CIA had no clue the Iron Curtain was going to fall when it did. They are worthless.
No it did not. I was working in a defense agency and everyone was amazed at what happened in East Germany. Some people did say if instead of Gorbachev the Soviets were led by a guy his age with a real Russian disposition then it would have been much more ‘interesting’. Incidentally the CIA had no idea about what was happening in Iran in 1978=79 or what the Saddam regime really possessed in the way of special weapons. In both cases Stansfield Turner had convinced Jimmy Carter that no on the ground agents were needed with our satellite technology. Reagan could not get the CIA types to budge on that one as it would be seen as a humiliating admission of a big error even though the CIA higher ups knew it was a big problem. In washington what counts most is ‘process’ and never ever admitting being wrong.