> Wouldn't the point of an "intelligence" service be to _prevent_ terrorist attacks?
Your frustration is clouding your judgment. The purpose of an intelligence service is to gather intelligence. Preventing acts of terrorism would be the mission of the Bureau of Counterterrorism, among others.
People bitch here on a constant basis about US 3-letter agencies. Which is fine I suppose, but the amount of bullshit FUD surrounding the bitching is almost embarrassing.
The tragedy of 9/11 was cited as a failure of the intelligence community as a whole, primary the TLAs, to work together. They know they are responsible, and they know they have to justify their budget in those same terms. The CIA, for one, also meddles in foreign affairs heavily. Presumably, they use active measures to dismantle terror networks. Also, it's not appropriate to view 11/7 as an attack that was hard to predict. At least, the border incursion was an eventuality that they should have been able to repel.
Your frustration is clouding your judgment. The purpose of an intelligence service is to gather intelligence. Preventing acts of terrorism would be the mission of the Bureau of Counterterrorism, among others.
People bitch here on a constant basis about US 3-letter agencies. Which is fine I suppose, but the amount of bullshit FUD surrounding the bitching is almost embarrassing.