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(H/T to Guy Kawasaki) Some refreshing comments from the business world on how not to do things. “Escape from Cubicle Nation” – doesn’t get much better than that. Could be used in individual agency management, or reform writ large, if anyone cares to listen. Of course take out all the references to “money” and “profit”…
Likely to be lost in the FLAILCON 2 environment surrounding the nomination of Gen Hayden for DCIA: U.S. intelligence czar John Negroponte this week announced the appointment of a new chancellor for the National Intelligence University. Carson K. Eoyang’s started work May 1, said a statement Monday from the office of the director of national…
Prize-winner Dana Priest points out what some expect Hayden’s strategy to be: Former and current intelligence officers say Goss never had a strategic plan for improving spying on terrorist networks. [former DDO Stephen] Kappes, on the other hand, had slowly begun to put his ideas, gained through 23 years of experience around the world, into…
Most reports on intel reform over the last few days center on the perceived ills that face the CIA if a military man takes charge. I’ve already pointed out that the DCIA doesn’t report to the SECDEF and with four stars Hayden doesn’t owe Rumsfeld anything except the time of day. Just as he was…
I’m obliged for a number of unrelated reasons to like many of the people behind the voices that are coming out against Gen Hayden for DCIA. I’m obliged to like them, but I’m not obliged to avoid criticizing them when due. The laundry list grows by the day, but for the life of me I…
Former colleague L.K. keeps her pimp-hand strong: I thought you were the one who hated pussy-footing around? Not making picks is “a nice way to never be wrong,” Mr. Make the Hard Calls. Yes, dear, you are right. So without further ado here are Mike “The Greek” Tanji’s DCIA pics: 3:1 General Hayden. Easy enough…
Not unexpected though I would have thought he had a few more months. He was never in it for the long term, so victory cries from the old guard are misplaced and premature. Contrary to popular belief; an appointment isn’t the be-all, end-all job and leaving before your boss’s tenure is up is fairly common.…
DCIA Goss resigns this afternoon per various news outlets. Will wait for the flailing to settle down before weighing in. Sneak peek: Probably not the negative many think it is but also not the “victory” others were hoping for.
ABC News has obtained a document seized by U.S. and British Special Forces during a recent raid of an alleged Zarqawi safe house about 20 miles southwest of Baghdad in the town of Yusufiyah. This was the raid where the military believes it narrowly missed capturing Zarqawi himself. The five-page document appears to sketch out…
You’re an Iraqi soldier under Saddam. A plain grunt. You get some rudimentary training, a well-used rifle, barely serviceable uniform and in the face of the world’s most powerful military are abandoned by your superiors in a desperate attempt to save their own skins. You’re taken prisoner, quickly debriefed and just as quickly demobilized. A…
In grad school it was driven into our heads that your average juror was only going to have the equivalent of an eight-grade education and we had to consider that heavily when preparing testimony. Clever but simple analogies worked well because they were things almost anyone could “get.” What to make then of the mental…
Update: Really, really last chance . . . Before the sentence comes down hit the GroupIntel forums and help predict the fallout from the Moussaoui trial. Sign up if you are not already a member (use an alias if you like, we don’t spam or sell or otherwise abuse your trust). Help prove that none…
Former DDI Gannon provides testimony to Congress about domestic intel issues. An important recommendation: […] if the FBI is to remain the agency of choice in developing a domestic intelligence capability, it will need much stronger and clearer direction and much closer oversight from the Executive and Legislative branches on the much bigger and faster…
I learned of NYT Executive Editor Bill Keller’s WSJ letter on the radio this afternoon. Not to sound like a broken record, but I am left (almost) speechless that this is what passes for an argument on national security issues. Mr. Keller laments that anyone would call the actions of his kind political. I’ll leave…
I, ah . . . heh heh, yeah . . . I don’t know what to say about this. Reads like yellow rag, but as many former colleagues like to say: “I don’t believe in coincidences.” Innocent until proven guilty and all that, but if a quarter of it is true, we’re in a world…