Category: Politics
Government transition: Planning ahead for career risk
As a FED covered by the Hatch Act most onerous elements I have eschewed all political discourse and basically kept my mouth shut. That isn’t going to change now. I have no view public or private to share on the…
Authoritarianism or similar rather than leadership
Leadership is not about the tell it is about the do. To many people look at a leadership task as telling other people what to do. They take an authoritarian perspective on the principle of getting things done. I see…
Leadership: Putting strategy back into human interaction
We spend a lot of time talking about leadership where we think of it as getting people to do something through some form of incentive or disincentive. Simply churning and burning our way to action through carrots and sticks though…
Anecdote: Dress the part and credibility
Rather than can’t get no respect I want to talk credibility and the two-edged wicked problem of surface over substance. I am an old, fat, bald, white guy. I am not as old as some but older than most. I…
Research Note: Security, privacy, insider threats, and espionage
I am concerned about how this discussion has evolved, and it is influenced heavily by political and ideological biases. More importantly, it is in a box, which does not reflect a stern reality. I have been told that “Privacy is…
Strat pack fall down go boom
I’ve been watching the response to Adam Elkus recitation of issues of blogging on grand strategy. I have been following the writing of Adam since he was at Occidental College. I have been following many writers as they start out…
You shouldn’t read this post on Russia and the rest of the world
First off, I am not an expert on Russia or even a political scientist. In the first case, I do not care and in the second, I prefer to be relevant. This treatise is independent of the current conflict other…
Why should the United States engage in protection of the Ukraine?
I ask the why question a lot. Partly it is because I’m a scientist of sorts, but mostly it is an artifact of having taught strategic assessment at the National Defense University where I had a few processes hammered into…
On the equivalence of corporate and government snooping
I’m going to disagree with the espoused equivalence of government snooping and corporate snooping. The former is enabled by the latter but that is still conflation of the two issues. A consumer opts in when they utilize a service, asks…
Next big thing: Personal clouds in your home
The asserted revelations of the national spy apparatus has created an interesting set of conundrums for business and individuals. Putting away the trivialities of those who say “If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to worry about.” There…
Careers in government: Challenges in recruiting
I teach a discipline almost completely on topics of interest only to government entities. By far and in most cases the only people interested in investing towards professional incident response requiring forensics level skills is the government. Whether a local…
Where will the NSA be in 5 to 10 years?
I’ve been thinking about how the structure of the intelligence community and specifically technical collection activities are understood. The departure of General Alexander and the current budget fights are policy fulcrum points that can be used for change. I have…
A Snowden job, when snow jobs meet the NSA
Most people are well aware that a 29 year old NSA contractor has released various levels of classified documents to the press. This has caused a furor in the government as they both try to hold Snowden accountable and not…
A debacle: The myth of property rights
Just a debacle. Over the last two weeks I’ve watched quietly as a process played out here in my neighborhood. She drives a Cadillac, has blue hair, and wears expensive clothes. She doesn’t belong in the neighborhood though likely lives…