Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-86.46.22.35-20130403153709/@comment-64.33.250.214-20140816234520

Weedle McHairybug wrote: "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the CIA and Cipher opposing forces in MGS? I'm pretty sure they're working against one another. Knowingly recruiting a clone and allowing him access to CIA information would be a huge risk. Especially when said clone is the perfect clone of Big Boss. Unless, the CIA didn't know he was a clone. If they did know then that's stupid on their part. In either case, hiring a teenage clone isn't of much asset. Solidus would be of more use once he physically matured."

Actually, Cipher was implied to have manipulated Hot Coldman's forces in Peace Walker (who most certainly were not CIA especially when Coldman, the only actual CIA member among the group, is heavily implied to have been demoted to such an extent that they literally had to place him as CIA Station Chief simply to have an excuse to ensure he doesn't harm them even if he does talk about whatever mission it was he was in the know about, presumably Operation Snake Eater), plus it's heavily implied in Ground Zeroes (in the side ops, heck, even the main story to some extent) that Cipher even manipulated the CIA into making the base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba into a black site, so no, they most certainly were not enemies. That tells us the CIA was corrupt, and had Cipher agents working within the organization. Which is true of any intelligence agency. There's always spies working from the inside. If they were really on the same team, why the need for triple agents like Ocelot and Paz, who worked for both CIA and Cipher? There's a difference between manipulation and control. Cipher planting agents in other intelligence agencies doesn't mean they control them. KGB also had CIpher agents (again, Ocelot and Paz), but they weren't exactly best friends with the CIA.