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US Report: Major Changes Needed in Afghanistan Military Intelligence

   VOA News 05 January 2010
   US  Marine  fires  on Taliban positions from rooftop in the village of
   Dahaneh, Afghanistan (file photo)

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

   US  Marine  fires  on Taliban positions from rooftop in the village of
   Dahaneh, Afghanistan (file photo)

   The   U.S.  military  intelligence  chief  in  Afghanistan  says  U.S.
   intelligence  agencies  are  focused too much on gathering information
   about  insurgent  groups  and  too  little  on  the Afghan people whom
   international troops seek to win over.
   In  a  new  report  about  the  intelligence community's shortcomings,
   General  Michael Flynn said top U.S. leaders still are not getting the
   right  information  to  make  decisions and the news media are largely
   driving the issues.
   After  more  than  eight  years  with  U.S.  intelligence  officers in
   Afghanistan,  the  report  says intelligence is still unable to answer
   fundamental  questions  about  the  Afghan people and unable to inform
   U.S. and NATO forces about the environment in which they operate.
   The  report  was  published  Monday  by  the Center for a New American
   Security, a research organization based in Washington, D.C.
   The  authors  say  the  report is based on interviews with hundreds of
   current  and  former  intelligence officials. It is aimed at examining
   the   relevance   of   the   U.S.   intelligence   community   to  the
   counterinsurgency  strategy in Afghanistan. The report listed detailed
   recommendations for changing U.S. intelligence operations.
   In Afghanistan Tuesday, Afghan officials said 14 militants were killed
   while  trying  to  assemble  a  car  bomb.  Police  in northern Kunduz
   province  say  the  men  were apparently accidentally killed when they
   were placing the bomb in a mini-bus.
   Meanwhile,  U.S.  officials  say  the  suicide bomber who killed seven
   Central  Intelligence  Agency  employees  and a Jordanian intelligence
   officer  at  a  base  in eastern Afghanistan last week was a Jordanian
   informant working as an al-Qaida double agent.
   Current  and former Western intelligence officials have identified the
   suicide  bomber  as  Humam  Khalil  Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a 36-year-old
   doctor from Zarqa, Jordan.
   The  officials  say Jordanian intelligence officers arrested al-Balawi
   more  than a year ago and believed they had successfully recruited him
   despite   his   history  of  sympathizing  with  al-Qaida  extremists.
   Jordan's  intelligence  agency  then sent al-Balawi to Afghanistan and
   Pakistan  to infiltrate al-Qaida and deliver the group's leadership to
   American forces.
   The  CIA  has  declined  to  publicly identify the American victims of
   Wednesday's attack at a base in Khost province.
   The  bodies  of  the  seven CIA employees killed in the attack arrived
   Monday  at  a U.S. Air Force base in the East Coast state of Delaware.
   A  small,  private  ceremony was held at the base, attended by friends
   and family and CIA Director Leon Panetta.
   The  bombing  was the second-deadliest attack in the U.S. intelligence
   agency's   history.  In  a  statement,  CIA  spokesman  George  Little
   described  the  fallen  employees as "patriots who courageously served
   their nation."

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