Probe of CIA Imperils Interagency Trust

(Analyst's note: More troubling insight. Are we trying to "train" these CIA officers to "always take the safe road" in their efforts to protect our nation? They necessarily work in a murky world at best, so that we do not have to live in such day-to-day. The message here seems to be that no one “has their backs” when they are asked to charge directly into the face of our enemies. As said by Sultan Knish "war is an ugly thing, that it must be fought hard and relentlessly to achieve victory.")

By SIOBHAN GORMAN and GARY FIELDS

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department's decision to investigate CIA interrogation practices increased tension between the agencies and prompted a sense of betrayal among some CIA officers, current and former officials said.

Rivalries had raged since the early days of the Central Intelligence Agency's World War II-era forerunner, the Office of Strategic Services, and the trust built in the wake of the 9/11 attacks could be shattered by the investigation, these people said.

Many CIA officers were stunned by Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to launch a probe. Some were deeply angered by what they consider a selective declassification of documents describing the acts at issue, former agency officials said Tuesday.

.... "Their view is, they policed themselves and they turned themselves in," he said. Now, "they have to fight al Qaeda and the U.S. government at the same time."

.... federal law-enforcement agent said he and his colleagues also fear the cooperation and information-sharing born of necessity after the 2001 attacks will dry up. The relationship could regress to the point when two of the hijackers were allowed to slip into the U.S. even though the CIA had spotted them at a terror summit in Malaysia in 2000, the agent said.

"We need the information-sharing to be successful to do our jobs," the law-enforcement agent said. ....