IP: [ I take it back djf ] U.S. Intelligence Gathering Reviewed(fwd)

[Eugene Leitl]

-- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://www.lrz.de/~ui22204/">leitl</a>
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 08:25:22 -0400
From: David Farber <dave at farber.net>
Reply-To: farber at cis.upenn.edu
To: ip-sub-1 at majordomo.pobox.com
Subject: IP: [ I take it back djf ] U.S. Intelligence Gathering Reviewed


>U.S. Intelligence Gathering Reviewed
>
>By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
>
>
>Filed at 7:11 a.m. ET
>
>NEW YORK (AP) -- A current emphasis on technology over human
>intelligence-gathering, a funding shortage and an information
>overload may help explain U.S. intelligence agencies' failure to
>forestall the worst terror attack on American soil.
>
>``Our raw intelligence has gotten weaker, partly because we're not
>hiring, we're not paying and we're not analyzing what we're
>collecting,'' said Anthony Cordesman, an anti-terrorism expert with
>the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International
>Studies.
>
>His comments echoed those of former Secretary of State James A.
>Baker III, who told CNN that ``it would be well ... to consider
>beefing up some of our intelligence capabilities, particularly in
>the areas of human intelligence.''
>
>That's easier said than done, said Gideon Rose, managing editor of
>Foreign Affairs magazine.
>
>``It's incredibly difficult to find the right people who can
>infiltrate these groups,'' Rose said. ``As far as making other
>changes, it means going up against Washington's bureaucratic
>inertia.''
>
>During the Cold War, the United States began pouring billions into
>satellite imagery, communications interception and reconnaissance
>equipment. The tools were also useful in monitoring the moves of
>organizations such as the PLO and the IRA -- which had traditional,
>low-tech structures that were relatively easy to follow.
>
>But the extraordinary costs meant cutbacks in personnel at the CIA
>and the National Security Agency, the nation's international
>eavesdropping arm.
>
>As the Cold War came to a close, the number of threatening groups
>increased tenfold just as the digital revolution hit, making global
>communications suddenly very cheap and secure. Meanwhile, the
>numbers of people working in U.S. intelligence remained constant.
>
>These days, terrorists can download sophisticated encryption
>software on the Internet for free, making it increasingly difficult
>to tap into their communications.
>
>One recent report said Osama bin Laden, a suspect in Tuesday's
>attacks, has used complex digital masking technology called
>steganography to send photos over the Internet bearing hidden
>messages.
>
>The head of NSA, Gen. Mike Hayden, acknowledged in an interview
>with CBS' ``60 Minutes II'' earlier this year that his agency is
>``behind the curve in keeping up with the global telecommunications
>revolution,'' adding that bin Laden ``has better technology'' than
>the agency.
>
>Former national security adviser Sandy Berger said Wednesday that
>the terrorists responsible for Tuesday's carnage displayed ``a
>level of sophistication that is beyond what any intelligence outfit
>thought was possible.'' Yet, many believe the perpetrators used
>low-tech methods to elude Western intelligence.
>
>Wayne Madsen, a former NSA intelligence officer, said he believes
>the terrorists shunned e-mail and mobile phones, using couriers and
>safe houses instead. He said it was likely the terrorists in each
>of Tuesday's four hijacked planes didn't know the others existed.
>
>Terrorist ``cells are kept small and very independent so
>intelligence agencies can't establish any sort of network,'' Madsen
>said.
>
>Others say the big problem is not the technological shortcomings
>but the inability to get inside tightly-knit organizations such as
>bin Laden's.
>
>``It's not easy to knock on bin Laden's cave and say we'd like to
>join,'' said Frank Cilluffo, a senior analyst at the Center for
>Strategic and International Studies. ``These are hard targets for
>Americans to infiltrate and we need to recruit the kind of people
>who have the language and the cultural understanding to gain access
>to these organizations.''
>
>Eugene Carroll, a Navy admiral and a defense expert, agreed.
>``These people can only be countered by superb intelligence. The
>U.S. doesn't have it,'' he said.
>
>Experts say intelligence-gathering, to be effective, must involve
>close coordination between eavesdropping and spying. In practical
>terms, this means cooperation between the NSA and CIA.
>
>Madsen said there is reason to believe the NSA received some good
>intelligence showing bin Laden's involvement in Tuesday's attacks
>but that it wasn't recognized as such.
>
>``There's an information overload out there and not surprisingly it
>becomes very hard to process, prioritize it and share it,'' said
>Ian Lesser at the Rand Corporation think tank.
>
>Others said that some of the best intelligence people had been lost
>to the dot.com boom while promising junior personnel were pushed
>out by inflexible veterans.
>
>``The intelligence community needs to do a lot more to retain the
>best and the brightest, who are lured away to companies that can
>offer the kinds of incentives and salary that government jobs just
>don't have right now,'' Cilluffo said.
>
>^------
>
>AP writers Steve Gutkin and Jim Krane contributed to this
>report.
>
>http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Attacks-Intelligence.html?ex=1001393242&ei=1&en=73b5a7098dba6d03



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