While not a blanket pardon for the many excesses and lapses of the CIA over the years, much of this criticism requires overlooking the very nature of how a government bureaucracy—indeed, how any office of any kind—actually functions. Despite a mandate to analyze and report without fear or favor, to “speak truth to power” as the tired phrase goes, CIA analysts very quickly figure out that what viewpoints or ideas get promoted tend to be those that most closely conform to the wishes or preconceptions of one’s higher-ups, while contrarian analysis and ideas get pushed to the margins. Similarly,
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