And the snack bar is better.

Since 9/11, it has been crystal clear that we have needed more spies in countries where plots against us may be being hatched. Yet according to Bill Gertz of The Washington Times, even after all the talk about the need for better intelligence since 9/11, we have fewer than 1,000 intelligence officers "working in the field as spies and spy handlers." US News & World Report puts the figure at 1,200.

Whichever is right, the figure represents a miserably low percentage of the 20,000 or so CIA employees. Certainly, it reflects poor leadership from the Bush administration. But as veteran students of bureaucracy know, it also reflects a truth about the CIA bureaucrats that is similar to why foreign service officers try to preserve the cushiest assignments in Europe. At the CIA, the institutional preference seems to be for the safety and comfort of a headquarters assignment at Langley.