Commentary on the released docs from beyond the grave.

Did I mention that the gargoyles are here?

If you or someone you know is up on naval history – in particular piracy issues – from the1700-1800s, please drop me a line. Working on a little side writing project and need some expertise. You can be as anonymous as you want to be.

On the road the last few days meeting up with some old colleagues and hanging with the Agora (thanks all). The real computer security threat in the Pacific Northwest? The static charge released when two hundred computer security experts in an auditorium remove their fleece jackets at the same time. Got about four days of…

A classified Pentagon study analyzing the effectiveness of Special Operations forces has found that the military’s counterterrorism effort is hampered by bureaucratic duplication, officials said, citing in particular an overlap between new government centers. The study also found evidence of broad resistance to the Special Operations Command’s new counterterrorism role, from regional military commands and…

The intelligence community — comprising 16 government agencies — plans to take the first steps this year toward pulling its tens of thousands of employees into a common pay system. The IC … operates with a patchwork of pay rules that makes it difficult for intelligence agencies to share, reassign and recruit employees, according to…

“It takes a network to defeat a network,” (Army BG Mark] Kimmitt, U.S. Central Command’s deputy director for plans and strategy, said at a State Department Foreign Press Center briefing. “To defeat this organization we must have a network that is more adept, more capable and more lithe.” Reason #197 why I need to start…

In light of this, is there any reason to think that this has a chance (despite all the “steps being taken”)? I mean, I wish them well, but . . . Weigh in yourself at the GroupIntel forum (predictive analysis). Update: RN writes . . . I don’t know what is worse; the sadness I…

I count myself as a cautious admirer. I admire because I’m confident that he’s pointing the way towards the future (has been for some time); cautious because while we’ve never met and I’ve never heard him speak, something in his written words sets off alarms. One of those alarms is ringing right now (3/19 post)…

[Contract intelligence] positions and thousands like them are part of a growing trend at the Pentagon to contract out intelligence jobs that were formerly done primarily by service personnel and civil service employees. But, by using contract employees, government agencies lose control over those doing this sensitive work and an element of profit is inserted…