MAN WITHOUT A CLUE:

A few days ago, CIA chief George Tenet threw a hissy fit and fired off a letter to the four leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees. What had angered him was that the staff of the committees’ joint investigation of Sept. 11 had noted in a briefing book that Cofer Black, the past chief of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center, would “probably dissemble” — that is, not tell the full truth — during his public testimony before the panels. “This suggestion is an affront not only to him,” Tenet huffed, “but to every man and woman in the CIA.” Tenet decried congressional investigators for harboring “bias” and “apparent animus” against the spies.

The nation’s top spy-bureaucrat was playing by an old rule: The best defense is a strong offense — and his letter, for at least a day, displaced the negative press the CIA had been receiving.

Which just proves how dumb people in Congress and the media must be. Spymasters are supposed to dissemble; the problem is, these guys do it so badly that even Congressmen can see through it.

I’m not unhappy with the CIA because it’s a big bad bunch of spies who topple foreign governments againstthewilloftheirpeople. I’m unhappy with the CIA because it seems to be displaying the kind of flexibility and innovation usually associated with the United States Postal Service.

In Afghanistan, the Agency’s paramilitary arm did excellent work by all accounts. But there’s no sign that the rest of the Agency has gotten its act together, and no sign that the dropped balls of Summer, 2001 are being addressed.