Ken, you made the point more succinctly than did the authors of the "assessment" and certainly far more than have most of political prattle spewing out over this. One big problem, in my personal biased opinion, is the abysmal quality of the so-called analysis - as well as the perhaps non-existent editing and dissemination approval process - that went into the piece. Hell, I would have never let one of my guys publish crap like that - its distribution would be embarassing. As it has proved to be in this case; definitely far beyond what the authors ever expected.
Whether it was approved by the branch or the division chief for distro, it is still an extremely poor reflection upon the quality of the personnel (capabilities, training and management) at the Extremism and Radicalization Branch, Homeland Environment Threat Analysis Division of DHS - and, I would venture to say, the entire "intelligence" structure at DHS.
Instead of becoming a political football fueling juvenile partisan bickering, this should be focusing attention on our continuing true lack of a real domestic intelligence capability. A review by any intelligence professional of the DHS and Bureau "assessments" that have thus far been leaked reveals systemic issues with poor writing, weak and unsupported analysis and faulty judgments. For those with access, the view is worse.
Sure, there are some good intel people in both agencies - but they are in a tiny minority. Experienced intel guys tend to go to agencies and organizations that are really focused in their intelligence mission. And for the organizations in question, the effort to grow-their-own analysts clearly has not met the intent. Unless the problem is recognized for what it is - a substantive problem with training, managing, and maintaining analytic capabilities - it will never get fixed. We'll just keep seeing more poor quality reports leaked out to be twisted for political ends in this continuing bitterly partisan environment.
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