Tangible: (14,000). Intangible: TBD
Robert Steele lost everything when his conference was stolen in 2007 and 2008 by then ADDNI/OS, Eliot Jardines (who prior to being appointed visited Steele and promised not to do that), and his clearances were rescinded in 2006 by a (then) corrupt Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) process that refused to respect the Judge's findings in favor of Robert Steele and against DOHA on all counts related to 7,500 cheerfully declared foreign contacts, none of whom comprised bonds of affection, obligation, or common interest–they should never have been an issue. Steele could have survived one or the other, but not both at once. This led to the forced short sale of his townhouse, losing his one property and all savings. His oldest son wrecked the 1994 Buick Le Sabre. He is left with a 1964 MGB that has a rusted out bottom and cannot be sold (he's tried).
He has roughly $14,000 in personal liabilities, and one $3,000 liability from OSS.Net, Inc. (closed 31 December 2010) that the Commonwealth of Virginia has imposed on him, abusing their power by asserting that C Corporations with one director do not enjoy the same protection as do C Corporations with many expensive lawyers who create paper firewalls.
In tangible terms, Robert Steele is worth ($14,000). Lacking a PhD or clearances, Steele has been unemployable in any substantive capacity related to his skills. He appears to have been black-balled by DIA Office of Personnel which found him “unqualified” for over 30 positions in the 13-15 range in 2008. The DIA SES/DISL process has integrity, Steele was found qualified and interviewed for DISL HUMINT at DIA in 2008, he may even have been selected, but General Ron Burgess, USA had the final say and Steele was not offered the position. He has since been found qualified in 2012 and 2013 for SES positions including Assistant Inspector General for Intelligence at DoD, as well as a variety of 14-15 positions, but has only had one interview and not been selected for any positions as of today.
As a classic example of bureaucratic disconnect, in 2009 Steele was requested BY NAME to be Chief Instructor for Intelligence and Information Operations at COINSOC in Iraq, and had a signed contract in hand from Raytheon for $276,000 a year, only $86,000 of which would be taxable. DOHA (still corrupt at that time) refused to do a simple NAC check to grant Steele the requisite SECRET clearance so he could go to a combat zone and earn a living. That one decision by DOHA (verbally, blowing off the Raytheon SSO, nothing in writing) has cost Steele — and the family he still has obligations to — $1.1 million dollars over four years.
Positive & Intangible Value Developments Below the Line
On a positive note, DOHA finally appears to have been professionalized (2011), OPM did a phenomenally competent investigation and investigative report (2012), and Steele has answered a recent DOHA inquiry about his existing foreign contacts (fewer than 50, none with bonds of any sort), all suggestive that his clearances, which he held for 30 years without incident, will finally be restored. He expects to work at least another 15 years, perhaps 20. He has multiple KR job offers lined up, all contingent on his clearances being reinstated but what he really wants to do–with or without clearances–is help the first Director of the Open Source Agency get it right from day one [that includes having someone from the IC — Kevin Scheid comes to mind — feeding them everything in real-time and answering all the questions they cannot answer with their existing sources and methods]. Charlie Allen and Joe Markowitz would be on the Board of Visitors and represent IC interests, along with the new Deputy Director for Management of OPM, and Kathleen Peroff, the Associate Deputy Director for National Security.
On a further positive note, during his time living in a cave Steele has published three books, studied deeply, particularly in the areas of Collective Intelligence, Open Source Everything, and M4IS2 (Multinational, Multiagency, Multidisciplinary, Multiagency Information-Sharing and Sense-Making), and further developed concepts for creating the Open Source Agency, a World Brain Institute with a Global Game, and — for Sir Richard Branson — The Virgin Truth. During this time he has also developed a focus on information ethics and started a new book on INTELLIGENCE with INTEGRITY: Enabling Hybrid Governance with Open-Source Decision-Support. His new chapters and the reflection series provide ample grist for any President or Cabinet Secretary or Director of OMB who desire a holistic truthful perspective not now available within the US Government.
On a further positive note, the Open Source Agency is back in play, with both Kerry and Hagel aware of its potential, and every South American and Caribbean leader soon to be aware that if the US does not want to build it, Robert Steele will gladly build it anywhere in the South (or in Asia). The Secretary General of the United Nations and Ambassador Susan Rice are also aware of the possibilities, with particular reference to the Open Source Agency funding the United Nations Open-Source Decision-Support Information Network (UNODIN). Steele has never been about rank or money, just about getting it right.
Bob Seelert, Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide (New York): When things are not going well, until you get the truth out on the table, no matter how ugly, you are not in a position to deal with it.
Ben Gilad: Top managers’ information is invariably either biased, subjecive, filtered or late. . . . Using intelligence correctly requires a fundamental change in the way top executives make decisions.
Daniel Ellsberg speaking to Henry Kissinger: The danger is, you’ll become like a moron. You’ll become incapable of learning from most people in the world, no matter how much experience they have in their particular areas that may be much greater than yours” [because of your blind faith in the value of your narrow and often incorrect secret information].
At this time Steele receives room and board from a benefactor that desires to remain anonymous, and is entirely dependent on whatever contributions can be raised via this web site for money with which to buy print cartridges, pay postage, and pay for gas and parking as opportunities surface for interviews or presentations.
The truth at any cost reduces all others costs. When you figure out what all those costs are that can be reduced by implementing Steele's concepts for ethical evidence-based whole of government / eight tribe decision support, you will have a rough approximation of his value to any specific organization or circumstance, or to humanity, if he is put to work doing what he does best….the truth at any cost.
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