US Intelligence Failure Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

US Intelligence Failure - Research Paper Example ver did not carry out any immediate action such as keeping the terrorist by the name Khalid al-Mihdhar from entering the US even though they even had his passport number. They took that action too when he was already in the country and even registered as well as taking flying lessons (Zegart 96). There were several reasons that cause this failure in intelligence as will be discussed below in detail. The CIA is a very bureaucratic agency and had been so since the era of the cold war. The policies that had been formulated then were never changed even after the cold war was over. This therefore meant that they had no policies and directives of how to handle the terrorism situation if it arose or what mandate they had in the whole issue. Even though Clinton had formed an Al Qaida taskforce, it only handled issues to do with Osama bin Laden and it was still not an active group and would not have known how to handle the terrorist intelligence information about the 9/11 attacks. The bureaucracy in the federal government also led to delay in intelligence decisions and legislations and hence the reason there was delay in taking action in regards to the Khalid situation. Other than bureaucracy, the budgetary allocation for the CIA was limited hence leading to a flat budget. They could not therefore afford to start investigations on the terrorism planning meeting or even follow up on the situation in Afghanistan because they had limited agents in the field. The airport surveillance would also require a lot of money and manpower resources which they had a shortage of considering the number of work they had to tackle in the whole nation. Majority of the funds was dedicated to the defense and the wars ongoing in other parts of the Middle East and hence little remaining for intelligence purposes. The CIA and other intelligence organizations had their own fair share of other internal intelligence issues to deal with that demanded immediate attention. Since they had not

The impacts of oil spills on marine and terrestrial ecosystems Research Paper

The impacts of oil spills on marine and terrestrial ecosystems - Research Paper Example In this case, the paper will focus on discussing effects of oil leaks on marine and terrestrial ecosystems. The Impacts of Oil Spills on Marine and Terrestrial Ecosystems World's marine and terrestrial ecosystems are better understood through the subject of increasing use and efforts aimed at protecting specific marine species and habitats. In fact, these efforts entail designation of certain marine habitats with greater limitations applying to the activities being permitted (Viscusi, 2006). There is also increasing effort to learn about the sources of pollution in marine environment and the measures for the reduction of the amount of pollution. Marine and terrestrial ecosystems pollution refers to the contamination of the lakes and other water bodies by substances that are harmful to the living things. The pollution is associated with many issues among them being deaths of living things like the fish, birds and other animals that use water source (GLIN, 2010). Nevertheless, the pape r will focus on discussing the impact of oil spills on marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Oil spills occurs from the ships, leaky underground storage tanks, pipelines and track tankers that consist of petroleum products, which are harmful when ingested by the living organisms in marine and terrestrial ecosystems (World shipping council, 2012). ... Numerous oil spills have been documented through various literatures in both technical and scientific field (Lounsbury, 2003). However, this documentation does not guarantee complete understanding of the effects of oil pollution to marine and terrestrial ecosystems. In fact, indication of the scale and durations regarding these effects is obtained from available information. On the other hand, there is a substantial difficulty presented in the process of balancing the perception and realities involved in the impacts of oil spills. Moreover, this has resulted to polarization of the scientific communities due to their differentiated perceptions concerning the nature of the oil spills impacts. There are groups of scientists who oppose the camps with a side that focuses on quantification of aspects of damages. Other scientists focus on the capacity of the environmental recovery from the adverse impact of these oil spills (University of Michigan, 2006). Nonetheless, the reality relates to the significance of the damages that occur on marine and terrestrial ecosystems due to these oil spills, and ways to derive general information concerning the spills and their effects and longevity. There is a high complexity in the marine and terrestrial ecosystems, which is caused by the fluctuation in species composition, profusion and distribution. However, there is a substantial understanding of the significance of damages caused by the impact of the oil spills (University of Michigan, 2006). For instance, these oil spills can cause a reduction of the breeding success, productivity, diversity and functions of the marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Therefore, there