Public Intelligence Blog – Page 2583 – The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.

2012/12/212012/12/21

Review: Economists and the Powerful: Convenient Theories, Distorted Facts, Ample Rewards

5 Star, Banks, Fed, Money, & Concentrated Wealth, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Congress (Failure, Reform), Corruption, Crime (Corporate), Crime (Government), Economics, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Impeachment & Treason, Misinformation & Propaganda, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization)

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Norbert Haring and Niall Douglas

5.0 out of 5 stars Too costly, consider reading the reviews and Inside the Book, December 21, 2012

Over-priced at $99, this book makes one simple point: economists are the sluts of the social sciences, in the pay of the wealthy, and they have prostituted their profession in the most indecent obscene manner possible. Others have made similar points, what we really have here are two forms of crime — petty crime — economists kneeling for hand-outs — and master crime — financiers looting entire national economies just because they can — because government has no integrity, the media (once capable of investigative journalism) has no integrity, and the academy (economists and everyone else) has no integrity.

There are some excellent reviews of the book outside Amazon, I am stunned to not see any here.

As an alternative to this particular book, excellent as it is, I recommend one DVD and two books:
DVD: Inside Job
The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy
The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism

William Greider's book makes the telling point that while physical assets have appreciated five times in the past couple of decades, financial derivatives appreciated seventeen times. We now know that Goldman Sachs, Morgan, Citi-Bank, Bank of America, and a whole slew of other banks are guilty of LIBOR rate fixing, global-level fraud and theft, and so on. Yet no one has gone to jail except in Iceland.

Continue reading “Review: Economists and the Powerful: Convenient Theories, Distorted Facts, Ample Rewards”

2012/12/212012/12/21

David Isenberg: Trillions Later, No Lessons Learned on Reconstruction Economics

Government, Ineptitude, Military

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The Ghost of Contracting Past

Huffington Post,21 December 2012

A report was released earlier this week by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary assessments that offers some useful observations on how well the United States has learned to effectively utilize PMSC. Sadly, it appears the U.S. has not yet absorbed the lessons it has learned at dear cost during the past decade, meaning it has used its contracting weapon badly.

They found that:

only a meager body of research exists on how U.S. resources in the form of wartime contracts can be used most effectively to rebuild a war-torn economy. Consequently, if the United States embarks on another attempt at nation building, it may again be found ill prepared without a more concerted research effort into the economic reconstruction aspects of warfare, often referred to as expeditionary economics. Despite the U.S. military's long history of engaging in reconstruction, expeditionary economics remains relatively less understood than other aspects of war.

Put more simply, after thousands of American lives lost and at least a couple of trillion dollars, we deserve more at this point than a Dummies Guide to Contingency Contracting.

In their report “Contracting Under Fire: Lessons Learned in Wartime Contracting and Expeditionary Economics,” senior fellow Todd Harrison and research assistant John Meyers assess the U.S. Expeditionary Economics effort employing four case studies: Iraq's State-Owned Enterprises, Local-First Programs, the National Solidarity Program and Commander's Emergency Response Programs.

Read full article.

2012/12/212015/10/12

Review: Reducing Uncertainty: Intelligence Analysis and National Security

5 Star, Intelligence (Government/Secret)

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Thomas Fingar

5.0 out of 5 stars World Class on Iran — And Sad Summary of Shallowness Everywhere Else, December 21, 2012

UPDATED 12 OCT 2015 to elevate to five stars in recognition of the author's extraordinary professionalism and honesty in assuring that the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) for Iran done in 2007 documented its destruction of its nuclear weapons program and resisted all political pressures — both domestic and international — to lie (which is what George Tenet did to enable the elective war on Iraq).

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The book is a fast read with a poor index, and the best thing I can say about it is that the author is as good as it gets inside the secret analytic world, and his account is therefore the best available encapsulation of the US analyst in the secret world as virtual eunuch. Normally I do not review books that annoy me, but I make two exceptions, and this book qualifies on both counts: they are in the field to which I have dedicated my life; and there are ten other books that I feel merit being read with or instead of this book.

The substance first. I was a member of the national-level Foreign Intelligence Requirements and Capabilities (FIRCAP) committee for several years,and I truly appreciated the following quote at multiple levels:

QUOTE (51): Requests and requirements have to be prioritized, and the IC has a rather elaborate process to review and rank order the approximately 9,100 cells in the matrix created by arraying roughly 280 international actors against thirty-two intelligence topics that have been grouped into three categories by the National Security Council.

Continue reading “Review: Reducing Uncertainty: Intelligence Analysis and National Security”

2012/12/21

Tom Atlee: Call for Support, Plans for 2013

Cultural Intelligence

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Supporting work for co-intelligent societies

Thank you for your interest in and support for the Co-Intelligence Institute. For more than 15 years CII has been researching and reporting democratic innovations and recently also introduced emerging ideas and resources for co-intelligent economics.

As 2012 comes to a close, we eagerly look forward to 2013 and more work creatively addressing the design challenges of living in human communities on Planet Earth.

We at CII imagine a time when wise participatory politics and economics converge into a powerful force for a better world for all people. We specialize in finding, creating and promoting initiatives, methods, ideas, visions and resources that show how wise participatory politics and economics are possible.

Twice a year we seek your partnership in doing this work on behalf of current and future generations. We ask for your financial support now.

In 2012 we undertook a number of diverse projects and collaborations including cross-boundary conversations between Left and Right in the US and pioneering the new field participatory sustainability with an international team.

A high point in our 2012 work came five months ago with the publication of EMPOWERING PUBLIC WISDOM: A PRACTICAL VISION OF CITIZEN-LED POLITICS by Tom Atlee, supported by the Co-Intelligence Institute. Clearing a path to a wiser form of politics and governance, this watershed book inspired a cover story featuring Tom Atlee’s work in “The Intelligent Optimist” (formerly “Ode Magazine”).

Continue reading “Tom Atlee: Call for Support, Plans for 2013”

2012/12/212012/12/21

Worth a Look: Strategic Intelligence for the 21st Century: The Mosaic Method

Advanced Cyber/IO, Worth A Look

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Strategic Intelligence for the 21st Century: The Mosaic Method provides an industry insider's assessment of current intelligence methods and offers a new strategic model, directed toward the police, military, and intelligence agencies.

The birth of the internet, the advent of 24 hour news and the rise of social media is evidence of how governments and those dealing in intelligence commodities struggle not only to access but also to limit the information that is out there. At the same time, recent terrorist atrocities, such as 9/11 and the July 7th bombings in London, have highlighted the need for intelligence cooperation on a global scale – but how can this be achieved? Serving as a call to break from traditional models and forge more deeply and continuously inter-linked relationships, Strategic Intelligence for the 21st Century advocates more fluid, networked operating methods, incorporating far more open-sourced information and data in analysis.

Featuring contributions from key figures in the industry, including Sir Colin McColl, R. James Woolsey, and Sir David Phillips, this book presents a history of intelligence developments alongside the current challenges, analysing the impact on society – both from within and due to propaganda and covert action – and the influence wrought by technological innovations. With discussion of the Deep Web, the post-9/11 era, and the resulting impact on civil liberty and police operations, Strategic Intelligence for the 21st Century offers a revolutionary new approach to intelligence analysis and global collaborations.

Alfred Rolington was formerly CEO of Jane's Information Group, responsible for such publications as Jane's Defense Review and Jane's Police Review, as well as CEO for Oxford Analytica. He has over thirty years' experience of analytical publishing and media companies, producing information and intelligence for commerce, law enforcement, the, military and government. He has written about and given lectures on intelligence and strategic planning to Cambridge, Oxford, and Harvard Universities, and to organisations such as Thomson Reuters, the CIA, SIS (MI6), NATO Headquarters, and GCHQ.

2012/12/212012/12/21