He can see specifically Outsider infestation.
According to him, its both experience and a specialized tool. I quote:
I nodded, thinking. "Okay," I said. "First, how do you know if the adversary has . . . infested someone?"
"Experience," he said. "Decades of it. The Sight can help, but . . ." Rashid hesitated. I recognized it instantly, the hiccup in one's thoughts when one stumbled over a truly hideous memory gained with the Sight, like I'd had with—
Ugh.
—the naagloshii.
"I don't recommend making a regular practice of it," he continued. "It's an art, not a skill, and it takes time. Time, or a bit of questionable attention from the Fates and a ridiculously enormous tool." He tapped a finger against his false eye.
I blinked, even though he didn't, and looked up at the massive gates stretching overhead. "Hell's bells. The gates . . . they're . . . some kind of spiritual CAT scanner?"
"Among many other things," he said. "But it's one of their functions, yes. Mostly it means that the adversary cannot use such tactics effectively here. As long as the Gatekeeper is vigilant, it rarely tries." The horns sounded again, and the muscles in his jaw tensed. "Next question."
"Experience," he said. "Decades of it. The Sight can help, but . . ." Rashid hesitated. I recognized it instantly, the hiccup in one's thoughts when one stumbled over a truly hideous memory gained with the Sight, like I'd had with—
Ugh.
—the naagloshii.
"I don't recommend making a regular practice of it," he continued. "It's an art, not a skill, and it takes time. Time, or a bit of questionable attention from the Fates and a ridiculously enormous tool." He tapped a finger against his false eye.
I blinked, even though he didn't, and looked up at the massive gates stretching overhead. "Hell's bells. The gates . . . they're . . . some kind of spiritual CAT scanner?"
"Among many other things," he said. "But it's one of their functions, yes. Mostly it means that the adversary cannot use such tactics effectively here. As long as the Gatekeeper is vigilant, it rarely tries." The horns sounded again, and the muscles in his jaw tensed. "Next question."
We dont know if the eye scanner works for this kind of scan outside of the area of the Gates. And I assume he doesnt use it on everyone anyway; we only see him use it once in canon, during Turn Coat.
Besides, he uses some sort of divination/time magic, and we dont know how it works IC or OOC.
I dont agree.
The Blackstaff is the Council's wetworks person, who is allowed to break the Laws in its defence. That doesnt make him the best investigator, or even necessarily the most powerful wizard. He certainly isnt counterintelligence; when the Council was hunting Morgan in Turn Coat, Ebenezar didnt show up anywhere until Dresden invited the Senior Council to Demonreach.
I mean, counterpoint: Kemmler.
Who had to be killed 7 times over several decades for it to take, and required the entire Council's viable military force to put him down in 1962.
McCoy was the Blackstaff through Kemmler's rise to power in the 19th century.
The New Madrid earthquakes which he takes the blame for were Dec 1811 - Feb 1812; if we followed your argument, the Council would have fallen back then. His inability to stop him didnt destroy the Council.
This isnt even the first time that a wizard has simultaneously been a Council wizard and doing shady shit; when Luccio ran into Grevane in A Fistful of Warlocks, she didnt recognize him, but thought he was a White Council wizard.
Fixed that for you.
Discovering his contingencies is doable if we can acquire the foci; disrupting them will require significantly more investment of effort, especially if we are trying to keep the Crown secret. They dont just become non-viable because we know they exist.
Furthermore, it bears keeping in mind that when you have mind controlled a bunch of people, you have a bunch of patsies that you can use to set up contingencies or to deflect blame.
See Luccio and the murder of Aleron LaFortier in canon.
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