No kidding?

. . . gets the hammer: In the late 90s Julie Sirrs, late of DIA, traveled to Afghanistan to put eyes on the goings on. She found out first hand what the Taliban and al-Qaida were all about and even managed a meet with the Lion of the Panjshir. For sounding off against the commonly…

My, my, look at all the Americans the NSA terrorist surveillance program might be snooping on. Where IS our sense of decency? (Update I): Let’s not forget this guy. (Update II) Or this guy (here illegally, but looks good on paper/in databases)

James Dunnigan reminds us that the non-shooting war is still raging: There’s a Cyber War going on between China and the rest of the world. The problem is, there’s enough proof to know that China is behind an increasing number of Internet based attacks, but not enough to call China out on it. It began…

Change in the name of efficiency is certainly an admirable goal, though the language of MBAs doesn’t always translate well in the world of intelligence. The Energy Department is downgrading its counterintelligence unit in what officials say is a “hostile takeover” by the intelligence office. […] “This [consolidation] is ostensibly for better efficiencies,” said one…

Pakistani-Americans go to trial for providing material support to terrorists: The government plans to present evidence that includes satellite surveillance of Pakistan; testimony from paid informer Naseem Khan, who befriended members of the Lodi community and its Muslim religious leaders starting in August 2002, and a videotape of Hamid Hayat. “Hamid Hayat talked about jihad…

The editors of the Weekly Standard sound off: “WHERE WAS THE NUCLEAR material transported to?” asks an aide to Saddam Hussein, in a taped conversation released last week. He answers his own question: “A number of them were transported out of Iraq.” This provocative snippet is part of 12 hours of taped exchanges between Saddam…

Eli Lake reports on an exodus: Two former CIA directors have resigned from the board of the organization planning tomorrow to make public secret recordings of Saddam Hussein and his advisers. In the last week both John Deutch and James Woolsey abruptly left their positions at Intelligence Summit, according to its president, John Loftus, who…

Update: Kent’s Imperative gets deeper into some of the issues mentioned below. A number of visitors write and ask me why I have it out for my old profession/employers/cohorts. Clearly I am disgruntled and left under a cloud. The fact of the matter is that I’m not and I did not. I rose faster and…

Knowing Tony Shaffer as I do (albeit in a limited fashion) I have tried to keep my distance from the Able Danger controversy. Generally speaking in the spooky business one likes to keep a stiff-arm out for those in the spotlight, though there is a lot of quiet cheering (or jeering) in private. Giving his…

A very interesting report from the USMA CTC on what can be learned from captured documents: One of the best ways to learn about al-Qa’ida is to read the papers, manuals, and other documents which al-Qa’ida leaders have written to guide and discipline their own enterprise. Many of these documents have been captured by military…

This needs no further elaboration.

Able Danger Blog points out a significant development: We had testimony that all of the Able Danger data-mining material was destroyed. I [Rep. Curt Weldon R-PA] now know that that’s not the case. In fact, I now know there’s data still available. And I am in contact with people who are still able to data…

In Slate Eric Weiner beats me to the punch on comparing wiretapping in the US and Europe: For Europeans, scolding the Bush administration for everything from Guantanamo to the Iraq War to secret CIA prisons has become a full-time job. But when it comes to the American scandal over President Bush’s warrantless wiretaps, there’s been…

I shake my head ruefully at the thought of those I have left behind that are now likely to face still more hours away from the job learning how to love and respect one another: John Robinson was appointed the first chief of equal employment opportunity for U.S. intelligence by the Director of National Intelligence…