Poor Leadership in the 1970s handcuffed the CIA for decades to come
By Ilario Pantano
American Legion Magazine, May 2010
A man who once parachuted into Nazi-occupied France for Operation Jedburgh, former Office of Strategic Services (OSS) officer John K. Singlaub is eminently qualified to answer questions about the historical precedent of prosecuting intelligence officers during a time of war. If he or his men had been captured by the enemy, they would have been tortured and executed. Many of his friends suffered that fate. NOw a retired Army major general, Singlaub's career in intelligence began before the CIA or many of its officers were even born. Recently questioned about the idea of prosecuting agents during wartime, he paused and said, "If we prosecute anyone, we need to go after Jimmy Carter and his appointee to head (the) CIA, Adm. Stansfield Turner. (No one) has done us more harm. Turner gutted covert-action capabilities when he reduced the Directorate of Operations by a thousand experienced officers in 1977, and exposed the United States to crises which continue to haunt us 30 years later: Afghanistan and Iran."
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