Agent Provocateur: Interview with Melissa Boyle Mahle

Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON

Published: April 17, 2005

As a former C.I.A. spy stationed in the Middle East, are you surprised by the new Robb-Silberman report faulting the C.I.A. for being ''dead wrong'' about weapons in Iraq?

No. We're talking about an organization in desperate need of visionary reform.

Why is the C.I.A. so ineffectual?

The problem is structural. We don't talk to one another. There's too much possessiveness. It's a me-against-you mentality in terms of information. The C.I.A. needs an out-of-the-box thinker and leader.

Whom would you suggest?

We need Bill Gates.

What do you think of Porter Goss, the new head of the C.I.A.?

He has not been able to articulate a vision or capture the imagination of the agency. He thinks he can rule by memo from the seventh floor of Langley.