In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, we kept on hearing that the federal government needed a central database for its intelligence. The trouble with such an expedient is that it becomes vulnerable to Wikileaks.

As it is, I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that the United States government simply cannot be trusted to run a spy network. It seems that Julian Assange has compromised America’s ability to fight this war, perhaps fatally.

Yet, the war must go on. Our enemies will not stop this war. So, it may be necessary to privatize this war. Yet, privatization opens its own can of worms. At the very least, Congress ought to receive regular reports from private agencies that fight on our behalf.

We need to find some way to fight this war in an accountable manner. What we have now isn’t working. It looks like America’s congressional intelligence committees have a huge amount of work to do now.