Among the agencies of the federal government, three are legendary: the Marine Corps, the FBI and the CIA. One of the things that put them into that category is the unique culture of each. If they have anything in common it is that their field officers all go through a similar basic training and education course.
Each course has its own unique objectives and methods, but all three have a rite of passage as well as the training they accomplish. The FBI Academy and the Marine Corps Basic School are both located just a few miles apart on the Quantico Marine Corps base.
As a former officer of Marines, I am fairly familiar with both schools and the cultures that they produce. However, until reading “Class 11,” I was not aware of how closely the basic schooling of CIA officers is to that of the Marines and the FBI.
Class 11 was the first post-September 11 class at the CIA. Consequently, it was larger and much more diverse than its predecessors, reflecting an agency policy decision that it had to recruit from a broader base of skill sets to adjust to the post-September 11 era. T.J Waters is a graduate of that class and obtained CIA permission to tell the unclassified portions of his story. The result is an education regarding a little-known, but much imagined, world.
Mr. Waters’ classmates were a truly diverse lot. They included stockbrokers, successful businessmen, lawyers and even a former pro football player; all were drawn by the opportunity to avenge the attacks on September 11, and perhaps more important, to help prevent a future tragic event.
In many ways, the CIA curriculum is very similar to that of the Marine Corps and FBI. All three teach different skills, but they all create a socialization process that absorbs the students into the organization’s culture, ethos and heritage. All three combine lecture followed by practical application; they all stress physical fitness and they bond students together into a lifetime fraternity.
The difference is that a person can usually spot a Marine officer or FBI agent in a crowd, even in civilian clothes. The CIA trains its students to be studiously inconspicuous. Students are encouraged and forced to bond. Those who survive the agency’s screening process and get into the program, but prove to be incompatible with the organization, are quietly weeded out. This is rare because CIA screening is rigorous, but it sometimes happens.
The agents do learn how to use disguises and gadgets, developed by the storied CIA “toy factory,” but they also learn the mundane tasks of surveillance avoidance, recruiting foreign agents and how to write coherent and useful reports. Most of the CIA’s training takes place in diverse locations, but the real crucible is at the legendary “Farm” in central Virginia for the final leg of the course.
The book also relates some of the humorous incidents in training, such as one where CIA and Defense Department intelligence agents get cross-wired when two covert training exercises, not coordinated between the two agencies, collide in Alexandria, Va. Washington-area readers will appreciate the fact that most of the book takes place in familiar surroundings. Local police also occasionally spot students acting suspiciously and detain them, which results in some amusing asides.
However, a grim note ensues when the 2002 Washington sniper crisis brings a forbidding note of realism into training. Harmless field exercises suddenly become dangerous and the students, and faculty have to grapple with the question of what they would do if they stumble upon the real sniper. Do they blow their agency cover or intercede? In this reviewer’s opinion, they come up with the right answer.
This is Mr. Waters’ first book. He has done a credible job. He still maintains a contractual relationship with the agency and also consults with the Defense Department. At times, we learn a little more about his personal life than we want to, but the purpose is to show the kind of sacrifice that CIA officers and their families have to make.
The author obviously loves and admires the organization. He gives it credit for trying to keep up with the times, but he is honest enough to question whether or not it is changing fast enough to keep up with our adaptive non-state opponents. This is a question pertinent to the entire federal government. Nonetheless, the reader comes away with a deeper understanding of one of our most misunderstood organizations.
Gary Anderson is a frequent contributor to the book pages of The Washington Times.
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