Marta and Mary (energy monster wonderful loud American friend) driving from Bridget Jones 2 to dinner at Cafe Blu, Virginia Water
Mary: ...I always wanted to be a spy
Marta: No way. Me too.
(Some talk about the interesting effects the French film Nikita had on us. I nearly fainted when leaving the cinema - I saw it between giving English classes one afternoon in Warsaw - because I'd been holding my breath so much with the tension of it all)
Marta: I was so disappointed not to get into the SAS. When they stormed the embassy on ropes and crashing through windows, I knew that was for me.
Mary: Really? No, I wanted to be more of a spy.
Marta: Wait - I can see you as Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs
Mary: Oh no, not FBI. I want to be CIA.
Marta: You do?
Mary: I don't want to be FBI. It must be CIA.
Marta: What's the difference?
Mary: Well let me see. One's ... You know I'll have to ask Dave to give us the definitive difference. I'm not entirely sure. He'll know.
Marta: How come you are so adamant you want to be CIA if you don't know what the difference is?
(Lots of laughing and palpitations for me.)
That woman is too funny for my health.
1 comment:
Oh boy... The first OBVIOUS difference between the two is the name: Federal Bureau of Investigations, and Central Intelligence Agency. The FBI is in charge of investigating inter-state crime that happens within the United States, and are occasionally used overseas to investigate crime (US embassy bombings come to mind). They are the people who catch every kidnapper who has ever lived, hunt down bank robbers, and in general, make your life pretty miserable if you manage to catch their attention for some reason.
The CIA, on the other hand, is a much more secretive organization. Their job is to gather intelligence to protect and defend the country. They do this OUTSIDE the borders of the US -- the CIA does not have the authority to investigate US citizens, or spy within the borders of the US, though they undoubtedly do it. In the past, with aggressive Directors of the CIA, they engaged in all sorts of interesting activities, including setting up things like the fall of governments that they didn't like, arming of rebels in countries like Afghanistan, assasination of foreign leaders that pissed them off (including JFK?), etc. In the new world, with "homeland security", it is now unclear where the boundaries of the FBI and CIA are, but their duties remain the same -- FBI: investigate crime, CIA: protect the country.
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