Blinking Red: Crisis and Compromise in American Intelligence after 9/11

by Michael Allen

After the September 11 attacks, the 9/11 Commission argued that the United States needed a powerful leader, a spymaster, to forge the scattered intelligence bureaucracies into a singular enterprise to vanquish America’s new enemies—stateless international terrorists. In the midst of the 2004 presidential election, Congress and the president remade the post–World War II national security infrastructure in less than five months, creating the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and a National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC).

 

Blinking Red illuminates the complicated history of the bureaucratic efforts to reform America’s national security after the intelligence failures of 9/11 and Iraq’s missing weapons of mass destruction, explaining how the NSC and Congress shaped the U.S. response to the 9/11 attacks. Michael Allen asserts that the process of creating the DNI position and the NCTC is a case study in power politics and institutional reform. By bringing to light the legislative transactions and political wrangling during the reform of the intelligence community, Allen helps us understand why the effectiveness of these institutional changes is still in question.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2013

Reviews

[James Cogbill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Allen does a good job recounting the political logrolling and back door deals that led to the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) of 2004. He also concludes with analysis about the ultimate effectiveness of the legislation and the organizations it created (DNI, NCTC, and FBI Intelligence Workforce). In my view the the national intelligence structure that emerged with the passage of the IRTPA and subsequent executive action can be deemed a success and an improvement over what existed previously. For example, as stated by Allen, the NCTC has been “an ‘almost unalloyed success’” in bridging the IC’s foreign-domestic divide that had foiled the ability to predict the 9/11 attacks. While the DNI does not have all of the authority initially envisioned, his budgetary authority and to a lesser extent his personnel authority are a clear improvement over the DCI’s, and represent a capacity to set priorities where the DCI’s attempt to do so with his “We are at war,” memorandum failed. The decision to preserve the Defense Secretary’s ability to control his combat support agencies was the right one, both in wartime and in peace, as the main intelligence failures of our recent past did not stem from the DoD. Ultimately, as Allen points out, the success of the DNI will largely be dependent on the amount of authority and responsibility each President assigns to it, as it would be difficult for Congress to prevent a President from relying more on his CIA Director than his DNI. Notwithstanding, it is evident the IRTPA has provided the President and our nation with important tools—the DNI, NCTC, and FBI intelligence workforce—that will help the country prevent the next attack and ensure American security and prosperity in years to come.

[Clayton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is fine. I read it for a political science class, so it accomplished its purpose. Unless you are into Congressional reform practices, this book is not for you. There are interesting comparisons to today's politics in that the events laid out in the book revolve around the dealings of a gew political insiders.

[Jacob]

drab

[Shera · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read for me... the events and legislation were mainly going on while I was in college. I was vaguely aware, but not tracking it closely and this book provides a play-by-play look at our legislative process and how bills are formed and passed. I was impressed with the level of detail the author was able to include without making this too dry of a read. (I'm a Poli-Sci major though, so take that with a grain of salt.) It also felt pretty even-handed as far as the political point of view goes. Overall, I enjoyed getting to understand the attempt our government made at reforming and uniting our intelligence services after 9/11. It's still definitely a work in progress, and whether or not it succeeds in the long run at creating a more centralized, shared-knowledge community remains to be seen.