Who Picks the Chief of Station
June 12, 2009 at 9:04 pm by Steve
Philip Zelikow, who was Counselor to the Secretary of State for Secretary Rice, has written an interesting article about a turf battle between the CIA and the Director of National Intelligence on the Foreign Policy Shadow Government web site. Zelikow was sent to Iraq several times to analyze and report back to Secretary Rice. Some of his observations and suggestions are outlined in Bob Woodward’s State of Denial.
The DNI is moving beyond trying to set policy and coordinate intelligence. According to Zelikow, his staff intends to emphasize the “Director” part of his title. At issue is who selects the senior U.S. intelligence officer in a foreign country. Currently, the top intel dog is always the CIA’s Chief of Station. As you might expect, the CIA would like to keep it that way. Zelikow explains why there is a good argument that when the chief intelligence product is imagery or eavesdropping, the National Security Agency might be a better source of the top intelligence officer. Similarly when the U.S. intelligence interests in the country are chiefly military, a U.S. military intelligence officer might be the better choice.
Zelikow credits a June 8, 2009 New York Times article and a David Ignatius column which both discuss the dispute.
ANALYSIS:Although the NYT and Ignatius articles are good, Zelikow’s comments are based on his experience as an observer of how intelligence worked and didn’t work so well in Iraq. During his trips to Iraq, Zelikow searched out opinions from many sources – not just the generals – but the mid-level intel officers as well. As mentioned in The Intelligence Wars: Lessons From Baghdad, that included my unit. Zelikow was interested in facts from the ground level – not everyone on those trips was. Selecting the head of intelligence for a country (probably can’t call that person the Chief of Station since the station belongs to the CIA) from the military or NSA would really be a blow to the CIA’s belief that they control intelligence overseas.
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