Intelligence Squared What will become of the CIA under President Trump? With Tim Wiener
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Aug 30, 2025 Tim Weiner, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with over two decades of experience chronicling the CIA, dives into the agency's history and challenges in a thought-provoking discussion. He explores the controversial post-9/11 torture programs and the CIA's pivotal role in supporting Ukraine. Weiner highlights the escalating threats from China and Russia, alongside the complexities of espionage in a tech-savvy world. He also reflects on the disorienting impact of the Trump administration on the agency's operations and the delicate balance of leadership and intelligence.
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Rodriguez's Rise And The Secret Prisons
- Jose Rodriguez, promoted into counterterrorism roles, admitted he knew little about al-Qaeda before the job.
- He became a central figure pushing CIA-run secret prisons and torture, a policy authorized by the president.
Espionage, Not Torture, Led To bin Laden
- The trail to locating Osama bin Laden was built through espionage and recruited insiders, not torture.
- Weiner emphasizes traditional spycraft produced the breakthrough in Abbottabad.
Curveball And The Rushed WMD Estimate
- In the lead-up to Iraq, the Senate demanded an NIE in three weeks and the CIA rushed poor-quality intelligence.
- The Curveball defector was unvetted, yet his claims were used to assert Iraq's WMDs, staining CIA credibility.
