It makes sense if you think of them as extremely well-funded frat boys with a free pass to break laws.
They just kind of do shit, and if it doesn’t work they keep trying until something sticks or they run out of steam. They get killed all the time.
It’s still scary, but just a lot less cool.
The reason we think of them as hypercompetent masters of espionage is because that makes better movies, and also because the US government funds movies that make them look good.
The 42 attempts at assassinating Hitler ain’t nothing to sneeze at but Fidel Castro would like a word. The CIA attempted to assassinate him 638 times.
How can this NOT mean that all CIA agents are like Mr. Magoo?
How do you fail at a singular task more than 600 times and still have the world think you’re some fearsome spy force?
“Well, sure, he was knocked out 638 times, but those 2 decision victories sure were something… Greatest boxer of all-time!”
To be fair, most of the CIA was on an awful lot of LSD around that time.
It makes sense if you think of them as extremely well-funded frat boys with a free pass to break laws.
They just kind of do shit, and if it doesn’t work they keep trying until something sticks or they run out of steam. They get killed all the time.
It’s still scary, but just a lot less cool.
The reason we think of them as hypercompetent masters of espionage is because that makes better movies, and also because the US government funds movies that make them look good.