The CIA admits to using vaccination programs for spying

Hmm… I thought it was common knowledge that Medecins Sans Frontiers collaborated with the DGSE (the French intelligence service), so the involvement of other intelligence services in similar matters is not surprising.

Indeed–which is why it’s paramount that their integrity be above reproach, especially in nations that might just have a high population of folks suspicious of the US.

What program was working well, getting results, and making everybody happy? Yeah, the non-CIA vaccination program was working OK; you know saving lives and all that.

But who’s happy about the CIA program? The innocent doctors who got killed because they were suspected of being CIA spies? The innocent kids who are getting polio because nobody trusts the doctors anymore? How was it getting results? – The CIA admits it didn’t work at catching anyone.

I think its horrible that they were spreading autism like that. Shame!

Didn’t bin Laden have some relatives who voluntarily provided DNA samples to match against? At least, that’s the way I heard it.

No, I’m saying that the program wasn’t wrong to begin with. Exposing the program is the only crime committed here, because it has damaged our national security and will stop a lot of people from getting vaccinated.

And just think - if not for the “heroic” whistleblowers, none of that would be happening and nobody would have gotten hurt.

It’s “I was fine until you told me I had cancer, Doctor! Thanks for nothing!” to the power of 10.

Well, it is possible for both parties to be guilty of unconscionable acts, despite which came first.

The thing is, shit like this always gets exposed sooner or later. Using an altruistic service in the name of humanitarianism should never, ever, be soiled by shit politics and paranoid nationalism. Use something else.

It’s not and it will not. But it does not help.

Only a fool would have believed it would never come out. It was never a matter of "if" it was a matter of "when" from day one.  But somebody at The Agency decided that the risk of endangering international vaccination and medical aid programs was "worth it" for the National Security value. Many of us happen to think it was not. Civilian "collateral damage" in the heat of battle is one thing, using children's health as a cover was just boneheaded and callous.

The only time I heard about comparing DNA was after he was dead, to fully insure that was his body. Not that I couldn’t have missed it previously.

So the people who got vaccinated would be better off dying of preventable diseases because there was an ulterior motive to saving their lives?

There’s your fallacy right there. Vaccination programs would have been underway without the CIA’s interference.

You really are infected with this delusion that 'MURICA! has to be the world’s savior, aren’t you? At this point I’m sure that almost all agencies involved would have much preferred that the US would stay the hell out of their programs – and that’s probably what’s going to happen in the future.

Then why did the CIA even create the program? If these people were all going to get vaccinated without their operation, then they wouldn’t have had anyone to vaccinate when they established it.

Who would you prefer to do the job?

Do you have the slightest idea how hard it is to get vaccines to certain populations? Do you know anything at all about this subject? Do you?

:dubious:

Because I spent three days in March in DC listening to people who spend their lives thinking about this issue. The last goddamned thing the world needed was some asshole CIA schmuck making that process even harder.

Don’t blame the CIA for the actions of extremists and conspiracy theorists. It’s not our fault they’d rather have their children die than let Americans help them.

You are a sad and strange little man.

The fact is, nobody was harmed by the program and a number of people benefited from it. If it had never been exposed, it could have just been left by the wayside of history as another failed experiment in intelligence-gathering.

The only thing that making it public has accomplished is to incite conspiracy theorists and fanatics and make it harder for the US to operate in that part of the world.

You’re missing one of the fundamentals of good planning and policy which is this: shit *will *go wrong. No one who fails to understand this should be put in charge of anything.

A manager who sends a boyscout armed with a penknife to defend a bullion shipment is surely correct that the armed thieves who rob the shipment are criminals who should never have done what they did. That doesn’t mean the manager didn’t fuck up bigtime.

The manager was either breathtakingly incompetent or didn’t really care about the consequences.

In the CIA’s case I’m guessing it’s the latter.