> But there are very good reasons for why they operate the way they do.

Indeed there are, and no reasonable person would say that having intelligence agencies is a bad thing.

The issue in this case is that the US intelligence agencies have been leveraged politically to help convince the public to support various policies, when in fact there has not been credible evidence.

A lot of people put their lives on the line to end the cold war, and now we have a faction of US politicians who are trying very hard to galvanize the same historic antagonism. We should be judicious and skeptical, and not let them use the common technique of fake urgency to drive a big decision without adequate forethought.