Americans hate secrets in their government being used against them. In another anecdote, Bush tried to keep an illegal surveillance program secret. He gave the only copy of the order to Cheney. Cheney locked it in his personal safe and told no one but his personal lawyer and the 7 people needed to run the program. It still leaked.
People have this idea that the government is like they see in the movies where they’re all powerful, all knowing, and only the chosen hero can stay ahead of them long enough to beat them. But the reality is Osama Bin Laden was at his house in suburban Pakistan for a decade. The secret service regularly has scandals for drinking on the job. The Army can’t stop it’s privates from telling the entire mission brief to their AI girlfriend. And the CIA can’t do anything without the rest of the intelligence community shoving a microscope up their butt because they want their budget and position.
That’s not to say they’re incompetent. When all the pieces are in agreement on an action it is a terrifying machine. But killing a turncoat, or mere whistleblower is something the NSA would hang around the CIAs neck. The CIA would react likewise too. The FBI would merrily prosecute everyone involved while reminding the white house they have a perfectly good counter intelligence office themselves.
Americans hate secrets in their government being used against them. In another anecdote, Bush tried to keep an illegal surveillance program secret. He gave the only copy of the order to Cheney. Cheney locked it in his personal safe and told no one but his personal lawyer and the 7 people needed to run the program. It still leaked.
People have this idea that the government is like they see in the movies where they’re all powerful, all knowing, and only the chosen hero can stay ahead of them long enough to beat them. But the reality is Osama Bin Laden was at his house in suburban Pakistan for a decade. The secret service regularly has scandals for drinking on the job. The Army can’t stop it’s privates from telling the entire mission brief to their AI girlfriend. And the CIA can’t do anything without the rest of the intelligence community shoving a microscope up their butt because they want their budget and position.
That’s not to say they’re incompetent. When all the pieces are in agreement on an action it is a terrifying machine. But killing a turncoat, or mere whistleblower is something the NSA would hang around the CIAs neck. The CIA would react likewise too. The FBI would merrily prosecute everyone involved while reminding the white house they have a perfectly good counter intelligence office themselves.