CIA Director Mike Pompeo blasted bureaucratic processes that inhibit the agency’s ability to interfere with American adversaries Wednesday, at a Ethos and Profession of Intelligence conference at The George Washington University.
“If you’re in a process and not adding value, get out of the way,” Pompeo bluntly declared, adding “we cannot begin to meet the needs of President Trump and the national security team if we allow the to whither through neglect.” The director focused on implementing decision making procedures at the lowest possible levels of command, with a particular preference for putting them in the hands of station chiefs where an operation is occurring.
Pompeo revealed he tasked the agency to deploy more of its personnel abroad to bolster operations rather than concentrate power in Langley, Va. “We have to make sure decisions are made to officers closer to the decision at hand. This is true of all of our endeavors,” the director continued, adding that all of these streamlined moves make it easier for the U.S. to “crush our adversaries.”
The director also warned that the CIA is currently collecting far more raw intelligence than it is ability to process, noting that the human brain could not possibly make sense of all of it. The pace of this collection increases yearly, requiring increased investment in information gathering technology.
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