The Washington Post published a report on Monday, July 19, about the Intelligence Community, in public and private sectors. The report, Top Secret America, has began many discussion going. Heavies in the intelligence world have already began to take issue with its findings. Among Top Secret America’s numerous claims is the Intelligence Community, first receives the status of a proper noun and second is becoming rapidly disconnected, petty, inefficient and ineffective.
The portrait Top Secret America paints is not the greatest
The Washington Post investigation into the report Top Secret America was two years within the making. The number of new agencies, bureaus, and contractors working on intelligence gathering and analysis has exploded since September, 2001. 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 that the intelligence community is not well suited to efficiency, consensus, and lacks enough focus to be truly effictive. The piece references an interview with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who lamented the barriers in the way of cooperation and focus within the intelligence apparatus.
Intelligence Community responds
There was a response from the intelligence business almost quickly. 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 will have
It’s hard to know what effect, if any, the report could have. The nature of the intelligence business is that it is clandestine. If a spy operation is successful, nobody will know about this until decades later, if at all. The US Intelligence Community has certainly had some pathetic failures. For example, there was the Bay of Pigs fiasco, and also the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Last year, the Christmas bomber almost succeeded, and authorities had been tipped off about him. The Fort Hood shooter was a Major in the US Army, and he had been in communication for months with Anti-American Muslim 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 information on this topic
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/ (PDF)
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