Germany, France, others with vested interest sharing info
CHUCK MCCUTCHEON
Newhouse News Service
In fact, some lawmakers and intelligence experts predict that international spy agencies will provide even more assistance now war has begun. They said those countries include Germany and France, both of whom strongly objected to the administration's invasion plans.
"We're getting outstanding cooperation from our allies, including the Germans and the French, from an intelligence standpoint," said Senate Select Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan. "I wish their political leaders would listen to them."
Not only have the CIA and other agencies built good relationships with their foreign counterparts, Roberts and others said, but many nations vulnerable to terrorist attacks from Iraqi sympathizers have a vested interest in sharing what they learn.
"Since the Europeans feel so exposed, they're likely to be all the more cooperative," said Gregory Treverton, an intelligence analyst for the Rand Corp., a national security think tank. "Everybody's going to be trying to kiss and make up."
Despite the public image the CIA operates in a secretive, lone-wolf fashion, the agency has long depended on other nations to do much of its spying.
In particular, it has used other nations to provide old-fashioned snooping or human intelligence, considered one of the best ways to detect terrorist plots in advance. In return, the CIA provides money and data from its spy satellites and other technical intelligence collection systems.
"My initial concern was that a unilateral operation against Iraq might degrade some of that cooperation," said Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., who spent a decade overseas as a CIA operations officer. "But I checked with the Pentagon, and even (Wednesday's) surgical strike in Baghdad was conducted with help from other countries. It was multilateral, and that's reassuring."
Dozens of foreign agencies, from Britain's MI-6 to New Zealand's Security Intelligence Service, have provided information and other help that have prevented attacks and apprehended terrorists, Bush administration officials say. Earlier this month, Pakistani and American officials nabbed suspected senior al-Qaida mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in Pakistan.
In addition, France's law enforcement and spy services have shared their knowledge of terrorist operations in Africa. And Australia has been useful in tracking activities in Indonesia and southeast Asia, said Rep. Doug Bereuter, R-Neb., a senior member of the House Permanent Select Intelligence and International Relations committees.
But some intelligence community observers remain skeptical that foreign agencies are providing as much help as they could. Robert David Steele, a former CIA and Marine Corps intelligence officer who has been critical of the Bush administration's approach to spying, said there are several barriers to increased cooperation, including Europe's anger about the U.S. focus on Iraq over al-Qaida.
"In the rest of the world, the CIA is throwing money around like there is no tomorrow and the (foreign intelligence) services are taking the money, giving us chicken feed and laughing all the way to their Swiss bank account," said Steele, founder of OSS.net, a Virginia intelligence research company that contracts with U.S. spy agencies. "Any serious audit of this effort (to work with foreign intelligence agencies) ... would reveal massive waste, mismanagement, misconceptions and generally a betrayal of the public trust."
After the Cold War, the CIA substantially cut back on the number of overseas spies in its directorate of operations, according to lawmakers and intelligence experts. Those who remained often had to assist U.S. military operations instead of focusing pre-emptively on areas where terrorism flourished.
In addition, many CIA agents shied from the dangerous work of penetrating terrorist groups. A congressional investigation last year into the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks cited "an excessive reliance on foreign liaison services" that limited the agency's ability to forewarn of the attacks.
CIA officials say they are addressing the issue. Director George Tenet told the Senate intelligence committee in October that the volume of information his agency received in 1999 from U.S.-recruited foreign agents surpassed that from foreign spy services for the first time -- and that the trend has continued.
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