CIA Official's Curious Use of Upper Case

An un-named intelligence analyst expressed reservations about the reliability of an Iraqi defector, nicknamed Curve Ball.( See Washington Post) The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report states that a DIA employee on loan to the CIA attempted to get his concerns taken more seriously, stating that “"validity of the information" and that it warranted "further inquiry before we use the information as the backbone of one of our major findings for the existence of a continuing Iraqi BW [bioweapons] program!" He got the following response from the deputy chief of CIA’s Iraqi task force: "Let's keep in mind the fact that this war's going to happen regardless of what Curve Ball said or didn't say, and that the Powers That Be probably aren't terribly interested in whether Curve Ball knows what he's talking about. However, in the interest of Truth, we owe somebody a sentence or two of warning, if you honestly have reservations." The memo does have an aspect of CYA, to use another set of initials.

I found the use of capital letters curious. A Google search

for the phrase leads quickly to a book titled “The Powers That Be” by Walter Wink. Still, I might not have paid attention if I had not picked up the second reading for Sunday. St. Paul’s mention of “thrones, powers and dominations” (Col 1:15-20) led me to wonder if the CIA deputy chief has been reading Wink. Further, there is the question of why he (or she) capitalizes the word “Truth”.

A look at Wink’s interpretation of the “Powers” may provide a clue. In his book Naming the Powers he engages in a complex interpretation of the meaning of the original Greek terms “arche, exousia, dynamis, and thronos”. He then proposes what I call a sociological interpretation of what Paul meant. The powers, he suggests are the “inner aspect of material or tangible manifestations of power”. They represent what management theorists might call corporate culture and the military might call command climate. The powers or “the spirituality of an institution exists as a real aspect of an institution even when it is not perceived as such".

The word “Truth” is capitalized, I suggest in reference to the CIA motto inscribed in stone on the front door:“ and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32). The CIA never seems to notice that its motto is a scripture quote taken out of context.

The SSCI report suggests that some analysts strongly suspected that the threat was being overestimated. They fought the good fight, but could not overcome the powers, in spite of the support of a deputy chief of the Iraqi study group. Maybe this is why, as I wrote in my earlier post, Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) stated that the entire intelligence community is “somewhat in denial’.

I have some reservations about Walter Wink. He is a pacifist scripture scholar. I hold a master’s level degree in strategic studies from the US Army War College. Some of his writings about strategic issues are, in my judgment, incorrect. Still, his interpretation of corporate culture as a powerful spiritual reality strikes me as correct.

When the National Aeronautics and Space Administration finished its examination of the Columbia shuttle disaster, it concluded that its corporate culture as much to blame as any technical factor. NASA accepted corporate culture as a reality and has set out to change it. The new Director of Central Intelligence, with the help of Congress and the President, should do the same.

Comments

[James Joyner]

Interesting. I'd never heard of the Wink book but always capitalize "Powers That Be." I think I've always seen it that way.

Usually, when Truth is capitalized that way, it's either in a religious context (something handed down from on high) or it's intended ironically--with the writer implying there is no such thing as actual "truth" but that others believe in an absolute "Truth" that has a quasi-religious character.