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

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> 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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