Disagreements
About a month ago, I wrote that I thought it was important to acknowledge that there probably had been disputes in the intelligence community over how prisoners who were terrorist suspects were treated:
Some members of that community are given orders to do very serious things. Other people in that community have to deal with the ramifications of those actions. Invariably, there will be debate, feelings of ambivalence, revulsion, pride, patriotism, etc. If you are the person tasked with maintaining the general happiness of that workforce, and with overseeing recruiting and retention, how do you cope with the introduction of something like torture to the mix of tasks your agency performs?
I was writing hypothetically, since I obviously wasn't privy to those internal discussions. But Walter Pincus has an excellent piece in the Post today about the divisions of opinion among a small group of soldiers about the interrogation tactics they were using. It's worth reading. I just wish we knew a little bit more about the consequences of that disagreement.
NEXT STORY: Federal Service Can Take You Anywhere