HUMINT

An article in The Economist, about the prospect facing the new head of MI6, Blaise Metreweli, makes one reflect on the glories of British espionage, represented of course in the fictional world of James Bond, George Smiley et al. By its nature espionage is something one knows more about through fiction than reality. And of course that makes one wonder just how realistic what we “know” through fiction actually is. In a world where disclosing reality could lead to someone’s death, we should not expect to know much at all. We are used to thinking our intelligence services see all. Is it surprising that we had no early warning about the 9/11 attacks on DC and NYC? I saw the smoke billowing from the first tower as I made my way to work, a few minutes late. Consensus was it was a small plane that had lost its way — until the second one hit. The picture of President Bush sitting in school classroom with blank stare on his face certainly suggests an intel failure.