Gathering and using intelligence

Our past history affects how we view current events, and it helps to recognize that we may not be truly objective. Such is the case with my own reaction to news stories about Russia.

Russia, the lead country of the USSR (Soviet Union) and the Warsaw Pact, invaded Hungary and fought Hungarians who were resisting Russian control of their country. The Berlin Blockade was an attempt to force the U.S., England and France to leave Berlin. Russia provided aid to North Vietnam during our Vietnam War. They invaded Czechoslovakia, and their confrontation with us over Soviet missiles in Cuba pushed a military confrontation toward nuclear war. The Soviets killed people who tried to leave East Berlin for freedom in the West after they built an armed wall to keep those people in. More recently the Russians have used military force to capture Crimea, and the Ukraine is still an ongoing military confrontation, and that confrontation has led to the shoot down of a passenger airliner. In actions reminiscent of the Cold War, the Russians have used their military to harass U.S. military ships and planes. The current issue is Russian hacking in the recent U.S. presidential election.

In the Sunday issue of "Politico" Molly McKew claims that recent Russian activity shows that Russia is actually conducting war-like aggression. They are capitalizing on political and economic discord to weaken the relationships within and between U.S. and western European allies.

While Russian President Vladimir Putin works to restore Russia as a world super power, Western political leaders and politicians would be wise to realize that political discord can be viewed as weakness by nations with non-democratic governments. It would be worthwhile to study western political disagreements during the Cold War. Those disagreements took a back seat to national security when faced with an external threat.

One difficulty our civilian population faces is that classified intelligence information which details enemy activities often cannot be detailed without revealing our sources. Our politicians must be watchdogs to supervising our intelligence agencies to ensure they are providing our leaders with accurate unbiased intelligence.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.