I cannot comment as to whether the CIA is particularly good or bad at anything, but what I will say is that they are particularly effective at guiding domestic policy and operations.

In comparison to whom exactly?

Elected politicians

They also were good at meddling in Australian politics, including overthrowing one of our best Prime Ministers: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleged_CIA_involvement_in_t...

Dumb question: what counts as modern art? Is this a particular style, as opposed to post modernism? What defines. And who are the important artists?

Wikipedia suggests Modern begins in the 1860s; the parent post is absolutely correct that it’s more the patronage rather than the artists or styles that drive classification in this case. Lots of things are disrupting the patronage of art around this time, especially photography, and changing markets for art result in very different kinds of art being produced.