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| No | 44% | 63 votes | Total: 142 votes | |
| Yes | 56% | 79 votes |
No
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Add to FavoritesAmerica is not in need of more spies gathering information - we have ample amounts of biological and mechanical eyes and ears getting us obscene amounts of information - we need analysts to go through the information we have and make sense of it.
Information, in and of itself, is useless. Between the CIA, FBI, NSA and the many other intelligence agencies that exist, we get enough information that each analysts we have has to look through 3000 reports and email A DAY. If you assume our analysts work a 15 hour day since they're stressed and have a great deal of work that still only translates to 3.3 seconds on each report and email sent to them from the field. With such little time available to spend on each piece of information, the chances of finding the one that matters and getting it to a superior who likely has a large number of such information coming to him as well is incredibly difficult.
Analysts are not what people think of when they think the CIA. They are, for all intents and purposes, paper pushers. They're also the most intelligent and important paper pushers in the country. Each one of them is responsible for looking at raw data and coming to a conclusion, in a remarkably short period of time, about which pieces are important and need to be passed on to analysts higher up, and which can be discarded as interesting, but ultimately unimportant. Those analysts we have are very good, the United States is incredibly well informed. But even with highly qualified men and women working every day at it, we are still completely overwhelmed with more information than we could possibly hope to process with the work force we have.
The solution, therefore, is not to increase the amount of information being sent to us by spies and satellites all over the world, but rather to increase the number of people going through this information to see if it means anything. Without the context through which to view the information we get, the information itself is worse than useless, its dangerous. Improper context can paint a completely different picture of a situation, and, in the intelligence business, that can get people killed.
Learn more about this author, Bryan Jennings.
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Yes
The question; "Does the U.S. need more spies to help inform and protect our country?" The quick answer; "Absolutely Yes!" Nothing, absolutely nothing compares to having the best data possible, available for discussion and planning so that the best and most timely decisions can be made as needed.
America has one of the greatest and most effective intelligence gathering capabilities in the entire World. It makes me proud to be American because of our capabilities. But, machines and technology only provide data and analysis based upon limits imposed by programmers and designers. What machines and technology cannot always account for, is human nature (although our programmers and designers are pretty terrific and "near perfect" at accounting for that to the best of their ability).
The military expression is "boots on the ground"; human beings in positions where and when needed to confirm data and provide the "human nature data" that machines and technology must've missed or misinterpreted. A unique human perspective that can color the raw data gathered by all other means and add the missing component(s) (the emotion and the "will" of the people to succeed or to fail).
In the 1960s and 70s, the Japanese were emerging as a manufacturing marvel. With limited resources available technologically, the Japanese businesses and the Japanese government reached out to the people for assistance. With money tight for everyone, businesses and government encouraged the Japanese people to take vacations as needed, but to travel to places that other family members had not gone to before.
They also encouraged everyone to take as many pictures as humanly possible and practical, and then to share them with "everyone at home" (family, friends, employer, government). It was a stroke of genius that was responsible for launching Japanese business into the outer limits of technological advancement. Millions and millions of man hours were spent sucking every ounce of useful intelligence out of photos.
As a result, products and services that had been successful elsewhere, were copied, then redesigned and made more efficiently. Businesses rewarded employees that were loyal to them with lifetime employment for them and their families. As a result of that, families / employees wanted to be of even greater assistance in providing more timely, accurate and detailed intelligence.
The rest is history; "made in Japan" assures consumers around the globe the product is 1st rate (tell me, do you doubt the reliability or the credibility of any product made or serviced by a Japanese Firm? I don't.).
It all comes down to perspective, and perspective is a result of focus. America has the means to do much, much better in so many things and ways. Do the American people have the will? Of course they do, look what happened 40 years ago, we put two men on the Moon because we focused, sacrificed, and were willing to do what had to be done as it needed to be done.
Those who want to do better than America, or hurt America (for any of a number of reasons valid and known to them), have "the will" to do what they must to be successful. Having more information gathered first-hand would allow us as a Nation and as a people to understand better, both the potential threats and the assets available to us, allow us the ability to prioritize better, and ultimately focus on what's most important when necessary. Realistically, common sense tells us all the answer already known within our hearts; "of course more spies would help inform and protect our country"!
Let's do what we do best, focus and get the job done with compassion and heart! Just get involved, take an interest, stand up and be heard. We're all significant, every single one of us, and what we do does matter! Have a great day, and I look forward to you caring and sharing.
Learn more about this author, Daniel G. O'Leary.
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