"There is a thin line between the right and duty to formulate a policy based on subjective political values, and the conscious or unconscious temptation to abuse or ignore the intelligence process. It is one thing for a statesman to listen carefully to his intelligence advisers, then make a decision counter to their best judgment; and another for him to wield his political strength and authority in the interest of receiving only that information which conforms to his preconceived ideas and political biases. . . . It has been suggested that the unresolvable tension between policymaking and intelligence rests in fact on an unresolvable problem. For no one agrees on what is policy and what is intelligence."
-- Michael Handel, The Politics of Intelligence, 1987
How can we characterize the politicization of intelligence in the Bush years? And what are the portents for the integrity of intelligence in the Obama era? Before trying to answer those questions, it bears noting that it's almost impossible to find any serious student of intelligence who believes that intelligence, the intelligence cycle, or the intelligence community is, or has ever been, immune from politicization.
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