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M A S S A C H U S E T T S I N S T I T U T E O F T E C H N O L O G Y M A S S A C H U S E T T S I N S T I T U T E O F T E C H N O L O G Y05-13M I T C E N T E R F O R I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T U D I E Sof the Conventional WisdomThe Audit of Why Intelligence Isn’t to BlameConventional for 9/11WisdomJoshua RovnerIn this series of essays, MIT’s Center MIT Security Studies Program for International Studies tours the horizon of conventional wisdoms that animate U.S. foreign policy, and put t did not take long for blame for the September 11 attacks to them to the test of data and history. By subjecting particularly well-accepted Icascade onto the intelligence community. But it is not deserved, ideas to close scrutiny, our aim is and the reasons for that are important.to re-engage policy and opinion leaders on topics that are too easily passing such scrutiny. We hope that this will Blame came from all quarters. “It’s an absolute indictment of our intelligence system,” lead to further debate and inquiries, declared Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA), “that an operation of this size was not detected.” with a result we can all agree on: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) called September 11 “an utter failure and a day of better foreign policies that lead to a disgrace” for the intelligence community. Conservative commentators joined in admon-more peaceful and prosperous world. ishing U.S. intelligence agencies. “Why,” William Safire asked, “with $30 billion a year Authors in ...