On America’s Intelligence Capabilities 

In 1957, following an attempt to assassinate Indonesia’s president, James Burnham wrote this in the National Review:

“Last week’s attempted assassination of Indonesia President Sukhano had all the hallmarks of a CIA operation: Everyone in the room was killed except Sukhano.”

And in the Feb. 20 issue of Taki’s Magazine, Daniel Oliver wrote this:

“If ever there was a gang that couldn’t shoot straight – or spy usefully – it’s America’s intelligence agencies.”

As he pointed out:

“They vastly overestimated the strength of the Soviet Union, missed 9/11 plotting, claimed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, failed to predict North Korea’s progress on intercontinental ballistic missiles, and predicted Russia would quickly subdue Ukraine and on and on and on.”

But now we are supposed to believe the CIA’s reports on China and Russia and the Ukraine. And those are international issues. Should we also trust them when it comes to domestic spying? What kind of data are the CIA collecting and using to spy on Americans?

“‘We don’t know,’ writes the left-wing Brennan Center for Justice, ‘because the Biden administration is refusing to declassify a single word about the nature of the program.’ Americans desiring to stay free have hope the agencies’ incompetence extends to their domestic spying.”