The United States would have stopped the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks if American intelligence had gotten better inside information on those who planned and carried them out, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told sailors and Marines aboard this warship Friday. Without directly assigning blame to the CIA, whose director, George Tenet, resigned on Thursday and will leave in July, Rumsfeld posed the question, “Is it a terrible failure that we did not” have sufficiently good intelligence to stop the worst terrorist attack ever on American soil? His answer was that it simply is not possible to prevent every conceivable attack, and that is why the United States has taken a more aggressive approach to disrupting terrorists before they strike. “We have to be realistic and expect that there will be additional successful attacks,” he said during a question-and-answer session with several hundred sailors and Marines aboard the USS Essex, a helicopter carrier in port at Singapore with several other ships of the Essex strike group. Full Story
About OODA Analyst
OODA is comprised of a unique team of international experts capable of providing advanced intelligence and analysis, strategy and planning support, risk and threat management, training, decision support, crisis response, and security services to global corporations and governments.