Petraeus: U.S. Must Share More Info With Allies

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - A "philosophical change" is needed to help break barriers that keep the United States from sharing information with its coalition partners, the top commander in the Middle East told a lunchtime audience here May 12.

"The question should not be 'need to know,' it should be 'need to share,' " U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), said at a joint war-fighting conference. "If you approach this issue with the imperative of sharing," rather than restricting information, "you literally change the way you approach the whole process."

So when does the U.S. deal with stuff philosophically? I have an idea, since they're going all philosophical now, I think they should start sharing stuff with their own citizens? There is a ton that we'd like to know too.

I agree with the general, it's not just the United States that needs to make the change here, but all of the NATO member countries. Here in the United Kingdom I know that if we found out that we were subject to a terrorist attack because any other country did not give us relevant intelligence, we'd be screaming for resignations and massive overhaul.

Being preemptive here is a great move on the part of the US, and one that I applaud them for. As for the OP's line here, I do also understand how there is a ton of intelligence gathered that cannot be made public because of the strategic or even tactical importance of the information.

It is not responsible to just give out all information gathered in a time of war such as now, instead that intelligence should be used to win the war.