A larger actor’s many interests and objectives often dilute its attention to a smaller actor, which, by contrast, can focus its attention and will more easily. There was a good deal of information about Al Qaeda in the American intelligence system, but the US was unable to process coherently the information that its various agencies had gathered.
其二则是注意力的不对称。一个大型参与者拥有众多利益和目标，并因此稀释了放在某个小型参与者身上的注意力，反之小型参与者则更容易去集中自己的注意力和意愿。其实美国情报部门早就收集了许多关于基地组织的信息，但美国却没能把这些来自诸多情报部门的情报进行系统整理。