Steven Aftergood: CRS on Transparency

THE MEANING OF TRANSPARENCY, AND MORE FROM CRS President Obama’s declared goal of making his “the most transparent Administration in history” generated successive waves of enthusiasm, perplexity, frustration, and mockery as public expectations of increased openness and accountability were lifted sky high and then — often, not always — thwarted. Every Administration including this one …

Richard Wright: Petraeus A Political Execution – Bad for CIA – Vickers (or O’Sullivan, of the Clapper harem)?

The story line that General Petraeus is being forced to resign because the FBI uncovered an affair he was having with his former biographer is classic Washington DC theater. The story is a way of removing the politically popular General Petraeus from CIA without raising a political uproar. The real question is why? This is …

DefDog: The 350-Ship Navy (if Mitt Romney Wins)

Came across these references — John F. Lehman, the 600-ship SecNav under Reagan, is one of Romney’s advisors. 2012-11-02  Both Obama and Romney Proposals Don’t Meet Navy Requirements (USNI Proceedings) 2012-10-22  When It Comes To The U.S. Navy, Numbers Matter (John Lehman at MittRomney.com) A strong Navy is not a drain on our economy, it …

SmartPlanet: Supercomputers Have Limits – Humans Do Not

Why supercomputers will always have limits Joe McKendrick | November 4, 2012 A couple of decades back, in his seminal work MegaTrends, author John Naisbitt pointed out that no technology can ever succeed without a compelling human benefit, referring to it as “high tech-high touch.” EXTRACT: Likewise, some technologists are discovering that many computational challenges may be …