Andrew Bustamante: CIA Spy | Lex Fridman Podcast #310

Mossad will do anything. Mossad has no qualms doing what it takes to ensure the survival of every Israeli citizen around the world. Most other countries will stop at some point, but Mossad doesn't do that.

The following is a conversation with Andrew Bustamante, former CIA covert intelligence officer and US Air Force combat veteran, including the job of operational targeting, encrypted communications, and launch operations for 200 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles. Andrew's over seven years as a CIA spy have given him a skill set and a perspective on the world that is fascinating to explore. This is the Lex Fridman podcast. To support it, please check out our sponsors in the description. And now, dear friends, here's Andrew Bustamante. The Central Intelligence Agency was formed almost 75 years ago. What is the mission of the CIA? How does it work?

The mission of the CIA is to collect intelligence from around the world that supports a national security mission and be the central repository for all other intelligence agencies so that it's one collective source where all intelligence can be synthesized and then passed forward to the decision-makers.

That doesn't include domestic intelligence. It's primarily looking outward, outside the United States.

Correct. CIA is the foreign intelligence, uh, collection, uh, kingspoke, if you will. FBI does domestic and then Department of Homeland Security does domestic. Law enforcement essentially handles all things domestic. Uh, intelligence is not law enforcement, so we technically cannot work inside the United States.

Is there clear lines to be drawn between, like you just said, the FBI... CIA, FBI, and the other US intelligence agencies like the DIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, Department of Homeland Security, NSA, National Security Ag- Agency, and, and there's a list, there's a list of-

There's a list of about 33 different intelligence organizations. Yeah, you're exactly right.

So like the Army, the Navy has a, all, all the different organizations have their own intelligence groups. So is there, is there clear lines here to be drawn? Or is the CIA the, the giant integrator of all of these?

Uh, it's a little bit of both, to be honest. So yes, there are absolutely lines, and more so than the lines, there are lines that divide what our primary mission is. Everything's gotta be prioritized. That's one of the benefits and the s- and the super powers of the United States, is we prioritize everything. So different intelligence organizations are prioritized to collect certain types of intelligence. And then within the confines of how they collect, they're also given unique authorities. Authorities are a term that's directed by the executive branch. Different agencies have different authorities to execute missions in different ways. FBI can't execute the same way CIA executes, and CIA can't execute the same way NGA, uh, ex- executes. But then at the end, (clears throat) excuse me, when it's all collected, then yes, CIA still acts as a final synthesizing repository to create what's known as the President's Daily Brief, the PDB. The only way CIA can create the PDB is by being the single s- source of all source intelligence from around the IC, the inter- the intelligence community, which are those 30 some odd and always changing, uh, organizations that are sponsored for intelligence operations.