Like a wall crumbling between its shady operations and the sunlight of public disclosure, the Central Intelligence Agency finally must face a changed world from the one in which it prospered. The Clinton administration now has an opportunity to make substantial improvements to an agency that global politics is passing by.

The scandal in Guatemala, in which it appears that the CIA deliberately covered up the murders of a U.S. innkeeper and a Guatemalen rebel married to a U.S. citizen, gives the administration the leverage to reform this agency. For two generations, the CIA has encouraged and financially supported right-wing gangs in Central America that have terrorized civilians in the name of guarding against Soviet expansionism. A reckoning is due.

In his recently released book on Vietnam, former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara not only concludes that the domino effect in Southeast Asia probably was more myth than fact, but that the United States made crucial mistakes in 11 areas. Several of them could be transferred from 1960s Vietnam to 1990s CIA. McNamara lists the following: the underrating of nationalism as a world force, the U.S. failure to recognize the limitations of high-tech equipment, the failure to be honest with Congress and the public and poor organization.

As one of 13 government organizations that gather intelligence, the CIA has an annual budget of $28 billion (it accounts for only $3 billion of that figure), and a reputation for being an old-boys club more concerned with maintaining its aura of mystery than providing useful information.

But what haven’t been mysterious to the public are the agency’s gross miscalculation of the condition of the late Soviet economy and its bungling of the Aldrich Ames case. Those two events proved that money and technical expertise cannot ensure competence. Add to these events the CIA’s activities in places such as El Salvador and the recent revelations about Guatemala, and Sen. Daniel Moynihan’s call to abolish the agency seems only a little like hyperbole.

President Clinton will find public support for an intense examination of CIA spending and activities. His proposed CIA director, Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch, seems like a willing candidate for the job. A recast, redirected agency could save the nation billions of dollars and improve intelligence gathering in the bargain.