2024/11/17 by Michael J. Ard · 1 voice · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Intelligence, Security, War Strategy #Cybersecurity and Cyber Warfare Studies
paper · doi:10.1080/02684527.2024.2422134
Several U.S. government investigations have examined the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol, and all assign at least some blame to intelligence failure. Their reports tended to focus on poor dissemination of intelligence and inadequacies in social media analysis as main defects. What the reports oddly ignore is how inadequate human intelligence (HUMINT) collection may have contributed to that failure. Would better HUMINT collection have made a different in helping prevent the attack? This article evaluates the key findings of January 6 as an alleged intelligence failure event, how HUMINT has been collected in the U.S. on extremist groups, and the feasibility of using such collection for preventive strategies. ‘January 6’ offers a unique case study on the inherent obstacles to domestic intelligence collection, especially in a polarized political environment.