How does Schroen, who led the first team into Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, feel about not getting the perpetrators of 9/11?
'It's the only thing I regret in my long career with the CIA, that we didn't get Osama bin Laden in 2001 when we had a chance. That son of a bitch is out there still plotting to kill Americans.'"
"It is fundamentally troubling, given this collection of new threats and new adversaries directly targeting America, that there remains no federal government agency or department specifically charged with identifying radicalization and interdicting the recruitment of U.S. citizens or residents for terrorism…America is thus vulnerable to a threat that is not only diversifying, but arguably intensifying." There you have it: an open pitch for a new federal government agency or department, with dire consequences insinuated if it is not created -- and fast. I could support such an agency if it entailed a dramatic change in perspective, i.e., a serious inquiry into the middle class ideology of rebellion, for it is that ideology which is behind radicalization and terrorism. The odds against that inquiry happening are high indeed, almost as high as the inquiry is needed.
I'm truly sorry, but I cannot view the Bergen/Hoffman report as anything other than junior college work. On an individual level, for me to say otherwise would be bad faith; socially, it would be irresponsible. Hoffman has shown he is capable of better work; given the report's journalistic flourishes, I question how much of it is his. That said, the report is a state of the art, Washington terrorism study.
Where do Bergen/Hoffman and CNN take us? A government is only as good as the media covering it. Which means, we Americans have huge problems. Titanic ones, maybe.