Russian President Vladimir Putin. © RIA Novosti. Alexei Nikolski
Ex- CIA Chief: Why We Keep Getting Putin Wrong -- Eli Lake & Christopher Dickey, Daily Beast
Blame a myopic mindset—and an intelligence corps focused on terrorism, not Moscow.
The last time Russian troops invaded one of its neighbors, the U.S. intelligence community was also caught off guard.
The year was 2008 and the country was Georgia instead of the Ukraine. And just as in 2014, back then there were early signs that Moscow was serious—it was issuing visas to ethnic Russian speakers in Georgia, like it's doing now in Ukraine. U.S. analysts just didn’t believe Russia would go as far as it did.
Today, as in 2008, American policy makers have found themselves burned after trying to make Vladimir Putin a partner when Putin himself sees America as a rival. This has often led Republican and Democratic led administrations to find themselves flat footed in the face of Russian aggression and U.S. intelligence analysts racing to explain how they misread Putin’s motivations.
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My Comment: The U.S. has operated for a long time on the premise that relations are only going to get better with Russia .... so why we be critical. The U.S. intelligence community has also been focused on other threats .... terrorism/war .... and spending a lot of time (and money) on surveillance programs that spy on us.
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