A Failure to Imagine Tom Friedman says that we need an "Office of Evil." I thought this was what Tom Ridge is supposed to be doing.

I think that this problem calls for more than just a new office. You can't reorganize away the problems that gave rise to our failure to detect and prevent 9/11. The bureaucratic process with its levels of review effectively prevents any true insight from making its way up to the top. Each person's job consists of showing his own brilliance by finding things wrong with some underling's suggestions. Only a few exceptional individuals are willing to give credit to someone whose success could cost them.

Friedman's piece changes direction halfway through, however, and turns into an attack on Bush for failing to cover John Lennon's Imagine. I guess when you work for the NYTimes, you can't help this kind of Kum By Yah sentimentality, but I really thought Friedman had more sense.
If we have an office of evil, it needs to be top secret and very small. It's main mission should be to scan all the information coming in for specific kinds of clues and bypass the normal bureaucratic processes of review and evaluation, taking them directly to the top. It cannot be allowed to be subjected to jealousy, intimidation and judicial interference, and it should not be allowed to engage in law enforcement. It's sole object would be to identify potential threats without the confusion caused by layer after layer of "assessment" which often blunts the information to the point that it loses its meaning and urgency.