Publish or perish

Washington Monthly, Sept, 2004 by Charles Peters

A new insight into the CIA's failures on Iraq comes from the 9/11 Commission's report. It seems that the agency's analysts have created a university-like culture, in which "its men and women tended to judge one another by the quantity and quality of their publications (in this case classified publications) ... particular value is attached to having a contribution included in one of the classified 'daily newspapers' ... or, better still, selected for inclusion in the President's Daily Brief."

Unfortunately, the commission did not take the obvious next step, which is to point out that every signal emanating from the Bush White House said "we want information that justifies war with Iraq." Ambitious analysts who wanted their work included in the President's Daily Brief knew that providing such information was their ticket to success.