Since the early nineties, a great many books have come out regarding the political left’s corruption of our universities. Recently, David Horowitz documented their methods and means in his Indoctrination U, but what philosophically happens to students after they leave the radical confines of the academy is not always known. I guess, as conservatives, we sort of hope that at some point they outgrow the hold their professors have on them, but in Rowan Scarborough’s new book, Sabotage: America's Enemies Within the CIA, a contrary outcome is suggested. A good many of them they may take their activism with them into jobs obtained within the country’s national defense apparatus.

Many leftists now go to work in areas of government which most of us would never suspect that they had any interest—such as the Central Intelligence Agency. Certainly, in these pages, the author showcases the fact that many political operatives would rather undermine a Republican Presidency than defend the nation. Scarborough is not afraid to name names and lists off here what appear to be fairly emblematic examples such as Michael Scheuer, Tyler Drumheller, Fulton Armstrong, Paul Pillar, and Ray McGovern. We discover here that the lynching of John Bolton had more to do with the [misperceived] slighting of a CIA functionary than it did anything Bolton professionally did or said. The Bolton saga was a perfect storm of Democratic intrigue and institutional self-indulgence.

If your opinion of the Democratic Party, before reading this, is that they exist to criticize the United States while offering nothing in the way of generative policy initiatives or alternative leadership, Sabotage will do nothing to alter your opinion. It is a wonder how any of these individuals thought they could get by as covert agents and/or American protectors when playing politics was the only thing they ever had on their minds. That their actions exposed America to danger was irrelevant to them. I suppose one might be tempted to think that they would have acted differently under a Democratic President, but caring about the nation’s security really cannot be considered a part-time mindset.

Most conservatives are cognizant of government’s inherent dysfunctionality and inefficiency, yet many of us suspend judgment when it comes to national defense. We just assume that the people in the essential positions will somehow do what needs to be done—even if it ends up costing the Treasury about a thousand times more than it should. Our assumptions appear rather naïve in regards to this matter as some agents labor in the borderlands between treason and incompetence. Sabotage was highly illuminating although very depressing. It appears that the CIA is just another government zone of toxicity. If Bush manages to undo some of the damage in the nadir of his reign then hopefully he lay claim to something positive for his legacy (although, I have my fingers crossed for the Iraq Surge).