Category: Key Players

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Journal: WIRED to IC–You’re Tired, Get Wired….

Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Ethics, Key Players, Mobile, Policies, Real Time, Threats, Topics (All Other)

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Pink Slips, Spyblogs, and More New Year’s Resolutions for the Intelligence Community

Michael Tanji spent nearly 20 years in the US intelligence community. A veteran of the US Army, Michael has served in both strategic and tactical assignments worldwide, and has participated in national and international analysis and policy efforts, including projects for the NIC, NSC and NATO. A Claremont Institute Lincoln Fellow. Michael lectures on intelligence issues at The George Washington University. He is also an occassional contributor to the Weekly Standard and is the editor of _Threats in the Age of Obama.

A near-successful bombing on Christmas, a suicide attack on the CIA — it’s been a rotten ten days for the U.S. Intelligence Community. And unless things change in a serious way, the spy agencies can expect many more rotten days ahead. But there are some steps that the IC can take in 2010 that could mean fewer failures, more success, and more lives saved. Think of them as New Years’ resolutions for the spy agencies.

Pink Slips.    Go All In for 2.0.    Align Policy with Practice.    Get Real About Training.    Open Back Up.

Terrorism, transnational crime, cyber security: all problems that are only going to get worse as the world gets more wired and interconnected; all problems that cannot be addressed without a strong intelligence apparatus. The security of the nation is every administrations primary responsibility, which makes resolving to spend political capital on these low-cost, high-return efforts no-brainers.

Continue reading “Journal: WIRED to IC–You're Tired, Get Wired….”

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Journal: Death of CIA Personnel in Afghanistan

05 Civil War, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Government

UPDATE: Journal: CIA’s Poor Tradecraft AND Poor Management

UPDATE:  Bomber was Jordanian doctor & Jordanian intelligence asset

Phi Beta Iota: This keeps getting worse.  We wonder if CIA contractors get stars on the wall–4 employees including the one who was over-ruled by Berger, Tenet, and Brennen in taking Bin Laden out unilaterally; 3 guards, and a Jordanian intelligence officer who was probably “handling” the asset that did not get searched coming into a “safe” area.  So now we have analysts as chiefs of base (or visiting) on the front line; Jordanian “case officers” providing the language, tradecraft, and other services, and “flipped” assets not validated who get to waltz inside our lines without being searched.   Still unclear is whether the Atlanta detective until recently a UN security officer was an employee or a contractor.

The only thing worse than what CIA is doing in AF and IQ is what the military is evidently unable to do: combat intelligence and counter-intelligence.

See also the Sanity Check comments associated with this posting.

UPDATE:  CIA invited suicide bomber on base as a potential informant

Phi Beta Iota:  The informant was not searched prior to being brought into the “safe” area.  This is what happens when you have inexperienced people too focused on convenient debriefings and not focused enough on counterintelligence.  The Cubans and the Soviets have been running rings around CIA for decades with walk-ins, and CIA now has a whole new crop of folks with no idea how to operate in the field.  We are reminded of the two CIA case officers that went nuts in Somalia.  Somebody needs to  tell Panetta he's in charge of Clowns in Action.  Similarly, the first CIA casualty in Afghanistan was killed because CIA got into the prison business and had no clue on the fundamentals, such as searching prisoners before putting them into group confinement.  This is a tragedy that could have been avoided.

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Journal: Resistance to Federal Mandates Grows

08 Wild Cards, Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Ethics, Policies, Real Time, Threats

Resist DC: NH Legislators Look to Nullify Federal Gun Laws

While the bill’s title focuses on federal gun regulations, it has far more to do with the 10th Amendment’s limit on the power of the federal government. It states, in part:

The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution for the United States guarantees to the states and their people all powers not granted to the federal government elsewhere in the constitution and reserves to the State and people of New Hampshire certain powers as they were understood at the time that New Hampshire ratified the Bill of Rights, particularly the Tenth Amendment in 1790. The guaranty of those powers is a matter of contract between the State and people of New Hampshire and the several States comprising the United States as of the time that the compact was agreed upon and adopted by New Hampshire and the several States comprising the United States.

The regulation of inter-state commerce was delegated by the People of the Several States to the federal government in the US Constitution. Since the regulation of intra-state commerce was not delegated to the federal government, this authority, as codified in law by the 10th Amendment, remains with the State governments or the People themselves.

Continue reading “Journal: Resistance to Federal Mandates Grows”

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Journal: Selected MILNET Headlines

08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism

The New Rules Of Engagement: Nine imperatives for our post-9/11 world

Statutory rules to authorize preventive detentions;

Adoption of the isolation-and-quarantine statute;

Establish new laws to govern the use of federal troops (domestically)

Major-General Andrew Mackay Says MoD Is ‘Institutionally Incapable' In Afghanistan

“From the top of the MoD through to the Army’s staff colleges, the structures, despite the best will in the world, are institutionally incapable of keeping pace with rapid change and the associated willingness to adapt — and quickly — at the same time,” the paper says.

Mobility Helps Al Qaeda Extend Reach

Al Qaeda's decentralized structure across the Middle East is proving one of its biggest advantages over American firepower.

Terrorism's Triumphant Techniques:Why the US is behind the power curve (Ralph Peters)

The terrorists are “inside the wire.” Everywhere. From eastern Afghanistan to Texas. And we're stalled. For all of our wealth, technology and power, our enemies have the strategic and psychological initiative.

Our enemies have done what we refuse to do. They've analyzed the problem objectively and engineered ruthless solutions.

EDITORIAL: Obama's failed freshman year

President Obama's freshman-year foreign policy was the worst in living memory. At the dawn of 2010, the United States finds itself noticeably weaker in international affairs than it was when Mr. Obama took office, and there are no signs of improvement in the year ahead.

Use of potentially harmful chemicals kept secret under law

Of the 84,000 chemicals in commercial use in the United States — from flame retardants in furniture to household cleaners — nearly 20 percent are secret, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, their names and physical properties guarded from consumers and virtually all public officials under a little-known federal provision.

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Journal: States of Conflict (AF, PK & IQ) An Update

08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Military, Peace Intelligence
Marcus Aurelius
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By IAN LIVINGSTON, HEATHER MESSERA, MICHAEL O’HANLON and AMY UNIKEWICZ    January 2, 2010

In 2009, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan dominated American military and foreign policy. Which themes emerged over the last year?

Click Here For Graphic Statistics

In Iraq, 2009 was the year of relatively smooth transitions.

In Pakistan, 2009 was the year of the offensives.

In Afghanistan, 2009 was the year of decisions — by President Obama, of course, by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and by the Afghan people as they re-elected Hamid Karzai as president.

Phi Beta Iota: Although a puff piece in some ways, since it is well-known that Karzai is massively corrupt and the election was so fraudulent as to remind one of Idi Amin's elections, the statistics are indeed looking good, especially in Iraq.  Our concern is that the US will finally de-occupy Iraq only to create new occupations in Yemen, Sudan, and Somalia.  Neither CIA nor JSOC is actually up to the challenge of global operations without blow-back, the US has no strategy and no Whole of Goverment capability for waging peace so as to calm the context in which we do one man – one bullet operations, so on balance, we are very concerned.

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Journal: Strong Signals–Azerbaijan in Play

02 Diplomacy, 05 Iran, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Military, Peace Intelligence

Phi Beta Iota: We now know that no one briefed the White House on the fact that Iraq was deeply divided between Sunnis in power and Shi-ites under repression.  We have to ask ourselves if anyone has figured out that Azerbaijan is the other Shi'ite majority nation.

Shi'ites Rock On....

Iran starts to introduce visa-free regime with Azerbaijan on February 1 – Head of the press service of the Iranian Embassy

Earlier Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohammad Bagir Behrami said that any Azerbaijani citizen can travel to Iran without a visa and stay for one month.

The ambassador expressed hope that the Azerbaijani side will take a similar step.

ACNIS criticizes Azerbaijani president’s renewed threats of war

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) Director Richard Giragosian issued a statement today criticizing Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s renewed “threats of war.

Have Beard, Will Travel

Azerbaijani citizen arrested in Afghanistan on suspected link to al Qaeda

Baku. Elmin Ibrahimov-APA. Afghanistan National Security Directorate (NSD) has announced that a member of the al-Qaida network was arrested in the country’s eastern province of Khost.

Turkey urges Armenia to resolve problems with Azerbaijan

“Normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia is not enough,” Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Burak Özügergin told a press briefing on Wednesday. “If Armenia does not resolve Upper Karabakh dispute with Azerbaijan, stability in the Caucasus can not be established. This is quite clear.”


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Worth a Look: Economic Intelligence for the Public

Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Ethics, Key Players, Policies, Worth A Look

Chris Martinsen's Free Crash Course on Economics

# Chapter Duration Translations
— Introduction (on this page, above) 1:47 Español, Français
1 Three Beliefs 1:46 Español, Français
2 The Three “E”s 1:38 Español, Français
3 Exponential Growth 6:20 Español, Français
4 Compounding is the Problem 3:06 Español, Français
5 Growth vs. Prosperity 3:40 Español, Français
6 What is Money? 5:55 Español, Français
7 Money Creation 4:19 Español, Français
8 The Fed – Money Creation 7:13 Español, Français
9 A Brief History of US Money 7:14 Español, Français
10 Inflation 11:48 Español, Français
11 How Much Is A Trillion? 3:28 Español, Français
12 Debt 12:32 Español, Français
13 A National Failure To Save 12:06 Español, Français
14 Assets & Demographics 13:41 Español, Français
15 Bubbles 14:10 Español, Français
16 Fuzzy Numbers 15:52 Español, Français
17a Part A: Peak Oil 17:52 Español, Français
17b Part B: Energy Budgeting 12:15 Español, Français
17c Part C: Energy And The Economy 7:05 Español, Français
18 Environmental Data 16:22 Español, Français
19 Future Shock 8:02 Español, Français
20 What Should I Do? 19:48 Español, Français

Tip of the Hat to pinecarr, who provided this comment at  Book: INTELLIGENCE FOR EARTH–Chapter 7 Loaded.

Retired Reader states “Identifying what he [Robert D. Steele] conceives as the ten major threats to humanity as the bases for designing a global intelligence system is exactly the way to begin.” I couldn’t agree more.

Given that, and as someone who greatly admires your ability to digest huge amounts of information in your pursuit of truth, I would like to bring “The Crash Course”, by Dr. Chris Martenson, to your attention. It is available free on-line..

I think Chris’s 5 year search for the truth -relating to interacting problems in the economy, energy, and environment- complements your search for larger truths, just starting from a different perspective. I also think the knowledge he conveys may contribute additional insights for your assessment of the top threats to humanity.

For an independent review of the Crash Course by the Huffington Post, see “The Perfect Crash Course on the Economy”.

EXTRACT from Huffington Post (a great review) on the author's three core points:

“The first is that the next twenty years are going to be completely unlike the last twenty years. Second, I believe that its possible that the pace and/or scope of change could overwhelm the ability of our key social and support institutions to adapt. Third, I believe we do not lack any technology or understanding necessary to build ourselves a better future.”