The danger of tunnel vision

摘要

Encryption is a serious vulnerability, and one that should have been addressed 'in earnest' long ago. The intelligence system that the U.S. is employing in Afghanistan won't be brought to perfection by one new capability, and it won't be brought down by one particular vulnerability. Its success does not hinge on the work of one particular military service, aircraft, ship, ground vehicle or network. The system is just that, a system. The ultimate goal is to give commanders and troops the intelligence they need to make the right decisions about when to drop bombs and when not to drop bombs; which suspects to track and which to let go; and when and where to be ready for a fight. All are critical in a counterinsurgency in which success depends on defeating enemies but also on winning hearts and minds.