Earlier this week I made a post about Salon's attempt to make us feel sorry for the female half of political sex scandals. I characterized Gen. Petraeus' CIA director position as being important to policy.
To some extent, that's true. However, we know that any temporary director is going to have minimal effect on the actions of agency lifers. Patraeus was going to be gone eventually but most of the people he directed were career employees.
Any discussion of the Cathedral has to keep in mind that it's a self-correcting hive. Its policies are the product of groupthink; to be part of the group, one has to have the same ideology. There is no member that can't be cast out and vilified and no member (or committee) that creates the agenda.
That said, some members are more equal than others. I wonder who are the top bureaucrats in the USG. The ones who have the most impact on policy--more importantly, its execution--who are not political appointees.
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