I am not DoughtyOne, but a great start at the CIA would be to stop placing such an emphasis on Ivy League academic performance. While doing so might find a smart applicant pool - it also promotes the kind of group-think that in my opinion has seriously harmed our intelligence. The chemistry of any organization eventually suffers from a stagnation of opinions just as I think FR does when all the bully mobs start calling for someone who does not share their view to be zotted, but that is another thread entirely.
At some point an institution suffering from these problems does not perform well because few people think outside the box and people are afraid to speak up. This emboldens the civil service supervisor class in the agency to flex their muscles and in turn they may not get the best information. Intelligence is not an environment for “yes men.”
Another suggestion - the CIA (like our SpecOps community) need to go back to being the quiet professionals. There are FAR TOO MANY CIA bureaucrats doing the DC social circuit and political functions mixing with the media. Many of the leaks have come from bureaucrats who fancy themselves as spies like Valerie Plame. This has led to an incestuous relationship with the media and greatly increased the number of leaks. I get that you want to be polite at the PTA meeting, but this has become a major problem on Capital Hill.
The State Department suffers the same ills. What they both did the Bush administration should have resulted in major housecleanings at both agencies. They undermined Bush again and again and no matter what you thought about Bush or his policies, the constant parade of critical leaks only had one aim - to undermine the President. This has created an attitude among some of them that they are bigger than the White House.
I don’t think that will work very well in 3 weeks.
Thank you for your thoughtful response, what REALLY concerns me about this department is their TOTALLY subpar work. I was STUNNED on 9/11 as was our ENTIRE nation this agency SHOULD HAVE been aware of an attack of this magnitude and planning, then the intel given to Bush about weapons of mass destruction dragging us into Iraq!!! I am EXTREMELY worried about the state of the FBI and CIA both DAMNED departments are like a cast of cartoon characters our nation has NO faith or trust in them any longer!!!