The skies turned threatening as I reached Summit Lake at 12,000 feet, but I continued creeping up to the top. The summit was socked in, but that didn't deter scores of visitors from climbing the remaining quarter-mile trail to the peak.

One year after the first stirrings of the Arab Spring, we are still only beginning to digest the implications of this momentous turn of events. Yet, as commentators debate the political, economic, and religious consequences of the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria and elsewhere, few have discerned their impact in less conspicuous quarters. Yet, far from the spotlight of media attention, the effects of Arab Spring are also rippling through the murky world of intelligence gathering.