Tim Weiner on CIA Failures


On KIRO/Seattle yesterday, I talked with Tim Weiner, author of "Legacy of Ashes: The History of The CIA." Weiner is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who spent 20 years sifting through CIA archives and talking with 10 CIA directors and hundreds of agents to document how the agency's failures have "profoundly jeopardized our national security."

In discussing those failures, we touched on everything from how the CIA got the WMD question wrong to the other false reasons for going to war with Iraq. We talked about how the CIA helped the Afghans fight the Soviets and then abandoned the country, thus allowing war lords and the Taliban to turn Afghanistan into a haven for terrorism.

I asked Weiner if the CIA really used poison toothpaste to kill Fidel Castro, whether divulging Valerie Plame's identity was such a big deal, and whether our spies are anything like Jason Bourne and James Bond.

Much of what Weiner told me -- and writes about -- shows the disconnect that has long existed between the White House and the folks at Langley, particularly in the Clinton and Bush administrations. In the end, he esplained what needs to be done to restore (or build) an intelligence agency we can trust.

Listen, then get Weiner's book, which is now in paperback.

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