GlobalSecurity.org In the News

$19bn a year spent on intelligence ... and still no warning

THE attacks at the World Trade Centre and Pentagon represent a colossal failure for the vaunted US intelligence system, prompting an avalanche of criticism in Congress and elsewhere.

"This is the second Pearl Harbor. I don't think that I overstate that," said Senator Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican. Although members of Congress closed ranks around the President, there was also deep disappointment over the failure to detect and thwart the worst terrorist attack ever on US soil. "There was no intelligence," said Representative Curt Weldon, a senior Republican member of the House Armed Services Committee.

"This was a massive operation and it's a failure that was caused by a lack of resources. Our Government failed the American people." Critics wondered whether the advanced US ability in electronic eavesdropping may have backfired on the country by a cunning terrorist who used the system to throw US spies off track.

One theory is that prime suspect Osama bin Laden killed a key US ally, Afghan opposition commander Ahmad Shah Masood, who may have been helping American intelligence, in preparation for the US attacks. If that were indeed the case, Mr Bin Laden may have used the eavesdropping system to throw US intelligence off his trail. Sources indicated that US officials had been awaiting a campaign for months, but not on US soil.

"There was a tonne of stuff, but it all pointed to an attack abroad," one official told Knight Ridder News. The report said officials had no hints of attacks in the US, orders to subordinates, electronic fund transfers or other clues about the plans.

The US spends at least $US10 billion ($19.2 billion) a year on intelligence and anti-terrorism activities, including what is often described as a sophisticated electronic eavesdropping system, but yet was caught completely by surprise on Tuesday.

"This obviously was a failure of great dimension," said Senator Richard Shelby, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who was briefed by CIA director George Tenet. "We had no specific warning of the United States being attacked. We've got to do better."

But John Pike, of the research group GlobalSecurity.org, said airport security was the primary failure. "The notion that if we had just spent more on intelligence this would not have happened is absolutely unfair," Mr Pike said.

Representative Tim Roemer, an Indiana Democrat and member of the House Intelligence Committee, said: "We can see why intelligence -- good intelligence -- is important to protect this country, and why a vibrant intelligence budget is needed out there to further protect the integrity of the homeland in this country. We will be assessing what went wrong, what we need to do in the future from this committee, in the days and the hours and the weeks ahead."

"Our focus is determining who is responsible, we are not looking at other issues," CIA spokeswoman Anya Guilsher said. "We have been working over the past years at bolstering our human capabilities."