Sixty-five years after the Bay of Pigs, the invasion still stands as a lesson in how arrogance and flawed intelligence lead to disaster

Special operations can fail for many reasons – from a tragic accident to a lack of information or a hasty decision. And the costs of such mistakes range from the sullen faces of officials and predatory reporters at the door, to the worst outcome – hundreds of victims. There is an old proverb that all intelligence agents should be taught: “For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost.”

The moral is that the smallest omissions can lead to fatal consequences.…