positive and negative, on US policy concerns. When researching the career of

CIA it is important to include the history, skills, education, positive and negative aspects of the profession.

President Truman recognized the need for a centralized intelligence organization after the war.
To make a fully functional intelligence office, Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 establishing the CIA. The National Security Act charged the CIA with coordinating the nation’s intelligence activities and intelligence affecting national security. It uses every trick in the book: propaganda, stuffed ballot boxes, purchased elections, extortion, blackmail, sexual intrigue, false stories about opponents in the local media, infiltration and disruption of opposing political parties, kidnapping, beating, torture, intimidation, economic sabotage, death squads and even assassination (A Time line of CIA Atrocities).By 1987, 6 million people had died as a result of CIA covert operations. After the attacks against the United States of September 11, 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency conspired with dozens of governments to build a secret rendition and detention program that spanned the globe (20 Extraordinary Facts about CIA Extraordinary Rendition and Secret Detention).They used extraordinary rendition which is the act of detaining a suspect of foreign government for purposes of interrogation without due process. The program was intended to protect America. But, it stripped people of their basic rights, promoted terrifying forms of torture, captured the wrong people and degraded the United States human rights reputation world-wide. At least 136 individuals were reportedly extraordinarily rendered or secretly detained by the CIA and at least 54 governments reportedly participated in the CIA’s secret detention and extraordinary rendition program. A series of Department of Justice authorized torture methods that the CIA applied on detainees. The Bush Administration referred to these methods as “enhanced interrogation techniques.” “Enhanced interrogation techniques” included “walling” ,“water-boarding,” “stress positions” , “wall standing” , “cramped confinement” in a box, forced nudity, sleep deprivation while being vertically shackled, and dietary manipulation(20 Extraordinary Facts about CIA Extraordinary Rendition and Secret Detention). Many of the CIA interrogators were known sadist. This group of officers included individuals who, among other issues, had engaged in inappropriate detainee interrogations, had workplace anger management issues, and had reportedly admitted to sexual assault (executive summary).
To get in the CIA the age requirement is a minimum of 18 and a United States citizen. The CIA looks for individuals that have excellent physical and psychological health and have lots of energy. Also who have street sense and a good intuition and can cope well with stress. Agents will spend good deal of their career working overseas so a fluency in a foreign language and a history of traveling or living abroad would be a good quality to have .Employment qualifications include the successful completion of a full background investigation, top-secret security clearance medical and psychological evaluations , polygraph examination and an 18-month CIA training program through the Clandestine Service Trainee (CST) Program or the Headquarters-Based Trainee Program (HBT).Operations officers are responsible for collecting human intelligence. They must be able to develop and maintain strong relationships that ultimately result in high-value intelligence from foreign sources. CIA staff operations officers are headquarters-based CIA agents who are responsible for planning and supporting intelligence collection operations, as well as counterintelligence and covert action programs and activities. These experts are often required to learn a great deal about a specific foreign region or transnational target and translate executive guidance to CIA activities and operations overseas. Other skills required include excellent verbal skills, excellent written skills and be able to work under pressure and under short deadlines (“CIA Qualifications and Job Requirements”). Part of intelligence training is instruction in something called the “Dark Arts”. The Dark Arts are the espionage, trickery, and con artistry. Typical training for an intelligence agent includes but is not limited to: covert surveillance, sleight of hand, con-artistry, manipulation tactics, personality-type identification, lying, cheating, stealing, trickery, camouflage, evasion, escape, improvised weaponry, improvised self-defense, analytic combat, and espionage. . The Dark Arts are the espionage, trickery, and con artistry (“The Farm ~ Inside the CIA”). The CIA has good and bad sides to it.
Despite all of the bad things the CIA has done they have also made a positive impact on history.

On the bad side LSD experiments, botched invasions, and overlooked moles. Being in the CIA is very time demanding. They are unable to talk about the job with anyone outside the CIA (“Lives of Spies: CIA Internships and Full-Time Jobs”). On the good side we have America's victory in the Cold War and the detection of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. The CIA stopped communism in Western Europe in the early 1940s and '50s. The CIA gathers Intel so that any harm to our country can be prevented by helping the president, and other policy makers make decisions on u national security. The CIA is a part of the first line of defense to warn and protect the nation. The experience, expertise and personal initiative could lead to a truly worthwhile career at the CIA (“Accomplishments and Excesses of the CIA”).

Here are some important things about the Central Intelligence Agency specifically focusing on the skills required, its complicated history, and the aspects positive and negative. The CIA had good intentions upon starting to protect our nation and, at some point fell off the course. They have terrorized people while bringing great technological advances. Being in the CIA is no easy task it requires above average skills and is physically

demanding.