February 2012
14 posts
On The Secret Intelligence Programs In Pakistan
In 2006, a major earthquake in Kashmir provided an opportunity for the intelligence community to fill a gap. In an eBook I’ve co-authored with Atlantic correspondent D.B. Grady, we add: ——->”The U.S. intelligence community took advantage of the chaos to spread resources of its own into the country. Using valid U.S. passports and posing as construction and aid workers,...
alexstrick asked: What is Q29E? Or do we have to read your book to find out?
zigterman asked: Did you lower the price from 3.99 to 2.69? Or does Amazon do this?
Suddenly, The Pentagon Acknowledges That JSOC is... →
Today, there is something new on the SOCOM.mil website page that describes the Joint Special Operations Command. For the first time, JSOC is recognized as something more than just a joint interoperability and testing subcommand of the larger group of special operations forces. And for the first time, there is a link off the JSOC page to a secure government website that allows cleared individuals...
Top 20 on Amazon's non-fiction best-seller list. →
And all organic. Thanks to everyone!
“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in...”
– Rene Descartes (via philphys)
The Command: Amplifications and Corrections Log
Eagle-eyed readers have begun to help point out corrections in the new book, as well as areas where some amplification might be useful.
One correction: we identified the RC-12 Guardrail plane as a jet. It is not; it is a turboprop.
And Michele Malvesti is described as Adm. William McRaven’s boss at the National Security Council; technically, when they worked together, they were...
From Danger Room: How America's Top Killers Became... →
An interview I did with Wired’s Spencer Ackerman.
Buy and read The Command today
On Amazon
Barnes and Nobles.com
And iTunes.
Just declassified -- the NSA historian's guide to... →
January 2012
40 posts
White House Top Line Talking Points
The talking point top lines that the White House is sending to the people who will yak about the State of the Union address on television:
An America Built to Last
· In his State of the Union Address, the President will lay out a blueprint for an economy that’s built to last – an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of...
The Real Reason Why McRaven's At SOTU
The reason Admiral William McRaven, the Commander of the Special Operations Command, deserves the extraordinary and public recognition he’ll get tonight is not — I repeat not — because of his role in planning and commanding the DevGru SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden last year.
Surely, McRaven merits accolade for an excellent, precise special operation of the type he studied...
1 tag
National Special Security Event Day In DC
Whenever the bright orange helicopters fly, whenever there are extra DC cops idling in patrol cars on the street, whenever the zone around Capitol turns into a fortress, it can mean one of two things: a classified homeland security exercise, or an NSSE — a National Special Security Event. The State of the Union Address is by necessity given that formal designation by the Secretary of...
It Turns On A Name
At the heart of the government’s case against former CIA officer John Kiriakou, the author of a best-selling (and heavily redacted) book about his experiences interrogating Al Qaeda suspects, is a question that Aristotle would appreciate: does a person exist only when he is named?
The facts, very briefly, are best understood with reference to the charge that we can find the most public...
Air Out Those Vulture Capitalism Arguments Early?...
As the economy improves, it may be harder and harder for the Obama campaign to gain traction with arguments that Romney’s personal economic advantages mean he is out of touch with suffering Americans. But Republicans, by airing these arguments early, are providing in-kind donations to the president’s re-election campaign.
Romney said today he pays an effective tax rate of around 15...
“The NSA was spending billions of dollars on new collection systems and vast...”
– Historian Matthew Aid details why America’s spies are struggling to keep up. (via nprfreshair)
FBI files on dead people. →
From governmentattic.com
on to SC
At this point, the only relevant
question is how much discontent there is among Republicans. The longer they plot and plan and soften up Mitt Romney, the more their party will suffer in the fall. They risk delegitimizing their nominee. On the other hand, these are the times that fabricate the armor that all good nominees must have. Romney may yet emerge stronger. But there is a point, an...
“I have been accused of a habit of changing my opinions … I am not myself in any...”
– Bertrand Russell, Dictionary of Mind, Matter and Morals (1952)
yup.
