Spies in the Dark

An AP article on a presidential panel on our nation's intelligence concluded that we're in the dark in a lot of areas. It concluded that the United States knows " disturbingly little" when it comes to nuclear and biological threats from adversaries.

The commission offered 74 recommendations aimed at changing the structure
and culture of the nation's 15 spy agencies. It called for more clarity in the
powers of the newly created national intelligence director, an overhaul of
national security efforts in the Justice Department and dozens of changes in
intelligence collection and analysis.

Let's think about this for a minute. Seventy-four recommendations. That's 7-4. Ol' BC was aware that the Carter administration dismantled our intelligence network, but never dreamed it has sunk to this level of ineptitude. Keep in mind that this was a bipartisan committee. It wasn't just Republican "hawks" or Democrats wanting to throw stones at Dubya.

"Across the board, the intelligence community knows disturbingly little
about the nuclear programs of many of the world's most dangerous actors," the
report said. "In some cases, it knows less now than it did five or ten years
ago."

Hello! Hello! It's time to get back to work. We can't be worrying about hurting someone's feelings. The time is now to get busy figuring out what's going on with some of the nuts in the world. There is a lot of damage to be undone for the U.S. to get its intelligence house back in order. It's an ugly business, but a necessary one.

Just an observation.