In most instances, the press deduces that, secret intelligence is valueless and a big shame to our civil liberties. However, they fail to realize that, were it not for intelligence, we would not have managed to face our foes that are ever doing things in secret (Oman & Arndt, p 36). While facing Iraq last year, the electronic battlefield was seen doing a good job. It is obvious that, without technical and human intelligence it would be impossible to counter terrorists and their activities.
There is no need to criticize intelligence agencies for not being able to predict great historical events. The future is simply not predictable. Just like many other individuals like journalists, professors, engineers or common people would fail to sense danger, so are the intelligence agencies. For instance, the coup staged against President Mikhail Gorbachev in1991 is a good case in point (Raven, p 12). Nobody thought that overthrowing was possible and it was only with the help of central intelligence agency that the timing was done. Just like any other human organization would make a mistake, so are the intelligence agencies.
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Its assessment, and not the intelligence, that is important. From the onset of 1940, soviet intelligence agencies managed to gather a correct picture of Hitler's plan to attack. Stalin was adamant to respond for actions that later came to be sensible but led to the Red Army to the brink of catastrophe. Assessment is a tricky business, a matter of judgment, not science. Information is always fuzzy. There is almost never enough of it. It rarely leads to an inconvertible conclusion. In another inexplicable situation, General Bernard was unfortunate to face defeat in the Crete battle, although he had so many soldiers facing Germans. This came regardless of him relying on the intelligence unit to plan the attacks (Oman & Arndt 36). In these two cases, the intelligence agency was not responsible. The leaders are squarely to blame for their reluctance to make use of information which was at their disposal.
It is evident that articles of all forms and artists rely on the challenges surrounding intelligence. This is the same case with many agencies. Mystery, unlike secrecy, is something very different. A member who is highly ranked in the intelligence agency pointed fingers at me for failing to believe in intelligence. I was quick to respond that, unlike when one would believe in God or Masonic power, it would be very hard to believe in intelligence. However, something worthy noting is that, while not all people believe in intelligence some still bank hope on it.
Many Americans citizens believe facts come from a difference of opinions. This method considers only the opinions of minority. However, it also enables political leadership to pick interpretation that feeds its prejudices (Braithwaite, p 13). The result has been witnessing of several failures by American intelligence. Even in a matter like confirming the weapons of Saddam Hussein, intelligence did not work. However, in a democracy, the government should not try to justify its actions because of information it is not prepared to reveal. The final word should come from the armed services committee of the United States house of representative.