Intelligence Success and Failures of Terrorist Attacks of 9-11 - Research Paper Example

?Intelligence Success and Failures of Terrorist attacks of 9/11 Introduction Controversies about the success and failure of intelligence have become a relevant topic for discussion among the public and media in recent years. It is visible that academicians, law makers and intelligence analysts were focusing on 9/11. Therefore, the topic enhances or evaluates the existence of various things related with policy making, internal politics, programs of security agencies and administrative procedures of the nation. The disaster has brought considerable changes in the relationship between terrorism threats and crime, U.S citizens and their policies against terrorism. One cannot ignore the relevant factors that contribute 9/11crisis like intelligence failure, unsuccessful administrative reforms and defective military actions. 9/11 attacks raises substantial questions about the existence of police surveillance authority and national security. It is clear that 9/11 attacks have caused for numerous legal, psychological and social impacts on the American citizens suffocating from the swelling police surveillance. The nature of bureaucratic organizations, unsuccessful diplomacy, legislators and bureaucrats and the uneven structure of the Federal government promote problems in the process of implementing executive reforms. Studies have emphasized the fact that U.S intelligence agencies and officials had recognized the terrorist threats in advance, but were unable to gain intelligence reforms. The event of 9/11 attacks underline significant intelligence failure of U.S Intelligence agencies and the organizational crisis of Federal government, unsuccessful diplomacy and executive reforms. One can attribute all the above mentioned as the supplementing factors of intelligence failure. Unsuccessful diplomacy acts as a significant factor that promotes intelligence failure during the 9/11 attack. Until 1997, U.S Government tried to use diplomatic pressure to force Taliban in Afghanistan to stop being an asylum for terrorist groups, but later U.S had exposed a gradual withdrawal in their action. Similarly, U.S government pressed the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan and demand cooperation in administrative level for preventing terrorist threats. But before 9/11 all these efforts have reached its poor status because of political and bureaucratic interferences. The 9/11 Commission Report explains that; “Before 9/11, the Saudi and U.S. governments did not fully share intelligence information or develop an adequate joint effort to track and disrupt the finances of the al Qaeda organization” (The 9/11 commission report, 2004). All these diplomatic proceedings have a negative impact on intelligence community and their smooth functioning. Islamic extremists and other terrorist groups had warned a number times that they are planning to kill American people arbitrarily in large number. In this respect, people from various nations regard the 9/11 event as the failure of intelligence organizations. Many people have believed that the attacks break the American success myth and it also shatters the traditional concepts about national security among the public. Both government and non-government agencies have conducted numerous studies about the 9/11 attack and majority of these studies clearly unveils the intelligence failure. It is significant to notice that U.S intelligent communities and administration have handled Bin Ladin as a financier of terrorism not a leader of Islamic terrorism. Bin Ladin’s self declared fatwa had revealed that each and every Muslim has the right to kill five Americans and two others. Intelligence agencies have failed to connect this in to 1993 attack made by a terrorist group led by Ramzi Yousef (The 9/11 commission report, 2004). Lack of Military action from the part of the Federal government had formed frustration among the mind of officials in Central Intelligence, policy makers, and military. They have questioned the unnecessary delay from the part of President. After 9/11, media and government commissions have highlighted intelligence failure and most of them have ignored the reality. Erik J. Dahl observes thus, “After the 9/11 attacks, of course, the problem of the intelligence failure quickly became a national concern, and the official U.S. government commission continues today to study where blame may lie for the failure of intelligence and law enforcement agencies in that disaster” (Dahl, 2004, p.5). In addition, many officials from the U.S intelligence agency have argued that absence of right military action made things worst. The nature of bureaucratic organizations and the uneven structure of the Federal government act as a barrier in the process of recognizing terrorist threats. Organization failure in information sharing often provides positive assistance for terrorists to capture economic and legal procedures. News reports have mentioned that U.S Intelligence is still constrained by turf battles, financial mismanagement, defective communication, and administrative problems. Subsequently, experts from intelligence department have expected an immediate crisis. Alex Spillius observes that “A lack of information sharing was seen as central to the intelligence breakdown that failed to prevent the identification of the al-Qaeda plot against New York and Washington that claimed 3,000 lives” (Spillius, 2009). In addition, the concept of collective responsibility in administrative system has showed its poor performance and the U.S Intelligence agencies have ignored the issues related with immigration problems. Academics and intelligence officials have observed the that the dangers of post –Cold War were too dense, complex, and fluid for U.S intelligence agencies to recognize the terrorist threat more successfully than they did. C.I.A and other intelligence agencies in the United States have concentrated on Soviet Union for more than forty years. After the fall of Soviet Union, the principal threat of the United States had changed. But U.S intelligence agencies were slow to change their propaganda. Amy B. Zegart rightly examines the fall of U.S intelligence by remarking “Before September 11, none of these agencies had formal training programs or well-honed procedures to assist their intelligence officers in identifying dangerous terrorists and warning other U.S. government agencies about them before they reached the United States” (Zegart, A. B. n. d, p.2). Zegart continues his arguments by commenting that a considerable percentage of intelligence resources were devoted to Soviet related issues. After the disaster of Soviet Union, U.S intelligence agencies lacked innovative resources to face new threats from al-Qaida and other Islamic terrorist organizations. Defective domestic surveillance has played a vital role in intelligence failure during the time of terrorist attack. Various studies and commission reports have designated number of factors that led the failure of intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Evidences show that the U.S intelligence community has revealed an astonishing inability to acclimatize to the emergence of terrorism after the event of Cold-War. Before the 9/11 attacks, U.S intelligence communities have loosened or generalized the process of domestic surveillance. Here, one can simply identify that the U.S intelligence agencies lacked advanced technologies and manpower in handling the issue of 9/11 attacks. Another significant fact is that the airport surveillance video of hijackers has underlined the consternation over the ease with which planes were detained. News article entitled 9/11 inquiry blames US 'failure' published by BBC remarks that “Intelligence bodies have come under harsh criticism for failing to avert the airliner hijackings, in which about 3,000 people died” (B.B.C.News, 2004). It is a part of common knowledge is that Pentagon required higher level security measures than any other part of the nation. Even though Pentagon is considered as the centre of national security, U.S intelligence community has failed to prevent terrorist attacks against it. Another important thing is that U.S Intelligence agencies and law enforcement officials have not used their resources to exploit the travel vulnerabilities of terrorist groups. Terrorists widely violated immigration laws while in the United States. Even though the intelligence officials have gained information about terrorist attack, delayed organizational reforms prevent them to solve the crisis. Consequently, intelligence agencies were blamed because of organizational failure. Michel Delving gives some startling piece of news in his book The Devil Incarnate which described the event of September 11 attack. The report submitted by the House and Senate committee in June 2002 reveals the organizational failure of Bush administration. Analyzing various aspects of the 9/11 attacks, the committees still exposed a vast display of confirmation of failures by various security agencies like CIA, FBI, National Security Agency, another agencies that terminated in the terrorist’s achievement (Delving, 2006, p.79). Finally, problems in the FBI have created practical obstacles in the process of determining and preventing terrorist attacks. FBI and other intelligence agencies have introduced several strategies like counter terrorism included both criminal and intelligence investigations. Unfortunately, these strategies and techniques failed to strengthen security measures. Instead of that these techniques promote organizational crisis among the intelligence communities. Conclusion In the final assessment, it is evident that the event of 9/11 attacks emphasizes the failure of U.S intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Various factors like the nature of bureaucratic organizations, unsuccessful diplomacy, lack of military actions, legislators, the uneven structure of the Federal government, advances in technology, backdrops of police surveillance, and policy formation promote organizational problem s in U.S intelligence communities. Intelligence officials and law enforcement experts have made conscious effort in handling terrorist threats before 9/11 attack. Unsuccessful diplomacy and the uneven structure of the Federal government accelerated organizational problems and absence of information sharing among the intelligence agencies. U.S Intelligence strategies have failed to recognize their new enemy and intelligence agencies lacked resources and manpower. U.S Intelligence agencies like CIA, FBI, and National Security Agency have faced organizational crisis from the side of Federal government and bureaucrats, and this organizational crisis contributed failure in their activities. References B.B.C. News. (22 July, 2004). 9/11 inquiry blames US 'failure'. B.B.C. Retrieved Sep 21, 2011, from, . Delving, M. (2006). The Devil Incarnate. Lulu.com. Dahl, E. J. (2004). Warning of Terror: explaining the failure of intelligence against terrorism. The fletcher School. Retrieved Sep 21, 2011, from, . Spillius, A. (2009). US spy agencies 'still plagued by same intelligence failures which led to 9/11. The Telegraph. Retrieved Sep 21, 2011, from, . The 9/11 commission report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. (2004). National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. Retrieved Sep 21, 2011, from, . Read More