Reading From the Same Page

The recent news of the successful operation that ended the life of terrorist Osama Bin Laden was a surprise to most of us. Many of us had begun to wonder, whether we might all admit it or not, if we were capable of carrying out an operation that would provide these results. Now, as the news of the operation begins to trickle out we are hearing many details of how the last phase of the operation, the raid, actually occurred. While this information is quite interesting, I am even more interested in the events that led up to the final phase.<br /> <br /> It is clear that this operation ended successfully based on the unbelievable talents of the Seal team that went into the compound. But, it is even clearer that the events that preceded the green flag on the operation are probably even more impressive. The cooperation between so many law enforcement, intelligence, and military organizations is apparent as they blended into a fine tuned and communicative machine with the ultimate goal of a mutual achievement. This very example of cooperation is what we lacked so desperately nearly ten years ago prior to the events of 9-11. It has never been a lack of will, or commitment, or desire to do all possible to keep our country and her citizens safe. It has simply been the inability to do so in a concerted effort based on barriers such as ridiculous red tape, a series of policies and procedures that were in direct conflict of the various agencies, and if we are truly honest, a matter of who would be in charge and who would get the credit.<br /> <br /> Some have said that these issues are perhaps what led to the events of 9-11. A series of events where intelligence was not shared or only parts of it was shared. There were examples of information not being passed along in a timely manner that allowed various organizations to act on what would have been fresh intelligence if it had been disseminated in the correct manner. It was a system from an intelligence perspective that probably operated very well within the confines of the individual agencies, but as a whole it was operating well below the standards that this country has always been accustomed to.<br /> <br /> It has never been a case in which our folks have forgotten how to collect intelligence. Far from it! Our intelligence and military agencies have always been the gold standard when it comes to surveillance and all that goes with the business of uncovering bad things from bad people. It was just a matter of somewhere along the way, we were a bit out of step with each other. All of that changed on 9-11; a costly and devastating day that cannot and shall not be repeated. Over the past ten years, we have seen countless examples of just how closely intelligence agencies are working together, as well as their sharing of information with our military. It is a machine that is well oiled and purring like a kitten as it rises above the heap of unorganized, yet dangerous groups that continue to sprout up like weeds across the globe.<br /> <br /> The events in Pakistan are simply the latest display of just how effective we can be when we operate in a manner of mutualism, inclusion and unwavering informational sharing among our national agencies. This is exactly what we have historically learned to expect. This is what allows us to once again celebrate the results of this correction to a minor flaw in the system.<br /> <br /> It's no different than a night at the symphony. No matter how beautiful the piece, or how talented the individual musicians might be, it will still sound like a train wreck if you have a single bassoonist who is playing from the wrong sheet of music. However, as for the selection that we have just heard

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