Dysfunctional Organizations

Some assignments were taken so seriously that the task forces charged with them continued long after they'd been officially dissolved. The hallmark of an effective organization is meeting or exceeding its ascribed tasks and goals.

It is self evident that conflicts between old career civil servants and new political appointees decrease that effectiveness. That, however, is not the only source of organizational dysfunction. In 1991, the DOD was against intervention after Bosnia's declaration of independence was brutally suppressed.

In 1995, after Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas in a Tokyo subway--and the FBI's John O'Neill found the Aum listed in a Manhattan telephone book--Clarke discovered that the military was unprepared--the nearest chemical unit was a four-hour drive away. That same year, when Clarke proposed snatching Khalid Sheik Muhammad from Qatar, the DOD submitted a plan more suitable for occupying a country than apprehending a single individual.

In 1996, after the Khobar...