The inner workings of the U.S. intelligence community pose a mystery for most civilians, and after Thursday's community hour, "How Intelligence Works in America," the mystery remains. The cut and dried nature of the presentation carefully danced around classified information.
"I had an interesting career. I visited 80 different countries during my travels ... the Russians were very hospitable," George Montgomery, a retired agent who served 31 years in U.S. Navy Intelligence, told his audience.
Montgomery explained that he "serves in accordance of the maxim 'attract no attention'" and noted that this represents the logic of spy agencies worldwide.
"Covert actions that are conducted now are fairly tame compared to those during the Cold War," Montgomery said, asserting that the CIA does not conduct assassinations.
The audience was skeptical. One person asked if the CIA had ever attempted to kill someone, to which Montgomery responded with a chuckle and, "They didn't say."
Montgomery dispelled the conception that intelligence work mostly involves spies and covert operations, noting that over 50 percent of intelligence is public information such as foreign newspapers, although "we don't know if it is true or false." Montgomery emphasized that intelligence relies heavily on various sources such as foreign radio, electronic communications, telegrams, satellite imagery, public broadcasts and spy operations.
"People find [intelligence agencies] to blame, but also think they are infallible. They are not infallible ... I can tell you that," he said, but he still views his work in a positive light.
Montgomery also provided a detailed history of intelligence, calling George Washington the first intelligence director of the United States, and cited stories in the Bible where spies were used.
It became clear in this part of the talk that U.S. intelligence refers not only to the CIA, but includes military intelligence and other organizations, such as the National Imagery and Mapping Agency.
In the past, NIMA used a expensive process of gathering information involving satellite cameras, which were dropped from orbiting satellites and picked up mid-fall by circling airplanes.
Montgomery also noted that the National Security Agency eats up a large part of the budget with the "biggest and fastest computers in the world." In fact, CIA director George Tenet controls less than one-fourth of central intelligence assets, according to Montgomery.
