Month: December 2010

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Journal: Two Denied Area Intelligence Failures

02 China, 08 Wild Cards, Corruption, Government, Military
DefDog Recommends...

The first of two on IC failures….as if we didn't need any more proof.  DefDog

Reports indicate China's fifth generation jet fighter rollout far ahead of U.S. intel projections

East-Asia-Intel.com, December 1, 2010

Chinese military Internet reports indicate that China may roll out its first fifth generation fighter as early as this month, far earlier than the Pentagon projected China would have the advance warplane.

Second report…..

Series of U.S. intelligence failures on North Korea highlighted by tour of enrichment facility
East-Asia-Intel.com, December 1, 2010

North Korea's recent disclosure of a new uranium enrichment facility with
a light water reactor and centrifuge cascade is seen as a serious U.S.
intelligence and policy failure that goes back over a decade.

Phi Beta Iota: We do not control what our various contributors post, while reserving the right to comment.  These are both serious intelligence failures, both indicative of the inability of the US Intelligence Community to do its job across the board, from collection to processing to analysis.  There are many other failures, for example with respect to China's new superiority in submarine stealth (able to sneak past an entire carrier battle group to pop up immediately astern the central carrier), and their overwhelming superiority in cyber-space, where they have mastered, among many other capabilities, the art of riding electrical power circuits into US military computers from Peterson AFB to Fort Meade MD.  As troubling as these failures are, they are actually the least of our worries.  Of greater importance to the over-all security of the US is the culture of corruption, not just at CIA but at all the agencies including DIA, the FBI, and the NRO, as well as within the service intelligence centers.  Just as General Mike Flynn is on record as saying that US Intelligence is “irrelevant” in Afghanistan, so also can it be said that US intelligence is “irrelevant” across the board–it is not contributing anything warranting its $90 billion a year budget, with nothing to show at the strategic, operational, tactical, or technical (acquisition) levels.  We need not be this incapacitated.  We are choosing to be ineffective, and that is most troubling of all.

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Journal: Egypt Elections–Muslim Brotherhood Loses, Internet Wins

08 Wild Cards, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Mobile

Philip N. Howard
Philip N. Howard

Professor and Director of Project on Information Technology and Political Islam

Posted: December 3, 2010 10:57 AM

EXTRACT:

But Mubarak's real enemy is no longer the Muslim Brotherhood. It is a complex, fractured umbrella group, and the practice of faith and opposition to Mubarak may not be enough to hold it together much longer. There is also the Kefaya movement, a loosely organized network of cosmopolitan Nasserites, Islamists, and leftists, that has organized some successful protests but has lost some momentum.

Mubarak's real opponents are tech-savvy activists and wired civic groups.

In the last few years, the internet has become the primary incubator of democratic political conversation. The state has never had this role, and the Muslim Brotherhood is no longer the exclusive provider. Instead, civil society in Egypt has moved online, using the information infrastructure of digital media as the place for difficult political conversations about regime change, gender and political life, and transnational Islamic identity.

This infrastructure is beyond the reach of the state.

Read complete article….

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Journal: Obama’s Blackberry Moment

Cultural Intelligence, Government, Methods & Process, Mobile

Dr. Philip NechesDr. Philip Neches

Chairman, Foundation Ventures LLC

Posted: December 3, 2010 01:57 PM

Obama can't catch a break. His Republican opposition gained control of the House, seats in the Senate, and control of more statehouses. He lost big in the center, with both GOP moderates and Blue Dog Democrats dropping like flies. Even the Progressive wing is calling, if not for his hide, for his vertebrae.

How did it get that way? Perhaps there is a clue in one of the Obama administration's earliest decisions. The subject was not a big, profound issue like nuclear arms, health care, or tax policy. It was quite literally a tiny issue: the President's Blackberry.

Read the rest of this article….

Phi Beta Iota: Strongly recommended.  A remarkable account of how Obama gained access to power and lost access to reality.

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Journal: Mercury Makes You Gay…

11 Society, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence

Birds Are Becoming Gay From Mercury Pollution, According To New Study On White Ibis Breeding

A new study on white ibis breeding has discovered that mercury pollution is resulting in males of the species mating with each other.

Dr. Peter Frederick of the University of Florida embarked on the five-year research to determine what was significantly impacting the reproduction of the birds, but even he was stunned by the findings. “We knew mercury could depress their testosterone levels but we didn't expect this,” Frederick told the Telegraph.

According to Nature.com, coal-fired plants and gold mining are the main sources of global mercury pollution, though the burning of medical and municipal waste is likely the prime culprit in Florida, ingested by the wetlands birds through their food sources.

Phi Beta Iota: We did a double-take, and then checked to make sure this was not in the Comedy section.  This helps emphasize what many books have been reviewing, which is the unanticipated and now unaddressed impact on humanity of the many toxins and pollutants that corporations are allowed to not just externalize, but include within their products or as a side effect of their services.  “True costs” is the meme, and Transparency is the method.

See Also:

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Disease

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Environmental Degradation (Other than Emissions)

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Poisons, Toxicity, Trash, & True Cost

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Journal: Navy Sinks, Congress Throws Money

04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, Budgets & Funding, Corruption, Military, Officers Call
Chuck Spinney Recommends....

This is priceless.  Pun intended.  Meanwhile the Deficit Commission is putting its final touches on a plan to control government spending.  Chuck

CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS – DEFENSE
Dec. 2, 2010 – 8:46 p.m.

Navy Plan for Littoral Ships Is Winning Support, Despite Lack of Price Tag

By John M. Donnelly, CQ Staff

Lawmakers are suddenly voicing new support for a Navy plan to acquire cutting-edge warships, despite continuing apprehension about not being given enough information or time to consider it.

Continue reading “Journal: Navy Sinks, Congress Throws Money”

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Reference: Transparency Killer App Plus “Open Everything” RECAP (Back to 01/2007)

Collective Intelligence, Communities of Practice, Key Players, Mobile, Officers Call, Real Time, Threats, Topics (All Other)

Gregory UnruhGregory Unruh

Director of the Lincoln Center for Ethics in Global Management at Thunderbird

Posted: December 3, 2010 03:21 PM

Transparency: The Internet's Killer CSR App

EXTRACT: Today “Wikileaks” makes the McLibel case look like child's play. Corporate executives should watch closely as diplomats cringe under the sudden and violent spotlight. The same scrutiny is coming to the corporate world. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has already announced the private sector is his next target. It may be that governments find a way to silence Assange (Wikileaks.org is already undergoing shadowy cyber attacks to shut it down) but it wont stop the wave of involuntary transparency that the Internet provides. Transparency is the Internet's killer CSR app. You can either get out in front of it or fall prey to it.

Read entire post….

Phi Beta Iota: The post is an elegant, concise articulation such as has not appeared elsewhere to our knowledge.  The lines are drawn, all that is lacking is the precipitating factor to launch the revolution.  “Profit Recovery” is going to join “True Cost” as the new meme, but instead of secretive beltway bandits maurading across the health industry–to take one example–it will be the public willfully exposing that which must be restored to the Commonwealth.

See Also: (46 Items):
Continue reading “Reference: Transparency Killer App Plus “Open Everything” RECAP (Back to 01/2007)”