The CIA's 'Sociopath' and the Zero Dark Thirty Analyst

• 1:24:38Mitchell and Jessen torture contract produced nothing of value, but they claimed credit for intelligence Ali Sufan had already collected.
• 1:25:46The CIA ran headfirst into the torture program, requesting every technique possible and expecting lawyers to reject some along the way.
• 1:26:57Zero Dark Thirty profiled a career CIA officer instrumental in the interrogation program who witnessed waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
• 1:27:45Tim presses on whether leadership in counter-terrorism consists of sociopaths rather than people driven by post-9/11 guilt.
• 1:28:22The guest personally considered this officer an associate psychopath who flew to a secret location solely to watch torture and enjoy it.
• 1:28:51Despite failing intelligence work, she got promoted and was in the situation room during the Bin Laden capture with Obama and Hillary.
• 1:29:18She was an analyst with no operational experience, foreign recruitment, or overseas tours, but ingratiating herself kept her in positions of power.
• 1:29:55A clique of women branch chiefs at the Counterterrorism Center socialized together daily—described as Real Housewives of the CIA.
• 1:30:21One unqualified officer sent to be chief of base in Khost with no operational, security, or weapons training resulted in a suicide bomber killing half a dozen CIA officers including her.
• 1:31:05The same woman from Zero Dark Thirty's narrative becomes central to institutional failures and the bombing at Khost base.

tortureMitchell and JessenAli SufanCIAKhalid Sheikh MohammedOsama bin LadenBarack ObamaJane MayerZero Dark ThirtyHillary