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NATO feels impact of HUMINT cuts
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NATO feels impact of HUMINT cuts
Although specific
details surrounding NATO's disastrous bombing of the Chinese Embassy in
Belgrade on 8 May had not been made available as JIR went to press, it
appears that cuts in the US intelligence budget - especially in the area
of human intelligence (HUMINT) - were a significant factor.
Although the CIA had the correct address for its target -the Yugoslav
munitions bureau -the maps that the agency was using dated from 1992 and
the target was not verified by an agent on the ground. An incorrect location,
which turned out to be the Chinese Embassy, was thus targeted.
The balance between HUMINT and other forms of intelligence-gathering has
historically been a controversial topic within the intelligence community.
This has been especially so since the budget reductions after the end
of the Cold War, as many observers have noted an unprecidented reduction
in HUMINT resources.