Original geschrieben von Mephistopheles
Im Klartext, in den USA würde ein seriös strukturiertes FBI allemal ausreichen, die Milliarden, welche in die völlig undurchsichtigen Apparate CIA, NSA und Konsorten gepumpt werden sind hingegen letzten Endes klare Fehlinvestitionen. Zumal die paar wenigen brauchbaren Informationen, die dort gesammelt werden (als aktuelles Beispiel etwa, dass Saddams Irak bei weitem nicht die grösste Bedrohung darstellte), meistens eh von der Regierung ignoriert werden, weil diese nicht in das politische Konzept passen..
With all due respect, but I think you're definitely underestimating the importance of the central intelligence agency, you can't assign or confer the tasks and duties of the CIA to the federal bureau of investigations, that would be more than nonsense...
Espionage, counterintelligence, and covert action have been important tools of US political leaders since the founding of the Republic. During the Revolutionary War, General George Washington and patriots such as Benjamin Franklin and John Jay directed a broad range of clandestine operations that helped the colonies win independence. They ran networks of agents and double agents, employed deceptions against the British army, launched sabotage operations and paramilitary raids, used codes and ciphers, and disseminated propaganda and disinformation to influence foreign governments. The CIA was playing a decisive role in the wars against GB and spain.
However when World War I started in 1914 or 1915 (sorry I don't remember exactly), the United States' ability to collect foreign intelligence had shrunk drastically because of budget cuts and bureaucratic reorganizations. The State Department began smallscale operations against the Central Powers in 1916, but not until the United States declared war on Germany in 1917 did Army and Navy intelligence receive infusions of personnel and money-too late to increase their intelligence output correspondingly. The most significant advance for US intelligence during the war was the establishment of a permanent communications intelligence agency in the Army-the forerunner of the National Security Agency. Meanwhile, the Secret Service and military counterintelligence aggressively interdicted numerous German covert actions inside the United States that included psychological warfare, political and economic operations, and dozens of acts of sabotage against British-owned firms and factories supplying munitions to Britain and Russia. The Justice Department's Bureau of Investigation (forerunner of the FBI) took on a counterintelligence role in 1916, and Congress passed the first federal espionage law in 1917.....
At the end of WW 1, when the US $ superseded the british pound as the world currency and the United States became the leading country in the world, the importance of the CIA increased drastically (e.g. CIA cryptanalysts cracked Japan's "Purple" machine in 1941, etc.) .
Finally with the beginning of the cold war the CIA and the NSA became a crucial instrument for capturing, intercepting and deciphering foreign intellectual informations...and the UDSSR relied on their KGB.
The importance of the CIA might have decreased since the collapse of the UDSSR, but the CIA was a crucial instrument for the United States to gain their independance as a free country...
But I don't want to tease you guys anymore with those borings facts as they are not part of this topic, and I don't want to drift away that much..
I think that you can't determine wheather a country should serve as a perfect model or not as every country has its own history, its own achievements and its own mistakes. And that's why I think that germany and the other european countries ought to pursue their own ways without focusing on any "perfect models". Germany has sought its own way using a generous social system that prevent many people from suffering extreme poverty while playing an important role in the EU. However the germany economy has also suffered from the reunification and the EU devours germany's money like hell....
Nevertheless you can't compare the US system with the german system, as the US system is build upon a total free-market economy, where the bureaucracy is reduced to a total minimum allowing entrepreneur to found their companies without possesing hundrets of diplomas or required denominations. If the US had been using the same restrictions as the europeans do, it wouldn't have developed its economy in such an effective way...with almost 280 mio. people and different jurisdictions it's almost impossible to offer a common social system. Unfortunately if you happen to be handicaped or unable to work it can be really frustrating, especially if those people are not insured

, fortunately some private organizations are continuously commited to helping those people by offering free shelters and foot (at least in the state of california, I don't know the others that well)
germany on the other hand has an excellent social system, providing social security to almost everybody meaning you don't have to worry about your retirement (-plans). However if you are a dare-devil who is intent on running his own business the bureaucracy can become quit a burden...especially if you don't belong to a specific political party (especially in Austria where almost every major enterprise was controlled by the state, you have to know in Austria you get a title for almost everything you do ranging from Dr. to Mag., Ing., dipl-ing., dkfm, Kommerizialrat, Hofrat, kinda funny and ridiculous like hell

)
However I rather deal with the mafia than being under permanent control and supervision by such organizations,as this impedes people and private entrepreneur to unleash their own ideas and strategies...(ok I don't wanna be haggled by the mafia either

), but that can be quite annoying...
Summarized you can't declare the United States nor any other country as a perfect model, since every country has its own peculiarities....for some people the US might appeal and for some other the european or the japanese one, and that's why I think that everybody should work where he/she wants to, not where they have to...without dissing' permanently on other societies..
have a nice weekend,
Chris