Review: Shooting the Truth–The Rise of American Political Documentaries

Both a Tour of Substance, and an Eye Opener for Book People July 29, 2010 James McEnteer This is a 6 Star and Beyond book and is so categorized at Phi Beta Iota, the Public Intelligence Blog, where one can browse all 1600+ of my non-fiction reviews sorted into 98 categories and easily found with …

Journal: What Revolution in Military Affairs? Shattering the illusion of bloodless victory

It is not as if the disaster described below, in the Afghan war logs released by Wikileaks to the Guardian, the New York Times, and der Spiegle, was not foreseeable.  Here, for example, is an op-ed I wrote for Defense Week in April 2001, well before we began the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And I …

Event Report: 30 Jun-1 July, NYC – ICSR Peace and Security Summit

Peace and Security Summit Event Report/Notes + Host: London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence + Partners, Affiliates, Financial Support: National Defense Univ, Rena & Sami David, The Rockefeller Foundation, Public Safety Canada, Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, Centre for Policy Research, New Dehli, Dept of War Studies , King’s College …

Journal: PSYOP Dies, Renamed, Still Dead

PSYOP has long had problems being PSYOP.  Overseas they often work as “Military Information Support Teams” (MISTs).  If you want to get them significantly spun up, try to discuss with them “perception management” or “deception.”  Try that and they tend to go to ground very quickly.  As for nefarious, spooky, and master manipulators, US PSYOP has …

Journal: Continuity of Gerbil Operations

COMMENTS: 1.  The “fact of” PDB distribution is well known; Administrations influence who is on the distro list. 2.  Of the principals showcased here, some are (at least sort of) competent patriotic and some…well… 3.  This article is, perhaps unknowingly, deceptive in that it creates an impression that USG is postured to continue mission 24/7 from …

Journal: DoD Makes One Intelligent Decision, Congress Freaks

Serious, probably righteous if expensive program.     Washington Post   June 19, 2010    Pg. 1 U.S. Buying Helicopters From Russia: Lawmakers balk at Pentagon’s purchases for Afghan air corps By Craig Whitlock The U.S. government is snapping up Russian-made helicopters to form the core of Afghanistan’s fledgling air force, a strategy that is drawing flak from …