美国国家公共电台 NPR In Retirement, America's Spies Are Getting Downright Chatty

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

There was a time when spies would retire and fade away, staying as quiet as they were when they were on duty. Now they go on cable TV. They write op-eds. They're on Twitter, criticizing the president quite often, and they also speak with NPR's Greg Myre.

GREG MYRE, BYLINE¹: When Michael Hayden ran the CIA and the NSA, his public comments were largely confined to congressional testimony². Now that he's retired³...

MICHAEL HAYDEN: I'm on Twitter. All right? And I'm on CNN.

MYRE: And he was the featured guest as dozens of former national security officials and several current ones spoke⁴ at a recent conference on threats facing the U.S. A handful of journalists were also invited to the event on Sea Island, Ga., and Hayden and his colleagues were OK with that.

JOHN SIPHER: Used to be when you retired from the Clandestine⁵ Service in the CIA, you had to stay under your previous cover.

MYRE: That's John Sipher. He has the perfect name for a spy, and that's exactly what he was for nearly 30 years at the CIA.

SIPHER: In recent years, retirees like myself have been able to what we call roll back cover and be able to talk about some of the things we did.

MYRE: The conference was organized by The Cipher⁶ Brief, which isn't named after John Sipher, though he writes for the online publication. It features analyses from former spies like Frank Archibald, speaking in this panel discussion about rebuilding fractured Muslim countries.

FRANK ARCHIBALD: You have to give people security, you have to give them justice. And you have to give them some sense of an economy that my children will do better than I will.

MYRE: Archibald sounds more like an aid worker than head of the CIA's Clandestine Service, his final job before retirement⁷ in 2015. Suzanne Kelly, a former reporter, created The Cipher Brief three years ago.

SUZANNE KELLY: What we're really trying to do, and I think what we've done, is change the culture of agencies that have been told their entire - you know, people who have been told their entire careers, don't talk to the media, the media are bad.

MYRE: Michael Hayden's view began to change in 2013 when NSA contractor⁸ Edward Snowden revealed the extent of eavesdropping⁹ programs that remain controversial. Hayden says the Agency worked with the White House, Congress and the courts, but it didn't communicate with the public until it was forced to. He says that was a mistake.

HAYDEN: And hence, you see an awful lot of folks like me within the bounds of classification trying to describe to the broader public what it is we do and why so as to get their understanding and, if not their enthusiastic approval, at least their acceptance.

MYRE: President Trump¹⁰ has questioned the intelligence agencies and their findings regarding Russia's meddling¹¹ in the 2016 election. As some retirees fire back, it raises questions about their long tradition of neutrality. Ex-CIA chief John Brennan has tweeted just over 20 times yet he's amassed¹² more than 200,000 followers¹³ by lambasting the president. Here's a voiceover of a recent one.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Reading tweet) When the full extent of your venality¹⁴, moral turpitude¹⁵ and political corruption¹⁶ becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history.

MYRE: John Sipher began speaking out last year after the Russia dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele became public.

SIPHER: Since I had served in Russia and I was aware of Mr. Steele and aware of how the Russian intelligence services worked, a number of people reached out to ask questions.

MYRE: A CIA spokesman stresses that no employee, active or retired, can divulge¹⁷ classified information. And anything they write must be approved in advance by the Agency. But in a changing media landscape, it's complicated.

SIPHER: How do you go on television? And the answer was sort of a joking, like, they don't really have a process. We assume that you sort of understand where the line is.

MYRE: That line is moving, but there's still a lot that goes unsaid. Greg Myre, NPR News, Sea Island, Ga.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

3 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 clandestine   

adj.秘密的，暗中从事的

参考例句：

• She is the director of clandestine operations of the CIA.她是中央情报局秘密行动的负责人。
• The early Christians held clandestine meetings in caves.早期的基督徒在洞穴中秘密聚会。

6 cipher   

n.零；无影响力的人；密码

参考例句：

• All important plans were sent to the police in cipher.所有重要计划均以密码送往警方。
• He's a mere cipher in the company.他在公司里是个无足轻重的小人物。

7 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

8 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

9 eavesdropping   

n. 偷听

参考例句：

• We caught him eavesdropping outside the window. 我们撞见他正在窗外偷听。
• Suddenly the kids,who had been eavesdropping,flew into the room. 突然间，一直在偷听的孩子们飞进屋来。

10 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

11 meddling   

v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He denounced all "meddling" attempts to promote a negotiation. 他斥责了一切“干预”促成谈判的企图。 来自辞典例句
• They liked this field because it was never visited by meddling strangers. 她们喜欢这块田野，因为好事的陌生人从来不到那里去。 来自辞典例句

12 amassed   

v.积累，积聚( amass的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He amassed a fortune from silver mining. 他靠开采银矿积累了一笔财富。
• They have amassed a fortune in just a few years. 他们在几年的时间里就聚集了一笔财富。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

14 venality   

n.贪赃枉法，腐败

参考例句：

15 turpitude   

n.可耻；邪恶

参考例句：

• He was considered unfit to hold office because of moral turpitude.因为道德上的可耻行为，他被认为不适担任公务员。
• Let every declamation turn upon the beauty of liberty and virtue,and the deformity,turpitude,and malignity of slavery and vice.让每一篇演讲都来谈自由和道德之美，都来谈奴役和邪恶之丑陋、卑鄙和恶毒。

16 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

17 divulge   

v.泄漏(秘密等)；宣布，公布

参考例句：

• They refused to divulge where they had hidden the money.他们拒绝说出他们把钱藏在什么地方。
• He swore never to divulge the secret.他立誓决不泄露秘密。