[Intelforum] Fixing intelligence

[Rocco R Rosano]

Ms Reid-Smith, et al,

There is no question that CI, across the board, is lacking; I agree.  It 
is not a deficiency unique to the US Intelligence Community.

Kate.Reid-Smith at cdu.edu.au wrote:

>...and might I also respectfully add that the problems are not only limited
>to the USA, one suspects the lack of offencive CI across the board is also
>severely lacking among several others such as in Australia and Britain as
>well...
>
(COMMENT)

It is not reasonable to assume that the ineptitude in the US, concerning 
CI issues and operational matters, is contagious.  It is more likely 
that as a nation becomes freer, the image of CI becomes more distasteful 
to that free-society.  A Free People generally view CI as a necessary 
evil.  It is a weapon that should only be let out of the bottle when the 
enemy is close at hand.  Unfortunately, CI does not "surge" well.  It 
must be already in place and working if it is to successfully engage the 
opposing hostile force.  CI is like an inoculation to a virus.  It must 
have time to build-up immunity.  This lag in time translates to a lack 
in effectiveness.  But there is the added consequence.  When such a tool 
is placed on the shelf for long periods of time, it becomes rusty.

Kate.Reid-Smith at cdu.edu.au wrote:

>a point taken given the seemingly aggressive PRC activities across a
>wider field in Southeast Asia,  and I also support the point that for far
>too long the fourth arm of the government - the media - has been taking too
>much of the lead in shaping public opinion.  One might also argue that the
>lack of lateral thought is astounding as is the self-perpetuating
>'self-licking icecream' syndrome that appears to be becoming the accepted
>'norm' in CI arguments.
>  
>
(COMMENT)

The People's Republic is one issue - but, the shaping of public oppinion 
is a completely different issue.  The "media" is all about perspective.  
A member of the media living and working in the "Red Zone" of Baghdad 
(as an example) see the environment much differently than does the US 
Military Patrol that traverses the "Red Zone" in armored vehicles, and 
armed to the teeth.  The "Red Zone" community reacts differently to the 
media that tip-toes throught the zone, then it does when it is 
confronted with overwhelming firepower.  Natually, the perspective is 
different; much different than the perspective of an Administration 
driven by the influences of high government officials and Coalition 
Officers.

Generally speaking, the media represents an educated group with 
selective experiences and thought ground in history.  This is much 
different than government driven by policy and expectations for which 
they are suppose to support without reservations.  Both are extremes on 
the spectrume of reality. 

Recently I saw a political cartoon that showed a map of the Middle East 
- centered on Iraq.  It showed a candle lit in the center of Iraq that 
chases the darkness away from the other countries surrounding it (the 
seeds of Democracy idea).  What it failed to note, and what most readers 
do not understand, is that there are already Constitutional Deocracies 
in the Middle East.  Syria is a Constitutional Democracy and the 
language of its Constitution (on that point) is very similar to that of 
Iraq's new Constitution.  What most people do not understand or remember 
is that Iran was born out of a free and democractic referendum (cira 
1979). 

CI, is not about shaping opinion, it is about engaging the enemy in 
nontraditional ways.  The PRC needs to be engaged outside the general 
domain of the media; it is a silent engagement.  The media (on the other 
hand) should never be engaged.  It is not the enemy.  It needs to be 
educated on the rationale of foreign policy and military employment.  It 
has to be a very candid education process so that the media is able to 
match what it hears from the national level outlet - to - what it sees 
on the actual ground.

Most Respectfully,
Rocco Rosano  
prosano at insight.rr.com

>
>  
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists101.his.com/pipermail/intelforum/attachments/20051217/7596c267/attachment.html