In this first of two interviews regarding his Global War on Terrorism experiences, Major John Athey discusses his post-9/11 service as a theater collection manager at Pacific Command (PACOM), during which he was initially chief of the measurement and signatures intelligence (MASINT) branch and, later, chief of the imagery intelligence (IMINT) branch. He talks about the benefits as well as the limitations of various types of intelligence gathering, pointing out that, at that time, the US did not have many human intelligence assets in the PACOM area of responsibility. "HUMINT is the weakness," Athey said. "Terrorism requires HUMINT and it just doesn't exist." He also reminds that there are any number of factors that can affect intelligence missions. "In the Philippines specifically," he said, "even if you have perfect intelligence on exactly where somebody lives, you've also got the political situation, the tribal situation or the personal situation that may or may not make that kill or capture happen. Yes, we, in the intel world, consider it a successful mission if you find 'the guy' and can tell somebody in time for them to do something about it, but whether he gets captured or not then relies on somebody else. No matter how great a job you do as an intel guy," Athey added, "you might still not have a guy picked up or put in jail or whatever."

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