From: "Mark" 

Well, to quote Homer, Doh! We know we were in a piss-poor intelligence
position prior to 9/11 (and everyone was running around trying to get up to
speed at breakneck speed), if not the towers would still be standing.

We've done a lot to correct that and have taken out multiple cells and
thousands of plotters in countries around the world since then, with no
thanks to the NYTs and what I can only categorize as their attempts to
undermine those same efforts. 

"Rich Gauszka"  wrote in message
news:43cc6c3b{at}w3.nls.net...
> Sometimes too much info can also be a problem.
>
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/17/politics/17spy.html?hp&ex=1137474000&en=955
35dcb34270fd6&ei=5094&partner=homepage
>
> WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 - In the anxious months after the Sept. 11 attacks,
> the National Security Agency began sending a steady stream of telephone
> numbers, e-mail addresses and names to the F.B.I. in search of terrorists.
> The stream soon became a flood, requiring hundreds of agents to check out
> thousands of tips a month.
>
> But virtually all of them, current and former officials say, led to dead
> ends or innocent Americans.
>
> F.B.I. officials repeatedly complained to the spy agency that the
> unfiltered information was swamping investigators. The spy agency was
> collecting much of the data by eavesdropping on some Americans'
> international communications and conducting computer searches of
> foreign-related phone and Internet traffic. Some F.B.I. officials and
> prosecutors also thought the checks, which sometimes involved interviews
> by agents, were pointless intrusions on Americans' privacy.
>
> As the bureau was running down those leads, its director, Robert S.
> Mueller III, raised concerns about the legal rationale for the
> eavesdropping program, which did not seek court warrants, one government
> official said. Mr. Mueller asked senior administration officials about
> "whether the program had a proper legal foundation," but deferred to
> Justice Department legal opinions, the official said.
>
> "We'd chase a number, find it's a schoolteacher with no indication they've
> ever been involved in international terrorism - case closed," said one
> former F.B.I. official, who was aware of the program and the data it
> generated for the bureau. "After you get a thousand numbers and not one is
> turning up anything, you get some frustration."
>
> Intelligence officials disagree with any characterization of the program's
> results as modest, said Judith A. Emmel, a spokeswoman for the director of
> national intelligence's office. Ms. Emmel cited a statement at a briefing
> last month by Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the country's second-ranking
> intelligence official and the director of the N.S.A. when the
> eavesdropping program was started.
>
> "I can say unequivocally that we have gotten information through this
> program that would not otherwise have been available," General Hayden
> said. The White House and the F.B.I. declined to comment on the program or
> its results.
>
> The differing views of the value of the N.S.A.'s foray into
> intelligence-gathering in the United States may reflect both bureaucratic
> rivalry and a culture clash. The N.S.A., an intelligence agency, routinely
> collects huge amounts of data from across the globe that may yield only
> tiny nuggets of useful information; the F.B.I., while charged with
> fighting terrorism, retains the traditions of a law enforcement agency
> more focused on solving crimes.
>
> "It isn't at all surprising to me that people not accustomed to doing this
> would say, 'Boy, this is an awful lot of work to get a tiny bit of
> information,' " said Adm. Bobby R. Inman, a former N.S.A.
director. "But
> the rejoinder to that is, Have you got anything better?"
>
> Several of the law enforcement officials acknowledged that they might not
> know of arrests or intelligence activities overseas that grew out of the
> domestic spying program. And because the program was a closely guarded
> secret, its role in specific cases may have been disguised or hidden even
> from key investigators.
>
> Still, the comments on the N.S.A. program from the law enforcement and
> counterterrorism officials, many of them high level, are the first
> indication that the program was viewed with skepticism by key figures at
> the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the agency responsible for disrupting
> plots and investigating terrorism on American soil.
>
>

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