Friedman wishes for something that will never happen… The right way to improve U.S. intelligence is to get more people on the ground who speak the languages we need and who can think unconventionally.
If that sounds blindingly obvious to you, it is, but it is precisely
the shortage of such people that explains to me America's greatest
intelligence failure in Iraq – a failure we are paying for dearly right
now. Our intelligence agencies don't trust foreign born
individuals with the cultural and linguistic capability necessary to
blend in (on the ground). As far and unconventional thinking goes, that
is not going to happen in my lifetime. Unconventional thinking is like
Kryptonite to our intelligence agencies. [John Robb's Weblog]