WMD Redux: Intelligence is worthless unless policy makers act on it.

The Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal ^ | April 1, 2005 | Fred C. Ikle

[quidnunc]

But I'd shut my eyes in the sentry box,
So I didn't see nothin' wrong. – Rudyard Kipling     

The report published yesterday by the WMD Commission will delight all policy wonks who have a collector's passion for intelligence failures. Equipped with a rearward-looking telescope called hindsight, hunting down other people's mistakes is a fun sport — enjoyed by policy wonks as well as the media. But prudence suggests we should also have a forward-looking telescope to warn us of policy failures on the road ahead.

Congress, unfortunately, has a knack for noisily debating past intelligence failures, the better to distract the public from its chronic policy failures. Recall what happened to the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission late last year. Those who itch to blame every enemy attack on an intelligence failure banged their drums, clamoring for an "absolutely essential" reorganization of the entire intelligence bureaucracy, and insisting this multilayered cake had to be topped off with an intelligence czar.

Their clamor drowned out all the other measures that the 9/11 Report called for. Congress thus got away without living up to the recommendations that it consolidate its multiple and redundant committees, legislate reliable ID cards and biometric passports, redirect airport screening toward explosives rather than nail-clippers, and reform the broken system for visitors' visas.

The WMD Commission was given a far more restrictive charter than the 9/11 Commission. It was told to focus exclusively on the intelligence community. Fortunately, the commissioners had the wisdom to look beyond an indictment of past failures. To their great credit, they offer not merely a good read for Monday morning quarterbacks, but also a profound analysis of the unique problems that afflict U.S. intelligence on weapons of mass destruction.

-snip-

[yoe]

I am just getting around to reading this and one paragraph jumped out at me..."At the end of the day, the best tactical and strategic intelligence is worthless unless the policy makers find a way to make us of it."

With policy makers like Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, etc. who get their jollies from disrupting the Republic from remaining strong in just about all aspects with their adoration of all things Socialistic and anti-American, we're doomed. Rather than make policy, these people destroy policy with their constant nattering and belittling all things good about the country. They do not have any interest in the people of this country, theirs is all about power and how to get it any way they can.

The collective congressional feet must be put in the fire and kept there by We The People. Enough of dumb politics!