John Brennan’s nomination to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency has sparked another debate about Langley’s priorities and deficiencies. Brennan, the king of drones at his counterterrorist perch in the White House, could accelerate, some critics fear, the agency’s transformation into a high-tech killer elite who no longer apply themselves assiduously to the recruitment and running of human spies. America’s war against Islamic radicalism has already, some observers think, caused the Clandestine Service to mutate into an organization whose ethos is defined by paramilitary officers.