The intelligence priorities – war or terror

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This is a problem that many countries encounter. In Israel this is something that is not discussed very frequently but it does not mean that it does not exist – the distribution of intelligence resources between the sensors that have to predict war and those that have to warn from terrorist attacks.

The U.S. Intelligence Advisory Board, a panel of fourteen highly regarded and experienced experts, many of whom past holders of high-level national security positions, has submitted a secret report to President Obama in which they say that the intense, 12-year focus of the intelligence community on finding and fighting terrorism has distorted the priorities, resource allocation, and training within that community.

According to HLS NewsWire, this distortion has led to dangerous developments: insufficient attention is being paid to other areas of pressing national security concerns such as China and the Middle East, and traditional aspects of intelligence such as information gathering and analysis are neglected in favor of operational missions and support for the military.

Members of the panel were quoted as saying that the intelligence community has become to some degree a military support operation. They added that the deployment of intelligence personnel and resources has become so unbalanced that it “needs to be changed as dramatically as it was at the end of the Cold War.”

Some members said that the traditional espionage has suffered as the CIA has put more and more effort into the operational side.

The problem exists also in Israel and with the planned cuts in the defense budget may have to be confronted soon.