I’d like to dedicate this column to the analysts out there who are fighting the good fight — who are risking their careers, reputations, and sometimes even their lives to do the right thing, often without credit, and knowing that doing the right thing can exact incredible personal costs. Being an analyst, I’m often reminded that other jobs depend on my doing my job right. However, in the government — particularly in the State Department, which is our best defense short of war — lives depend on the analysts.
Great post, Rob, and thanks for telling the story behind the story. The failure on 9/11 was actually not only within the State Department, but the NSA and the FBI, where warnings from credible internal sources were brushed off or outright ignored. Then the same thing happened again in the run-up to the 2nd Iraq War, when analysts confirmed that there were no weapons of mass destruction but their analysis was ignored because it didn't reinforce the positions of people who were determined to go to war. Analysis is not only a thankless job, but a painful one when so many deaths could have been prevented if the analysts had been listened to. We'll be paying for 9/11 and the Iraq War forever.
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Thanks, Analysts, for Doing a High Risk, Low Reward Job
Posted by: Rob Enderle November 25, 2019 04:00 AMI’d like to dedicate this column to the analysts out there who are fighting the good fight — who are risking their careers, reputations, and sometimes even their lives to do the right thing, often without credit, and knowing that doing the right thing can exact incredible personal costs. Being an analyst, I’m often reminded that other jobs depend on my doing my job right. However, in the government — particularly in the State Department, which is our best defense short of war — lives depend on the analysts.