NORTH KOREA'S rocket launch over the heads of a worried Japan has dealt another embarrassing blow to the United States' intelligence operations.
While Washington may still have the most advanced spy networks money can buy, its failure to get its story right over Pyongyang's August 31 launch of a three-stage Daepodong-2 rocket represents the latest dent to its credibility.
To some observers, America's disjointed reaction to the incident represents the same confusion among its intelligence operations which led to the failure to predict India's nuclear tests and a possible misjudgment as to what was taking place at the alleged chemical weapons facility in Sudan destroyed by US cruise missiles last month.
The State Department and Pentagon originally portrayed North Korea as having launched a two-stage Daepodong-1 missile, later switching their story - on the back of Pyongyang's own statements - to say it was a three-stage rocket which had made an aborted attempt to launch a satellite.
Even after the turnaround, there has been no official confirmation of reports that debris from the solid-fuel third-stage, which represents a quantum leap in technology for the impoverished communist nation, landed close to the Alaskan coast.
Washington's reaction to the launch appears to have been as uncoordinated as Pyongyang's explanation was bizarre - that the satellite was launched to broadcast revolutionary songs around the globe in honour of late leader Kim Il-sung and his son and heir, Kim Jong-il.
To John Pike, an arms proliferation specialist with the Federation of American Scientists, the incident has exposed how difficult it is for Washington to co-ordinate the efforts of its intelligence agencies.
