http://disqus.com/people/Northern_Virginian/enMon, 24 Nov 2008 17:41:10 -0000http://washingtonindependent.disqus.com/intelligence_matters_oh_dear_god_not_jami_miscik/#comment-3995180Spencer: You try hard, you write provocative pieces in generally clear narrative prose, and I enjoyed your coverage of the disastrous Goss regime at CIA - but you have some very, very lousy sources, which plagued even your generally admirable Goss-era reporting, who are probably several degrees of separation from people and events and who apparently report rumint and grousing back to you. One immense problem in most media reporting on intelligence topics is that the incomplete mosaics journalists put together and that finally "make sense" to them after having turned the compilation this way and that, trying to find the best angle, remain woefully incomplete - yet you're down for having to say something against your deadline or simply to close off a story you know you'll never really be able to conclude satisfactorily. (Not unlike actual intelligence writing, which characteristically draws on incomplete, contradictory, fragmentary sources.) You're very wrong on Miscik - full disclosure: I know her and may thus be considered biased - and, I would surmise from your incompletely-baked opinion of her, that you have neither spoken to her nor to any one of her direct reports (or even indirect reports) or superiors but instead have gleaned your views from all the old hangers on who pretend to still have "connections." And since when have any politicized congressional or special committee reports been an absolute window on truth? (And by the way, I share your admiration for Siobhan Gorman, a terrific, and very careful, national security reporter.)Northern_VirginianMon, 24 Nov 2008 17:41:10 -0000