Article October 15, 2001 Issue

SPIRITUAL intelligence-gathering

By Nathan Talbot

Up Until September 11, most people in the United States probably felt reasonably secure about their country's capacity to defend them. At least on home turf. After all, they'd seen some pretty dazzling high-tech military operations in the past decade.

But post-September 11 commentary has had to explore a very different dimension to warfare. It points to a need for fresh reasoning about security threats.

Some thoughtful people are talking about the need for more old-fashioned intelligence, as opposed to advanced technology. Though not as dramatic as million-dollar cruise missiles, just plain spying—having the right people in the right place to detect enemy intentions—might have made a difference on September 11. But might is the operative word. No one can be sure. Even military intelligence has its limits.

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