Month: October 2009

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Review: The Sword of the Prophet

5 Star, America (Anti-America), Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War, Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback, Intelligence (Government/Secret)
Amazon Page
Amazon Page
5.0 out of 5 stars Much More Than a Novel, This Is the Real Deal
October 2, 2009
Phillip Oliver Otts
As a recovering spy who has published and agitated for intelligence reform over the years, I generally have little patience for spy novels less the George Smiley series by John Le Carre. Been there, done that. This book is nothing short of sensational, and at $9 a huge value.

This book is so very good that I am making it one of THREE books I recommend to future spies and those who wish to understand the human side of the spy world today (or course there are many others but this one is special). The other two are still:

1. The Craft of Intelligence: America's Legendary Spy Master on the Fundamentals of Intelligence Gathering for a Free World

2. Without Cloak or Dagger : The truth about the new espionage–

I liked this book on multiple levels. It does for the clandestine service, where we were obscenely proud of having the highest alcoholism, adultery, divorce, and suicide rates in the US Government, what James Webb did for the abuse of military forces by craven politicians in Fields of Fire.

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CENTCOM Week in Review Ending 1 October 2009

Uncategorized

Hot Topics

AA: Fighting for a common cause 09/28/09

AA:  Israel to Free 20 For Video of Soldier 10/01/09

AF: Afghanistan's people have advice for U.S. 10/01/09

IQ:  U.S. Drone Strikes Office of Sunni Party in Iraq's North 09/26/09

IR:  US officials: Digging, clues revealed Iranian site 09/28/09

KG: Kyrgyz Activists Alarmed By Call For Death Penalty, Public Executions 09/25/09

KG: Kyrgyzstan: Bakyt Beshimov does not recognize the legitimacy of … 09/29/09

LB: Hezbollah Prepared to Hold the US Hostage 09/25/09

PK:  In Pakistan's Swat valley, volunteers form anti-Taliban militias 09/30/09

PK:  Video Showing Mehsud's Dead Body Surfaces 09/30/09

SA: Extremists in Saudi Arabia Set Fire to Culture Club to Prevent … 09/30/09

SA:  Qaeda roping in women 10/01/09

YE:  Former Gitmo detainee killed in shootout 09/30/09

Below the Fold: Instability, Special Operations, Security Forces, Foreign Affairs, Crime

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Journal: The Demise of Strategy in the US Government

Strategy
Capstone Summary
Capstone Summary

Quite fortuitously, the Strategic Studies Institute has placed in the public domain a superb monograph by Justic Kelly and Mike Brennan on ALIEN: How Operational Art Devoured Strategy (september 2009).

It is a very good read, along with our summary of the failed 2008 Whole of Government conference that SSI sponsored, which followed the failed 1998 Strategy Revision conference–failed for not being heard.

We were all right then, we are still right now, but unless General James Jones, USMC gets himself a deputy that is grounded in strategy & integrity, this Administration is toast, in part because there is NO DIFFERENCE among the apparatchiks that trade places within the two-party system.  They ae ALL out of touch with strategy, and hence reality.

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Journal: State of the Administration

Government

Full Story Online
Full Story Online

Some Signs of the Times

by Victor Davis Hanson

Pajamas Media,October 1, 2009

How to distill the news? After watching it far too much the past nine months, I offer five random conclusions from what I think is going on in the age of Obama.

1. Disconnect
2. Abroad
3. Top and bottom
4. Getting Along
5. The Mother Polis

This is a “must read” that also includes an “Ironies Corner” worthy of reflection.

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Journal: Marijuana, Common Sense, and Prisons

07 Health, 09 Justice

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Full Story Online

Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection

By Marc Kaufman,Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, May 26, 2006

The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer.

. . . . . . .

While no association between marijuana smoking and cancer was found, the study findings, presented to the American Thoracic Society International Conference this week, did find a 20-fold increase in lung cancer among people who smoked two or more packs of cigarettes a day.

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Journal: Systems Design & “Reverse Innovation”

Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Key Players, Policies, Threats
Zuckerman vs Bloomberg
Zuckerman vs Bloomberg

We are fascinated to see Mort Zuckerman bidding against Bloomberg the company for Business Week.  He spoke to OSS '96 to great effect, and with Paul Strassmann has been one of our most dynamic speakers “jacked in” to the real world with real world bottom-line seriousness.

We admire all parties concerned, along with TIME Magazine and Forbes, and we dare to hope that whoever wins, they might try Systems Design & “Reverse Innovation,” two elements of this week's Business Week as issued in Europe.

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