It's the Vision Thing, stupid.

The words "neglect" and "failure" keep cropping up, and there is something to these accusations -- although perhaps not in the sense that the people making them intend.

According to the classically "realist" mindset, only states can pose a significant threat ...

With the end of the cold war, however, things changed. But the Washington hawks failed to see what was happening.

The world around them had changed, but their paradigm hadn't.

In the end, the intelligence failure stemmed from longstanding problems ... but it was also a failure of vision.

And here I thought hawks were well known for their excellent vision!

Why Nobody Saw 9/11 Coming