'Intelligence' chief, eh?

[lederhosen]

It seems Porter Goss, the new chief of the CIA, doubts his own credentials.

In his own words, speaking to everybody's favourite spotlight-seeker: "I don't have the language skills. I, you know, my language skills were romance languages and stuff. We're looking for Arabists today. I don't have the cultural background probably. And I certainly don't have the technical skills, uh, as my children remind me every day, 'Dad you got to get better on your computer.' So, the things that you need to have, I don't have."

And, yeah, those are serious shortcomings. But perhaps more telling is the one he didn't include in the list: would you want your intelligence services run by somebody who can be suckered into delivering a list of his own professional adequacies to the opposition's propaganda arm, on camera?

Comments

[thunderfoot23.livejournal.com]

I tend to think that people aware of their own shortcomings and willing to be honest about them are far safer and more reliable than those who try to hide them. And none of those things are any great surprise really... Assuming they are 100% true anyway.
The thing is that he has a _staff_ that do all those things and he wouldn't be doing them himself anyway, so, if anything, this is more of an "illusion of weakness" thing than a true one.

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

On the language and technical skills, you can get away with a lot if you've got a good staff. But unfamiliarity with the cultures involved is a serious deficiency - if you're delegating that much to advisors, there's not much left of the job.

In general, I'm all for people being realistic & honest about their own weaknesses, but intelligence services are supposed to keep some things secret. Though given the recent track record of blowing cover on their own agents, the Bush administration may disagree...