Imagine if our intelligence agencies focused on targeting real terrorists rather than conservative Americans.
The Shocking Intelligence Failure in the Hamas Attack on Israel
The barbaric attack on Israeli civilians over the weekend by Hamas terrorists has left people wondering, as we often do after mass tragedies: How did no one see this coming? As a surprisingly sophisticated, coordinated surprise attack left nearly 1,000 people dead and countless more innocents wounded or kidnapped, anyone can recognize the massive intelligence failure without calling into question who is morally culpable for the invasion. Iran-backed militants attacked civilians from multiple points of entry, hang-gliding into a music festival and dragging the bodies of murdered women through the streets, all effectively livestreamed on the internet.
A Global Intelligence Failure
It wasn’t just an intel failure on Israel’s part — as a close ally with an intelligence presence all over the world, the United States also failed to foresee the attack. A senior U.S. military official admitted to NBC News that “We were not tracking this.” CIA counterterrorism veteran Marc Polymeropoulos told the outlet he was “stunned” that American intel agencies were caught off guard.
The Disturbing Priorities of the Biden Administration
Intelligence operatives are fallible, yes. But instead of identifying the threat from Hamas terrorists, the Biden administration was busy sending money to their state sponsors in Iran and employing Iranian conspirators at the Pentagon.
There’s another task that’s been keeping America’s so-called “counterterrorism” apparatus busy lately, though. Instead of focusing their efforts on actual terrorists — those abroad and those doubtless infiltrating our porous southern border — the Biden administration has continued, and escalated, the trend of turning our post-9/11 surveillance state against Americans, smearing them as “terrorists” for their political beliefs.
The Targeting of Political Opponents
Just last week, Newsweek reported that the FBI is targeting Trump supporters as “domestic terrorists” ahead of the 2024 election. The universal line from the Biden administration is that “domestic terrorism” and its aliases — all of which are used as code for political right-wingers — are the No. 1 threat to national security. The effort to make an example out of Trump supporters who demonstrated at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is only one of numerous instances in which Democrats within and beyond intelligence agencies are working to equate “domestic terrorism” with their political opponents.
Two years ago, Biden’s Education Department infamously planted a letter from the National School Boards Association to Attorney General Merrick Garland, urging him to target concerned parents who showed up at school board meetings to protest Democrats’ Covid policies and their racialist and sexually graphic curricula in public schools. The letter smeared those parents as domestic terror threats and urged the Department of Justice to wield counterterrorism laws against them, and Garland happily acted on the suggestion.
The Erosion of Civil Liberties
A few months later, the politicized Department of Justice announced a new “domestic terrorism unit” to deal with “an elevated threat from domestic violence extremists,” including “those who ascribe to extremist anti-government and anti-authority ideologies.” Taking things a step further, disgraced former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe claimed that targeting the “fringes of the right-wing movement” was insufficient to “catch this threat,” and instead called for federal suspicion of “mainstream” conservatives.
In June 2021, the Biden administration released a “National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism.” It proposed to “counter domestic terrorism by addressing underlying racism and bigotry” — and they weren’t talking about the racism that led Hamas militants to slaughter Israeli civilians this past weekend and has driven violence against Israel in the region for decades. A National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin issued the same year lumped “conspiracy theories on perceived election fraud” and “responses to anticipated restrictions relating to the increasing COVID cases” in the same sentence as “domestic violent extremist ideologies.”
The Misuse of Intelligence Resources
Our intelligence apparatus expends resources on things like telling Big Tech companies which free-thinking Americans’ social media posts to censor, as we discovered via the “Twitter Files” and Missouri v. Biden. It’s actively researching how to most efficiently surveil what you say online. The FBI has been putting its resources to work targeting — and likely “infiltrating” — traditional Catholic congregations, and terrorizing peaceful pro-lifers like Mark Houck, a pastor who was dragged away in a surprise raid at his home in front of his family.
It’s not just domestic intel agencies being wielded against Americans; the CIA did its part to help Twitter censor speech, and even solicited signatures to help falsely smear damaging reporting about the Biden family as disinformation ahead of the 2020 election. (For some reason, none of those involved are being arrested for “conspiracy against voting rights.”)
A Safer World with Proper Priorities
Across the board, we’ve seen the people we elected, and countless bureaucrats we did not, weaponizing supposedly counterterror laws like the Patriot Act against Americans’ First and Fourth Amendment freedoms (at least).
Imagine if those resources were redirected away from targeting ordinary, law-abiding Americans for their political views and aimed at stopping actual terrorists who seek to harm us and our allies. Contrary to the pretense that surveilling Americans as walking national security threats is for our own protection, our world would be a lot safer.
How does the erosion of civil liberties in the name of national security impact the fight against global acts of terrorism?
Global acts of terrorism. No, they were talking about targeting Americans with differing political beliefs and labeling them as domestic terrorists. This erosion of civil liberties in the name of national security is deeply concerning and diverts attention and resources away from real threats.
The Need for Effective Intelligence Gathering
The shocking intelligence failure in the Hamas attack on Israel highlights the critical need for effective intelligence gathering and analysis. It is clear that both Israeli and American intelligence agencies were caught off guard, despite the advanced surveillance capabilities at their disposal. The failure to detect and prevent such a devastating attack raises serious questions about the effectiveness and efficiency of our intelligence systems.
Intelligence agencies play a crucial role in identifying and preventing acts of terrorism. Their primary responsibility is to gather and analyze information to provide accurate assessments of potential threats. However, it is evident that these agencies need to improve their capabilities and enhance their coordination in order to adapt to the ever-evolving tactics of terrorist organizations.
The Role of Politics in Intelligence
One of the underlying issues in the intelligence failure is the politicization of intelligence agencies. Instead of focusing on their core mission of protecting national security, intelligence agencies have been subverted by political agendas. This is evident in the case of the Biden administration, which has directed its resources towards targeting political opponents rather than addressing real threats.
Labeling Trump supporters as domestic terrorists and equating political dissent with terrorism is a dangerous and misguided approach. It undermines the fundamental principles of democracy and freedom of speech. It also distracts intelligence agencies from their primary mission and compromises their impartiality and credibility.
Moving Forward
In order to prevent future intelligence failures, it is crucial to address the politicization of intelligence agencies and prioritize their core mission of national security. Intelligence agencies must be free from political interference and their focus should be solely on gathering and analyzing information to detect and prevent acts of terrorism.
Additionally, there needs to be improved coordination and information sharing between domestic and international intelligence agencies. The attack on Israel by Hamas demonstrates the importance of a global intelligence network to effectively combat terrorist threats. Enhanced collaboration and communication between countries will enable early detection and prevention of such attacks.
Furthermore, intelligence agencies must invest in advanced technologies and techniques to stay ahead of emerging threats. This includes the utilization of artificial intelligence, data analytics, and other innovative tools to analyze vast amounts of information and identify patterns and potential threats.
In conclusion, the shocking intelligence failure in the Hamas attack on Israel highlights the need for improvements in intelligence gathering, coordination, and impartiality. Political agendas must not compromise the effectiveness of intelligence agencies, and their focus should be solely on protecting national security. By addressing these issues and investing in advanced technologies, we can strengthen our intelligence capabilities and prevent future tragedies.
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