Thanks for the post SelfAdjoint.
There are many examples of how hierarchies and bureacracies frustrate the collection of information and its collation into 'pure' knowledge. And Zero's observation that the worldview of the leaders plays a significant part in distortions and frustration.
Some time ago, I read of a PhD thesis on the rise to power of the Chinese Communist Party which relied heavily on Japanese intelligence reports. The thesis apparently concluded that Mao's success was largely due to a failure of the Japanese, in the 1930s, to supply sufficient men and materiel, and to failings of the intelligence services themselves.
One doesn't know whether to laugh or cry about this; that Mao, the CCP, and the Chinese people themselves played a decisive role seems to have been ignored; the underlying reasons for their success surely have more to do with Chinese society etc than Japanese intelligence!
While the US Administration's (Ashcroft's?) attempts to hoover up vast amounts of data about individuals is surely abhorrent (if the reports I've read are accurate), the irony is that the vast amount of data may actually weaken the quality of the intelligence.
