Quote: The Power to Protect from Being Wrong

"The CIA is like any other vast bureaucracy, which means it's rigid, non-adaptive, stuck," he said. "The people who move into headquarters are classic -- as they are in all agencies -- for internal politicking and careerism and scoring points and thinking about promotions. And then they attain the bureaucratic mindset, which reacts to any initiative with 'No.' It's the power to protect themselves from being wrong."

David L. Carney
CIA-Approved Psychiatrist
Quoted by Jeff Stein in CQ Spy Talk │ March 18, 2009