Congress probing US spy agencies’ possible lapses on Russia
Senior US lawmakers have begun probing possible intelligence lapses over Moscow’s intervention in Syria, concerned that American spy agencies were slow to grasp the scope and intention of Russia’s dramatic military offensive there, US congressional sources and other officials told Reuters.
A week after Russia plunged directly into Syria’s civil war by launching a campaign of air strikes, the intelligence committees of the US Senate and House of Representatives want to examine the extent to which the spy community overlooked or misjudged critical warning signs, the sources said.
Findings of major blind spots would mark the latest of several US intelligence misses in recent years, including Moscow’s surprise takeover of Ukraine’s Crimea region last year and China’s rapid expansion of island-building activities in the South China Sea.
Though spy agencies have sought to ramp up intelligence gathering on Russia since the crisis over Ukraine, they continue to struggle with inadequate resources because of the emphasis on counterterrorism in the Middle East and the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, according to current and former US officials.
A senior administration official, who also asked not to be identified, insisted that there were “no surprises” and that policymakers were “comfortable” with the intelligence they received in the lead-up to the Russian offensive.
Spy agencies had carefully tracked Russian President Vladimir Putin’s build-up of military assets and personnel in Syria in recent weeks, prompting White House criticism and demands for Moscow to explain itself.
But intelligence officers — and the US administration they serve — were caught mostly off-guard by the speed and aggressiveness of Putin’s use of air power as well as a Russian target list that included US-backed rebels, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“They saw some of this going on but didn't appreciate the magnitude,” one of the sources told Reuters.
Russia’s sudden move to ramp up its military involvement in the Syria crisis has thrown Obama’s West Asia strategy into doubt and laid bare an erosion of US influence in the region. A shortage of reliable information and analysis could further hamper President Barack Obama’s efforts to craft a response on Syria to regain the initiative from Washington’s former Cold War foe.
Russia’s sudden move to ramp up its military involvement in the Syria crisis has thrown Obama's West Asia strategy into doubt
Behind the curve? It is unclear how his administration could have reacted differently with better intelligence, though advance word of Putin’s attack plans might have allowed US officials to warn the moderate Syrian opposition that they could end up in Russia’s line of fire. Obama, who is reluctant to see America drawn deeper into another Middle East conflict, has shown no desire to directly confront Russia over its Syria offensive – something Moscow may have taken as a green light to escalate its operations.
Russia’s military build-up now includes a growing naval presence, long-range rockets and a battalion of troops backed by Moscow's most modern tanks, the US ambassador to NATO said.
The US administration believes it now has a better understanding at least of Putin’s main motive – to do whatever it takes to prop up Syrian President Bashar alAssad.