motivations

'Confronted with war crimes, including accusations of overthrowing legitimate governments in South America and installing dicatatorships, the CIA agent doesn't deny any of it. Instead he simply gets a little angry and says something like, "So? Why do you care? You benefit from it."'

Indeed. As I said, I am concerned about motivations.

Even so, the agent you describe cared about whether it worked. A good agent attempts to avoid blowback, and understands that nobody wins in a pointless civil war. It is infinitely easier to reason with such a person than with a self-righteous do-gooder.

From C.S. Lewis:

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."