
Wilderness of Mirrors - objections
https://theintercept.com/2018/01/01/the-complex-legacy-of-cia-counterintelligence-chief-james-angleton/
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samirillian
Whenever I read pieces like this on these nuts in the CIA, I start to think
that if they weren't the ones creating the conspiracies, they'd be in some
asylum imagining them anyway.

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EthanHeilman
The CIA at times both imagines and acts on non-existent conspiracies and
dismisses very real intrigues, e.g. the belief that Soviets can't have a mole
in the CIA instead the soviets must be detecting CIA sources using secret spy
dust. The burden of proof is much lower in intelligence work than police work
and given the nature of counter deception campaigns evidence which contradicts
an organizationally important narrative can be dismissed as misinformation.
This is a recipe is self-delusion, but if one believes that intelligence
agencies are necessary I'm not sure such problems can be all together avoided.

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anonINFP
Do you have much familiarity with those inner workings and workplace
tendencies in the intelligence agencies? What are your thoughts on Richards
Heuer's work[0] on empirical methodologies to eliminate as much cognitive bias
from analysts' assessments as possible (I've read a few techniques from his
most recent book "Structured Analytic Techniques for Intelligence Analysis"
but haven't read any of his earlier "Psychology of Intelligence Analysis"
book). You mention burden of proof being lower for them than in police work,
which might make sense given that it's a field where deception and operational
secrecy are practically situational constants, but I guess I haven't gotten
that impression from reading his work. I'm curious to hear what went into your
conclusions.

[0]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richards_Heuer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richards_Heuer)

