Ineptitude – Page 60 – Public Intelligence Blog

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Commentary: Why We Need a Defense Clandestine Service

DefenseNews, 3 March 2014

I was a CIA spy from 1979 to 1988, leaving when invited to be a co-creator of the Marine Corps Intelligence Center from 1988 to 1993. Since 1993, I have been one of the more persistent published proponents of intelligence reform around the world.

In 2010, I was among those interviewed for the position of defense intelligence senior leader for human intelligence (HUMINT). I made two points during that interview: First, in a declining fiscal environment, the best way to pay for a defense spy program would be by cutting in half the Measurements and Signatures Analysis Intelligence program, which is under the oversight of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) director. It is the most over-hyped and underperforming national collection program.

Second, micro-pockets of excellence notwithstanding, no one serving in the Pentagon (or CIA) was qualified by mindset or experience to create the Defense Clandestine Service (DCS). I was particularly pointed about the complacency and ineptitude of the entrenched civilian cadre, and the inexperience and uncertainty of their constantly changing uniformed counterparts.

Here are my observations on whether there should be a DCS, and if so, how it should be trained, equipped and organized.

Continue reading “Robert Steele: Why We Need a Defense Clandestine Service”

2014/03/032014/03/03

Berto Jongman: Time to Reassess Goals of Humanitarian Aid

01 Poverty, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Ineptitude, Non-Governmental, Peace Intelligence

It's time to reassess the goals of humanitarian aid

Those caught in conflict and natural disasters are part of growing trend exemplified by Syria, South Sudan and the Philippines

David Miliband

The Guardian, 28 February 2014

For the first time the UN has declared three simultaneous crises – in South Sudan, Syria and the Philippines – as level 3, the highest band of emergency. So this is a period of intense activity for NGOs such as the International Rescue Committee. But it is also a good time to reflect on the goals and working methods of the humanitarian system.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Time to Reassess Goals of Humanitarian Aid”

2014/03/012014/03/01

Steven Aftergood: IG Blasts NRO Secrecy Practices

Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Military

INSPECTOR GENERAL BLASTS NRO SECRECY PRACTICES

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the agency that builds and operates U.S. intelligence satellites, frequently makes mistakes when it classifies national security information, according to an assessment performed last year by the NRO Inspector General.

“From the classified documents we reviewed at NRO headquarters, 114 of 134 documents contained classification errors,” the IG report said.

Agency classification officials “lack sufficient knowledge of classification principles and procedures necessary to perform their duties,” the NRO Inspector General found. “One OCA [original classification authority] had almost no knowledge of his responsibilities.”

“Because of the lack of full compliance in multiple areas, the NRO is susceptible to the risk of persistent misclassification,” the IG said.

Continue reading “Steven Aftergood: IG Blasts NRO Secrecy Practices”

2014/02/282014/02/28

Winslow Wheeler: Chuck Hagel on the A-10 – Without a Clue or Without Scruples?

Corruption, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Military

Pierre Sprey and I have authored an analysis of Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel's statements this past Monday on the A-10. It follows:

Chuck Hagel's A-10 Legacy

By Winslow T. Wheeler & Pierre M. Sprey

When he spoke about next year's defense budget on February 24, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel addressed his decision to go along with the Air Force and retire all existing A-10 close air support aircraft. In that statement, he made the following assertions:

· “To fund these investments [the new long range bomber, the new tanker and the F-35], the Air Force will reduce the number of tactical air squadrons including the entire A-10 fleet. Retiring the A-10 fleet saves $3.5 billion over five years and accelerates the Air Force's long-standing modernization plan – which called for replacing the A-10s with the more capable F-35 in the early 2020s.”

· “The ‘Warthog' is a venerable platform, and this was a tough decision. But the A-10 is a 40-year-old single-purpose airplane originally designed to kill enemy tanks on a Cold War battlefield. It cannot survive or operate effectively where there are more advanced aircraft or air defenses. And as we saw in Iraq and Afghanistan, the advent of precision munitions means that many more types of aircraft can now provide effective close air support, from B-1 bombers to remotely piloted aircraft. And these aircraft can execute more than one mission.”

· “Moreover, the A-10's age is also making it much more difficult and costly to maintain. Significant savings are only possible through eliminating the entire fleet, because of the fixed cost of maintaining the support apparatus associated with the aircraft. Keeping a smaller number of A-10s would only delay the inevitable while forcing worse trade-offs elsewhere.”

Many of these statements are questionable; several are poorly informed; at least one of them is materially incorrect.

Continue reading “Winslow Wheeler: Chuck Hagel on the A-10 – Without a Clue or Without Scruples?”

2014/02/232014/02/23

4th Media: Years Later, Millions of Dollars Later, Obama Administration Admits They [and James Clapper Specificially] Lied to the Courts and Claimed “Terrorism” To Cover Up a Simple Mistake

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Law Enforcement

How Obama Officials Cried ‘Terrorism’ to Cover Up a Paperwork Error

David Kravets | Sunday, February 23, 2014

After seven years of litigation, two trips to a federal appeals court and $3.8 million worth of lawyer time, the public has finally learned why a wheelchair-bound Stanford University scholar was cuffed, detained and denied a flight from San Francisco to Hawaii: FBI human error.

FBI agent Kevin Kelley was investigating Muslims in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004 when he checked the wrong box on a terrorism form, erroneously placing Rahinah Ibrahim on the no-fly list.

What happened next was the real shame. Instead of admitting to the error, high-ranking President Barack Obama administration officials spent years covering it up. Attorney General Eric Holder, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and a litany of other government officials claimed repeatedly that disclosing the reason Ibrahim was detained, or even acknowledging that she’d been placed on a watch list, would cause serious damage to the U.S. national security.

Again and again they asserted the so-called “state secrets privilege” to block the 48-year-old woman’s lawsuit, which sought only to clear her name.

Continue reading “4th Media: Years Later, Millions of Dollars Later, Obama Administration Admits They [and James Clapper Specificially] Lied to the Courts and Claimed “Terrorism” To Cover Up a Simple Mistake”

2014/02/222014/02/22

4th Media: 60 Minutes Pimps F-35 — Not a Single Question (or Source) with Integrity

Corruption, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Media

Journalism Fail: All the Sources in Stealth Jet Story Are PAID to Praise the Plane

On Sunday, 60 Minutes ran a story about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter entitled, “Is the F-35 Worth It?” But watching the piece, I saw no debate whatsoever of that very important question.

And for good reason. All the interview subjects were government employees or contractors. They’d have been crazy to criticize their own program.

What I did see on Sunday was an ill-informed reporter—David Martin—touring the military side of the $400-billion F-35 program … and throwing in just a few boilerplate questions.

These questions were softballs, considering how big of a blunder this program actually has been. The F-35 is meant to replace 2,400 existing warplanes in the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy. Complex and badly compromised by the need to meet all the military branches’ diverse needs, the JSF is overpriced, unreliable and sluggish.

Continue reading “4th Media: 60 Minutes Pimps F-35 — Not a Single Question (or Source) with Integrity”

2014/02/22