WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- President Obama is disappointed in the CIA's failure to predict the impact of mass demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt, officials tell The New York Times.
The administration has made no public criticism of intelligence agencies and an official said there are no plans for a shakeup
One former official said the president had recently urged the CIA to put as much effort into analysis of the global situation as into covert operations, including those targeting al-Qaida.
The CIA has had conflicting responsibilities since it was founded in 1947 and has had to balance gathering information and trying to foresee upcoming events with cloak-and-dagger operations.
One official who did not want his name used, said he thought U.S. intelligence had been doing its job in North Africa, the Times reported Friday.
"Everyone recognized the demonstrations in Tunisia as serious," he said. "What wasn't clear even to [Tunisian] President [Zine el-Abidine] Ben Ali was that his security forces would quickly choose not to support him."
