Robert Steele: Ignored 1994, Ignored 2011–Deja Vu

07 Other Atrocities, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, DHS, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, Government, Hill Letters & Testimony, IO Impotency, Legislation, Military, Policies, Standards, Technologies
Robert David STEELE Vivas

One of our contributors passed this to me and asked me to comment in relation to the alarm that Winn Schwartau, Bill Caeli, Jim Anderson, and I sounded in 1994, in writing, to Marty Harris, then head of the National Information Infrastructure (NII).

First, the item.

From the man who discovered Stuxnet, dire warnings one year later

Mark Clayton

Christian Science Monitor, 22 September 2011

Stuxnet, the cyberweapon that attacked and damaged an Iranian nuclear facility, has opened a Pandora's box of cyberwar, says the man who uncovered it. A Q&A about the potential threats.

EXTRACT:

CSM: How would you characterize the year since Stuxnet – the response by nations, industry and government?

LANGNER: Last year, after Stuxnet was identified as a weapon, we recommended to every asset owner in America – owners of power plants, chemical plants, refineries and others – to make it a top priority to protect their systems…. That wakeup call lasted only about a week. Thereafter, everybody fell back into coma. The most bizarre thing is that even the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Siemens [maker of the industrial control system targeted by Stuxnet] talked about Stuxnet being a wakeup call, but never got into the specifics of what needed to be done.

Continue reading “Robert Steele: Ignored 1994, Ignored 2011–Deja Vu”

Howard Rheingold: News Filters for the Future – Technical Services or Human Networks?

Advanced Cyber/IO, Blog Wisdom, Collective Intelligence
Howard Rheingold

Everyone wants to be a news filter now

Mathew Ingram

Gigaom.com, 21 September 2011

As the avalanche of information coming through social networks and real-time tools like Twitter continues to grow, the need for filters to make sense of that tsunami of data also increases, and it seems as though everyone has a different way of trying to solve that problem. Facebook threw its hat into the ring this week with what it says is an improved “newspaper-style” news feed that highlights important content, while Digg has just launched “newsrooms” aimed at doing the same thing, and online influence-ranking service Klout is rolling out topic pages based on what’s being shared by those with influence. But will any of these be able to solve the filtering problem, or will they just add another source of noise?

Read more….

Phi Beta Iota:  Neither Google nor Facebook “get it” on the distinction between math hacks and stupid counters, and the nuanced capabilities of the human brain in networks that are in turn nuanced by time, space, and topic.  The recent Facebook “make-over” has bombed.  Google still does nothing to “make sense.”

See Also:

Graphic: Intelligence Maturity Scale

Graphic: Jim Bamford on the Human Brain

Graphic: Tom Atlee on Whole-System Intelligence

Graphic: Tony Zinni on 4% “At Best”

 

Owl: Pregressive Radio on 9/11 & FBI Saudi Cover-Up

08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Hill Letters & Testimony, IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement, Military
Who? Who?

Susan Lindauer, former Intel Asset: What She Knows About 9-11

This is spell-binding radio. Given what she knows, her interviewer, Gary Null, wonders out-load why she has not yet been assassinated. Here’s why:

Susan Lindauer is a former U.S. Intelligence Asset who covered anti-terrorism at the Iraqi Embassy in New York from 1996 up to the invasion. Independent sources have confirmed that she gave advance warning about the 9/11 attack. She also started talks for the Lockerbie Trial with Libyan diplomats.  Shortly after requesting to testify before Congress about successful elements of Pre-War Intelligence, Susan became one of the first non-Arab Americans arrested on the Patriot Act as an “Iraqi Agent.” She was accused of warning her second cousin, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Secretary of State Colin Powell that War with Iraq would have catastrophic consequences. Gratis of the Patriot Act, her indictment was loaded with “secret charges” and “secret evidence.” She was subjected to one year in prison on Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas without a trial or hearing, and threatened with indefinite detention and forcible drugging to shut her up. After five years of indictment without a conviction or guilty plea, the Justice Department dismissed all charges five days before President Obama’s inauguration.

Listen to or download the whole show from this link:

There is more, very recent and stunning news – with evidence presented – about 9-11 here:

Continue reading “Owl: Pregressive Radio on 9/11 & FBI Saudi Cover-Up”

Cynthia McKinney: The Truth on Libya–Another War of Lies

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, IO Deeds of War, Peace Intelligence
Cynthia McKinney

LIBYA AND THE BIG LIE: USING HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS TO LAUNCH WARS

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

The war against Libya is built on fraud. The United Nations Security Council passed two resolutions against Libya on the basis of unproven claims, specifically that Colonel Muammar Qaddafi was killing his own people in Benghazi. The claim in its exact form was that Qaddafi had ordered Libyan forces to kill 6,000 people in Benghazi. These claims were widely disseminated, but always vaguely explained. It was on the basis of this claim that Libya was referred to the U.N. Security Council at U.N Headquarters in New York City and kicked out of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.

False claims about African mercenary armies in Libya and about jet attacks on civilians were also used in a broad media campaign against Libya. These two claims have been sidelined and have become more and more murky. The massacre claims, however, were used in a legal, diplomatic, and military framework to justify NATO’s war on the Libyans.

Using Human Rights as a Pretext for War: The LLHR and its Unproven Claims

One of the main sources for the claim that Qaddafi was killing his own people is the Libyan League for Human Rights (LLHR). The LLHR was actually pivotal to getting the U.N. involved through its specific claims in Geneva. On February 21, 2011 the LLHR got the 70 other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to sent letters to the President Obama, E.U. High Representative Catherine Ashton., and the U.N. Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon demanding international action against Libya invoking the “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine. Only 25 members of this coalition actually assert that they are human rights groups.

The letter is as follows:

Continue reading “Cynthia McKinney: The Truth on Libya–Another War of Lies”

Jon Lebkowsky: Jean Russel on Thrivability

11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Blog Wisdom, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence, Ethics
Jon Lebkowsky

Worldchanging Interview with Jean Russell on Thrivabiliity (2009)

In September 2009, Worldchanging published my interview with thrivability consultant Jean Russell. I’m republishing the interview here in its entirety. Jean and I have had many conversations since, and I’m persistently intrigued by her well-grounded positive vision of a world in which we humans not only survive sustainably, but thrive. (Last February, Jean arranged for Todd Hoskins to interview me – that interview’s at Thrivable.net.)

Technology consultant, entrepreneur and thrivability theorist Jean Russell joined Jerry Michalski’s August 3 Yi-Tan Conference Call for a conversation about thrivability as a conceptual replacement for sustainabilty. After that talk (which you can hear via the above link), I asked Jean to join me in a brief but enlightening Worldchanging interview.

Jon Lebkowsky: Let’s start with the definition of thrivability I found at http://thrivable.wagn.org/wagn/Nurture, that it’s “our path out of unsustainable practices toward a world where all people have a high quality of life, a voice, and a nurturing earth supporting them. Using whole systems approach, it demands that we evolve our way of being together, of collaborating, so that our collective wisdom and action bring forth a flourishing world and thriving life.”

What’s the origin of this definition, and what led you to start thinking about “thrivability” vs sustainability?

Continue reading “Jon Lebkowsky: Jean Russel on Thrivability”

DefDog: The Importance of Selection Bias in Statistics

Advanced Cyber/IO, Analysis, Communities of Practice, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, Officers Call, Policies, Threats
DefDog

This would be a great tool to determine the analytical capabilities of the IC….bet they would miss it….

The importance of “selection bias” in statistics

During WWII, statistician Abraham Wald was asked to help the British decide where to add armor to their bombers. After analyzing the records, he recommended adding more armor to the places where there was no damage!

This seems backward at first, but Wald realized his data came from bombers that survived. That is, the British were only able to analyze the bombers that returned to England; those that were shot down over enemy territory were not part of their sample. These bombers’ wounds showed where they could afford to be hit.

Said another way, the undamaged areas on the survivors showed where the lost planes must have been hit because the planes hit in those areas did not return from their missions.

Click on Image to Enlarge

Phi Beta Iota:  The US secret intelligence community is largely worthless, providing “at best” 4% of what the President or a major commander needs, and virtually nothing for everyone else.  They keep doing the wrong thing righter, instead of the right thing.  To do the right thing requires integrity.  Go figure.

See Also:

Dr. Russell Ackoff on IC and DoD + Design RECAP

2010: Human Intelligence (HUMINT) Trilogy Updated

WInslow Wheeler: USAF Cost Over-Runs–DoD Micro-Look

03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Budgets & Funding, Corruption, DoD, Government, IO Deeds of War, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence
Winslow Wheeler

When a system is so slosh with money that it does not know what its costs are, it is time to take serious action.  But what do you do when no one cares?

The US Air Force misreports, even to itself (and to Congress and OSD), the cost to operate and support its own aircraft.  That is the bottom line of my recent attempt to uncover operating and support (O&S) costs for aircraft like the F-22 and the B-2.

It also gets more interesting: the official USAF data that are available show that, despite promises to the contrary, “stealth” aircraft are far, far more expensive to operate than the aging (and expensive to maintain) relics they are to replace.  Moreover, the data that are available are very likely an understatement.  Also, there are some other cost Queens in the USAF inventory; still others are hidden in the missing data.

The amounts of money involved are huge.  Generally, O&S costs for aircraft are twice (very probably more) the cost to acquire them.  For example, OSD predicts the $379 billion F-35 program will cost an additional $916 billion to operate and support.  (However, the O&S number is a low-ball prediction.)

What is happening about this?  Nothing.

These are some of the points in a 3,000 word study piece I recently completed.  The piece, with a one page summary, follows below.  It is also at the CDI website at , and you can also see journalists Colin Clark's take.

The text of the short study and its summary follows:

Continue reading “WInslow Wheeler: USAF Cost Over-Runs–DoD Micro-Look”