Posted on 09/10/2006 2:53:33 PM PDT by RWR8189
Surprise is what intelligence is intended to prevent, but on Sept. 11, 2001, our nation was surprised, and the results were tragic. Now the fifth anniversary of those horrific events raises anew the question: Is our nation's intelligence community better prepared to keep America safe? The answer is yes. U.S. intelligence has made major advances since that Sept. 11.
First and foremost, we better understand, and are aligned to meet, the threat of transnational terror. Although our enemy is constantly changing and remains deadly, our collectors and analysts are carefully tracking the evolution of al-Qaeda and its ideological allies. Today, we have several times as many "all source" analysts -- those who look at all types of intelligence -- focusing on the terrorist threat as were in place on Sept. 11. And as we build up analytic insight and expertise, we also are devoting resources to increased human intelligence collection on targets of primary concern. One important indicator of effectiveness: We and our partners have captured or killed a majority of the al-Qaeda leadership involved in planning and directing the Sept. 11 attacks.
Second, we know that intelligence does little good if those who need it don't see it. Over the past five years we have made great progress in breaking down information "stovepipes." The results are tangible.
Without good intelligence in the right hands, coalition forces in Iraq could not have located and killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose bloody attacks took so many Iraqi and coalition lives. More recently, British intelligence performed spectacularly in enabling British law enforcement to shut down last month's airline plot. All credit goes to the British, but U.S. and Pakistani intelligence-sharing -- among U.S. intelligence agencies and with the British -- supported their efforts.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
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