Gold Gone to Waste

[thedrifter]

Gold Gone to Waste <br />
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<br />
little-reported civil trial that just concluded in Washington, DC, makes me wonder if one of our most respected presidents was ill-served by some of the people who worked...

[firstsgtmike]

Something I've often wondered about, when the subject of "intelligence failures" arises, is why no one from the intelligence community comes forward to respond. To me, their failure to respond is almost an admission of guilt.

Iraq and WMD is a different issue entirely.

I was never in intelligence, so I'm not being defensive, but I WOULD pay attention and give SOME credence to the following argument.

"X number of intercepts of telephone and radio conversations are recorded on a daily basis. The backlog of deciphering, decoding, and analyzing is "such and such". Communications between certain individuals receive immediate attention, other communications are analyzed on a deferred basis, when time permits.

In THIS specific instance, this is how that information was received and processed. ......................................."

I remember the movie, Midway, and the rooms full of radio intercept operators who were monitoring Japanese radio traffic. An innocent sounding message was sent for the Japanese to intercept concerning a water shortage on Midway. The Japanese forwarded the information in the clear (not coded) and mentioned their code name for Midway.

All of the US intercept operators were told to be on the alert for a Japanese message referring to a water shortage. Once it was received (in the clear) it was immediately acted upon.

How would the message have been treated if the operators had not been alerted to its significance?????????

In the 40's radio intercepts were done by operators manning radios in "real time". Today, satallites "absorb" a fantastic number of transmissions and conversations as they orbit the globe. How often is this data downloaded to the ground? How is it handled upon data receipt?

In 1983, was diplomatic traffic between Iran and its Embassy in Syria considered a "process immediately" link?