The Strategist
The long view, patient, analytical, playing several moves ahead.
Jack Devine is The Strategist in the fullest sense, a leader whose 32 years at the CIA, culminating as Acting Director of Operations, were defined by reading terrain before committing force.
“There's a great quote by My former Secretary of State Schultz. The quote is no bad idea dice in Washington. The point is that early in my career, I thought this is such a dumb idea that it will not go anywhere. So you don't have to stand up and be counted, right? And that held me well because virtually all the bad ideas didn't...”
“Well, Charlie Wilson and I did have a discussion at the time, and both of us were of the view that we should have kept pushing funds into the Afghan fray. The experts and people that studied it for years and the policymakers were of you, look, we wanted to drive them out. We completed our mission. You have to know when to end.”
“The problem is as long as there's a demand, the matter what you're doing on the supply side, the price will go up, but people are going to find those drugs and deliver them. So if I had $10, I'd put $3 into the fight or the decider. I would put $3 into Into demand.”
“I know what big covert action operations look like. And if Putin really wanted to have a field day in our elections, you don't spend 200,000 and you don't dabble. There's a dabbling dimension to this that I think should give people pause.”
Masters in Business: “Jack Devine on the Afghan War’s Financial Disaster (Podcast)”
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