Publication

This paper explains that the release of the report of the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction on 31 March 2005, is a sobering, long overdue wake-up call to both the US intelligence community and the executive branch. The author states that the report, however, only represents a first step in the process, as it is far from clear if the US intelligence community and its overseers in the legislative branch can muster the willpower to adapt to meet the key challenges of the 21st century, such as combating and preventing the proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and tracking down Islamic and other terrorists. The report states that the US intelligence community does not appear to be up to the security challenges and threats posed and that it is hampered by being both politicized and incompetent.