Gen. Breedlove: Intelligence Community Changing How it Handles Russia: The US intelligence community has begun changing how it handles the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the top American general in Europe.
Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, the top military officer at NATO and the head of US European Command (EUCOM), said Friday that the intelligence community has begun reforming itself to better adjust to Russia after nearly two decades of treating the eastern nation as a potential ally, rather than an adversary.
"We are not where we need to be now, and the IC [intelligence community] is addressing it," Breedlove told reporters at a Pentagon briefing. "The IC has already made some fairly dramatic changes in the last several months in how we use our analysts, and they are beginning to look at reprioritizing assets, as well. We're gently turning the nose of this ship to get back to what we need to be looking at."
Breedlove acknowledged a "lack of ability to see into Russia, especially at the operational and tactical level," describing it as an issue based on the US posture toward Russia in recent years.
