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Then what? They grew a conscience when Bush Sr became president? What was their "come to Jesus" moment that led to reform in how they conduct themselves?
by chrisco255 3y ago
Then what? They grew a conscience when Bush Sr became president? What was their "come to Jesus" moment that led to reform in how they conduct themselves?
- hutzlibu 3y ago911 and the patriot act maybe? More (unchecked) power always leads to more idealism /s
- harshreality 3y agoFrom what I can tell, the reactions to Iran-Contra and the end of the Cold War put an end to some of the more, umm, creative approaches within the CIA.
- FrustratedMonky 3y agoI think Iran-Contra put a damper for awhile, but not permanently. Like "they caught us, we have to be good for awhile".
- chrisco255 3y agoOr "we have to be more careful next time not to get caught"?
- chrisco255 3y agoHow would you tell?
- tyingq 3y ago> Then what? Improved record keeping and legal discoverability is my guess. So shady things moved to places where they could control it better. Like foreigners detained without due process.
- chrisco255 3y agoIs that your guess? Can you name any high profile cases that were prosecuted as a result of enhanced discoverability?
- tyingq 3y agoThey wouldn't want to be avoiding only prosecution, but also whatever embarrassing details might come out. Iran-Contra, for example, was personally embarrassing for very high-level people. Lots of documents mentioning, quoting, signed by, etc, high level folks[1]. Abu Ghraib, on the other hand, was mostly pawned off on the lowest level people, as if it weren't sanctioned by the Executive Office and the CIA. Related embarrassing documents were mostly signed by lawyers without direct quotes from high-level leaders. Partially because the top-down instructions took a form that was much less discoverable/accountable. [1] https://www.brown.edu/Research/Understanding_the_Iran_Contra_Affair/documents.php https://www.brown.edu/Research/Understanding_the_Iran_Contra...