Tuesday, May 20, 2014

The CIA's not going to use vaccine programs as a cover anymore (sydney c, 5th)

The CIA has historically used vaccine programs as facades for investigations in foreign countries, most recently the unsuccessful Osama Bin Laden search in Pakistan.  That effort lead to the leading doctor receiving a prison sentence.  More importantly, it lead to a setback in the fight against polio. 
In 2012, vaccination teams were banned from some areas of Pakistan due to the mission. 

So Universities protested in 2013, saying that the CIA (like the Peace Corps) had to stop using the vaccination thing to protect volunteers and allow actual vaccination missions to continue in the countries that need them. 

16 months later, the CIA has revised their policies as a response to the protest.

My opinion on this issue is how did the CIA not see that coming? Of course the revelations of their unsuccessful missions would make foreign countries suspicious of actual volunteer efforts.  I'm glad they stopped doing that.  Hopefully they can think of a way to investigate what they need without compromising actual efforts to fight disease.

No comments:

Post a Comment