What are the real (practical) priorities of our IC agencies? Here is a hint: It isn’t helping capture or kill terrorists. Give up? It’s getting more money and responsibility than the guys across town. The only significant difference between any given agency is any unique collection platform they bring to the game, otherwise what is…

In case you ever wondered what really made the world go round but were afraid to ask. Victory gardens are thing of the past, as are other efforts the government used to use to help bolster support for war efforts. Back in the day you needed that kind of commitment when waging total war. Today,…

None of this makes any sense to me. I’ve never been a blue collar guy (does bagging groceries as a kid count?), nor am I an expert in management-labor relations, so perhaps my view of the sanity of unions in a government agency is a little skewed. Watching the local horror that is the NWA…

The best military bar on Oahu? The Coast Guard club at Barbers Point. I long suspected that they could afford to charge only $2.00 (‘early 90s prices) for import bottled beer because it all “fell off a tanker.” But I digress . . . Distorted press reporting today points out that the Coasties had issues…

MI5 has their Able Danger moment: MI5 is facing an internal revolt by officers alarmed about intelligence failures and the lack of resources to fight Islamic terrorism. To illustrate their concern, agents have leaked more top secret documents to The Sunday Times because they want a public inquiry into the “missed intelligence” leading up to…

If I remember right, somewhere deep in the IC reform legislation was a provision for the creation of an “Intelligence Reserve” . . . Sec 1053 of S.2845 to be exact. I thought of this as I read this latest item from Inside the Army (subscription): In his latest challenge to Pentagon policy, the chief…

I am reminded of some old Army training . . . or was it Computer Science . . . Hmmm. Anyway, the thrust of the lesson was a little math that helped determine how many cooks one needed to make broth (figuratively speaking), but not spoil it. The vigilant Ms. Gorman drives the point home…

(Update below) It comes as no surprise to some that elements within our intelligence services play politics. This is not a new phenomenon, but one that has come to a head in the aftermath of the war in Iraq. Now that we have acknowledged the 800 lb gorilla, what in the world should we do…

Roll the clock back to the late fall of 2001 and remember all the kooky, crazy schemes that everyone knew al-Qaida was getting ready to unleash; bulk purchases of personal electronics, shady characters trying to learn crop dusting, swarthy men talking about weddings while standing outside of skyscrapers . . . we’ve got to do…

No kidding?