US grappling with intelligence gaps

US grappling with intelligence gaps

WASHINGTON

CIA officers in Iraq have been largely hunkered down in their heavily fortified Baghdad compound since U.S. troops left the country in 2011, current and former officials say, allowing a once-rich network of intelligence sources to wither.

That’s a big reason, they say, the U.S. was caught flat-footed by the recent offensive by a Sunni-backed al-Qaida-inspired group that has seized a large swath of Iraq.

Maguire was a CIA officer in Beirut in the late 1980s during that country’s bloody civil war. He spent weeks living in safe houses far from the U.S. Embassy, dodging militants who wanted to kidnap and kill Americans. In Iraq, where Maguire also served, the CIA’s Baghdad station remains one of the world’s largest. But the agency has been unwilling to risk sending Americans out regularly to recruit and meet informants.

Missing boy found alive in basement

DETROIT

A 12-year-old boy who had been missing for a week and a half and was the subject of an extensive police search was found alive and well Wednesday in the basement of his home.

Officers discovered the boy while serving a search warrant on the home as part of their investigation into his disappearance. It’s not clear if the boy had been there the entire time; officers had been inside the home before and cadaver dogs searched the house last week.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said when police found Charlie Bothuell V, he appeared to be hiding and did not announce himself. Hours earlier, Craig had told reporters that investigators were “not ruling out the possibility of homicide” in the case.

When police found the boy, he was behind some boxes and a large plastic drum. Bedding also was found nearby. The boy will be medically evaluated.

The boy lives in the home with his father and stepmother. The father, Charlie Bothuell IV, said he was as surprised as anyone that his son was in the basement.

Associated Press