Frederick Hitz, former CIA agent, adjunct Batten professor and senior fellow at the University's Center for National Security Law, spoke yesterday about weaknesses of the CIA and how the organization can move forward.
Hitz worked for the CIA between 1967 and 1998, serving in the clandestine service as legislative counsel to the director of Central Intelligence and as deputy director for Europe in the Directorate of Operations. He was appointed by President George H. W. Bush as first statutory inspector general of the CIA.
Hitz said the Sept. 11 attacks highlighted major weaknesses in the CIA. The agency was originally created so that "we couldn't have another event like Pearl Harbor," he said. "We needed to have a warning ... of threats to the United States. With 9/11, we had no warning."
He said the director at the time, George Tenant, was aware of "flickers" of information but had nothing solid. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the CIA has tried "to make sure we have plenty of dots of information to look over," Hitz said.
Hitz said there are also linguisitc weaknesses within the CIA. Today, only 30 percent of the current clandestine service officers speak a foreign language, he said.
He said it is crucial for Americans to learn "hard languages" such as Arabic.
"We have to pay Americans to learn Arabic for five, six, seven years in exchange to work for the Feds for five, 10 years," he said.
Another problem with the CIA is the amount of the workforce that is not career-oriented, Hitz said. Thirty percent of the workforce consumes 49 percent of the agency's personnel budget, he said.
"It looks to me as if with this determination to hire contractors that the clandestine service as a career service is beginning to disappear," Hitz said.
Hitz also spoke of ways the CIA aims to progress in the future, however.
"What we're doing now is going back to the historical roots of the CIA," he said. "We're recreating the concept of the spy-commando."
Hitz said 50 percent of current CIA employees have been hired since the Sept. 11 attacks, which Hitz believed made the workforce "inexperienced compared to the Cold War standards that I remember."
He added that retired JSOC, Navy Seals and Army personnel were experienced people who have "very good raw material for spying in this area" who can teach current employees elements of espionage.
Hitz also continually emphasized the importance of public service to the United States.
"As much of my students know, I'm very much trying to recruit them," he said. "It doesn't matter if they are headed to the CIA, or in the Department of Agriculture; it's very important especially in this juncture of history." He pointed out that many students at the University come from Northern Virginia and have parents who are employees of the federal government.
"The government gets painted as bureaucratic," he said. "The important thing for all of you to know is unless you have good people doing these jobs, they will not get done."
College Dean Meredith Woo introduced Hitz at the event. "His talk addresses the important topic of the changing nature of the intelligence community," Woo said in an email.
Fourth-year College student Kelly Rosenberg enjoyed hearing Hitz's take on the changing structure of the CIA. "It was interesting hearing his description of the CIA based on what his friends tell him, since he's not there anymore," she said.
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