# The CIA goes paramilitary **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 31, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cia-goes-paramilitary/667661 "2013-08-31T15:22:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![georgewk10](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@georgewk10](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/georgewk10)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cia-goes-paramilitary/667661/1 "2013-08-31T15:22:14Z")
Barton Gellman and Greg Miller of the Post reportthat the U.S. has spent more than $500 billion on intelligence since September 11, 2001, and during that time ittransformed “a spy service struggling to emerge from the Cold War into a paramilitary force.” > **[Leaked 'Black Budget' Shows How The CIA Progressed From Spy Agency To...](https://www.businessinsider.com/black-budget-about-the-cia-2013-8)** > > A top secret budget leaked by Edward Snowden provides insight into America's premier spy agency. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cia-goes-paramilitary/667661/2 "2013-08-31T15:33:52Z")
And? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cia-goes-paramilitary/667661/3 "2013-08-31T15:37:23Z")
What **John Mace** said. The “paramilitary” part alone is easily inferred from the fact that _just now_, the CIA is in the process of (or has just completed) turning over Predator drone operations to the DoD. ---
**Author:** ![georgewk10](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@georgewk10](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/georgewk10)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cia-goes-paramilitary/667661/4 "2013-08-31T15:44:06Z")
Why do the call if “intelligence” It’s so often wrong or at least slanted. Well, when the control freaks get paranoid. watch out! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cia-goes-paramilitary/667661/5 "2013-08-31T15:53:43Z")
It’s happened before. The CIA used to have major paramilitary forces back in the fifties and sixties. Most intelligence agencies succumb to the temptation of going beyond their mission of gathering intelligence and start carrying out operations. There’s the desire to stop just watching things happen and go out and make things happen. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cia-goes-paramilitary/667661/6 "2013-08-31T15:57:32Z")
> [@georgewk10](#): > > Barton Gellman and Greg Miller of the Post reportthat the U.S. has spent more than $500 billion on intelligence since September 11, 2001, and during that time ittransformed “a spy service struggling to emerge from the Cold War into a paramilitary force.” > ['Black Budget' About the CIA - Business Insider](http://www.businessinsider.com/black-budget-about-the-cia-2013-8) Would you like a moderator to transfer this to MPSIMS? All you have to do is report your own post. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cia-goes-paramilitary/667661/7 "2013-08-31T21:23:25Z")
georgewk10, the general practice on this forum is to provide a thesis to defend, (or, at minimum, to ask a question that has a very high probability of fostering a debate). Simply posting links is frowned upon. We do tolerate these, on occasion, when they appear to match the second scenario described, above, but we do not encourage the practice. If there is a particular topic you would like to debate, feel free to post it, but please refrain from simply throwing out an observation and a link. ETA: Since you have already been told this, before, and [had a separate thread closed for the same reason](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=16601237#post16601237), it appears that you are not interested in participating on the SDMB. Do not continue this behavior if you wish to keep your posting privileges. [/Moderating]