Trump's latest betrayal of America sends a clear message to foreign adversaries
What happened to our democracy that day was not an intelligence failure; it was a failure to act upon available intelligence.
By Frank Figliuzzi, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
In the aftermath of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 7, there will be resignations, hearings and inquiries at the Capitol Police department, the respective House and Senate sergeant-at-arms offices, and other law enforcement or military entities.
But let’s be clear — what happened to our democracy that day was not an intelligence failure; it was a failure to act upon available intelligence.
We all saw this coming. Anyone who spends any time assessing the social media threads of violent domestic extremists knew that the Proud Boys, violent militia groups, QAnon quacks and others more loyal to the president than to our nation were planning travel logistics, talking about “overwhelming the Capitol police,” and attaching the hashtag #StormCongress to their planning posts.
While we ponder the vulnerability that followed from a failure to act on clear warning signs, there’s an even more serious concern to consider — our adversaries are pondering the same thing — on a far grander scale.
This certainly isn’t the first time our nation’s leadership failed to act on clearly articulated intelligence pointing to security vulnerabilities. Ever since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, there has been debate as to how and why our country was caught unaware, and who knew what, and when, regarding Japanese plans to attack. But the U.S. wasn’t caught unaware.
The warning signs and intelligence were there — they were just ignored. In 1925, General Billy Mitchell published a report warning of an attack like that on Pearl Harbor. Two war exercises involving simulated air attacks on Pearl Harbor in the 1930’s were assessed as devastating and successful.
Admiral James Richardson, who had been fired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he pushed back on the president’s order to station the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, blamed Roosevelt for permitting the vulnerabilities that led to the devastating foreign attacks.
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Posted By: Dea. Ron Gray Sr.
Saturday, January 9th 2021 at 6:11PM
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