The tragic deaths of seven CIA officers in Afghanistan has produced some very confusing press commentary.  Initial reports suggested that the officers based in Khost were clandestine service officers out recruiting informants under very dangerous circumstances.  That is almost certainly not so as the Agency generally has protocols in place in both Iraq and Afghanistan that forbid working outside of bases without extensive security measures.  These protocols have inhibited the ability to run operations where there is any risk but they are also responsible for the extremely low number of deaths of CIA personnel since 2001. 

The Khost base was a drone site managed by the CIA’s paramilitary group, the Special Activities Division, which is distinct from its spies.  It operates pretty much like special ops soldiers.  The drones rely on information to target the Taliban, information that is frequently provided by locals who are doing it for money or, sometimes, for revenge or other personal reasons.  Sometimes they are deliberately providing false information.   The CIA paramilitary officers in a drone base would have neither the language skills nor training to go out into the countryside looking for informants so the informants would come to them.  The informants would normally be subjected to intensive security screening by Afghan guards and then by American staff before they would be allowed into a secure area.  Clearly in this case, the security screening broke down or was evaded.  Two of the CIA staffers killed left behind families including six children back in Virginia. 

I guess I could say that it’s a real tragedy to die for nothing, which is what I believe in the case of Afghanistan, but we should honor the Americans who go out every day and place themselves in danger in the belief that they are doing so to defend our nation and way of life.