http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/entries/3662a707-0af9-...
Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
71–80 of 112 posts
Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have quit jobs for less, but I suppose nobody can have an opinion on what they'd quit over (or over and over) without being in exactly that situation. You know what's easier than saying what you'd do in a situation? Discounting what someone else might do by putting qualifiers on their ability to even say it.
You wrote " I can't even sympathize with someone so willing to grab their ankles." I still think your attitude is very arrogant. Maybe one day you will be in a situation where you can't just quit and find anther job easily. This may help you learn to have more empathy with others who are in a less privileged position than you are.
Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#73 I'd always thought I was a good person. Now I wasn't sure.
Laughed out loud at this part. "It wasn't until my interviewer for a position at The Torture Center questioned my unflinching loyalty to authority -- that, until now, I had been certain was absolute -- that I began to doubt if I was really a good person"Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#74Oh gosh please no, what an utter embarassment to read.
Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#75I was a team leader at a USSOCOM unit and had to take a poly to be read into a couple of three-letter agency programs. In the middle of the test, the smug 23 year old fresh college grad administering the thing tells me I'm being deceptive and obviously support jihadi terrorism. This as I'm getting ready to leave on my 12th deployment. I've never wanted to so violently break someone's face as right then in that moment…
> This as I'm getting ready to leave on my 12th deployment Unfortunately, people with far better credentials have been traitors and spies. Kim Philby, Aldrich Ames, and Robert Hanssen come to mind. IIRC, at least one was even given a pass on his polygraph test because of his credentials. Recently, Michael Flynn was a Lt General, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and National Security Advisor (to be clear, he i…
> tells me I'm being deceptive and obviously support jihadi terrorism. This as I'm getting ready to leave on my 12th deployment.
Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#76If they know polygraph doesn't work, why do they still do it?
Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#77I believe the polygraph is junk, but how is it to the DIA's credit that they don't notify other agencies when an employee fails a background check?
I also think the author is taking things too personally. I agree it seems like a strange and poor requirement that you sit in a chair and be berated or called a liar for a few hours but it also doesn't seem so horrible. If this is the best the agency can do for interrogation and background checks - so be it. If you don't like doing that then find a different job.
Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
I put it crudely by intention. I don't believe that the author is less privileged or devoid of choice here. We must call out those that encourage these practices with their continued support of them instead of twisting it in to pity when it's clearly a case of choice (as author mentions towards the latter part about working elsewhere). We're never going to increase employee confidence and mobility if we're so quick t…
If you actually want to bring change then saying "I would never ever do that and I have no sympathy for people who aren't as strong as I am" is a very bad way to give confidence to people. What you did was to pat yourself on your shoulder and to declare others are losers.
Ditto for people who brag about getting triggered by some question in a job interview that they feel is beneath them, so they claim that they got up and left the interview right then and there, as if that’s something to brag about. It’s so cringey every time some HN poster brags about immediately bailing on an interview because they thought someone asked them a dumb question.
Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#79Pharmacists need to take polygraphs? I never thought about that. Is this to prevent pharmacists from dealing drugs? Is this a strictly US thing, or doe pharmacists in say Europe also take quasi routine polygraphs?
Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#80>Similarly, I urge my children to steer clear of any job that requires a polygraph. That rules out entire professions: National Security, Intelligence, Law Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and Pharmacy. Pharmacists need to take polygraphs? I never thought about that. Is this to prevent pharmacists from dealing drugs? Is this a strictly US thing, or doe pharmacists in say Europe also take quasi routine poly…