”I know something you don’t.”
A common statement on playgrounds, but in Washington D.C.?
The children on that political playground are employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency, Secret Service and other government agencies dealing with the security of America.
Interagency—and even intraagency—reluctance to share information has always plagued spook, law-enforcement and military operations.
As World War II loomed, President Franklin Roosevelt created the Office of Strategic Services to coordinate intelligence on potential and real enemies at home and abroad.
FDR acted then because FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and the Army and Navy intelligence chiefs kept vital data too close to their vests and refused to share the glory.
Local law-enforcement agencies have reluctantly responded in recent years to public pressure and created joint task forces to share information on high-profile crimes involving several jurisdictions.
Recent revelations about FBI and CIA mishandling of information about terrorist plots before and after 9/11 demand the same public pressure to force coordinated sharing of national and international intelligence. (9 JUNE 2002)
