Saturday, December 15, 2007

Israel Questions U.S. Intelligence

Figuratively and literally, according to the Associated Press:
Avi Dichter said the assessment also cast doubt on American intelligence in general, including information about Palestinian security forces' crackdown on militant groups. The Palestinian action is required as part of a U.S.-backed renewal of peace talks with Israel this month.

Dichter cautioned that a refusal to recognize Iran's intentions to build weapons of mass destruction could lead to armed conflict in the Middle East.

...

Israel will work to change the American intelligence agencies' view of Iran, said Dichter, a former chief of Israel's Shin Bet secret service agency.

"A misconception by the world's leading superpower is not just an internal American occurrence," Dichter said.
There is a tendency to take all Israeli intelligence and lump it into the hyperactive category. I am not one of those people. Unlike most of the world, Israel has no choice but to maintain an active, accurate, and realistic intelligence community.

Wondering aloud, we've already seen how NIEs can be influenced by political concerns in the United States. While I don't believe the Iraq NIE was inaccurate, is there a possibility that the American intelligence community believes it must be entirely accurate in its critique, and therefore cannot safely discuss scenarios or possibilities -- even threats?

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