A Call to Action for the Intelligence Community Following Hamas Terror Attack
OCTOBER 30TH, 2023 BY CHARLIE ALLEN CHRIS WILLIAMS | 0 COMMENTS
Charlie Allen retired from the Central Intelligence Agency after a distinguished decades-long career as a CIA officer, including as the National Intelligence Officer for Warning, the National Intelligence Officer for Counterterrorism, and Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Collection.
View all articles by Charlie Allen
Chris Williams served in key positions in the Department of Defense and the U.S. Congress, including Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense and Deputy Staff Director and Budget Director of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He also chaired the Defense Policy Board. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. Government.
OPINION — The October 7 massacre perpetrated against innocent Israelis, Americans and other foreign nationals by the terrorist group Hamas and enabled by its primary patron Iran represents a failure for U.S. intelligence.
This is not the first time the Intelligence Community (IC) has been surprised, nor will it be the last.
Given the scope of the Hamas attacks and the regional and global implications, this failure has been compared with al Qaeda’s attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001, as well as the Egyptian-Syrian attacks on Israel in October 1973.
In response to previous intelligence shortcomings, detailed post-mortem assessments were conducted to understand what happened and recommend remedial actions. For example, most Americans are familiar with the report of the national commission to investigate the 9/11 attacks. Decades earlier, then-Director of Central Intelligence William Colby commissioned a multi-agency assessment of the performance of the IC before the October 1973 attacks on Israel.
https://www.thecipherbrief.com/a-call-to-action-for-the-intelligence-community-following-hamas-terror-attack
