What the CIA can't do
Believe it or not, truth is what the Central Intelligence Agency is after. Indeed, intelligence and counterintelligence are all about truth because truth hurts, as the saying goes. Truth can always be weaponized to the detriment of a targeted entity. That's why every CIA officer is fully ready to cite this quote by Winston Churchill: "In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies." It is interesting to note that Churchill loved truth as a cherished lady in danger. But then I digress.
The Cold War gave birth to the CIA. However, the Cold Warriors were not so adept at anti-terrorism. Following 9/11, along with other intelligence bureaucracies, the CIA was called on the carpet for failing to connect the dots. The missing lines and links might be a result of an honest mistake, but it was a fatal mistake nonetheless. Needless to say, some heads had to roll, figuratively speaking. That's called accountability.
Still, some conspiracy theorists never give up the notion of an omnipotent CIA in Teflon. They portray the CIA as the ultimate conspiracy practitioner that has somehow divinely brought about the Color Revolutions abroad while running a Deep State at home. The burden of proof is theirs and they have no proof whatsoever. But fools rush in and swallow their conspiracy theories hook, line, and sinker.
Popular movements such as the Color Revolutions, however, are quite beyond the reach of the CIA. For one thing, no one can engineer spontaneity. No plotter can choreograph hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life into an organic force of change. The CIA plays no god. It is no god. At best, it can have a marginal impact on the ebb and flow of a popular movement. CIA or no CIA, people are more sophisticated and independent-minded than they are given credit for. Nicolae Ceau?escu learned it the hard way, didn't he?
Historically, Americans had their "wildcat strikes." Who else can herd the wildcats but the wildcats themselves? In 2004, Ukraine's Orange Revolutionaries were wildcats--intelligent, nimble, self-initiated and self-directed. There's no way the CIA could or can herd the wildcat revolutionaries with a magic wand. This fact is a major reason why America prefers to turn the screws on Putin and his ilk with economic sanctions. Let Putin blame America until the Russians blame him more. If and when the Russians blame Putin enough, the roots of a wildcat revolution will have a better chance to take hold in Russia. It is a waiting game the CIA is playing. By "waiting," I mean that the CIA is keeping an ear to the ground, not sitting on its hands.
Author: renqiulan