why is intelligence is the key to defeating terrorism?

Answer 1

There's a joke in there...


But, seriously, I'm not sure that it is. No matter how adept you become at rooting out individual cells, you won't be detering future terrorism. You might become very good at defending against it, but you won't defeat it.

Answer 2

Well, there are two keys to defeating terrorism actually.

1. Good intelligence is critical for FIGHTING terrorism, you need to be aware of your enemy's plans , this is a simple truism or war, where more information is better. The US is ironically in the perverse position of having so much "raw intel" that it can't process it because they can't afford or find the number of analysts it would take to look at it all, and computers are simply not up to the task. Even more perverse is a political leadership willing to fire good anaylsts because they are not "politically" correct.


2. Actually defeating terrorism is more complicated and while intelligence is vital here, it's going to break down one of two ways.

A. Islamic Terrorism will go the way of the the Klu Klux Klan, which was so heavily infiltrated by intelligence officers and undercover agents that the FBI director - in a non-joking "joke" commented that if he pulled all his agents and operatives out of the clan, that the membership would drop by nearly 30%.

B. Circumstances will be such that the "bulls eye" is taken off the United States.

Any number of likely (some might even say inevitable) circumstances will arise.

1. China starts to "less discretely" exersize it's foreign policy options.

2. A limited or non-limited nuclear exchange between India/China/Russia and a radicalized Pakistan (after Musharraf)

3. Nuclear fubar - If let's say Al Qaeda obtained some SS-20 warheads and took them back to Karachi or Lahore or Jeddha to be retooled for deployment to the US, for
example.

An accidental detonation inside Pakistan or Saudi Arabia or elsewhere because of improper handling or something, there would likely be several hundred thousand dead folks and very likely a new appreciation as to what it REALLY means to play in the "big leagues" (and be in posession of such nasty weapons).

Answer 3

I find it very telling that none of the so-called "security" measures the U.S. (and other countries that succumbed to panic, such as Canada, where I live) would have stopped the 9/11 hijackers--boxcutter knives can be replaced with other, nonmetallic sharp objects. The failure that resulted in 9/11 was not a security failure but a failure of intelligence. How many Arabic-speaking agents does the U.S. have? Apparently, not much more than when 9/11 happened. Had people relied on "human intelligence" or "humint" somebody would have known what was up. US crimefighting and intelligence agencies did know something was up; they just didn't know what. If more money was spent on "human intelligence"--having people on the ground, familiar with Arabic languages and culture--we'd all be much safer and wouldn't have to remove shoes at airports or worry whether we're carrying more than 3 ounces of liquid in our carry-on luggage.

Answer 4

Imagine there are a thousand burglars out there....

Knowing where they are, or at least what house/building they are planning to break into, is the only way to prevent the burglaries from occurring.

Now imagine there are a hundred thousand, scattered all over the world. If you cannot get to them, at the very least you need to be able to figure out where they plan to attack, so you can increase defenses at those points.

That's the role of intelligence --- gaining and applying information.

Answer 5

Terrorism arises from stupidity and ignorance.....you have to fight those 2 with intelligence and reason

Answer 6

Wasn't it faulty intelligence that got us in this mess to begin with. What we need is hit teams to root these guys out and just kill them. If intelligence helps then fine!

Answer 7

Intelligence where, on the part of our leaders? ....or on the part of our agencies that gather data about terrorists, like the FBI and CIA?

And it is because you can't win if the enemy is smarter than you.

Answer 8

Because, unlike conventional armies, we can't easily see them. We need intel to know who they are & where they are.

Answer 9

Because most terrorists fight without their smarts.

Answer 10

When you know what your enemy is up to, it can come in handy when you need to stop them. :-)

Moving Forward!
Ken
http://VideoTrafficAssistant.com/vip