When I see the former intelligence officials mugging on the news, I can't help but think that their vanity compromised them and their former organizations and w

When I see the former intelligence officials mugging on the news, I can't help but think that their vanity compromised them and their former organizations and wonder how hard it was for adversaries to install their agents in our institutions merely by using guys like them who were so susceptible to being seduced by flattery. It's as though bringing down the Iron Curtain was a masterstroke that unleashed the entire culture of centralized bureaucratic authoritarianism and party elitism into western institutions like universities, NGOs, public service, law, unions, and international orgs. The greatest trick they played was convincing us they didn't exist.