In Greek mythology, Cassandra was a priestess blessed with the gift of prophecy. She was cursed, however, to never be believed. In Virgil’s Aeneid, Cassandra warns her city about the fate that awaits them. Nevertheless, they welcome the Trojan Horse.
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Ignoring the intelligence of women is not confined to antiquity. Last year, female Israeli soldiers warned their superiors of a growing threat:
In the months leading up to the 7 October attacks by Hamas, they did begin to see things: practice raids, mock hostage-taking, and farmers behaving strangely on the other side of the fence… they would pass information about what they were seeing to intelligence and higher-ranking officers, but were powerless to do more.
The Israeli military was caught by surprise, and several of these young women were captured or killed.
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The Tet Offensive was the turning point of the Vietnam War. Up until then, the American public had been told that victory was assured. But in 1968, rebels launched multiple surprise attacks. Such was the shock that popular support for the war never recovered.
It’s worth wondering what would have happened had Doris Allen not been ignored:
She pushed for someone up the chain of command to take her report seriously, but no one did. On Jan. 30, 1968 — in line with what she had predicted — the enemy surprised American and South Vietnamese military leaders with the size and scope of their attacks.
The US military, alas, was not inclined to listen to a Black woman. Ms. Allen’s New York Times obituary recounts the story, as well as some of her other warnings (some heeded, some not).
In 2009, she was inducted to the Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame.