Intelligence Failure

Herb Meyer was a top CIA analyst during the Reagan Administration, and he predicted the fall of the Soviet Union before anyone else. (He was laughed at for his troubles, but history bore him out!) He has a piece in the National Review Online today in which he talks about the way the Agency works, and why 911 could have been prevented with the proper people.

Mr. Meyer is a good friend of Thomas Lifson, editor of the American Thinker. I spoke briefly with him on Monday about his article. He is in St. Louis giving a seminar, and we were going to try to get together, but it looks like our scheduals won`t permit it. I`m greatly disappointed; Mr. Meyer sounds like a fascinating individual who has done precisely what I wanted to do in life! I began college in 1983 and studied History and Russian. What I wanted to do was work for one of the security agencies as an analyst, but History had other plans for me! By the time I graduated in 1987 the demise of the Soviet Union was around the corner, and the government wasn`t hiring people from midwestern colleges with bachelors degrees. (I did speak with someone from the supersecret National Security Agency, but never heard back from them.) I had hoped to continue on for a masters, but was out of money and out of patience. (It really is too bad; I think I would have been a great asset at the CIA or other security agency!) Oh well, property management isn`t so bad (keep repeating, keep repeating!)

Anyway, enough about me! Herb Meyer has a great analysis of the problems in the intel field, and a man of his caliber should be taken very seriously! He explains the way intel works, and shows why the failures which led to 911 occured. It is a terrific read, and hopefully will help explain a great deal.