Crying "WOLF!"????

[Acrylic-bob]

"AL-QAEDA leaders in Iraq are planning the first “large-scale” terrorist attacks on Britain and other western targets with the help of supporters in Iran, according to a leaked intelligence report.
Spy chiefs warn that one operative had said he was planning an attack on “a par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki” in an attempt to “shake the Roman throne”, a reference to the West.
Another plot could be timed to coincide with Tony Blair stepping down as prime minister, an event described by Al-Qaeda planners as a “change in the head of the company”.
The report, produced earlier this month and seen by The Sunday Times, appears to provide evidence that Al-Qaeda is active in Iran and has ambitions far beyond the improvised attacks it has been waging against British and American soldiers in Iraq. " The Sunday Times
22/04/07

I don't know how much credence can be given to such reports, if any. But it does seem to suggest that this summer could be remarkable for something other than the weather. Surely the constant leaking of intelligence reports, like the one mentioned above, which come to nothing, risk persuading the public that nothing will ever come of such reports, so that when the Wolf is really on it's way nobody will take any notice until it is to late.

Is this really the right way to run a security service?

Or is the constant leaking of reports a way for the intelligence services to let the Terrorists know that they are on to them and their plots? Either way it seems a bit unsophisticated and smacks of more than a little of the "Boy's Own" School of Espionage and Counter Intelligence.

[SPUGGIE J]

The easiest way to cause confusion and disruption is to allow indication that something is going to happen but never does. Its cheap and easy to arrange and forces possible targets to go into overdrive with security thus causing mayhem and chaos. All this "info" does is make people edgy and somewhat paranoid. It then becomes self perpetuating and therefore the terrorists win without cost and little or no effort at all.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by Acrylic-bob

Surely the constant leaking of intelligence reports, like the one mentioned above, which come to nothing, risk persuading the public that nothing will ever come of such reports, so that when the Wolf is really on it's way nobody will take any notice until it is to late.

Is this really the right way to run a security service?

Or is the constant leaking of reports a way for the intelligence services to let the Terrorists know that they are on to them and their plots? Either way it seems a bit unsophisticated and smacks of more than a little of the "Boy's Own" School of Espionage and Counter Intelligence.

Maybe they are trying to lull us into a sense of security with the idea that they knew and nothing has happened so they must have prevented it.

[Ber999T]

Just hoping nothing bad happens to OUR troops (and I included ALL troops) as Lad due out there sometime soon

[garinda]

Perhaps the news of a perceived terrorist attack, that has been linked to Blair leaving office, has been released to divert our attention that Brown is just going to walk into the position of Prime Minister.