The Intel War - Jim Henley commenting on the information coming out now about the pre-war intelligence situation:
the leaks from Anglosphere intelligence officials are coming fast and furious these days, in Britain and here. It's dangerous business for politicians to try to set up intelligence agencies as fall guys. Intelligence agencies know things. And they care more about their own political health than yours. Didn't Watergate start to go sour on Nixon when the White House tried to scapegoat the CIA?
There can be clashing institutional interests within the suborgans of the state. Blame assignment is one time when that happens. Nobody wants to take the fall here; in this case the dynamic works towards openness. But in the state openness is hardly usual. Usually the interests of the state agencies are the same, or at least not in opposition to each other.

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