A fairly dim question (regards CIA)

[dsc]

Where does the head of covert operations work? I am presuming the person in charge of covert operations is himself a covert agent. I also am assuming that he works at Langley. My question becomes, assuming both of the above are true, how on earth could the Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee not know that at least some employees at Langley are indeed, covert? Am I wrong in assuming the head of covert operations works at Langley?

[noamnety]

1. The person in charge isn't covert

The Director, CIA is obviously not covert. You don't need to be covert to supervise covert operations.

But your final assumption is true - you'd have to be a complete imbecile to not know that a CIA agent, no matter where they work, is possibly covert.

(I've rephrased that a bit for you, but I think the word imbecile strikes to the heart of what you're saying.)

[evermind]

2. I think you're right about Langley, wrong that the person in charge of

covert ops must themselves be covert.

Until recently, James Pavitt had that job, according to cnn, at: http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/04/tenet.resigns/ which publishes his picture, even!

Presumably, the covertness emerges somewhere lower down the chain of command.

[dsc]

4. So the guy who knows who all the covert agents are is himself not

covert. Wow, who would have thunk it? I knew the CIA director wasn't covert but figured the man right below him would be.

[evermind]

7. Well, until recently, the DCI (Director of Central Intelligence) was

tasked with co-ordinating ALL intelligence from the (about 19?) various US intelligence agencies, including boiling it down for daily reports of the essentials to the President.

When I last read up on it, the department in the CIA specifically dealing with covert ops was the Directorate of Operations (whose head would be about 2 or 3 steps down from the DCI).

Within that, you'd have "case officers", who would report up the chain on intelligence and ops with their "assets" - truly secret operatives "run" by the case officers (the names of assets would be extremely sensitive information, probably known only to the case officer and on request by his superiors, and hidden behind codenames, usually).

Case officers would work both out of Langley, and at various other locations around the world (under cover at embassies or front companies, etc.)

I'm not absolutely sure how "covert" case officers would be - but I think at least some of them would be under strict cover, and have their names protected long after they'd "left the field". I think in at least some cases, and possibly most of the time, the case officers themselves would have their names protected in internal reports, etc., by the use of codenames.

Don't take this as gospel, but I think it's roughly correct..

[warrens]

3. nah, he works in a dark alley in Berlin wearing a trench coat and shades

Gee, you lieberal scum are so STUPIF. Moran.

[Garbo 2004]

5. A point that Larry Johnson, former CIA, made in his blog:

I guess Senator Pat Roberts believes that if he repeats a lie long enough it eventually becomes true. While it is one thing for a political bag carrier like Ken Mehlman to be woefully ignorant about CIA practices and procedures, it is downright alarming that Senator Roberts can be so misinformed. Today, while appearing on CNN's Late Edition, Roberts repeated the specious claim that Valerie Plame could not be undercover because she went to work everyday at CIA Headquarters.

Folks, there is no excuse for this level of incompetence. There are thousands of undercover CIA employees who drive through the three gates at CIA Headquarters in McLean, Virginia everyday. And this Senator from Kansas who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee has the audacity to blame CIA for intelligence failures? How can he recognize failures when he does not even understand the very simple basics about people who work undercover at CIA? He should spend more time reading up on the CIA and less time memorizing Ken Mehlman talking points. Gee Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.
http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2005/07/incompetence_on.html

[leveymg]

6. Alec Station, the anti-UBL unit, was set up in Tysons Corner, VA

That's down the road from Langley. Some other operations have been moved there. Traffic is hell.