Communities of Practice – Page 1409 – Public Intelligence Blog

Cloud of Clouds is the new new meme, burying Semantic Web. You can see Vint Cerf in his traditional vest. We've asked for the names of all those attending, perhaps that will come out soon.

In the meantime, we see Google and CISCO-Nokia going head to head, whle Amazon and IBM fritter on the sides, HP brings out SkyRoom, and China creates its own Google killer. What India might be up to is a mystery–if we were in their shoes we'd be putting a Nokia factory in EACH province, and demanding that all computers sold in india be wireless equipped and capable of creating ad hoc neighborhood clouds that can survive the Obama Administration's shutting down of the Internet in the USA.

Of possible interest:

Robert Steele's Briefing on Real Time Information

IBM's White Paper on Creating a Dynamic Infrastructure Through Virtualization

IBM's Short Video New Intelligence Toward a Smarter Planet

IBM's Short Video Dynamic Infrastructure for a Smarter Planet

Phi Beta Iota: We need an MCC equivalent for the whole enchilada from analog data capture to desktop decision-support.

2009/09/252009/09/25

Journal: Intelligence Is A Critical Need

05 Civil War, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Law Enforcement, Military, Non-Governmental, Peace Intelligence

Full Story Online

Intelligence Is A Critical Need

To do the job right and win

By Rep. Peter Hoekstra and Rep. John Shadegg

September 25, 2009 Pg. 21

Phi Beta Iota: Despite the fact that Representative Hoekstra is now Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), neither of these two individuals (or their staffs) appear to know what it would take to do proper intelligence in Afghanistan; why their commentary is fifteen years too late; and/or why it is also moot in the absence of a coherent reality-based strategy and the rescinding of the existing rules of engagement that are incapcitating our troops. Both good men trapped in a bad system, they have no access to ground truth from iconoclasts and are a perfect reprise to the “best and the brightest” on Viet-Nam–brilliantly uninformed.

2009/09/252009/09/25

Journal: Eye Opener–Census Worker Found Hanged

11 Society, Civil Society, Ethics, Peace Intelligence, Reform

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A part-time Census Bureau field worker was found hanged in Kentucky Sept. 12 with the word “fed” scrawled across his chest, according to a law enforcement source. Bill Sparkman, 51, who was white, was found at the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky, the Associated Press first reported Wednesday night.

Phi Beta Iota: The Washington Post was among the early casualties in the new business. They don't read a lot, just replay the hand-outs from government, so something that is an eye-opener to them is old news to the rest of us. This story is note-worthy because it is the first story we have seen that a politician in Washington might actually read. To better understand the Legitimate Grievances of all Americans against the “out of control” Federal Government that has–with the best of intentions and really rotten intelligence–combined with the Federal Reserve (neither Federal nor a Reserve) to destroy the pension funds and the life savings of the vast majority of the public, see the two reviews behind the two covers, and contemplate some of the other books accessible via the Reviews menu. We spoke in 19 small towns and cities across America after 9/11 and that was our own eye-opener. The anger against the Federal Government across the land cannot be exaggerated, and is co-equal with the elitist obliviousness to the plight of the people. The public is losing its mind because the government has lost its soul.

2009/09/252009/09/25

Journal: Ralph Peters on The Rules Murdering Our Troops

05 Civil War, 10 Security, Military, Policy, Reform, Strategy

Over 200 Marines died in the barracks by the beach in Beirut, in their sleep, because the White House failed to understand that the strategic situation had changed; because chicken hawk staff approved the launching of battleship salvos (think really pissed-off Volkswagons in flight) that certified the US was “taking sides” rather than seeking to preserve the peace; and because the “rules of engagement” imposed on Colonel of Marines Tim Gerrity required that his Marines not have rounds in the chambers and not fire as approaching vehicles that failed to stop–at the same time, intelligence sucked then as it sucks now.

The photos are our own, from Beirut in August 2007. We grieve for our Marines, who sought to serve their country while being used as an expendible tool by the White House. Today the same thing is happening in Afghanistan and Ralph Peters has unleashed his own volley against the insanity of asking our troops to allow themselves to be killed whenever a civilian is in the area. Click on the collage for today's deja vu.

2009/09/252009/10/12

Journal: Afghanistan Bay of Pigs Reprise

05 Civil War, 10 Security, Military

What Next In Afghanistan? The Five People Obama Is Asking

Click on photo for full story. Grades and comments are those of Phi Beta Iota.

Vice President Joe Biden. C+. Scale back, Drones and Special Forces on high-value targets.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. F. Delusional on Taliban as lovers of Al Qaeda, listening to slick Australian on spending our way into hearts and minds.

National Security Adviser James Jones. D. Good man that does not know what he does not know, drops from a C to a D because his job is outreach and ensuring the President hears from a diversity of views, that is not happening.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen. C+. A strategic savant trapped between a rock and a hard-place, his integrity fights his loyalty every day. A for the rest of the world, D for not calling AF for what it is: a blunder of epic proportions.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates. B-. Found his integrity in pushing the troop demand into the public eye after first being a loyalist. Learned from Viet-Nam that Ho was a nationalist after all, Taliban is more of the same. A lame duck while Obama decides between Chuck Hagel and John Hamre.

Administration Over-All: D. Empire as Usual, Bureaucracy as Usual, Sacrificing our Troops to Buy Time, Not Listening to Serious Experts, Not Able to Think a Strategic Thought, Not Able to Plan, Program, and Execute a Whole of Government Anything.

2009/09/24

Journal: Fighting against ourselves in Afghanistan

05 Civil War, 09 Justice, 10 Security, Ethics, Military

Full Story Online

The U.S. trains forces in Afghanistan that then go to work for the Taliban

Ann Jones

Key Points:

1. Washington and U.S. military out of touch with ground truth and historical-cultural reality in Afghanistan.

2. We are training individuals in US techniques who desert and join the Taliban–we are literally training the Taliban to beat us.

3. Many individuals are re-enrolling under multiple names in order to get the training and the good food, while many others take the training and the food and never come back after their first period of leave (vacation after training).

4. Pashtuns are not joining police and so the Americans are sending non-Pashtuns back into Pashtun territory to act as police–this is so stupid as to be insanely criminal and irresponsible.

Phi Beta Iota: This article was linked to in an earlier post on connecting the dots, but it reads better in Salon and we recommend a careful review–this is journalism at its very best, informing the public about FACTS that the Administration desires to ignore.

2009/09/24

Journal: The Smart List: 12 Shocking Ideas That Could Change the World

Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Policies

WIRED MAGAZINE: 17.10

Warning: The ideas expressed here may be dangerous. .

The 12 Ideas with Links to Each Sub-Story and Comment

We found four of the ideas to be truly radical.

5. Cut Off Aid to Africa

6. Empty the Prisons

7. Save the Slums

8. Forget Medical Privacy

The rest, including 12, Overhaul the Pentagon, are smoke and mirrors in the absence of a total make-over of the relationship among citizens, information, and how money is allocated in society.

Category: Communities of Practice

Journal: The Cloud Bubbas (Two Bubbettes) Met on 3 September and You Were Not Invited

Journal: Intelligence Is A Critical Need

Journal: Eye Opener–Census Worker Found Hanged

Journal: Ralph Peters on The Rules Murdering Our Troops

Journal: Afghanistan Bay of Pigs Reprise

Journal: Fighting against ourselves in Afghanistan

Journal: The Smart List: 12 Shocking Ideas That Could Change the World

WIRED MAGAZINE: 17.10