Communities of Practice – Page 1403 – Public Intelligence Blog

2009/10/102009/10/10

Journal: Strategy versus Secrecy

Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Ethics, InfoOps (IO), Key Players, Policies, Policy, Real Time, Reform, Strategy, Threats

We pay careful attention to the search terms used by those who visit us, and have noticed a very healthy focus on strategy and on secrecy. The two are incompatible.

Strategy, by its inherent nature, must be holistic, transparent, and sustainable. It demands broad collaboration and the broadest possible information-sharing and sense-making.

Secrecy, by its very nature, is reductionist, completely opaque, and generally not sustainable beyond the moment. It restricts collaboration, excludes key stake-holders with relevant information, and does not share effectively.

Michael Herman's book on Intelligence in Peace and War is the best available review of why intelligence at the strategic level should not be secret.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan's book on Secrecy remains one of the best articulations of the hidden costs of secrecy to a Republic.

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2009/10/102009/10/10

Worth a Look: Reporters for a Free Press

Media, Worth A Look

Official Web Site

Somewhat tongue in cheek, since none of the major figures actually try to report the truth in a useful context, we point today to The Reporters Committee for a Free Press, which is hosting an event this Sunday (11 October) in Washington, D.C. Most of these people are what are called “courtiers” whose livelihood depends on accepting all of the censorship that comes with access in Washington, D.C.

We note with interest that the Justices appear willing to allow the Executive to block photos of dead U.S. troops and tortured detainees, but feel strongly that photos of animal cruelty are totally necessary and in the public interest. That pretty much sums up the state of our not so free press–a circus, not a service.

2009/10/10

Journal: “Pakistan Act” Weakens National Security

05 Civil War, 10 Security, Collective Intelligence, Government, Peace Intelligence

In opposition to the Pakistan Act, sponsored byBarbara Boxer [D-CA], Thomas Carper [D-DE], Robert Casey [D-PA], Hillary Clinton [D-NY], Christopher Dodd [D-CT], Richard Durbin [D-IL], Charles Hagel [R-NE], John Kerry [D-MA], Richard Lugar [R-IN], Sheldon Whitehouse [D-RI], Ron Paul offers some thoughts worthy of consideration.

Phi Beta Iota: The Republic is now confronted with both an Executive and a Legislative Branch that make decisions without regard to strategy, holistic reality-based appreciations, or public discourse on costs and benefits. The Administration is proposing, and Congress is approving, without serious thought and without regard to the best interests of the American public. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are turning in their graves.

2009/10/092009/10/09

Journal: Senate Side-Stepping Constitution

07 Health, Collective Intelligence, Ethics, Government

Full Story Online

Watching the Constitution Disappear

American Thinker

By Joseph Smith

The President says the Constitution is defective, and now Senator Harry Reid is preparing the coup de grace. Once Reid and Obama emerge from their transparent closed-door consultations on how to blend the two competing Senate Health Care bills, Senator Reid has a nifty parlor trick up his sleeve. . . . . . .The plan to railroad Obamacare through was initially reported last week by Huma! n Events and The Heritage Foundation, and has now been confirmed by Senator Reid's office.Here is Senator Reid's plan in a nutshell, from CNS News: A senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told CNSNews.com that it is “likely” that Reid will use H.R. 1586-a bill passed by the House in March to impose a 90-percent tax on bonuses paid to employees of certain bailed-out financial institutions-as a “shell” for enacting the final version of the Senate's health care bill, which Reid is responsible for crafting.The rub here, and the reason Senator Reid has conjured up his little parlor trick, is the Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 7: All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills.

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2009/10/092009/10/09

Journal: PA & NYPD Criminalize Twitter

10 Security, 11 Society, Collective Intelligence, Ethics, Law Enforcement, Mobile, Real Time, Reform

Elliot Madison Accused Of Using Twitter To Tweet Police Actions At G-20 Protests

NEW YORK — A self-described New York City anarchist has been accused of tweeting the location of police officers to protesters trying to evade them during the Group of 20 economic summit in Pittsburgh.

Pennsylvania State Police arrested Elliot Madison alleging he used Twitter to direct the movement of protesters and inform them about law enforcement actions at last month's summit.

Phi Beta Iota: We are–as usual–NOT making this up. Coming as it does with repeated rumors of on-going preparations to federalize all state and local police forces “as necessary” and the long-standing concerns about the internment camps for use in the event of “civil unrest,” we have to ask ourselves, can this be for real? According to the Huffington Post, it most assuredly is.

2009/10/092009/10/09

Journal: Defense Research, Science, & Technology

04 Inter-State Conflict, 10 Security, Commercial Intelligence, InfoOps (IO), Methods & Process, Military, Reform

Proprietary Black Box Magic Happens Inside Linked to TS/SCI Price List (Only Visible to Idiots) — Proprietary Black Box Expensive Classified Magic Happens Inside

DoD Suppressed Critique of Military Research

New DoD Website Fosters Secret Science

Phi Beta Iota:Two reports today confirm our grave doubts about the viability of U.S. Departemnt of Defense (DoD) research in general, and Science & Technology (S&T) in particular. In combination with the known grid-loock and inherent loss of integrity within defense acquisition, these two reports suggest that the U.S. taxpayer will continue to pay more and more for less and less, while secrecy is used to avoid accountability. It has long troubled us that in classifying deficiencies, DoD assures a lifetime monopoly on “fixes” to the people that created the deficiencies in the first place–they do not know what they do not know! DoD desperately needs a Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) able to get a grip on all Human Intelligence (HUMINT) funded by the U.S. taxpayer. Ideal would be an expansion of the Undersecretary of Defense of Intelligence so as to add this as an integrative ICT and HUMINT integration function, while also assuming collaborative oversight of the Inspector General and of Operational Test and Evaluation. See the latest draft of the HUMINT Monograph for more information.

2009/10/092009/10/14

Journal: US IC Re-Discovers the Davies J-Curve

Government

15,000 Affected By Intelligence Community Server Shutdown

Atlantic POLITICS

Oct 8 2009, 9:53 am

Marc Ambinder

EXTRACT: A CIA analyst who works on open source projects with state and local law enforcement officials said that uGov provided the only secure way to provide them with critical homeland security information.

Several Defense Intelligence Agency employees wrote that the e-mail offered them cover for their intelligence gathering work — using uGov at an internet cafe in a foreign city wouldn't be a problem because, being an innocuous-sounding domain, did not reveal which agency they worked or what they did.

“I can't imagine doing my job as effectively without it,” an ODNI employee wrote.

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