OUR SMARTZ We show worry from at times regarding the past, present and future of our national intelligence gathering services.
Some critic have become so self-piously correct as to deny to right for such groups to even exist. It has become needful that we ask ourselves, when we profess to believe in an advancing social level if we can see any justification for allowing portions of the whole - even while declaring unified intent - to spy upon on another.
Some few would contend that all information dealing with governmental activities what-so-ever all become, automatically, public information. Such a ruling might make a modicum of good sense in a pure democracy which we not even pretend to have in place.
If we are to require that all information of such a nature be public, then we need to deceive ourselves and circumvent the intent of such grand proclamation - we need to set up laws concerning that which is public and that which is, in any way, restricted and to whom.
Our intelligence gathering units are, are, admittedly, in sad array. It is not a new thing. Between wars we tend stop collecting information concerning potential foes and ignorance breeds more of the same. A prime example of how this laxity affected my life is to be found in that a good friend of mine who became a marine died, needlessly one might think, at Tarawa when he came and thousand of others found out they had to walk the last mile through waist high water. The charts of the islands on which the landings were based were all ancient fishing fleet charts. Our troops, walking through water on sand that was not supposed be there were shot as if they were ducks on a pond.
We are shaken a bit when we find that our allies went right on spying on us even after they signed up on our side. Such safeguards probably proved to be wise, too, because there are many elements of human error to be found in clandestine operations and some might well demand some subtle relaxation of usual required regulations. Intelligence work, to be meaningful, often demands priviledges to work efficiently or, at times, work at all. In espionage terms as "blackmail", "ransom", and "backshee" - even when miss-spelled are quite common. The time for "accounting" is, often, left to history, and wisely so.
Just suppose - if you doubt that - just suppose that we had been told at the time who "Deep Throat" actually was!
Aren't you glad we have waited! Or, are you?
A.L.M. April 6, 2005 [c489wds]
