Marc Polymeropoulos served 26 years in the CIA before retiring from the Senior Intelligence Service in June 2019. His positions included field and headquarters operational assignments covering the Middle East, Europe, Eurasia and CounterTerrorism.
OPINION — I am not agnostic about the potential nomination of Michael Morell to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. I am in fact thrilled with that prospect. For a simple reason. He believes in people, which ultimately is our most important resource at CIA. It is not unmanned aircraft, satellites, or spy gear that is our foundation. Human capital is what makes CIA great, from the line analyst to the junior support officer to the first tour operations officer at the tip of the spear. I’ll provide three real world and personal examples that demonstrate Michael’s devotion to the principle that our people come first. First, after the tragic events in Khowst, Afghanistan on December 30, 2009, he was involved in helping heal and comfort both the workforce and the families that were so terribly affected. In one instance, I asked him personally to meet with the family of an officer who was killed, who worked directly for me. The mother of my officer expressed reservation that she would be forgotten, after time had passed. She was scared that the memory of her son would fade as the years went by. Michael looked at her face to face and promised her that this would never happen. That we never forget those that passed, nor the families that made the ultimate sacrifice. And you know what? He lived up to this promise. After his retirement, several years after the event, he and I in fact travelled together on our own dime to see the family and participate in a fundraiser that they organized in the southern US. It was an amazing night, full of laughter and tears and great memories. Money was raised, and our officer was remembered in the finest of fashions. As I watched Michael speak at the event, I had tears in my eyes, because I recalled that Michael never forgot his promise to the family. That is the kind of Director he will be, as that is the kind of person that he is.
Second, on a more personal level, my college-age daughter followed the recent election results with great interest. She is gay, and she was frankly terrified about the prospects of a second Trump term, and the effect it would have on the LBGTQ community. This was a deeply emotional time for her. The day after the election, I received a text from Michael. He simple stated “I was thinking about her.” Thats’ all he needed to say. I told my daughter this, and she burst into tears. Not much can stop me dead in my tracks, but this episode did. That is the character of Michael Morell. He believes deeply in diversity and inclusion. He will lead and care for the men and women of CIA with strength, honor, empathy, and compassion.
Finally, I have known Michael for decades. He is a man with the highest morals and ethics. In retirement, he in fact walked away from a US company that was doing business in Saudi Arabia, over his personal revulsion to what happened to Jamal Khashoggi. And as a senior CTC officer who spent countless hours with Michael, I never heard him defend torture. I was with him during official meetings, and in many private informal occasions as well, when he was both deputy and then acting Director of the CIA. I simply never heard him advocate for the RDI program, that had ended when we worked closely together but was still in the public debate. There is no ambiguity about that. What I did witness first-hand is that he has always defended the men and women who, in the RDI program, did what their country asked of them — they did what the President directed, what his national security team, including the Attorney General supported and said was legal, and what both Republicans and Democrats in Congress supported at the time. I think that President-elect Biden and the transition team understands this important nuance. To those of us in CTC, he showed true leadership. There is a pact that CIA officers make with those in positions of authority. That our chiefs will have our back, even when politically the times get tough. Morell upheld this pact. Let us not forget that even later on under the Obama administration, CIA legally and lawfully continued to conduct numerous counterterrorist operations. President Obama in his recently published book has acknowledged the drone program. If politics changes on this issue in the future, I would expect that President Biden would not walk away from those CIA officers that defended America.
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