Category: Journal ISSN 1078-1935

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Journal: US Attorney General Homegrown Terror Threat Increasing

10 Security, 11 Society, Government

Eric Holder
Eric Holder Full Story

In ABC News Exclusive, Attorney General Eric Holder Says ‘American People Would be Surprised by the Depth of the Threat'

By PIERRE THOMAS, JASON RYAN and THERESA COOK

WASHINGTON, July 29, 2009

Attorney General Eric Holder told ABC News in an exclusive interview today that he is increasingly concerned about Americans becoming radicalized and turning to terrorism.

“I mean, that's one of the things that's particularly troubling: This whole notion of radicalization of Americans,” Holder told ABC News during an interview in his SUV as his motorcade brought him from home to work. “Leaving this country and going to different parts of the world and then coming back, all, again, in aim of doing harm to the American people, is a great concern.”

Holder said the ever-changing threat of terror and the pressure to keep up with it weighs heavily on his mind as he tries to ensure that the government has done all it can to anticipate the moves of an unpredictable enemy.

“In some ways it's the most sobering part of the day,” Holder said of his morning intelligence briefing, in which he gets the latest report on the landscape of “the organizations, the people who are bound and determined to do harm to our nation.”

+++++++Phi Beta Iota Editorial Comment+++++++

NEWS FLASH FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL:  There is a “Harvest of Rage” buidling up in America, and is is not from jihadists against the Nation, but rather normal, sober, average Americans full of common sense who are angry at the long list of high crimes and misdemeanors committed by a corrupt Congress and a White House that–regardless of occupant–represents Wall Street instead of Main Street.

The Watts riots by people of color will look like a kiss on the cheek if the white people of Middle America ever decide to march on New York and Washington.  With all due respect to the good intentions of the Attorney General, he is out of touch with reality and with America.  This is a Republic.  The government is failing.  It is time to fix it or abolish it.  We favor the fix, and the fix is easy: the Electoral Reform Act of 2009.

American is going clinically insane because the federal government as a service of common concern to the United STATES of America is so busy transferring wealth from the individual taxpayer to the banks and special interests that it has failed to do its job: mind the public interest, nurture the public soul, and guard the public commonwealth.

Cheney and Rice equated informed patriotic objections to the elective war on Iraq at “treason”–General Tony Zinni in particular was tarred with that brush.  Today the Obama Administration seems to equate opposition to its sophmoric efforts to do good while continuing to loot the Treasury for Goldman Sachs as “the radicalization of Americans.”  Yes, America is being radicalized.   The public intelligence question to be asked and answered is this: are We the People being radicalized by external or internal circumstances?  Phi Beta Iota believes that our radicalization is caused by a government that has lost touch with the public it is meant to serve.  Our good people trapped in a bad system have forgotten that their oath is to the Constitution, to defend America against all enemies, domestic as well as foreign, and that sometimes it is the integrity of the individual in the chain of command who remembers the Constitution, that prevents the abuse of power by political appointees who have been bought and paid for by Wall Street.

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Journal: Military says linguists can’t keep up in Afghanistan

Methods & Process, Military, Technologies, Tools
AP Photo: Translators Cannot Cut It
AP Photo: Translators Cannot Cut It

PHOTO:David Guttenfelder/The Associated Press

Josh Habib, far left, a 53-year-old translator for the U.S. Marines, speaks with Afghan villagers and two Marines in the Nawa district of Helmand province.

By JASON STRAZIUSO Associated Press writer

July 26, 2009 6:00 AM

NAWA, Afghanistan — Josh Habib lay in a dirt field, gasping for air. Two days of hiking with Marines through southern Afghanistan's 115-degree heat had exhausted him. This was not what he signed up for.

Habib is not a Marine. He is a 53-year-old engineer from California who was hired by a contracting company as a military translator. When he applied for the lucrative linguist job, Habib said his recruiter gave no hint that he would join a ground assault in Taliban land. He carried 40 pounds of food, water and gear on his back, and kept pace — barely — with Marines half his age.

U.S. troops say companies that recruit military translators are sending linguists to southern Afghanistan who are unprepared to serve in combat, even as hundreds more are needed to support the growing number of troops.

Some translators are in their 60s and 70s and in poor physical condition, and some don't even speak the right language.

. . . . . . .

At Camp Leatherneck, four U.S.-citizen interpreters spoke with AP but none gave his name for fear of losing his job.

The translators said dozens of linguists quit soon after arriving in Afghanistan in recent weeks. Spangler declined to provide numbers but said “quite a bit” resigned or were fired because they were too old, unfit or couldn't speak Pashto.

Army Sgt. Will Gamez, 26, of Los Angeles, said he recently worked with a linguist who spoke only the Afghan language of Dari, instead of Pashto.

One translator alleged that most of his colleagues cannot speak Pashto, and that some recruits in the U.S. were bypassing the language test administered for Mission Essential by having a skilled Pashto speaker take it over the phone. The company does not require the initial test be taken in person but later gives in-person tests.

Spangler said the military is working its way through dozens of newly arrived interpreters and that the system will weed out the weaker ones by September.

But Gamez said soldiers need translators now, and that some feign sickness to avoid work.

“If he doesn't go out, I can't do my job,” Gamez said. “If locals come up to us, we can't tell what they're saying. They might be warning us about a minefield. They might be warning us about an ambush.”

+++++++Phi Beta Iota Editorial Comment+++++++

Click on the photograph above for the full story online.

How the Pentagon manages to persist in demanding US Citizens eligible for SECRET clearances is the question of the year.  In a combat situation, cut-off from the world, a native linguist with a European city ability to speak in English, no clearances, a fit young man until recently unemplpyed–indeed, two of them, to cross check each other at a quarter of the price being paid for overweight elderly white non-hakcers form the USA…the mind simply boggles.

General Al Gray, Commandant of the Marine Corps, nailed in in 1989 when he sought to focus Department of Defense attention on our shortfalls with respect to the Third World, and others nailed it when they pointed out that access to open sources in languages we do not speak was then and remains now the “sucking chest wound” in US intelligence.  Perhaps it should not be called intelligence at all, but rather “Dollar Roulette.”

It also troubles us that the Department of Defense has not figured out how to use Telelanguage.com, which could make available, 24/7 thousands of translators able to provide accurate calm translations, including quality control oversight, from their homes or offices worldwide.  C4I is supposed to combine communicatios, computing, and intelligence assets in innovative ways.  From where we sit, the translation problem is being handled in a 1950's manner and our Marines and Army soliders are at risk because of a lack of imagination and integrity in how this specific program is being managed.

Translation on Demand
Translation on Demand
Translators without Clearances
Translators without Clearances
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About the Journal of Public Intelligence (JPI)

About the Journal
Phi Beta Iota
Phi Beta Iota

The purpose of the Journal of Public Intelligence (JPI) is to sharply distinguish the nature of public intelligence (decision-support) that is in the public interest and also openly available to the public, as opposed to secret intelligence (mostly secret information, not actually decision-support), and to serve as the primary free onlined source for Multinational, Multiagency, Multidisciplinary, Multidomain Information-Sharing and Sense-Making (M4IS2) in the public interest at all levels on all matters.

The beta version of the JPI will be informal and solely online, pending the formalization of an editorial advisory board, editors for each of the eight intelligence “tribes” (government, military, law enforcement, academia, business, media, non-profit and non-governmental, and civil society (inclusive of citizen advocacy groups, labor unions, and regligions), and such other editors as may step forward to cover specific nations, agencies, disciplines, or domains.

UNIDIR Forum
UNIDIR Forum

The formal printable version of the Journal will be offered via Amazon as single issues on demand, and will follow the superb example of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), with all elements of the Journal in PDF form for free down-load, but retaining the structured, edited, dated, paginated “form” of a printed peer-review journal.

Tyalor & Francis, publishers of the International Journal of Intelligence & Counterintelligence (IJIC) as well as Intelligence and National Security (INS), has been offered an opportunity to publish the formal JPI in hard-copy for distribution to libraries and other centers of reflection.  If they choose not to accept our offer, Earth Intelligence Network will do so.  The six major areas of interest for which submissions are sought are:

Ten High-Level Threat to Humanity–what can the public know, how, when, to drive policy & spending in the public interest instead of on behalf of special interests?

Twelve Core Policies–what can the public know, how, when, to demand that policies be based on true cost assessments and in the context of a larger strategy that harmonizes spending across all twelve policies to achieve speccified outcomes in relation to the ten high-level threats as well as the policy objective areas?

Eight Democraphic Challengers–what can the public know, how, when, to assist or engage any element of the eight demographic challengers so as  to remediate their condition and assist them in avoiding the mistakes of the West while still striving to achieve sustainable high quality lives for global humanity?

Collaboration Zones–what lessons learned, sources and methods found, case studies can we share that demonstrate the application of M4IS2 principles as well as the twelve spiritual principles of Phi Beta Iota, to any specific challenge?

Communities of Practice–what lessons learned, sources and methods found, case studies can we share that demonstrate the application of M4IS2 principles as well as the twelve spiritual principles of Phi Beta Iota, to any specific challenge?

Training & Who's Who–what specifics can be shared that apply to any community of practice in any collaboration zone with respect to any threat, policy, or demographic challenger?

As a general rule, submission must be in the form of a 500 abstract with one graphic, and a persistent URL to which the Journal can point the reader.  If a persistent URL is not available, we will accept the entire longer work for posting in our own archives, and point to it there.

JPI is registered with the Library of Congress as ISSN 1078-1935 and is an evoluation of the original Open Source Solutions Notices published by the for-profit parent of the earth Intelligence Network.

JPI is published free online by Earth Intelligence Network, EIN 20-828-6516, an accredited 501c3 Public Charity, and in ther service of Phi Beta Iota, a global virtual network of anyone who wishes to nurture public intelligence in the public interest.

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Journal: Marcus Aurelius Flags Thomas Jefferson Quotes

Civil Society, Collective Intelligence
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson

From a retired Marine colonel continuing to serve in the CENTCOM AOR….

‘I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property – until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.'

Thomas Jefferson

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes.   A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.

Thomas Jefferson

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe
.
Thomas Jefferson

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.

Thomas Jefferson

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.

Thomas Jefferson

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much
government.

Thomas Jefferson

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.

Thomas Jefferson

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Thomas Jefferson

To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he
disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

Thomas Jefferson

“Those who turnt heir guns into plowshares will plow for those who don't.”

Thomas Jefferson

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Journal: Washington State Privatizes All-Source Fusion Center Intelligence

Law Enforcement
Privatizing Intelligence
Privatizing Intelligence

Washington Joint Analytical Center Seattle

private intelligence outsourcing,

1525 pages, 2006-200

July 26, 2009

Summary

This confidential 1525 page scanned file (61Mb, PDF) is notable for its comprehensive insight into the revolving door world of public-private intelligence in the United States and attempts by the Washington State Patrol to privatize its “criminal intelligence” function.

The document details a tendering process for private sector deployment of intelligence functions inside the Washington Joint Analytical Center (WAJAC) on behalf of the Washington State Patrol (WSP).

It includes pricing, proposals, contracts, background checks, courses, certificates, and resumes of past intelligence work by tender applicant personnel—including detainee interrogation and deployments throughout the world.

The WAJAC is an intelligence “fusion” center used for data-sharing by a number of law enforcement-military groups. Elsewhere, these centers, have been secretly promoted by the US Army as a method to evade posse comitatus restrictions.

Similarly, usurping regulated police with private intelligence contractors reduces accountability. Contractors, for instance, usually do not have to comply with the Freedom of Information Act.

+++++++Phi Beta Iota Editorial Comment+++++++

Please click on WikiLeaks Logo for the Full Story and other related links.

It is our strongly held view that intelligence is both an inherent responsibility of the commander, and cannot be “delegated” in the sense of failing to treat intelligence as a commander's responsibility 24/7; and that intelligence for purposes of national security is an inherent function of government, with the specific observation that secret sources and methods and all-source analysis should be restricted to career employees of the government at whatever level they are being undertaken.  Contractors have a huge and legitimate role to play, but clandestine collection, covert actions, and the final responsibility for analytics and dissemiantion of analytic judgements to the commander, should not be done by contractors.

Similarly, we believe that clearances are a privilege, and that anyone who resigns from government service prior to their projected retirement eligibility date should expect to automatically lose their clearances and fall to the back of the line.  We must put an end to robbing one side of government of a perfectly-positioned government employee, so as to allow a contractor to meet a need elsewhere in government with an employee whose primary attribute these days is the clearance, not the bucket of skills actually needed.

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Journal: Marcus Aurelius Flags “The Losers Hang On”

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 10 Security, Government, Military, Peace Intelligence
Full Story Online
Full Story Online

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Published: July 25, 2009

After spending a week traveling the frontline of the “war on terrorism” — from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Ronald Reagan in the seas off Iran, to northern Iraq, to Afghanistan and into northwest Pakistan — I can comfortably report the following: The bad guys are losing.

Yes, the dominos you see falling in the Muslim world today are the extremist Islamist groups and governments. They have failed to persuade people by either their arguments or their performances in power that their puritanical versions of Islam are the answer. Having lost the argument, though, the radicals still hang on thanks to gun barrels and oil barrels — and they can for a while.

. . . . . . .

To the extent that the radical Islamists have any energy today, it comes not from the power of their ideas or examples of good governance, but by stoking sectarian feuds. In Afghanistan, the Taliban play on Pashtun nationalist grievances, and in Iraq, the Sunni jihadists draw energy from killing Shiites.

The only way to really dry up their support, though, is for the Arab and Muslim modernists to actually implement better ideas by producing less corrupt and more consensual governance, with better schools, more economic opportunities and a vision of Islam that is perceived as authentic yet embracing of modernity. That is where “our” allies in Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan have so consistently failed. Until that happens, the Islamist radicals will be bankrupt, but not out of business.

+++++++Phi Beta Iota Editorial Comment+++++++

Most readers will focus on the beginning of Friedman's story and completely miss the ending.  What Friedman does not state that needs stating over and over again is that the U.S. taxpayer is being cheated by a foreign policy that substitutes technology for thinking, military sales for strategy, and convenient dictators for democracy.  Until we have an Undersecretary of State for Democracy with one Assistant Secretary for those dictators that agree to a five-year exit strategy, another for those that do not; and a counterpart Undersecretary of Defense for Peace who can move beyond the lip service that Defense continues to give to Operations Other Than War (OOTW), Stabilization & Reconstructions (S&R), Humanitarian Assistance (HA), and the mother of all military strategies, Irregular Warfare properly defined as Waging Peace by All Means Possible,  we will continue to betray the public interest at home as well as abroad.

Click on NYT Logo Above for the Full Story Online.

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