U.S. intelligence failure

The terrorist attacks on New York and Washington marked a serious failure of intelligence, not least in the U.S. After the Cold War, the intelligence agencies' main task was supposed to be combating terrorism and organized crime. Many are asking how the world's best-funded intelligence services could have failed to uncover a meticulously planned operation carried out on U.S. soil.

One explanation is that the U.S. has given up on old-fashioned spying. In order to combat small, loosely organized terrorist groups operating in America and abroad they must be infiltrated. But before the U.S. leads a general Western rush back to Cold War espionage, it is worth pausing to consider the implications.

First, one of the reasons the U.S. has scaled back its human intelligence activities is public opposition to the human rights abuses sanctioned abroad by the CIA during the 1970s and 1980s. As the Iran-Contra affair demonstrated, there is always a temptation to break the law in order to pursue national interests.

Second, there needs to be much more sharing of information between governments and closer judicial co-operation if the extra intelligence is to be of use.

Third, the U.S. will inevitably have to do more spying at home if it is to infiltrate terrorist groups operating there. Such a step requires appropriate legal safeguards, introduced after proper debate. Filling the gaps in anti-terrorist intelligence is essential; but it must be done with care and thought.

-- The Financial Times, London