Journal ISSN 1078-1935 – Page 1227 – Public Intelligence Blog

Evidence still raises questions over World Trade Center collapses

Alex Beam’s portrayal of “architect truthers” is yet another disappointing example of a journalist resorting to ad hominem attacks and avoiding the facts when discussing the destruction of the three World Trade Center skyscrapers on Sept. 11, 2001 (“The ‘truthers’ and 9/11,” Opinion, Nov. 16). . . . The physical evidence shows that scattered office fires could not have caused the 47-story WTC 7 to collapse symmetrically into its footprint. (Imagine Boston’s 52-story Prudential Tower completely collapsing in seven seconds from small fires — it’s hard to, isn’t it?) The evidence also shows that the twin towers were not leveled by the airplane impacts and ensuing fires. The implications are indeed far-reaching, and that is why we urge people to study all the evidence before reaching a conclusion.

Continue reading “Richard Gage: 9/11 Letter to the Editor (Boston Globe)”

2015/12/062015/12/05

Mongoose: ISIS in America – Deja Vu

10 Security, 11 Society

ISIS in America

From Retweets to Raqqa

The report, ISIS in America: From Retweets to Raqqa consists of two parts. The first examines all cases of U.S. persons arrested, indicted, or convicted in the United States for ISIS-related activities. A wide array of legal documents related to these cases provides empirical evidence for identifying several demographic factors related to the arrested individuals. This section also looks at the cases of other Americans who, while not in the legal system, are known to have engaged in ISIS-inspired behavior.

The second part of the report examines various aspects of the ISIS-related mobilization in America. Here the report analyzes the individual motivations of ISIS supporters; the role of the Internet and, in particular, social media, in their radicalization and recruitment processes; whether their radicalization took place in isolation or with other, like-minded individuals; and the degree of their tangible links to ISIS. It concludes with recommendations to combat ISIS recruitment.

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2015/12/052015/12/05

Worth a Look: Exploring Leadership

Future-Oriented, Leadership, Worth A Look

This is the best bargain available at Amazon, and the original and best second edition (2007) recommended over the more expensive 2013 edition.

Chapter 6, Leading with Integrity and Moral Purpose, by Jennifer Armstrong, is particularly recommended. The outline for this “root” chapter is below.

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2015/12/052015/12/05

Chuck Spinney: Turks Ambushed Russians – Analysis by Pierre Sprey in Conversation with Andrew Cockburn

04 Inter-State Conflict, IO Deeds of War

While circumstances of the recent shoot-down of the Russian SU-24 by a Turkish F-16 in the border region of Turkey and Syria remain murky, this is best analysis that I have seen to date. Be warned, however: I am biased, both the interviewer and the interviewee are good friends of mine. The map below may help you to follow the discussion.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Turks Ambushed Russians – Analysis by Pierre Sprey in Conversation with Andrew Cockburn”

2015/12/052015/12/04

Hypothes.is: Coalition of 40+ Scholarly Publishers

04 Education, Advanced Cyber/IO

On Tuesday, we announced a major new initiative to bring this vision to reality, supported by a coalition of over 40 of the world’s essential scholarly organizations, such as JSTOR, PLOS, arXiv, HathiTrust, Wiley and HighWire Press, who are linking arms to establish a new paradigm of open collaborative annotation across the world’s knowledge.

Read full first newsletter, The Margin #1.

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2015/12/052015/12/04

Stephen E. Arnold: Big Data Myths Debunked

IO Impotency

Big Data Myths Debunked

An abundance of data is not particularly valuable without the ability to draw conclusions from it. Forbes recognizes the value of data analysis in, “Text Analytics Gurus Debunk Four Big Data Myths.” Contributor Barbara Thau observes:

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2015/12/042015/12/05

Mongoose: Messianic Jew Picked the Fight in San Bernadino — No Politician and No Media Personality Will Mention This….

Cultural Intelligence

Kudos to The Jerusalem Post for getting to the bottom of San Bernadino. An intemperate Messianic Jew picked the fight with inflamatory rhetoric and direct personal attacks in cyber space (social media).

Slain Messianic Jew had argued Islam, Israel with San Bernardino shooter

Continue reading “Mongoose: Messianic Jew Picked the Fight in San Bernadino — No Politician and No Media Personality Will Mention This….”