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Phi Beta Iota: A young man sought advice on whether to join the US secret intelligence world despite its many ethical issues and poor leadership. Below is the answer as provided to us by Robert Steele, to whom the email was addressed. The inquiring email is below the line.

To Anonymous:

This is simple. Continue with your plans to apply for a position with the US Government in secret intelligence. The easiest is via the military as an officer, and frankly, I recommend that because it gives you a unique grounding as a young leader, an understanding of the military mind-set, world travel, etcetera. Joining CIA directly if they take you (they are moderately desperate) has its prospects, but on balance, I would recommend that you invest four years as an officer on active duty, followed by four to eight years at CIA. Treat it as FUN, and a reality learning experience.

As simply as possible, as bad as they are, there is no substitute for the real experience and it is a privilege to work in secret intelligence, completely irrespective of how unethical and reality stupid its leaders might be.

I do NOT recommend the FBI, nor do I recommend the private sector. Think in terms of a 30-40 year career. Getting the clearances is much easier if you go in to government first, and they are worth $20K a year above and beyond normal salaries, should you choose to stay in the secret world.

Two key points:

1) One day we will create a Smart Nation, and those who fully understand both the benefits and the pathologies of secret intelligence will have an important role to play.

2) If you keep your own integrity, and treat this as a learning and observation experience, the loss of integrity by the US intelligence community leaders should not dissuade you from undertaking what is sure to be one of the most satisfying experiences of your life. Illusions and pathologies aside, secret intelligence is as cool as it gets, you will learn a great deal, and it will make you stronger for the future.

Happy to answer any additional questions. As long as you keep it in perspective, if you can get in, you should.

Semper Fidelis,
Robert

Continue reading “Letter to a Young Man: Join the Secret World”

2011/04/03

Cyber-IO: A New Form of Governance?

Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, InfoOps (IO), Methods & Process, Mobile, Technologies

Information and Communication Technology in Areas of Limited Statehood: A New Form of Governance?

I recently had the distinct pleasure of participating in a fascination workshop on “Information and Communication Technology in Areas of Limited Statehood: A New Form of Governance?” The workshop was organized by the Frei Universität’s program on Governance in Areas of Limited Statehood and co-directed by Professors Gregor Walter-Drop and Steven Livingston.

. . . . . .

My colleague Gregory Asmolov made the link explicit during his excellent presentation on “Russian Wildfires and Alternative Modes of Governance: The Role of Crowdsourcing in Areas of Limited Statehood.” Here’s a summary:

“Because of it’s geographical size, high degree of corruption, and reliance on an extraction economy, governance by government in Russia is often weak and ineffective. Russian political expert Liliya Shevtzova goes so far as to claim that the current regime is an imitation of governance. The 2010 wildfires demonstrated the limited capacity of the state to provide effective emergency response. Information technologies, and crowdsourcing platforms in particular, fulfill the gap of the limited statehood. At the same time, however, the Russian government is also trying to use ICT to increase its claims to effective governance.”

Read full posting….

Phi Beta Iota: This post is much more than a post. To the best of our (naturally limited) knowledge, this is the first and the best statement that clearly distinguished among “imitation governance,” spontaneous “self-governance,” and the role that information technology plays in making a mockery of the first and a reality of the second.

2011/04/02

The End of Engagement in Afghanistan

07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, InfoOps (IO), IO Impotency, Military, Misinformation & Propaganda, Peace Intelligence, Strategy

A War College case study for Col Pfaff:

“This Is not the Beginning of the End for the International Community in Afghanistan — This is the End”

A bit more on that story we brought you earlier about the horrific killings in Afghanistan which followed lunatic Pastor Terry Jones' Qu'ran-burning stunt.

I wrote this a while back:

Those reactionaries within our own society who are pushing the Clash of Civilizations are mirror-images of the terrorists that inspire their hyperbolic fear; they're just as xenophobic, just as irrational and, ultimately, are just as great a threat to our security. Both have to be challenged aggressively before they give birth to another, even bloodier generation of culture warriors.

This latest spasm of bloodletting seems like a perfect example. Radical Cleric Terry Jones burns some Qu'rans in an intentional provocation, extremists in Afghanistan kill some people, which ultimately emboldens people like Terry Jones, and so on. A vicious cycle, with the vast majority of people in the middle.

But over at the must-read UN Dispatch, Una Moore, an international development professional based in Afghanistan, says that there's a lot more going on with this attack:

Continue reading “The End of Engagement in Afghanistan”

2011/04/022011/04/02

Hee Haw: Aggie to Run Senate Intel Sideshow

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, Budgets & Funding, Corruption, Government, IO Impotency

Weep.

Chambliss puts Agriculture Committee staffer in top intelligence role

By Josh Rogin Friday, April 1, 2011 – Foreign Policy

Upon taking over as the ranking Republican on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) brought on a new staff director with no direct experience working on intelligence matters.

Martha Scott Poindexter has served on Capitol Hill for over 10 years. She has worked as the Republican staff director on the Agriculture Committee since 2005, and before that as legislative director in Chambliss's personal office.

aggie for intel — SSCI Staff Director on Facebook

Previously, according to her LinkedIn profile, Poindexter was the director of government affairs at Monsanto, the agribusiness giant. She studied nutrition at Salem College and holds a Bachelors degree from the Mississippi State University College of Agriculture.

On Capitol Hill, a senior staffer's effectiveness is measured several factors: by their subject matter expertise, by their ability to get things done, and by their close personal relationship with the boss.

Phi Beta Iota: Penguin, who has served in the senior political ranks of Republican administrations, is not an intelligence professional and therefore has no way of knowing that the appointment makes perfect sense at multiple levels.

1) The SSCI is a side show with zero relevance to oversight of anything–the US Intelligence Community receives ZERO effective oversight and ignores whatever bleats it might deign to acknowledge.

Miss Piggy in Pearls — What's Not to Like?

2) The SSCI is a side show with respect to appropriations and authorizations as well–many years have seen no intelligence “authorization” at all because the SASC owns the intelligence budget–at best, the SSCI is a small bleat extra for pork for the Chairman, and insights helpful to investments by the Members.

3) There isn't actually any real expertise on the SSCI–clerks trying to oversee executive clerks, all of them focused on spending the taxpayer dollar in ways that have absolutely nothing to do with actually serving the public interest.

4) Finally, apart from the Chairman having every right to appoint whomever he pleases to oversee his fiefdom–even a sideshow can be a fiefdom–there is a certain elegance in having an Aggie as Staff Director–who better to ensure the pork of interest to the Members gets properly monitored (2-5% kickbacks on new initiatives is a lot of money). The lunacy continues.

2011/04/012011/04/01

Broadband Telefony Near-Zero Cost

Advanced Cyber/IO, Autonomous Internet, Collective Intelligence, InfoOps (IO), Mobile

Nokia & Microsoft: White Space Phone?

When Nokia announced that it will drop Symbian for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, many in the industry were taken by surprise. Now, according to industry insiders, the strategy is becoming clear: Nokia will use Microsoft’s patented “white spaces” radio, enabling wireless devices to use television frequencies.

The two firms have apparently been working on a software defined radio platform for several years. Now the companies are preparing a world-wide rollout of a system that may short circuit the world’s largest carriers.

Microsoft and Nokia are expected to utilize small, WiFi-like access points, expected to cost $250-$500 dollars, rather than cell towers that can cost $250,000. Local access points, using unused television frequencies, penetrate indoors better and can have a range similar to PCS cellular radios – approximately 1-3 miles.

Multiple 6 MHz wide channels will be automatically ganged together in this new system, delivering an effective 2-12 Mbps for end users. Using TD-based LTE or WiMAX radios, with a software defined front end, the Nokia/Microsoft access points connect to the internet directly — like WiFi access points. The phones use VoIP software, similar to Skype, jointly developed by Nokia and Microsoft.

According to some industry observers, the impact of white space phones on today’s two trillion dollar telecommunications industry may be significant. White space phones will not need today’s infrastructure and licensed spectrum. They will not be dependent on phone companies.

The initial thrust for the whitespace phone system is expected to be in the developing world. The joint venture is expected to announce several test markets, including the Seattle area this summer and will test a Visa-enabled SIM card, enabling contactless payments.

Safety copy below the line. Tip of the Hat to Sepp Hasslberger.

Continue reading “Broadband Telefony Near-Zero Cost”

2011/03/312011/03/31

Nattering Nabobs on Libya–Never Mind Ethics

02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Military, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests

This how the influencers are influenced to justify to the “prol's that rule of law properly means nothing. All in place before Obama sent in Special ops and claimed that there were no boots on the ground.

Reasonable cop/barbaric cop.

Declare victory and get on with ousting Gaddafi

By Mark Malloch-Brown

Financial Times, March 31 2011 15:12

It is not just Libya that now risks long-term division. Telltale signs of fragmentation in the international community’s approach are opening up. Not for the first time Muammer Gaddafi may be on the verge of securing a public relations coup against his western opponents. Now we must declare humanitarian victory, and regroup.

Tuesday’s London conference was a confused affair. The Germans and the Italians touted a ceasefire and exile for Colonel Gaddafi. Others, notably Saudi Arabia and the African Union, stayed away. The US and the UK, meanwhile, insisted the military job was not done, with David Cameron, the UK prime minister, noting on Wednesday that UN Security Council resolution 1973 might give the allies a legal basis to arm the Libyan opposition.

America's Libyan Revenge

Andrew Roberts, 03/30/2011

The Daily Beast

Forget U.N. resolutions! After decades of Gaddafi's deadly attacks and his support for terrorist groups across the world, America has every right to seek revenge, says Andrew Roberts.

In all the discussion of where, if anywhere, American strategic interests lie in regard to Libya, one very obvious motivation for U.S. action seems to be being ignored: Vengeance. Yet the certain knowledge that the West will eventually take revenge for terrorist crimes committed even as long ago as the 1970s and 1980s is itself a vital strategic interest. Rogue states must always know that there is no such thing as a statute of limitations on murder, and that even after four decades, the slate has not been wiped clean.

2011/03/302011/03/30

Ushandi Moves Forward with Crisis Mapping Check-In

Advanced Cyber/IO, Analysis, Civil Society, Earth Intelligence, Gift Intelligence, InfoOps (IO), IO Mapping, Mobile, Non-Governmental, Peace Intelligence, Real Time

Crisis Mapping Meets Check-in

New features could make a Web tool that has helped track events in Japan and the Middle East even more useful.

Monday, March 28, 2011, By David Talbot

MIT Technology Review

EXTRACT: The new feature is known as “check-in,” also used by social sites like Foursquare—in that case as a way of alerting friends to your presence at a particular location.

crisis mapping check-in — Click on Image to Enlarge

For Ushahidi, this is “a pretty powerful step forward,” says Ethan Zuckerman, a board member of the nonprofit, and a senior researcher at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. “Adding check-in to this equation allows me to pull my data apart from the whole. That makes maps usable for multiple purposes—group reporting as well as tracking of my own movements.”

Enabling such tracking simply requires a GPS-equipped phone to allow a quick log-in to record whereabouts