CIA Admits That They Rely On The Media For Their Information On Egypt

CIA: Our Mideast Forecasts Kind Of Suck -- The Danger

Rumors are flying around Twitter that Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak may be forced to step down as early as tonight. What does CIA Director Leon Panetta assess? All he could tell legislators on Thursday morning is that, like them — reliant on the media — he was hearing a “strong likelihood that Mubarak may step down this evening.”

Unsurprisingly, that didn’t satisfy the House intelligence committee’s leaders, who want to know how a spy apparatus that costs $80 billion annually didn’t forecast the Egyptian uprising. As spymasters have said repeatedly over the past two weeks, intelligence officials have reported for “decades” that unrest brews in the Mideast. “But we are not clairvoyant,” said James Clapper, the director of national intelligence.

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Update #1: CIA chief Egypt forecast based on press: official -- AFP
Update #2: DNI James Clapper Gives Intel Committee 'B+' on Egypt; CIA Director Leon Panetta: Mubarak Likely To Step Down -- ABC News

My Comment: CIA Director Panetta reveals where the CIA gets their intelligence on Egypt in today's meeting with House intelligence committee’s leaders ....

.... What does CIA Director Leon Panetta assess? All he could tell legislators on Thursday morning is that, like them — reliant on the media — he was hearing a “strong likelihood that Mubarak may step down this evening.” ....

My God .... if this is true (and I sincerely hope I am wrong) .... it makes me wonder on what is the intelligence community doing with the $80 billion that they receive each year. As to giving the Intel committee a B+ on Egypt .... I am choking on my coffee right now.