“Abusive” CIA Manager Removed for Creating “Hostile Work Environment” Now Promoted to Lead Role in Drone Program

When I came across this story I’ll admit my first thought was, just how “abusive” does a person have to be and what exactly does it take to create a “hostile work environment” at the CIA of all places?

Jonathan Bank, a man who was reportedly removed from his position as head of the Iran operations division at CIA headquarters due to abusive leadership practices which led to a hostile working environment for his underlings has now not only been reinstated at the agency, but given a position as deputy chief for counterintelligence at the Counter Terrorism Center (CTC).

According to the Associated Press, the CTC “conducts the agency’s operations against al-Qaida, the Islamic State and other groups,” and Banks job involves supervising, “a team charged with protecting CTC operations by ferreting out spies, double agents, bad tradecraft and other security risks.”

Again, this is a man who an internal agency investigation found had created a hostile and abusive working environment at the CIA which put his department in disarray, so he was removed and given a liaison position at the Pentagon. Now that CIA Director John Brennan has reorganized the agency, the old CTC chief has been transferred and Bank (by some magical decision making in a conference room on the fifth level of Hell?) has been put in his place.

Why superficially the CIA is even in charge of America’s preemptive drone strike program remains to be explained by anyone, anywhere. Even warhawk Senator John McCain, who would pretty much blow anything up for any reason, is attempting to get this program moved under U.S. military control where it seems like it would logically belong.

Until then, looks like America’s best and brightest (read: abusive leaders who create hostile environments) will be running America’s barbarous and barely accountable drone program…