Spying drop-off in Iraq preceded fresh insurgency

AP ^ | 06/26/2014 | KEN DILANIAN

[SeekAndFind]

CIA officers in Iraq have been largely hunkered down in their heavily fortified Baghdad compound since U.S. troops left the country in 2011, current and former officials say, allowing a once-rich network of intelligence sources to wither.

That's a big reason, they say, the U.S. was caught flat-footed by the recent offensive by a Sunni-backed al-Qaida-inspired group that has seized a large swath of Iraq.

"This is a glaring example of the erosion of our street craft and our tradecraft and our capability to operate in a hard place," said John Maguire, who helped run CIA operations in Iraq in 2004. "The U.S. taxpayer is not getting their money's worth."

Maguire was a CIA officer in Beirut in the late 1980s during that country's bloody civil war. He spent weeks living in safe houses far from the U.S. Embassy, dodging militants who wanted to kidnap and kill Americans. In Iraq, where Maguire also served, the CIA's Baghdad station remains one of the world's largest. But the agency has been unwilling to risk sending Americans out regularly to recruit and meet informants.

Iraq is emblematic of how a security-conscious CIA is finding it difficult to spy aggressively in dangerous environments without military protection, Maguire and other current and former U.S. officials say. Intelligence blind spots have left the U.S. behind the curve on fast-moving world events, they say, whether it's disintegration in Iraq, Russia's move into Crimea or the collapse of several governments during the Arab Spring.

[aquila48]

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[justa-hairyape]

They were not caught flat footed. One city west of Baghdad was taken by ISIS the end of 2013. Then the Kurd's told England and the US a massive invasion was coming back in January. They got no response what so ever. And when Obama was finally forced to acknowledge the all out invasion, while golfing in gay Palm Springs, he said he would look into the matter in a few days. Obviously the US government could care less about anything but Obama's golf game. As Valerie later had to claim, he was stuck inside DC all winter and really needed to play a round or two.

Stop the lies !

[jagusafr]

“This is a glaring example of the erosion of our street craft and our tradecraft and our capability to operate in a hard place,” said John Maguire, who helped run CIA operations in Iraq in 2004. “The U.S. taxpayer is not getting their money’s worth.”

Stone truth right there. HUMINT is almost completely gone from the intel quiver. And it’s inexcusable.

[Grampa Dave]

Which American Sunni is in charge of the CIA?

Which president appointed him?

Any more questions to why our CIA didn’t do its job in Iraq?