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When the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) failed to prevent the September 11, 2001 attacks, many asked whether more could have been done. But the true reason why the agency was blind to the signs may be a diversity problem, writes Matthew Syed.
The failure of the CIA to spot the warning signs of the 9/11 plot has become one of the most hotly contested issues in the history of intelligence. There have been commissions, reviews, internal investigations and more.
On the one side are those who say that the CIA missed obvious warning signs. On the other are those who argue that it is notoriously difficult to identity threats in advance, and that the CIA did everything they reasonably could.
But what if both sides are wrong? What if the true reason why the CIA failed to detect the plot is more subtle than either side has realised? And what if this problem extends beyond intelligence and silently afflicts thousands of organisations, governments and teams today?
The failure of the CIA to spot the warning signs of the 9/11 plot has become one of the most hotly contested issues in the history of intelligence. There have been commissions, reviews, internal investigations and more.
On the one side are those who say that the CIA missed obvious warning signs. On the other are those who argue that it is notoriously difficult to identity threats in advance, and that the CIA did everything they reasonably could.
But what if both sides are wrong? What if the true reason why the CIA failed to detect the plot is more subtle than either side has realised? And what if this problem extends beyond intelligence and silently afflicts thousands of organisations, governments and teams today?
Was CIA ‘too white’ to spot 9/11 clues?
Posted from bbc.com
Diversity
Culture
Society
Intelligence
Posted >1 y ago
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I find it interesting because there were attacks on Kobar Towers, the World Trade Center the first time, The USS Cole and the Embassy attack in Africa and the CIA could not put the pieces together? You would think, regardless of ethnic background etc those would be big clues to miss. They knew he was a threat or they would not have tried to take him out with cruise missiles. The restrictions preventing CIA and FBI from talking were another ham string. We had warnings from people who had fought with the Muslims in Afghanistan who warned the FBI. We had flight instructors who warned the FBI that some of the Arabs they were teaching didn’t want to learn to land the planes. To bad the FBI couldn’t share that with the CIA. And lastly you do not have to be Muslim to understand Islam. Nobody in the CIA studied Islam? We had the CIA working with Muslims in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Bosnia yet nobody bothered to inquire about the religion or understand the symbolism etc? I have trouble buying this, 9-11 did not occur in a vacuum.
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SGT (Join to see)
Speaking from experience, we advised the IC daily about this threat back in '97, '98, and '99.
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