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Subject: SOCOM Spies Told To Stand Down
SYSOP    12/17/2012 5:18:21 AM
 
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TonoFonseca    A lost organisation?   12/17/2012 3:11:23 PM
With Obama determined to cut the national defense budget, it looks like the CIA might be ready for the axe.  The NSA handles SIGINT, the DIA handles defense analyses, the FBI handles internal security, the NRO handles satellites, and the army, navy, air force, and Marines all have their own intelligence branches.  The CIA is just too much of a Swiss Army knife to handle any one job as effectively anymore.  
 
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WinsettZ       12/17/2012 4:46:47 PM
The Special Activities Division has a Political Action Group and the Special Operations Group. I don't think it really "disappeared" post Cold War, especially since Direct Action is always worth something. For instance, I wouldn't be surprised if they spent a few years up with the Northern Alliance after the fall of the Taliban. 
 
Since SAD is part of the NCS, the members of SOG are trained as intelligence case officers, while also being trained for direct action if required. In Vietnam, Studies and Observation Group was a strange hybrid organization that probably started out CIA, then filled out with seconded military officers, and then the CIA stepped into the shadows and it became more military on its public face.
 
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WarNerd       12/18/2012 12:39:58 AM
With Obama determined to cut the national defense budget, it looks like the CIA might be ready for the axe.  The NSA handles SIGINT, the DIA handles defense analyses, the FBI handles internal security, the NRO handles satellites, and the army, navy, air force, and Marines all have their own intelligence branches.  The CIA is just too much of a Swiss Army knife to handle any one job as effectively anymore.
The military intelligence branches focus on military matters of concern to their particular service, while the CIA handles most the political and technological spying The services will fight any CIA attempt to eliminate those agencies because the CIA doesn’t have the proper ‘culture’ to deliver what the services feel they need.
 
The CIA is also responsible for coordinating the activities of the various agencies, consolidating the information, and disseminating it to the other branches of government (President, Congress, Homeland Security, etc.). This cuts down on the number of reports and the points of exposure where things can leak out
 
The system is less than perfect, but it (usually) beats the alternatives.
 
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dogberry       12/21/2012 11:58:11 AM
How does this impact the ISA?
 
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