The first goal of military intelligence-gathering is to assess the capabilities of one's enemies.

I've not been able to verify, but heard an official say that when the North Vietnamese signed the Paris Peace Accords, they had only 39 surface-to-air missles left in their arsenal. (Wth that info a better deal could have made for the So. Vietnamese.)

The fall of the Wall in '89, Saddam's troops waiting to surrender in '91, WMDs; one might wonder if the CIA knows anything!

On your way to get coffee, (not tea?), are you not warmed by the additional comfort provided by all those security cameras? I've heard that London is the most surveilled city on the planet.