“Kim Jong-il, the enigmatic North Korean leader, died on a train at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in his country. Forty-eight hours later, officials in South Korea still did not know anything about it — to say nothing of Washington, where the State Department acknowledged “press reporting” of Mr. Kim’s death well after North Korean state media had already announced it.”

“Asian and American intelligence services have failed before to pick up significant developments in North Korea. Pyongyang built a sprawling plant to enrich uranium that went undetected for about a year and a half until North Korean officials showed it off in late 2010 to an American nuclear scientist. The North also helped build a complete nuclear reactor in Syria without tipping off Western intelligence.”

-    See an article in the New York Times, entitled “In Kim Jong-il Death, an Extensive Intelligence Failure”

“Modern intelligence gathering, with its satellites and drones operating at the very cutting edge of technology, can often give decision-makers an extraordinary window on the world.

Think of the amazing images earlier this year of US President Barack Obama and his national security team in the White House, watching live video of the raid on Osama Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan as it unfolded.

But the intelligence gatherers do not know everything, and North Korea is a case in point.”

-    Also see an article from the BBC, entitled “Kim Jong-il death: Did US intelligence fail?”