The CIA

Well those last two were a bit long winded so I apologize. However, they were issues I wanted to give more than a paragraph to. For today let's consider the role of the CIA. For the past twenty years or so they, like the Pentagon, have become too enamored with technology. More resources were applied to satellite imagery and not enough to human intelligence sources. Satellite images are great when you are watching for troop movements or the building of weapons facilities by countries. However, they suck when trying to learn about terrorist organizations.
I believe the problem is one brought about by the Cold War. With all our attention and efforts directed at containing the Soviets small scale attacks by fringe groups were not taken seriously. Because of this the United States was caught with its pants down on 9/11. You can blame Clinton or Bush all you want. But it was a lack of human intelligence that got us to this point. If we had spies infiltrated in these groups we may have gotten some kind of warning. Instead we concentrated on satellites and signal traffic. The problem being that in Afghanistan and other Third World Countries the easiest way of communicating among these groups may not be through electronic means.
As I've said numerous times this week we need to concentrate on getting intelligence operatives into these organizations in order to really start fighting the war on terror, as well as trying to keep tabs on rogue states like North Korea. I can only hope that the high level people who make these decisions reached this conclusion soon after 9/11 and not after reading my Blog.