by Arthur Gibson

Created on: November 03, 2007

Without a doubt the United States needs a stronger Intelligence Community to help protect the country. This includes not only spies on the ground around the World; but more and better trained analysts to process the information collected through various means. Today, more than any other time in our history, collecting good intelligence and making proper use of it can help to make our Nation not only stronger but safer. And unlike some nations, Britain, Russia, and Germany, just to name a few; the United States has historically been slow to participate in Intelligence gathering.

Prior to the US entry in World War I, a ranking US official stated that "gentlemen don't read each other's mail". And at the time, for an isolationist society that seemed like a legitimate statement. However, when the British broke the "Zimmerman Telegram" showing German efforts to secure Mexican participation in the War on our Southern Border a shift in governmental attitude toward gathering intelligence was born. Unfortunately, this attitude seemed to fade quickly once the War was won. And intelligence gathering in the United States was left to a very small contingent of military personnel in the Army and Navy. These efforts were hindered by little coordination at the highest levels of government and a tendency to refuse to share information between the services.

The beginning of World War II again caught the US Government and Military ill prepared. Lack of coordination of intelligence efforts and refusal to make the information gathered available to the correct authorities helped make the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the disaster it was. Prior to the attack, history shows that the US had broken the main Japanese Diplomatic Code. Refusal to grant access to this information to various Military Commands led to the poor decisions made by Admiral Kimmel and General Short in defensive preparations in Hawaii. Following Pearl Harbor, American Intelligence efforts made great strides and in conjunction with the British and others made tremendous contributions to the winning of the War.

Beginning with President Truman and continuing to the end of the Cold War, most Administrations took efforts to strengthen the United States Intelligence Community. Including establishing the CIA and placing it in overall charge of our intelligence efforts. These efforts included both spies on the ground in locations around the world and electronic intelligence. But, in the closing years of the Cold War less

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