Trices Group Book Review Journal

Breakdown

Gertz, Bill

by:

Regnery Publishing, Inc. (Eagle Publishing, Inc.)

Publisher:

Location:

2002

Copyright:

Stephen Owen, Greg Whitesell

Cover:

Hardcover

Type:

Lynard Barnes

reviewed by:

01/15/2003

Comment:

Typical D.C. beltway analysis of a problem.

The sub-title of this book is "How America's Intelligence Failures Led to September 11". Gertz's conclusion that the United States needs a bigger, better intelligence agency is a bit out of synch with his facts. The failure of intelligence to spot the precursors of 9-11 was due to federal agencies not sharing information. Why didn't they share? "The bureaucratic structure of U.S. intelligence agencies in general . . . .has evolved away from the kind of specialized service that is needed for the work of gathering secret intelligence." This is the broken-wheel, wave-the-finger analysis. The reader might want to consult a couple of other sources before buying into the we-need-better-spies-with-better-tools argument. Try "The Cell" by John Miller, Michael Stone and Chis Mitchell. The spies, the FBI agents, the cops all seem to be doing their jobs rather well, thank you very much. However, there doesn't seem to be anyone in charge.

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