I really do understand what you are saying.
In part, you said Godzilla, "...but the wonks were too stupid or pc to go with the intel."
MY OPINION: The wonks were not stupid -- and that leaves pc as the cause.
"Political Correctness is a culture killer. Political Correctness is a killer." -Cindy
Perhaps I should refine what I said more. There is a credibility issue between generators of the intelligence and the users of intelligence. Predictive intelligence was hammered during the Clinton era. Too many wrong predictions and credibility is lost, so out of fear that the prediction may be wrong, it is not forwarded or acted upon (until this case it was too late). Intelligence producers can be kinda odd, so some times they make interpretations that are incorrect, and perhaps had lost some credibility with the head of DIA. Who would have thought that terrorists with a small boat (loaded with explosives) would attempt such an attack.
However, then this gets deeper. If the predictions were correct and word gets out that we could have prevented this or other attacks, the bosses go into CYA mode, further blocking any other predictions for fear that it would reveal the other correct ones.
It shouldn't work that way, and I was taught that it should work the right way. However, sometimes scum rises to the top and the wrong people are placed in the position to control the flow of intel. Alas, I ramble on,still disgusted that such an apparently effective tool was wasted.