Policies – Page 526 – Public Intelligence Blog

Education Needs a Digital-Age Upgrade

The New York Times, August 7, 2011

The contemporary American classroom, with its grades and deference to the clock, is an inheritance from the late 19^th century.

In her galvanic new book, Now You See It, Ms. Davidson asks, and ingeniously answers, that question. One of the nation’s great digital minds, she has written an immensely enjoyable omni-manifesto that’s officially about the brain science of attention. But the book also challenges nearly every assumption about American education.

. . . . . .

Simply put, we can’t keep preparing students for a world that doesn’t exist. We can’t keep ignoring the formidable cognitive skills they’re developing on their own. And above all, we must stop disparaging digital prowess just because some of us over 40 don’t happen to possess it. An institutional grudge match with the young can sabotage an entire culture.

Koko: CIA 9/11 Cover-Up? Business As Usual

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 09 Terrorism, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), Government, IO Impotency

A CIA 9/11 Cover-Up?

Did the CIA keep mum about two 9/11 hijackers because it tried and failed to recruit them? Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan, authors of ‘The Eleventh Day,' on whether there’s any truth behind ex-Bush official Richard Clarke’s claim.

Daily Beast, 12 April 2011

EXTRACT

At the heart of the suggestion that the agency intentionally withheld information was the discovery by the Justice Department’s inspector-general of a draft cable—one that was prepared but never sent—by an FBI agent on attachment to the CIA’s bin Laden unit.

The CIA’s “screw-up” explanation of its lamentable failure to act remains at best unconvincing, at worst indicative that it conceals a very different, secret scenario.

Read full article…

An Explosive New 9/11 Charge

Review: Wedge–From Pearl Harbor to 9/11–How the Secret War between the FBI and CIA Has Endangered National Security

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Intelligence (Most)

2011/08/132011/08/15

Marcus Aurelius: Richard Clarke Slams CIA on 9/11

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, Corruption, Government

Marcus-Aurelius-150x150 — Marcus Aurelius

Public Intelligence Net has consolidated two separate items that I repeat below. Net interest is high, this consolidated version is more reliable.

Phi Beta Iota: Worth a full read. Comments at end below the line.

Richard Clarke Says CIA Tried to Recruit 9/11 Terrorists

An Explosive New 9/11 Charge (Daily Beast):

In a new documentary, former national-security aide Richard Clarke suggests the CIA tried to recruit 9/11 hijackers—then covered it up. Philip Shenon on George Tenet’s denial.

With the 10^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks only a month away, former CIA Director George Tenet and two former top aides are fighting back hard against allegations that they engaged in a massive cover-up in 2000 and 2001 to hide intelligence from the White House and the FBI that might have prevented the attacks.

The source of the explosive, unproved allegations is a man who once considered Tenet a close friend: former White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, who makes the charges against Tenet and the CIA in an interview for a radio documentary timed to the 10^th anniversary next month. Portions of the Clarke interview were made available to The Daily Beast by the producers of the documentary.

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Richard Clarke Slams CIA on 9/11”

2011/08/132011/08/13

Robert Young Pelton: Bin Laden “Kill” & Back Story

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, Corruption, Government, IO Deeds of War, Military

The story continues to develop. This “house arrest” thing popped up when the US was beating on the Talibs to hand him over in Kandahar in 2001, then some faux intel from Brad Thor about Mullah Omar being under “house arrest” in Karachi and then now this. Sounds very familiar. Two fiction authors in the intel field being played for reasons unknown. My jury is out on how much I want to believe Raelynn. There are some holes you can drive a truck through in flaws in logic but some ideas could be untangled to pick up a few new truths. Kinda like the blind man and the elephant.

Bin Laden Turned in by Informant — Courier Was Cover Story

Forget the cover story of waterboarding-leads-to-courier-leads-to bin Laden (not to deny the effectiveness of waterboarding, but it’s just not applicable in this case.) Sources in the intelligence community tell me that after years of trying and one bureaucratically insane near-miss in Yemen, the US government killed OBL because a Pakistani intelligence officer came forward to collect the approximately $25 million reward from the State Department's Rewards for Justice program.

The informant was a walk-in. The ISI officer came forward to claim the substantial reward and to broker US citizenship for his family.

Marcus Aurelius: Al Qaeda Ricin, USG, Israel, Nuts

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 11 Society, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Intelligence (government), IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement, Military

From the underpants bomber to exploding print cartridges to ricin bombs…

Qaeda Trying to Harness Toxin for Bombs, U.S. Officials Fear

By ERIC SCHMITT and THOM SHANKER

The New York Times, August 12, 2011

WASHINGTON — American counterterrorism officials are increasingly concerned that the most dangerous regional arm of Al Qaeda is trying to produce the lethal poison ricin, to be packed around small explosives for attacks against the United States.

. . . . . .

But senior American officials say they are tracking the possibility of a threat very closely, given the Yemeni affiliate’s proven ability to devise plots, including some thwarted only at the last minute: a bomb sewn into the underwear of a Nigerian man aboard a commercial jetliner to Detroit in December 2009, and printer cartridges packed with powerful explosives in cargo bound for Chicago 10 months later.

Read full article….

Phi Beta Iota: The insular insanity of the US Government continues. We note with interest that the NYT does not qualify either of the two preceeding plots, both of which are very likely to have been Israeli false flag operations to keep the “terror” myth alive, neither of which was properly investigated. We are right back in the 1970's, and repeat below what Daniel Elsberg said then to Henry Kissinger:

The danger is, you’ll become like a moron. You’ll become incapable of learning from most people in the world, no matter how much experience they have in their particular areas that may be much greater than yours” [because of your blind faith in the value of your narrow and often incorrect secret information].

2011/08/12

John Robb: Can Middle Class Be Saved? Too Late.

03 Economy, 06 Family, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence

Great article. Starts with Citigroup's Plutonomy report (the report has been ruthlessly removed from the Web by Citi's lawyers) — wherein they show that, in the US, the middle class doesn't really exist. In reality, there are only two groups, a small percentage of rich households (that drive all consumption and investment) and the rest (that live hand to mouth). The last time this happened (in the 1920s) a global depression was the inevitable result

Can the Middle Class Be Saved?

The Great Recession has accelerated the hollowing-out of the American middle class. And it has illuminated the widening divide between most of America and the super-rich. Both developments herald grave consequences. Here is how we can bridge the gap between us.

By Don Peck

The Atlantic, September 2011

Read article….

2011/08/12

Michael Ostrolenk: The Transparitan Policy Imperative

11 Society, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Movies, YouTube

YouTube 1 Hour 14 Minutes

Michael Ostrolenk: The Transpartisan Imperative in Public Policy. Recorded July 29, 2011 as part of The Rutherford Institute's Summer Speaker Series.

Michael was Co-Director for Reuniting America 2006-2007, then President of Reuniting America in 2007-2008. He is now the Executive Director of the Transpartisan Center in Washington DC.

Category: Policies

John Steiner: Education Needs a Digital-Age Upgrade