Week One

Greetings, class.

We have all arrived in this particular course at a very interesting and eventful time in relation to the topic of security and intelligence in our world.  This is why I would like to discuss the topic of the need for intelligence sharing in today's volatile environment.  

In our readings this week, our textbook highlights the vital need for intelligence sharing by highlighting some of the efforts undertaken post-9/11 such as the creation of the Terrorism Task Force and Fusion Centers.  In addition, the creation of the PATRIOT Act has provided agencies with some of the tools needed to make intelligence possible (Benny, 2023).

The recent Hamas attack on Israel was a tragic reminder that even in today's hyper-connected world, taking an adversary by surprise on a large scale is still entirely possible.  While the details of what is transpiring in the Middle East are still coming into focus, the United States has two significant events to compare with, Pearl Harbor and 9/11.

In the case of Pearl Harbor, reports of pending hostile Japanese action were provided to U.S. officials, however a lack of interagency communications resulted in this information having been gathered in vein. 

Decryption experts in Washington were highly successful in deciphering coded messages coming into the Japanese embassy from Tokyo.  On the night prior to the attack, a final message essentially confirming the strike was decoded, however was not shared with commanders in the Pacific, which may have allowed for a chance to prepare defenses in the early morning hours (Tagg, 2017).

The 9/11 attacks were unfortunately marked with a number of intelligence sharing failures, one notable example coming from the FBI office in Phoenix, Arizona.  There, an agent wrote a memo to bureau executives in Washington warning of the possibility that potential terrorists associated with al-Qaeda and Osama bin-Laden may be undergoing flight training inside of the United States.  The 9/11 Commision would go on to uncover this memo and others like it, which had been dismissed at higher levels.  Has this intelligence been shared, it may have made a difference in alerting various agencies to maintain closer observation of suspected individuals, quite possibly uncovering the plot beforehand (Center for Public Integrity, 2022).

In both cases, as well as in today's rapidly changing strategic environment, the need for open (but also secure) intelligence sharing is as important as ever in the ongoing effort to protect both the United States, it's interests abroad, and it's allies.

-Alex Enriquez

References:

Benny, D. J. (2023). U.S. National Security and the Intelligence Services. CRC Press.

Agencies failed to share intelligence on 9/11 terrorists. Center for Public Integrity. (2022, January 8). https://publicintegrity.org/politics/agencies-failed-to-share-intelligence-on-9-11-terrorists/Links to an external site. 

Tagg, L. S. (2017, January 4). Intelligence, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. U.S. Army. https://www.army.mil/article/180285/intelligence_japanese_attack_on_pearl_harbor Links to an external site. 

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