Which is why by 1996 the CIA was on the case. When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
It's an oversimplification that the CIA does things- or is "on the case", so to speak. More like a catfight than a company, then. Once, that was it's great asset- differing but well-informed perspectives. Victor Marchetti wrote a book ("The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence") that illustrates the bitter conflict between the directorate of operations, (the "Covert cowboys"), and the analysts. During the period of 1992 till 1998 or so, the jury was very much out as to whether to treat the idea of European cooperation (no one even spoke about unity, I am told,) as a threat, a temporary aberration or as a joke. Of course, the threat guys won, -more or less- but they were not the analysts, but ops. Things to do! Stuff to break! Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.