Saturday, December 18, 2004

I've been thinking:

The Intelligence Bill was finally passed and signed into law on Friday. It was a great success--bringing the 15 US intelligence agencies under one roof. Now they can communicate effectively, now they can be directed together toward a common goal.

But here is the problem.

Better people are still needed on the ground.
Smarter people, people with good, unaccented, language skills.
People like that are more important than a new director or even a bigger budget.
We need people out in the field and behind desks that understand the enemy.
We need people who understand the culture and language of our enemies.

That will take time. It will take years to retool. It will take years to rethink. It will take years to properly assess and readdress our current threats.

Our intelligence agencies and our political leaders still do not understand the threat of radical Islam.