WASHINGTON — For an agency that ordinarily steers clear of major policy debates, the CIA played an unusually prominent role in the showdown between the White House and dissident Republicans over the treatment of detainees.
To many outsiders, the CIA's position was puzzling.
Why would an agency whose own overseas officers are vulnerable to capture -- and torture -- defend harsh interrogation methods? And how did an organization often criticized for its caution end up pushing the legal envelope, even while the Pentagon was advocating tight new restrictions?
The answers, according to current and former U.S. intelligence officials, reflect a cultural and operational fault line that separates the CIA from the other arms of the U.S. government that operate overseas -- mainly the military and the State Department.
The detainee issue has tapped into "a cultural difference," said Mark Lowenthal, former assistant director of the CIA.
"This whole debate has no meaning for a CIA officer as he understands the world and the nature of the deal he made with the government and the nature of the risks he is willing to accept," Lowenthal said.
CIA leaders are typically closely aligned with State Department and Pentagon counterparts in their view of the world and their concern for overseas opinion of the United States. But on the detainee issue, the CIA is less swayed by concerns that other nations might retaliate against U.S. prisoners, and more inclined to consider any cost worth paying for the intelligence it generates.
President Bush wanted to reestablish a secret CIA detention and interrogation program and insulate CIA officers from legal peril in pushing this month for new security legislation. Bush's proposal was opposed by Republican senators, retired military commanders and onetime administration officials such as former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who warned the harsh approaches favored by Bush would further soil the U.S. image.
Leading up to a key compromise on Thursday, CIA officials, including the agency director, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, publicly took Bush's side in the fight, voicing concerns evidently felt by many CIA officers worldwide.
"There are smart, sensitive people who work in that agency who are bothered by the same sorts of issues as private citizens are," said Paul Pillar, former deputy director of the CIA counterterrorism center.
