Caption: Robert David Steele, “Graphic: Evaluating Intelligence (Decision-Support) – Four Aspects 1.1,” Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog, 30 January 2013 Updated to add Real-Time 1 February 2013.
Inspired by: Dover, Robert and Milja Kurki (2013), “Unwritten Assumptions: The Role of Theories in the Study of Intelligence,” UNPUBLISHED DRAFT
A grim Federal Security Services (FSB) report circulating in the Kremlin confirming the validity of the just released hacked emails of the British based defence company, Britam Defence, stunningly warns that the Obama regime is preparing to unleash a series of attacks against both Syria and Iran in a move Russian intelligence experts warn could very well cause World War III.
According to this report, Britam Defence, one of the largest private mercenary forces in the world, was the target of a “massive hack” of its computer files by an “unknown state sponsored entity” this past week who released a number of critical emails between its top two executives, founder Philip Doughty and his Business Development Director David Goulding.
The two most concerning emails between Doughty and Goulding, this report says, states that the Obama regime has approved a “false flag” attack in Syria using chemical weapons, and that Britam has been approved to participate in the West’s warn on Iran, and as we can read:
Read any government security document, any of the national security strategies produced by a now large number of states and you will get a feel for the proliferation in the number of threats they feel they face. The preamble will normally contain a paragraph explaining that after the Cold War or after 9/11 everything got a little more complex, a little less explicable.
Heightened complexity in the international system appears to have coincided (and is only partially causally linked) to the increased levels of activity/ improvements in technology, social media etc. The rate at which information can be collected has increased, even if the sort of information being collected is broadly the same.
The problem of accounting for events like the Algerian gas-plant siege a few weeks ago (or the development of the insurgency in Syria, or in the hijacking of the state in Mali) for state-based security organisations is that their resources allocated in such a way that it logical for them to be looking the wrong way when this happens. It would be unlikely – although we can’t be sure, obviously – that there’s a bod in every security community across Europe pondering the safety of gas-plants in the ME and Maghreb. So, when this happens the information required to rapidly come down the pipe needs to be hastily scoped and drawn in. And this got me thinking about Robert Steele’s ‘open source everything’ manifesto (I declare the interest that Robert has written a chapter for the Routledge Handbook on Intelligence that I, Mike Goodman and Claudia Hillebrand have compiled and which will be in a good bookshops from August, and that he and I have corresponded at length about these issues), and how it could be used or applied in these circumstances. I have my own take on this, and I’ve provided the link above to the source: Robert also has a good search on his name I think so I’d guess he’ll correct me in comments too! But my wonder is more in the aggregation of huge quantities of information.
Qualities of folly and wisdom – with factors that support each aspect of participatory wisdom
A. Fairness vs. bias
1. Folly comes from narrow-mindedness, bias, partisanship
2. Wisdom depends on open-mindedness, equity, objectivity
3. Factors supporting this aspect of participatory wisdom include balanced information; attention to “broad benefit” and “general welfare”; balance of power; neutral conveners and facilitators; all voices heard; holistic thinking; attending to deep needs/interests of all parties; identifying lies and manipulation; legitimate mini-publics / random selection; citizens considered experts on community values; public visibility; transparency
B. Knowledge vs. ignorance
1. Folly comes from ignorance, denial, obliviousness
2. Wisdom depends on awareness, insight, understanding
3. Factors supporting this aspect of participatory wisdom include balanced information; access to diverse experts; systems thinking; 21st century info access (online, open source, crowd sourced, citizen science); focus on “taking into account what needs to be taken into account”; deliberation; iteration (reviewing results); all voices heard; understandable information; free flow of information; holistic thinking; respect for science; identifying lies and manipulation
C. Responsiveness vs. arrogance
1. Folly comes from arrogance, hubris, dogmatism
2. Wisdom depends on humility, judiciousness, responsiveness
3. Factors supporting this aspect of participatory wisdom include focus on learning; listening; integrating multiple viewpoints; iteration; collective intelligence; dialogue; systems thinking; holistic thinking; identifying lies and manipulation; citizens considered experts on community values
We have not always been warriors. War was invented along with political hierarchy, writing, and the invention of kingship.
This chapter tells the history of war starting with the end of the last ice age, 10,000 years ago, (before war was invented) up till the present when we may be seeing war becoming obsolete.
It examines various information revolutions and how they impacted the way war has been waged.
One thing which is constantly overlooked is that to have a successful war it is necessary that both parties have the same definition of what constitutes winning. The chapter shows how, from the very beginning of war, there were two different definitions of group violence – that of the agricultural peoples and that of the herding peoples. This difference in definition has been relevant throughout history and continues to this day.
Phi Beta Iota: $1.99 for Kindle. 33 pages. Elin Whitney-Smith is one of the original thinkers that the US Government has chosen to ignore for the past 20 years, because her ideas are affordable, practical, and would eradicate corruption while creating a prosperous world at peace.
Now owners of Android phones can connect to each other without an internet connection thanks to Serval Mesh app
Serval Mesh, full mesh darknet, quietly released for Android
“You set up your phone, I set up my phone, it connects them directly, so no infrastructure is needed. It can also relay calls, so if you can get a connection to bob and I can get a connection to bob, we can both talk even though we can't get a connection directly to each other.”
Serval Project
“Serval is revolutionary, free, open-source software under development for mobile telephones, letting them communicate even in the absence of phone towers and other supporting infrastructure.”
Serval Android App page
“So with using your existing number, and not requiring Internet Access, our software is making the best of what you have, whether in a disaster or emergency situation, or where poor economies or regional & location restrictions can mean zero infrastructure, we enable communication using just existing mobile phones. Our software is :
