S. Wallerstein remarks, a
propos my post Deep State, “I'm no fan of the FBI, but in general, they may
well be generally conservative people …”
This called to mind the hilarious old 1967 film, “The President’s
Analyst,” starring James Coburn. The FBI
agents are portrayed as uptight boy scouts in coats and ties and hats, and the
CIA agents are portrayed as laidback academic types in tweed jackets with elbow
patches smoking pipes. Spoiler
alert: the real villain turns out to be
AT&T.
If Comey is representative of the FBI mentality I'd agree with S Wallerstaein. In his big move on the Clinton investigation he appeared troubled with a conscience stuck in the cub scout phase
ReplyDeleteThe portrayal of the CIA agents in that '67 movie may be some screenwriter's nod to the fact that the CIA's origins lie, if I remember correctly, in the WW2-era Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which did indeed employ quite a few academics in one capacity or another. (Though Allen Dulles, director of the OSS (again, if memory serves) was not an academic.) Not, needless to say, that members of the OSS or CIA would generally have gone around in tweed jackets smoking pipes.
ReplyDeleteCorrection: "Wild Bill" Donovan, not Allen Dulles, was the first director of the OSS.
ReplyDelete