I’d read it before and winced, but was doubtful it could be true. Now I’ve read it again based on a repeat performance, so perhaps it is. Re-organizing-reforming intelligence operations may top the list of anti-terrorist defenses. Relatively new (and controversial) CIA chief Porter Goss, responding to recent defections among the old pro crowd, passed on answering a query about the departures with this record-shattering non-answer: “I don’t do personnel.” Having spent a little time with the CIA in my “Nixon years” in D.C., I’ve no doubt at all that a few senior “retirements” would/will do the Agency a world of good. But a CEO who says “I don’t do personnel”? A few blocks away from my Boston house, in which I’m ensconced as I write, is the residence of J.F. Welch, he of GE fame: I could hear the cringe from here! Jack’s calling card for four decades was mastery of talent development like no other.
