US intelligence system in "crisis" -- former arms inspector David Kay

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Former arms inspector David Kay painted a dire portrait of the state of US intelligence, saying the infrastructure is so broken that even the appointment of an national intelligence czar was not likely to fix it.
Kay, who resigned in January as the head of the Iraq (news - web sites) Survey Group -- the US outfit tasked with the futile exercise of hunting down Baghdad's alleged weapons of mass destruction program -- said the US intelligence network was in a full-blown crisis, pointing to a series of cataclysmic lapses, including the September 11, 2001 terror attacks and the flawed intelligence on Iraq's weapons program.

"The US intelligence community is in a crisis, and this crisis is so grave that it weakens an essential underpinning of both our diplomatic and our national military security capabilities and their ability to support US national interests," Kay said at a hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

"Remedying this crisis cannot be simply achieved by naming a National Intelligence Director. What is necessary is vision, and an unswerving commitment to serving the nation beyond the political and policy interests of any one particular administration," he said.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040818/pl_afp/us_attacks_iraq_kay

was fervent in his delivery. Frankly, I learned more today than before.