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COVER STORY: The Cyberwar Plan It's not just a defensive game; cyber-security includes attack plans too, and the U.S. has already used some of them successfully.

by Shane Harris Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009

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14 tech firms form cybersecurity alliance for government Lockheed Martin, top suppliers launch initiative for government market

By Wyatt Kash Nov 12, 2009

Phi Beta Iota: It is a scam, big time. The U.S. does not have–outside of our small number of colleagues in Hackers on Planet Earth and the Silicon Valley Hackers/THINK Conference–the brainpower and cummulative skills to fill the Potemkin Center, much less staff a capability with global reach.

Continue reading “Journal: Cyber-Security or Cyber-Scam? Plus Short List of Links to Reviews and Books on Hacking 101”

2009/11/152009/11/15

Journal: Fort Hood Cognitive Dissonance Round-Up

04 Education, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, Analysis, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Military

Major Hasan Analysis by Webster Tarpley (16 Pages)

NIDAL MALIK HASAN OF VIRGINIA TECH, BETHESDA, AND FORT HOOD: A MAJOR PATSY IN A DRILL GONE LIVE? By Webster G. Tarpley 14 November 2009

What Hollywood Can Teach Us About the Fort Hood Massacre Christina News Service, Friday, November 13, 2009 By Chuck Muth

Most Americans have this whole Fort Hood massacre all wrong. Maj. Nidal M. Hassan was not a terrorist. And he wasn’t a mass murderer. And he may not even have been a coward. Maj. Hassan was an enemy combatant.

A Man in a Hundred By ALEXANDER COCKBURN CounterPunch Weekend Edition November 13-15, 2009

The general obviously doesn’t have Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire on his bedside table. Gibbon wrote flatly that the introduction of foreigners “into Roman armies became every day more universal, more necessary and more fatal.”

Is Fort Hood Really a “Tragedy?” Pajamas Media by Victor Davis Hanson November 14, 2009

Something has gone terribly wrong in the entire reaction to the Ft. Hood massacres, as evidenced by the media, the administration, the military authorities, and perhaps the public at large.

Continue reading “Journal: Fort Hood Cognitive Dissonance Round-Up”

2009/11/132009/11/13

Worth a Look: Key Leader Engagement

02 Diplomacy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 10 Security, Analysis, DoD, Key Players, Methods & Process, Military, Peace Intelligence, Worth A Look

Phi Beta Iota: Blessed commons sense from a Captain and intelligence professional in the U.S. Army. When we first entered Iraq we were told to avoid the immams and tribal chiefs, and this wasted at least four years of key leader engagement. Neither the secret world nor the military “Human Terrain Team” program have gotten a grip on cultural intelligence or a coherent holistic matrix for strategic, operational, and tactical exploitation of political-legal, socio-economic, ideo-cultural, techno-demographic, and natural-geographic Essential Elements of Information (EEI). We still have not integrated provincial team civil reporting with military tactical reporting, and still have both hugh gaps and costly overlaps. This monograph, this captain, are the tip of the spear not just in leadership engagement, but in reconcilation–there is a reason why “truth” is included “Truth & Reconciliation Commission.” BRAVO ZULU.

2009/11/12

Reference: Information Operations (IO) Newsletters

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

This extraordinary resource is the personal initiative of Jeffrey S Harley,SMDC/ARSTRAT G39, Deputy, Information Operations. As received, each new newsletter is posted to the Archives at the above permanent URL:

http://www.oss.net/IO

For many other references relevant to IO, see the original OSS page on IO. See also our short Memorandum on Chinese Irregular Warfare.

2009/11/11

Journal: Out-Sourcing Corruption

Ethics, Methods & Process

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U.S. Nonprofit Screws up Iraq Jobs Program, Now Working on Afghanistan Repeat

By Nathan Hodge

November 11, 2009

As Joanna Nathan recently warned at ForeignPolicy.com, the U.S. government’s business-as-usual approach of outsourcing development work could have very negative consequences for the mission in Afghanistan.

“If gaudy new mansions built in the local ‘narco-tecture’ style are rented for thousands a month by U.S. contractors, UN agencies, foreign embassies and even rule of law projects, what does that say of the Western commitment to accountability?” she wrote. “For it is important to recognize that when Afghans speak of ‘corruption,’ they may mean perfectly legal actions under the direct auspices of foreign donors. When they hear of billions of dollars being spent in Afghanistan via private contractors only to often see much of the money lost in layer after layer of subcontracting and little real effect on the ground, that is labeled corruption whatever signed contracts there may be.”

2009/11/11

Journal: Vatican Conference on Extra-Terrestial Life

08 Wild Cards, Analysis, Civil Society, Earth Intelligence, Intelligence (Extra-Terrestrial)

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by Nicholos Wethington

10 November 2009 [Happy Birthday, Marines]

Though it may seem an unlikely location to happen upon a conference on astrobiology, the Vatican recently held a “study week” of over 30 astronomers, biologists, geologists and religious leaders to discuss the question of the existence of extraterrestrials. This follows the statement made last year by the Pope's chief astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, that the existence of extraterrestrials does not preclude a belief in God, and that it's a question to be explored by the Catholic Church. The event, put on by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, took place at the Casina Pio IV on the Vatican grounds from November 6-11. . . . . . . .

“Just like there is an abundance of creatures on earth, there could also be other beings, even intelligent ones, that were created by God. That doesn't contradict our faith, because we cannot put boundaries to God's creative freedom. As saint Francis would say, when we consider the earthly creatures to be our “brothers and sisters”, why couldn't we also talk about a “extraterrestrial brother”? He would still be part of creation.”

2009/11/112009/11/11

Journal: Bushes-Vulcans-Banks-Terrorism

03 Economy, 06 Russia, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, Budgets & Funding, Collective Intelligence, Commerce, Ethics, Government, Methods & Process, Reform

Phi Beta Iota: a 59 page memorandum is rocketing around the Internet, entitled Collateral Damage: U.S. Covert Operations and the Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001. Read the report, which includes very specific details and charts with head and shoulder photos. This material is substantiated not just by the sources cited in the endnotes, but by many other sources such as those reviewed at 9-11 Truth Books & DVDs (23) and (indirectly) at Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback (145).

Full Story Online U.S. Nonprofit Screws up Iraq Jobs Program, Now Working on Afghanistan Repeat

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U.S. Nonprofit Screws up Iraq Jobs Program, Now Working on Afghanistan Repeat