The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
People power goes techie, ousts Tunisian dictator
Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 01:25:00 01/16/2011
Seeds of protest
The antigovernment protests began a month ago when a college-educated street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi in the small town of Sidi Bouzid burned himself to death in despair at the frustration and joblessness confronting many educated young people here. But the protests he inspired quickly evolved from bread-and-butter issues to demands for an assault on the perceived corruption and self-enrichment of the ruling family.
The protesters, led at first by unemployed college graduates like Bouazizi and later joined by workers and young professionals, found grist for the complaints in leaked cables from the US Embassy in Tunisia, released by WikiLeaks, which detailed the self-dealing and excess of the president’s family. And the protesters relied heavily on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter to circulate videos of each demonstration and issue calls for the next one.
TUNISIA: The First WikiLeaks Revolution?
Review: SMS Uprising: Mobile Activism in Africa
23 Worst Tyrants/Dictators (Yes, there’s more than 23) and Oops, there’s Saudi Arabia..
Review: Breaking the Real Axis of Evil–How to Oust the World’s Last Dictators by 2025
Netflix tests everything. They're very proud that they A/B test interactions, offerings, pricing, everything. It's almost enough to get you to believe that rigorous testing is the key to success.
Except they didn't test the model of renting DVDs by mail for a monthly fee.
And they didn't test the model of having an innovative corporate culture.
And they didn't test the idea of betting the company on a switch to online delivery.
The three biggest assets of the company weren't tested, because they couldn't be.
Sure, go ahead and test what's testable. But the real victories come when you have the guts to launch the untestable.
Phi Beta Iota: If your Operational Test & Evaluation (OT&E) process is non-existent or replete with flagrant fraud, ignore this Blog Wisdom–both testing and leaps of faith require absolute integrity to be all they can be.
Worth a look….coincides with what Chuck Spinney has been saying.
January 13, 2011 Harry C. Blaney III
Rethinking National Security
(Center for International Policy)
Among the first security issues of the year is the release of information about China’s military capabilities and the recent release of the U.S. defense budget request, which is not coincidental . Each year, when key decisions are made about the coming annual DOD budget, we see media reports about China’s new potential and physical military ambitions and weapons programs. They arise from statements by U.S. military commanders, anonymous Pentagon sources and conservative think tank pundits. The intent is to create a “boogeyman,” to depict the Chinese as nine feet tall and America as a “Lilliputian.”
I remember this same bizarre scenario took place during the Cold War. At that time, I had a bit of responsibility from time to time looking at these issues and especially the bureaucratic warfare between the military establishment and the intelligence community analysts who had to provide assessments about how far the Soviets were ahead of America and who in reality were behind us. The interagency fights were often fierce with billions of dollars at stake along with real command over new resources, programs and especially planes and ships – whether needed or not. There was the prospect of a nice rich job in the defense industry if your program won out.
Today, the kabuki is not much different but the reality of today’s security challenges is dramatically different in substantive ways.
Continue reading “Journal: Defense Theatrics & One-Two Star Flag Agonizing?”
In a recent trip to China, I discovered something of the direction of the national policy of that country towards the development of the Internet. In a speech in Wuxi, the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao spoke of the drive to build the “internet of things” and provided the interesting equation:
Internet + Internet of Things = Wisdom of the Earth
The parallels between this statement of policy and the GeoWeb are striking. The GeoWeb has been viewed from a vareity of perspectives, a few of these are:
More wasted money…..
Program to modernize Afghan justice system yields little so far
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McClatchy's November investigation of contracting in Afghanistan
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Contractor Louis Berger settles in Afghan overbilling probe
Follow Afghanistan developments at McClatchy's Checkpoint Kabul
See Also:
Reference: Quadrennial Diplomacy & Development Review
Graphic: Whole of Government Intelligence
Journal: Whole of Government Competence & Contractors
Review: Losing the Golden Hour–An Insider’s View of Iraq’s Reconstruction
Worth a Look: The Golden Hour and Rebalancing the Instruments of National Power
Navy Intel Chief: Information Dominance Must Balance Firepower
By Karen Parrish, American Forces Press Service, 6 January 2011
WASHINGTON (NNS) — “Information as warfare” requires operational commanders to employ intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to dominate the information realm even as they direct combat actions, the Navy's senior intelligence officer said Jan. 5.
Vice Adm. David J. “Jack” Dorsett, the director of naval intelligence and deputy chief of naval operations for information dominance, spoke to defense writers about what he called a shift from an Industrial Age military force to an Information Age force.
“We're great at strike warfare – dropping bombs,” Dorsett said. “It's now time for the Navy, and frankly the U.S. joint forces, to step up and start dealing with information in a much more sophisticated manner than they have in the past.”
Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, announced in October 2009 the Navy was combining its intelligence directorate, communications networks and related information technology capabilities into the information dominance organization.
Phi Beta Iota: Ms. Karen Parrish has done a superb job with this interview, which is rich in candid detail. What it makes clear is that Navy (as well as the Army) are making major changes in concepts & doctrine toward integration intelligence, communications, and information technology and as this article documents even starting to think about processing, dissemination, and exploitation. Both appear to be focused on machine collection and machine processing and not yet appreciative of Human Intelligence (HUMINT) across the fifteen slices and eight tribes as well as multinationally (M4IS2).
Rest of article also below line–it's worth saving.
Continue reading “Weak Signals: DoD Information Operations First Steps”
