Defense Department Admits to Intelligence Failure As Houthis Continue to Push The US Around In the Red Sea
Jose Nino
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United States military officials claim that “insufficient intelligence” has contributed to the US’s failed air assault against Yemen. This air campaign kicked off in the middle of January and has failed stop the Yemeni military from attacking the US, UK, and Israeli-connected ships in the Red Sea.
Yemeni forces have launched these attacks as a sign of solidarity with the people of Palestine, who have suffered a brutal military invasion by the state of Israel.
At a recent congressional hearing dealing with American operations in the Red Sea, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for West Asia, Daniel B. Shapiro admitted that American authorities “did not know” the entire capacity of the Yemeni firepower used for its military campaign in the Red Sea, adding that the US was “working to gather that intelligence.”
He also noted that the Defense Department had “a good sense” of what American-led attacks have allegedly destroyed. However, officials did not “fully know the denominator.” In other words, they didn’t fully grasp the entire extent of Yemen’s military strength.
Per current and former US officials who were in touch with the Financial Times (FT), American intelligence agencies experienced a “drop-off” in Yemen operations throughout the administrations of former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
“Because Yemen went down as a priority, so did our intelligence focus there,” Mick Mulroy, a former Pentagon official and CIA officer, informed the British news outlet.
CIA missions in Yemen were also impacted after the Houthi-controlled government closed the US embassy in Sanaa.
This is just another sign that the US is losing influence abroad. With how overstretched the US military is, due to its vast imperial presence, the country is beginning to develop multiple blind spots which the enemies it has created are beginning to exploit.
If the US wants to avoid a devastating military reversal, it needs to reduce its military footprint abroad.
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