More Than Just Intelligence

 A Washington Post article on CIA and military intelligence reorganization included some language that made me me pause.  Early on, is this statement (my emphasis in quotes),

 Through its drone program, the CIA now accounts for a majority of lethal U.S. operations outside the Afghan war zone.

Lethal operations?  A sterile term for what is assumed to be a routine function of government.  It all sounds so normal.

Later on,

The plan reflects the Obama administration’s affinity for espionage and covert action over conventional force. It also fits in with the administration’s efforts to codify its counterterrorism policies for a sustained conflict and assemble the pieces abroad necessary to carry it out.
[...]
 DIA needed to be repositioned as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan give way to what many expect will be a period of sporadic conflicts and simmering threats requiring close-in intelligence work.

The bad news is that conflict is in the nation's future.  The good news (I think) is that the Obama administration is looking for more nuanced and cost-effective ways to deal with the potential threats that might arise from those conflicts.  Still, all this intelligence activity addresses (maybe) symptoms, not causes, so the conflict is likely to last.

Lethal.  Sustained.  Conflict.

Our choice.