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Former CIA Official Cites Failure to See Al-Qaeda's Rebound
(Washington Post) Greg Miller - U.S. intelligence agencies badly misjudged al-Qaeda's ability to regain strength across the region after Osama bin Laden was killed, according to a new book by former CIA deputy director Michael Morell. "We thought and told policy-makers that this outburst of popular revolt [the Arab Spring] would damage al-Qaeda by undermining the group's narrative," Morell wrote. Instead, "the Arab Spring was a boon to Islamic extremists across both the Middle East and North Africa." Morell added that although the Islamic State militant group severed ties with al-Qaeda, the group is ideologically indistinct from al-Qaeda.