Sample Cool Dude: Toff Hoffman.
Related project: STAR-TIDES (Sustainable Technologies Accelerated Research/Transformative Innovation for Development and Emergency Support)
Great project allowed to die: STRONG ANGEL
Phi Beta Iota: Including Rand Beer and Jim Clapper is what causes this search to fail. Dr. Dr. Dave Warner, one of the co-founders of Earth Intelligence Network (EIN), is the originator of this idea. Dr. Dr. Warner is too much the diplomat to point out the obvious: the concept requires open minds, a shelving of rankism, multinational engagement, and a raft of other minor but vital accommodations that are simply not in the DNA of those now serving. They are all good people who mean well, but innovation like this is on the margins and receives lip service (much as the Open Government initiative has received lip service).
There is simply no serious commitment on the part of the US Government generally or the Department of Defense specifically, to changing the top-down command and control model to one that accommodates bottom distributed volunteerism harnessed through multinational engagement and open data sharing. See the illustration below for old versus new, and all of the Graphics on the web site. You can have all the task forces you want, if they are populated by folks with old mind-sets nothing is going to change. We are increasingly of the view that the new ideas are going to have come from the Southern Hemisphere, and the day will come when there is a Voice TO America. A sad sad day that will be.
