Wippl Publishes Journal Article on the CIA and U.S. Diplomacy
Joseph Wippl, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a recent journal article on the Central Intelligence Agency and United States diplomacy.
Wippl’s article, entitled “The CIA and U.S. Diplomacy: Political vs. Professional Leadership,” was published in The International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence.
From the text of the article:
Both the U.S. Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) Directorate of Operations are staffed by professionals. While the CIA’s overseas offices are managed by professionals on both the chief and deputy chief levels, the State Department’s offices are always managed by professionals on the deputy level but not always so on the ambassadorial level. That this tradition will change is little more likely than is promoting and honoring expertise in either agency. The United States continues this practice of non-professionals at the top levels not only because of its history of isolation from the world but because it has the power to do so. It is reality. That reality means that CIA officers must be very flexible in their approach to the Department of State when overseas. Their professional and political levels differ significantly as to quality and experience.
Wippl is a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. He spent a 30 year career as an operations officer in the National Clandestine Service (NCS). Wippl has served overseas as an operations officer and operations manager in Bonn, West Germany; Guatemala City; Luxembourg; Madrid, Spain; Mexico City; Vienna, Austria; and Berlin, Germany.