One of the outcomes of various 9/11 reviews was the realisation that HUMINT had degraded as far as it had. The problem is that it is very expensive, both in ti

One of the outcomes of various 9/11 reviews was the realisation that HUMINT had degraded as far as it had. The problem is that it is very expensive, both in time and money, and it has uncertain outcomes. The rise of technology, both its widespread use by the public and the ability to capture it by agencies, had made SIGINT seem much more attractive in the couple of decades prior to 9/11. So, yes, agencies had become over-reliant on SIGINT over HUMINT, but for understandable reasons with the benefit of hindsight. Currently, they certainly don't view it as an existential threat and all agencies are working to re-establish HUMINT capability, the opposite of trying to block it. The trouble is that it is hard, really hard work.