Monday, July 19, saw the release of an investigative report by The Washington Post which concerns the health of the intelligence services of the US Government. . The findings of the report are already being contested by big players in the intelligence field. Top Secret America has highlighted the Intelligence Community, which is a proper noun evidently, as having a lot of inefficiency, waste, petty squabbles and disconnects throughout.
Top Secret America makes unflattering claims
The Washington Post investigation into the report Top Secret America was two years in the making. Since September of 2001, the number of agencies, bureaus, and contracting for intelligence work has grown explosively. Because the Intelligence Community relies on secrecy and non-transparency, the total cost of all these new agencies and contracts can’t be calculated. The report also claims the intelligence community is not well suited to efficiency, consensus, and lacks enough focus to be truly effective. The piece contains references to a recent interview with Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense, who bemoans the lack of focus and clear details from the intelligence field.
The Intelligence field comes back
There was a response issued soon following the report from the intelligence field. Director of National Intelligence David Gompert issued a press release blasting the report for not being truly representative of the work the intelligence field does and that they were continuously working on improving themselves.
What effect the report may have
It’s hard to know what effect, if any, the report will have. The nature of the intelligence business is that it is clandestine. If a spy operation goes well, the success of the mission might never see the light of day. However, the U.S. Intelligence Community has had some spectacular failures. The Bay of Pigs invasion, WMDs that were never discovered in Iraq, etc. The Christmas bomber nearly pulled his plot off, and authorities were tipped off about him. The Fort Hood shooter, a U.S. Army Major, had been communicating with anti-American groups. The intelligence field may have some very visible blemishes, but it is hard to keep faith whenever you can’t see the successes.
More details on this topic
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/ (PDF)
