It’s hard to discern who they have less faith in, their employers or themselves, but either way, CIA officers are covering their asses by snapping up insurance policies that will handle legal fees and damage awards that might arise should they be sued for criminal wrongdoing.

Though not a newly-available service, the $300 annual policy has enjoyed a surge of interested parties hesitant to rely solely on the strength and expert trickery of the Justice Department in their times of need. With state elections looming, as one former CIA man explained, “people are worried about a pendulum swing.” Another cause for concern is the shitrain of subpoenas that might befall the agency should the Dems gain an upper hand in government and decide to take people to task for two Bush terms of torture, human rights violations, illegal detainment and misconduct related to the 9/11 attacks.

Even with Bush pushing for congressional approval of draft legislation making CIA and civilian officials exempt from prosecution for the mistreatment of terrorism suspects, a CIA spokesman says the agency “advises employees to consider” taking the policies out as a “prudent measure.”

» Scott Saxon