CIA Officer in Residence Don Hughes gave an overview of the ins and outs of the CIA followed by a question-and-answer session yesterday in Hester Hall.
Punctuated by pop culture portrayals of the CIA and espionage, the lecture focused on the CIA’s division into four directorates.
The Directorate of Intelligence is responsible for analyzing, archiving and synthesizing intelligence, as well as gathering intelligence from open sources.
The Directorate of Support provides communications, logistics, human resources and other such services both domestically and internationally. Hughes stressed that though these are the sort of positions one would find in any large organization, those working in this branch of the CIA have unusual jobs.
“These are the can-do people of the universe.” he said, relating a story in which the directorate arranged to have a large group of camels provided in Afghanistan within 24 hours.
The Directorate of Technology, which Hughes compared to James Bond’s Q, provides a wide variety of technical solutions and “Incorporates more than 50 different disciplines ranging from computer programmers and engineers to scientists and analysts,” according to the Hughes’ Power Point presentation.
Finally, the National Clandestine Services is responsible for gathering foreign intelligence covertly, primarily from human sources, Hughes said.
“These are the sort of people you see in pop culture ... But their job is to collect information that the U.S. government believes is necessary or at least advantageous,” Hughes said. “For those who may conjure up images of CIA agents infiltrating terrorist organizations, that almost never happens. What we try to do is identify information that would be useful to our country ... and try to find someone who has access to that information and recruit them.”
Shayna Daitch, international security studies and Judaic studies junior, asked about whether Hughes felt the CIA was given disproportionate attention for its failures.
“If you’re going to come work for the CIA, the only thing that makes it worthwhile and fulfilling is if you happen to believe in the mission,” Hughes said. “People don’t come to work for the CIA for the money and they don’t come because of the recognition that they get ... People come to understand that there’s not going to be public recognition.”
Hughes also emphasized the agency’s low turnover rate, which “allows people to gather a large amount of experience, but if people aren’t leaving it makes it hard to get some new blood.”
Maura Cremin, University College freshman, asked about qualities the CIA looks for in individuals when recruiting.
Hughes said ”There’s no road map to the CIA. We employ people with all kinds of different skills. We have lots and lots of folks who are not political science or international studies or government majors ... Ultimately we’re looking for certain kinds of people for where we need them.”
The Oklahoma Daily is pleased to provide you the opportunity to share your thoughts about this article. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or straying from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of OUDaily.com. Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts.
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register
Shanaynay 2 years, 3 months ago
Great article, but you left out the most exciting part of the event- when some people asked crazy conspiracy theory questions and caused a rumpus in Hester Hall.
jmbranum 2 years, 3 months ago
Is this a news article or a PR puff piece?
This article quite conveniently left out my question for Mr. Hughes...
"Given the CIA's long-standing history of torture and political assasinations, many Oklahomans of faith and conscience believe it is obscene that OU is allowing an employee of the CIA to operate on campus? Can you explain why OU has a CIA officer in residence?"
(Mr. Hughes refused to directly answer my question but instead put the decision solely on OU)
The article also failed to mention that there is an ongoing campaign to get OU to kick the CIA off campus. Our protest was endorsed by many groups including...Oklahoma chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, Oklahoma Center for Conscience, The Oklahoma Socialist Party, Joy Mennonite Church, Oklahoma City Meeting of Friends (Quakers), the Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild, and the Green Party of Oklahoma
I encourage readers to check out our website: http://ciamustgo.wordpress.com