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HOW THE CIA LETS AMERICA DOWN


‘COUNTERINSURGENCY WARFARE’ IS A NULLITY WITHOUT HUMAN INTELLIGENCE.


Nov. 14, 2021 1:37 pm ET




Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster has solid credentials as a military thinker and leader at
the operational level of war, and he is perfectly correct in writing that
political leaders can best reward patriots who fight for the country by ensuring
that the outcome is a victory, not a defeat (“Honor Veterans by Having the Will
to Win a War,” op-ed, Nov. 11).

But I fear that Mr. McMaster errs irremediably in his tacit premise that the
U.S. armed forces, as they now exist, can win wars such as the one recently lost
in Afghanistan. I refer...

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The lobby of CIA Headquarters in Langley, Va.

Photo: saul loeb/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster has solid credentials as a military thinker and leader at
the operational level of war, and he is perfectly correct in writing that
political leaders can best reward patriots who fight for the country by ensuring
that the outcome is a victory, not a defeat (“Honor Veterans by Having the Will
to Win a War,” op-ed, Nov. 11).

But I fear that Mr. McMaster errs irremediably in his tacit premise that the
U.S. armed forces, as they now exist, can win wars such as the one recently lost
in Afghanistan. I refer to wars against insurgents, guerrillas, terrorists or
bandits, indistinguishable from the local population at large, who do not
require military equipment too large to be concealed.

The U.S. armed forces perform very well against enemies assembled in
conveniently targetable mass formations or enemies that rely on high-contrast
airfields, military bases, battle tanks, warships, etc. Conversely, the U.S.
cannot fight low-contrast enemies who cannot be spotted and targeted remotely.
To do that, human intelligence is needed: CIA or other field officers who speak
local languages well enough to pass, can physically blend in, identify
insurgents, uncover their gatherings and direct attacks on them.

Such people exist in the movies. In real life, U.S. intelligence officers—unlike
their relevant foreign counterparts—simply refuse to learn foreign languages and
are not compelled to do so by their superiors. They also insist on remaining
very safely “under official cover” within U.S. diplomatic missions or military
installations. Most CIA officers don’t even do that, remaining in the agency’s
vast stateside facilities. It is not for them to live like a local in Tehran or
undercover in Beijing. That is for those other intelligence services that get by
on 1% of the CIA’s budget or less.

Without people on the ground, the U.S. cannot defeat insurgents. With
Afghanistan, the entire edifice of “counterinsurgency warfare” has now been
exposed as a nullity. The CIA failed even to report that the Afghan “army” was
nothing but a form of outdoor relief, operated by racketeers in the guise of
Afghan officials, right up to the presidential level. U.S. generals had
testified that it was imperative to continue spending $3 billion a year in
Afghanistan on U.S. trainers alone. They were not contradicted by U.S.
intelligence on the ground because there was none.

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Edward N. Luttwak

Chevy Chase, Md.

Mr. Luttwak, a consultant to governments and militaries, is author of “Coup
d’État: A Practical Handbook,” “Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace” and other
books.


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