Policies – Page 527 – Public Intelligence Blog

YouTube: The Science of Spying 1965

The Science of Spying. NBC show narrated by John Chancellor donated to the US government. Purchased from the US National Archives via Amazon. Also can be downloaded free.

Koko: See the comments for insights on how the attentive public is reacting to this film.

Phi Beta Iota: The reason we emphasize integrity on this website is because it has been so visibly lacking in the US Government, and especially so in relations between the secret intelligence world and the White House. It is now clear that a series of Presidents have abused their power when directors of central or national intelligence have been willing to prostitute themselves; while at the same time, and mostly during the Allen Dulles era, but also under others, the secret world has lied–has committed treason–to the President and his senior advisors. We continue to be skeptical of the alleged assassination and disposal of Bin Laden. More generally, the secret world today is largely worthless to the public or the public interest, and exists primarily to channel taxpayer resources to beltway bandits who fund corrupt members of Congress (in fairness to the beltway bandits, it is the corrupt Representatives doing the shaking down). “Intelligence” today is grotesquely immature and ill-suited to the complexities and nuances of the age.

2011/08/112011/08/11

Dolphin: Seasteading Away from Governments?

Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Methods & Process, Policies, Threats

We dolphins are not too thrilled about this idea. Humans have not evolved very far from their Neanderthal roots, and the idea of human hoards invading and polluting the seas is scary to those of us for whom sustainability and resilience comes naturally. Requires further study.

Silicon Valley billionaire reveals plan to launch floating ‘start up country' off San Francisco

Daily Mail, 11 August 2011

PayPal-founder Peter Thiel was so inspired by Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand's novel about free-market capitalism – that he's trying to make its title a reality.

The Silicon Valley billionaire has funnelled $1.25 million to the Seasteading Institute, an organization that aspires to launch a floating colony into international waters, freeing them and like-minded thinkers to live by Libertarian ideals.

seasteading 2 — Click on Image to Enlarge

Mr Thiel recently told Details magazine that: ‘The United States Constitution had things you could do at the beginning that you couldn't do later. So the question is, can you go back to the beginning of things? How do you start over?'

The floating sovereign nations that Thiel imagines would be built on oil-rig-like platforms anchored in areas free of regulation, laws, and moral conventions.

The Seasteading Institute says it will ‘give people the freedom to choose the government they want instead of being stuck with the government they get.'

Phi Beta Iota: The idea of seasteading in some form of idealic libertarian island of paradise is fairly distant from reality. Accepting that the libertarians will be armed and alert, this concept fails to account for a) the outlaw sea; and b) the dead sea. There is no solution for any group of humanity that is sustainable absent its embracing all humanity.

2011/08/10

John Steiner: Rescuing the American Dream

04 Education, Civil Society, Ethics

The Republicans are redefining “democracy”–but it's time to remember what the real dream of democracy meant.

George Lakoff and Glenn Smith

AlterNet, 28 July

Read the article…

And here is the advertisement slated to start running in various newspapers.

The American Dream. It Only Works When People Do.

It articulates ten specific contract elements:

1. Invest in America's Infrastructure . 2. Create 21st Century Energy Jobs . 3. Invest in Public Education

4. Offer Medicare for All . 5. Secure Social Security . 6. Return to Fairer Tax Rates . 7. End the Wars and Invest at Home . 8. Tax Wall Street Speculation . 9. Strengthen Democracy

Phi Beta Iota: This is the most serious list we have seen outside of our founder's own Seven Promises to America. It is in no way associated with NO LABELS or Americans Elect.

2011/08/102011/08/10

DefDog: Hard Truths from Afghanistan

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, IO Deeds of Peace, IO Impotency, Military

I got hold of a few truths, and could not help remembering the Phi Beta Iota quote:

Fedor Dostoevsky: A man who lies to himself, and believes his own lies, becomes unable to recognize truth, either in himself or in anyone else.

Here are some facts:

1) Saydabad is one of the worst districts in Wardak

2) Chinook loss should be attributed to American hubris.

3) July reporting shows US patrols increasingly timid.

4) Current rate for Afghan Army defectors is 30,000 rupees, around US$650, which appears to include their bringing over their weapon and other gear.

5) Crash killed 38, including 22 members of the elite SEAL Team 6 and their support element. Seven were Afghans so we are at 29, there was a crew of three. So, did we send in 22 SEALS and a crew of three, plus the Afghans to rescue six Rangers? The numbers on the Chinook do not add up. There is something seriously fishy about the government story.

6) Sure feels like Viet-Nam deja vu, where the public could not trust the government or the media to report accurately on anything having to do with our presence therer.

2011/08/10

Steven Aftergood: When Secrecy Gets Out of Hand

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Government, IO Impotency, Law Enforcement, Media, Military

“WHEN SECRECY GETS OUT OF HAND“

The government's relentless pursuit of people suspected of mishandling or leaking classified information underscores the need to combat the misuse of classification authority, wrote J. William Leonard, the former director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times today.

“The Obama administration, which has criminally prosecuted more leakers of purportedly classified information than all previous administrations combined, needs to stop and assess the way the government classifies information in the first place.”

“Classifying information that should not be kept secret can be just as harmful to the national interest as unauthorized disclosures of appropriately classified information,” he wrote. See “When Secrecy Gets Out of Hand” by J. William Leonard, Los Angeles Times, August 10.

Mr. Leonard recently filed a complaint with the new ISOO director, John Fitzpatrick, based on his assessment that a document that served as a basis for criminal prosecution in the case of Thomas Drake should never have been classified at all.

2011/08/09

Dolphin: USA’s First Coast to Coast Climate Network

03 Environmental Degradation, Advanced Cyber/IO, Communities of Practice, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, Policies

Construction of nation's first coast-to-coast climate network begins

KSL.Com, August 7th, 2011

By Geoffrey Fattah<

LOGAN — Imagine being able to put your fingers on the pulse of America's biosphere — keeping real-time track of weather, water/soil temperature, animal populations and much more. Armed with this information, scientists would be able to detect sudden shifts in climate, perhaps even predict them, allowing the nation to prepare for potential disasters.

climate network — Click on Image to Enlarge

The National Science Foundation has given the financial go-ahead to begin construction of the nation's first coast-to-coast network of observatories, including one in Utah, to measure real-time climate changes.

The National Ecological Observatory Network, or NEON, is designed to gather vast amounts of data, every second, from around the country using satellites, observation towers, aircraft sensors, mobile motorized sensors and field work by scientists. From insect samples to weather data, the information will be fed into a central lab to build a picture of the nation's ecological health.

What scientists will keep an eye out for are “threshold events,” or sudden changes in climates, that can lead to droughts, floods, even the spread of diseases, said James MacMahon, dean of Utah State University's College of Science and chairman of NEON's board of directors.

Reference: National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Final Report December 2010)

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Budgets & Funding, Civil Society, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Office of Management and Budget

Free PDF Online

Phi Beta Iota: This report, while responsible (unlike the current food fight a year later), does not go far enough. It allows the borrowing of one trillion a year to continue, while observing that interest on the debt could reach one trillion a year by 2020. The principle recommendations, all sound but insufficient, are listed in the Overview section.

Category: Policies

Koko: The Science of Spying 1965