The CSM Manager

"I will not be cut out like this. You need my expertise." CSM 'Redux'

Just what is the Cigarette Smoking Man an expert at? He's not a bad shot, as we saw in 'Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man', but that hardly makes him indispensable. As he himself is about to find out, there are others with equal skills. Though, if the conspiracy is to be believed, he may not have been the lone gunman.
Even when he breaks into Mulder's apartment, he uses one of those gizmos, lacking the skill to pick the lock.
As sinister as he is, the CSM is shown time and again to be playing catch-up, usually thanks to Mulder leading him to what he needs. He pretends to manipulate people, as he does with Skinner in 'Zero Sum', but to no effect. What has Skinner lost, barring a little self-respect by episode end? What has CSM gained?
It is generally agreed that the CSM values power for its own sake. He may, therefore, get to jerk-off over his Skinner-puppetry; still not much of an expertise! It would explain his distress at any perceived diminution of his perception of his own status, prone to aggrandizement though it may be. Up to this point in Season 5, CSM has seemed little more than an errand boy for the Syndicate, occasionally looking decidedly pale when his cack-handed schemes arouse their ire. Remember how nervous he looked back in ‘Paper Clip’ after Melissa Scully had been killed? And again, a moment later, when he is asked if he has the computer tape? Whatever power CSM wields, it’s not from the top of the totem pole.
Though he positions himself as a mover and shaker, the manager of all possible outcomes, he is so only due to his incredible luck at having others do the things that might prove beneficial.
He says he can give Mulder or Skinner the cure for Scully’s cancer. Yet he doesn’t! Is this because he is unwilling or because he can’t actually do what he says he can? Then Mulder comes along with Ostelhoff’s ID card; the Mulder that has been faced with the endless chasm of the “old and antiquated filing system” before (cf. ‘Paper Clip’); the Mulder who is not about to give up searching for that which he wants “most desperately of all”. CSM doesn’t give Mulder the cure for Scully’s cancer; Mulder took it! While CSM stood to the side watching.
Granted, CSM is the one who informs Mulder that he does actually have possession of the cure for Scully’s cancer – in true CSM managerial style, he is able to capitalize on the determination and achievements of others.
If Mulder is the sun, lighting the X Files universe, CSM is the moon – no light of its own, hiding in the shadows, visible only by the light of others.
CSM is ruthless. Detective Thomas, in ‘Zero Sum’ dies for no reason other than to impress Skinner, to instill awareness of his own mortality. The CSM managerial style is destructive by nature. It is a negative force that can never be witnessed in the bright light of day for, like the vampire it is, it would shrivel and die.
As malevolent as he is, it isn’t always clear that he knows what he is about. As mentioned, there is no clear understanding of what is achieved by the end of 'Zero Sum'. He can tell the Elder, in ‘Redux’, “I’ve never underestimated Mulder. I still don’t,” yet he does. In the very next episode:

CSM: Quit the FBI, come work for me. I can make your problems go away.

MULDER: No deal.

CSM: After all I’ve given you?

MULDER: What have … what have you given me? … You’ve given me nothing!

The true evil of the CSM manager is that someone so incompetent and clueless has the power to so negatively impact the lives of others.