NYT: New Alert Shows That Intelligence Weaknesses Remain

[DeepModem Mom]

No mention in this article of the blunder of "outing" Mr. Khan, who was cooperating in a "sting" operation --


THE 9/11 REPORT
New Alert Shows That Intelligence Weaknesses Remain
By ERIC LICHTBLAU and ERIC LIPTON

Published: August 8, 2004


WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 - In what amounted to an unexpected test run of the nation's overhauled security system, the unfolding terrorist threats of recent days revealed both marked improvements and lingering vulnerabilities in the federal government's ability to identify and mobilize against a possible attack.

A tense week of global arrests, closed-off roadways and public jitters demonstrated the government's capacity to move much more quickly and mass far more resources in response to a perceived threat than it did three years ago before the Sept. 11 attacks, government officials and outside experts agreed.

But the week underscored the United States' increased reliance on terrorist information from Pakistan and other allies, its continued difficulties in using covert sources to infiltrate Al Qaeda and, perhaps most critically, the credibility problems the government faces in deciding what to tell a somewhat jaded public.

In general, the administration's handling of the most recent threats against financial centers "was really a great example of how the system can work, and what I really liked was the heightened sense of urgency we saw," said Thomas H. Kean, the chairman of the Sept. 11 commission....

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The conflicting views of what took place this week - a vigorous response to a looming danger, or a knee-jerk overreaction driven by political calculations as much as practical ones - may be impossible to reconcile, given that much of the intelligence that has been disclosed is murky, and that presumably there is more that remains hidden from public view. At a minimum, this week's events reflected the difficult balance between giving the public enough notice about a threat but not so much information that intelligence sources may be compromised, officials said....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/08/politics/08terror.html