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What are the aims of the CIA? Are all the divisions within the CIA rowing in the same direction? Is it possible there are multiple CIA operations in direct conflict with each other, without any awareness of the others' involvement? What are CIA strategy sessions like? How far out are they planning, or do they tend to be weirdly reactionary?

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I’ve also wondered just how independent the CIA is from the rest of the state. Surely, they don’t seem to face any consequences when they are caught doing something bad, even to US citizens. Is it possible they have any sort of rouge work or do much work not on behalf of the US.

Actually it's a pretty open secret that the CIA, and SOCOM are heavily involved in the drug trade that they use to fund other black ops.

The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia has a great, exhaustive overview of the earlier iteration of that. Drug money is very attractive for intelligence agencies/militaries- it's free and off the books.

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