cheshirecat1
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Joined: Jul 19
th , 2007
CIA, Security Clearance and Drug History
Jul 19th , 2007 at 3:18am
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As a newcomer to this site all I can say is that I am shocked by some of the testimonials published here. Stories of polyglots who, by the number of their advanced degrees, seem far overqualified for any sort of government work and the salary attached to it, being refused employment based on the results of some tactless interrogation, even when they seem to have no closeted skeletons to speak of, make it clear why our nation’s intelligence is in such a dismal state. In my opinion intelligence agencies should’ve been begging those people to work for them. However, the discussion I wish to engender by this post is why the intelligence community continues to insist on hiring boy scouts. Now, I understand why a history of drug use could be considered a security risk, but I can’t help but feel they’re overestimating it. I recently graduated from college and, although I stopped smoking pot regularly, I smoked consistently throughout my student career and insubstantially experimented with other drugs. I don’t know how many of you have smoked pot, but, I really didn’t have any trouble ending my use whatsoever. The same applies to cocaine or any other substance I have tried. As a cigarette smoker and a social drinker, I imagine I would find it far harder to end my use of those substances than anything narcotic I’ve had experience with, and I’ve been around the block. I really don’t see how even consistent or heavy past drug use qualifies as a significant security risk. If I were in charge, I would consider anybody with even a little debt (apart from student loans), even a spendthrift or a married man, or someone with family living abroad a far greater security risk. They all have much more to gain and lose than a single applicant who’s had his share of run-ins with the American underworld. I’ve been mulling this over the past day or so and I cannot think of a better pedestrian analog to being a CIA field agent than being a regular marijuana user. Again, I don’t know how many of you have experience with this, but when you smoke a lot of pot, you have to do quite a bit of work to acquire it—work that’s not unsimilar to recruiting someone to spy. You have to make people, dealers, trust you and you have to know who to trust. You also have to make sure transactions take place in a clandestine manner so that you protect yourself and make sure that trust is not broken. You get used to doing things in secret, speaking in code, being paranoid, reading people and adjusting your persona so that others find it trusting and affable. In short, you develop affinities that most others don’t have or need. I think, in order for intelligence agencies to function properly and prevent wars that cost billions and tens of thousands in military and civilian lives, they need to play it dirty sometimes. I cannot see how people who have a past and have been around the block (of course with the proper language and poli sci background) wouldn’t be considered an asset—rather than the ‘squares’ they continue to hire who don’t seem to be able to get the job done. I’d like to know what you all think on this matter, you strike me as a very intelligent group. Perhaps my ideas on what a CIA agent actually does. My ideas of what’s important when it comes to tradecraft and what an agent actually does are based upon the memoirs of Richard Holm.