Marcus Aurelius: New America Foundation Sucks Up – 10 [Paid For] Reasons a Woman Should Head CIA

Cultural Intelligence, Idiocy, Non-Governmental
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Marcus Aurelius

Gag.

  • By
  • Tara Maller,
  • New America Foundation blogged to CNN, November 21, 2012 |
A woman at the helm of the CIA wouldn't simply make another crack in the intelligence glass ceiling, it could effectively shatter it.

One of the most high-profile appointments President Obama will make in his second term is the director of the CIA. Here's a tip for the president: The time is ripe for the first woman to head the agency.

Choosing a woman isn't just about narrowing the intelligence community gender gap. It's also about drawing from the whole pool of talent to ensure the best national security apparatus and responding to Americans' apparent desire for more women in government. Here are the Top 10 reasons President Obama should name a woman as the next CIA director.

1) It would inspire more women to enter the fields of foreign policy and intelligence. The intelligence and foreign policy community is predominantly male. According to a 2009 report published by Women in International Security, women comprise about 13% of the Senior Intelligence Service, and between 21% and 29% of key agencies that grapple with national security matters, like the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Defense. That should be rectified.

2) The November 6 elections showed Americans want to see more women in senior government positions. Women make up 20% of the Senate, a historic high. Overall, the next Congress will have almost 100 women.

3) Women at the CIA are increasingly playing significant behind-the-scenes counterterrorism roles. Women were instrumental in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Mike Scheuer, the first chief of the CIA's first unit focused on tracking bin Laden, has noted that female intelligence analysts were integral in the first captures of senior al Qaeda leaders after 9/11. In his book “Manhunt,” al Qaeda expert and CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen writes, “The prominent role that women played in the hunt for bin Laden was reflective of the largest cultural shift at the CIA in the past two decades.”

4) Appointing a woman could assist on the public relations front. The reputations of the intelligence and defense communities have been somewhat tarnished by events surrounding the resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus and the investigation of Gen. John Allen; a big change at the top could help.

5) It's a high-profile moment to appoint a woman as director. Pop culture reflects today's obsession with national security and intelligence issues. Media coverage of Petraeus' resignation and the attacks on the Benghazi consulate have fueled this interest. The movies “Argo,” “Skyfall” and the upcoming “Zero Dark Thirty” about the hunt for bin Laden, as well as Showtime's “Homeland,” have fed into the fascination with spying. Too bad the most-watched woman in national security, “Homeland's” protagonist Carrie Mathison, is fictional.

6) Motivating more women to join the community is a national security issue: Staying safe in a world with increasingly complex and transmuting threats requires intelligence leaders to recruit the best and brightest; tapping half the population isn't enough.

7) More women in senior intelligence and national security positions could have a positive impact in unanticipated ways. In general, diversity can help temper group-think, generate innovative problem-solving, bring new issues to the agenda and change meeting dynamics for the better.

8) Plenty of women are qualified for this role. Some examples: former Rep. Jane Harman, head of the Woodrow Wilson Center and former ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee; Janet Napolitano, secretary of Homeland Security; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee; Hillary Clinton, secretary of state; Condoleezza Rice, former secretary of state; Anne-Marie Slaughter, former director of policy planning at the State Department; Michèle Flournoy, former under secretary of defense for policy and Frances Townsend, former homeland and counterterrorism adviser to President Bush and a CNN contributor, to name a few. Of course, many other senior women with less name recognition from within the intelligence community would be excellent candidates.

9) Women hold the top post in many other countries and it's time for the United States to catch up. Women hold the highest office, as president or prime minister, in Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Argentina, India, Australia, Brazil, Jamaica, Trinidad, Liberia and many other countries. Great Britain, Israel, Finland, France, Turkey, Pakistan, and many others have had women serve in those positions. The United States is still behind on this front and has another four years before this even becomes a possibility.

10) Once a woman is appointed to a top position, it opens the door to others with immense talent. Since President Clinton appointed Madeleine Albright to serve as the first female U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton followed.

In a recent New Yorker article titled “The CIA's Next Leader,” Steve Coll writes: “The United States has never had anyone but white men run the (CIA), the Pentagon, or the FBI — an increasingly absurd and shameful record.” A woman at the helm of the CIA wouldn't simply make another crack in the intelligence glass ceiling, it could effectively shatter it.

Phi Beta Iota:  Mindless chatter from a “think tank” that lacks integrity on multiple fronts.  CIA should be shut down, not made a consolation prize for Friends of Hillary or whatever.  This kind of idiocy would also suggest putting a woman in as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, never mind that she has never worn a uniform, all of the above reasons, in their childish sychophantic way, are just as valid there.  Women matter — they tend to have more integrity and intuition than men do, and the added advantage of having smaller egos (except for most of those named above).  The idea of Slaughter or Townsend, who gives broadcast bimboism a new cachet, is beyond belief.  The person writing the above has no clue what it takes to manage an intelligence agency, much less one that is pathologically dysfunctional in every possible way.  Khost Kathy is what happens when you make assignments as suggested above.  Steve Coll is prostituting himself and the organization he supposedly leads — this sophmoric chatter is beneath contempt.

NB:  One commentator at New Yorker pointed out that that Israel clearly would love to have Jane Harman as D/CIA (she is the same woman who abused her position as a Senator to try to squelch charges against two Jewish traitors trafficking in classified information).  A quick glance at New American Foundation web site reveals that most of its money does indeed come from Jewish sources.  Below is an earlier post her on Jane Harman and D/CIA option:

Mini-Me: Jane Harman at CIA? Over Many Dead Bodies + CIA RECAP

See Also:

NEVER FORGET: USS Liberty – 34 KIA, 171 WIA

Jewish Congresswoman Jane Harman Caught Spying for AIPAC (Pro Israel Lobby In US) On WireTap

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