Mao Tse Tung – China Leadership Watch

So this was absolutely amazing today. 

We had a meeting and someone brought in a bag of “prizes” as an icebreaker.

Low and behold, one of the items being given away was a Kim Jong-il (father of Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s current leader). 

“Coincidentally,” this just one day after the historic peace summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un. 

Why anyone would give a watch like this away is mind-boggling to me. 

I am curious if anyone knows what the inscription on the back is?  

Anyway, I think this watch is an amazing piece of history, especially from the isolated nation of North Korea.

I can only imagine what the history of this timepiece is and how it got here to NIST.

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Vetting The Refugees–Do You Think It’ll Work?

So not that anyone was so thrilled with the Syria and Iraq refugee idea post 9/11 to begin with…

But now 31 States have come straight out refusing to take these refugees post the terror attack that happened just last week in Paris–where at least one of the terrorists was...

Guess what?

That’s right!  A fake refugee from Syria. 

But what about the “intensive vetting process” that is being promised for these 10,000 refugees?

Well what can be more intensive than the vetting that the American government does on employees working for highly sensitive agencies like the CIA, FBI, and NSA? 

So how has that worked out?

Probably not too bad, but the problem is that no vetting no matter how thorough is foolproof, hence major spies have infiltrated these organizations for years or even decades and caused immense harm to national security:

Robert Hanssen (former FBI–spied for the Soviets for 21 years)

Aldrich Ames (31-year veteran of the CIA, compromised 2nd largest number of CIA agents after Robert Hanssen)

Edward Snowden (leaked classified information from the NSA on our surveillance programs)

The point is that no matter how well we vet 10,000 or more refugees from Iraq and Syria, with ISIS vowing “to strike America at its center in Washington”–there certainly can be some errors in the screening and final adjudication process.

Again no vetting process is perfect–especially when the refugees themselves are admitting that fake ideas are being given out to them like candy in a candy store. 

So that’s the dilemma we now face:

HEART–do what our heart tells us to and help people in need by taking in the refugees.

OR 

HEAD–follow our heads not risking another one or more potentially devastating terror attacks on the U.S. homeland. 

The choice is heartbreaking or headache producing! 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Electrical Cataclysm

Warning from the former director of CIA in the Wall Street Journal today…

We are grossly unprepared for an EMP attack on this country!

Dire reports from the EMP Commission from 2004 and 2008 have been “much neglected”!

The threat comes from nation states and terrorist organizations who can detonate a nuclear device above our skies by ICBM, SCUD missile (for example from a freighter near our shores), a space-launched vehicle that lifts satelittes into orbit, and even from low-yield nuclear weapons closer to home. 

Russia and China “have considered limited nuclear-attack options that…employ EMP as the primary or sole means of attack.”

North Korea in 2012 orbited a satellite compatible with such a small nuclear warhead “for the delviery of a surprise nuclear EMP attack against the U.S.”

Here’s the clincher on the damage this could do to us:

“Within 12 months of a nationwide blackout, up to 90% of the U.S. population could possibly perish from starvation, disease, and social breakdown.”

But for roughly $2 billion dollars we could protect the national electrical grid with surge arrestors, faraday cages and more. 

However, the bills to authorize this and protect us are stalled.

This is a known threat that our enemies are preparing for and what are we doing sitting on our hands, again?

 

Or as the comedian Lewis Black says, “If we’re going nowhere as a country, why can’t we get there faster?”

(Source Photo: here with attribution to Wil C. Fry)

The Sony Wig Nut

Sony has so missed the mobile technology revolution.

In desperation, Sony has filed a patent for the SmartWig.

How incredibly useful (uh, not)?

Your faux hairdo can dial your hairdresser and make your next appointment for you.

It can locate via GPS the nearest salon.

And the SmartWig can even take selfies while you admire yourself in the mirror.

While Sony is goofing around again, and hasn’t had a hit since the to die for Sony televisions of yore (and let’s not forget the Walkman from 1980s), Google is moving out with bravado on Glass.

Google is getting display space for Glass in eyeglass retailers, and working with opticians to make prescription lens eye-Glass.

Let’s just say one company gets wearable technology and the other is hiding under wigs in The Technology Hall of Shame.

Then again, one customer may be interested in talking with Sony—the CIA for undercover operations.

Maybe a Smart Groucho Marx mustache that automatically shakes out the soup after you eat would be a cool new product, as well–go for it Sony!

(Source Photo: here with attribution to Annetta)

Why People Spy

There is an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal (31 May 2013) about why people spy.

The former CIA case officer, who recruited others to become traitors and wrote the article says, it comes down to MICES:

– Money: “We give you cash, and you steal secrets.”

– Ideology: The person no longer believes in their system of government or has been abused by the system.

– Conscience: Someone who is looking to atone for the crimes/sins of the system or of themselves.

– Ego: This is a person who responds to stroking of their self-esteem and sense of purpose.

– Sex: A fifth powerful motivator is sex or a relationship that may address people’s feelings of isolation or loneliness.

Thinking about the motivation for spying in terms of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, I have connected the five techniques to turn someone with their basic needs, making the Pyramid of Spying:

– Money fulfills people’s base physiological needs.

– Ideology appeals to someone who has been abused and hates the system and thus is tied to motivations for safety and security.

– Sex/relationships has to do with social needs.

– Stroking someone’s ego fulfills his/her esteem needs.

– Spying for reasons of conscience (e.g. what some would consider becoming enlightened) is driven by the need to self-actualize.

The reason that I turned the pyramid/hierarchy upside down for the motivations of why people spy is that being “turned” and becoming a traitor to one’s country is such an unnatural and abhorrent concept to normal people that they would generally not do it just for the money, revenge, or sex (lower-level needs), but rather they ultimately would need to be driven by reasons of conscience and ego (higher-level needs).

Of course, sprinkling in the money, ideology, and sex makes acting the traitor that much more appealing to some–and helps “grease the wheels” to go outside the bounds of what a normal person does and feels towards their nation–but those are not the primary drivers for committing the ultimate crime against one’s country.

Again, normal people are not motivated to be treacherous and treasonous, but given the wrong dose of motivations, people are turned–this means we know how to use the tools of the trade to our nation’s advantage, but also to be mindful and watchful of those who motivations are being acted on.

(Source Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)

Daddy Long Legs Exposed

Back in primary school, the kids used to call these “daddy long legs”.

Like everyone else, I’ve had the opportunity to see one of these, but never two in such a compromising pose.

The other day watching a action movie, one character asks another, “So which are you scared of–snakes or spiders? Everyone is scared of one or the other.”

The CIA lady says: “Spiders” and later admits, she lied.

The Army Ranger lady says: “I’m not scared of anything.”

Two different philosophies on defeating the enemy–do you overcome them with strength, courage, and bravado or perhaps you mislead them with deceit and cunning or with both approaches.

In any case, the other saying that this photo reminds me of from childhood is “bees do it, birds do it” and now I know that spiders do it too. 🙂

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

>IT as a Surrogate Weapon

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There is a fascinating controversy going on now over the CIA plans to kill known al Qaeda terrorists. Should we “stoop to their level” and take them out or is this “assassination” style technique out of bounds for a free and democratic society?

Wow. I don’t think too many Americans the day after 9/11 would be asking that question.

We are quickly swayed by the events of the times and our emotions at play.

When 3,000 people—mostly civilians—were killed in a vicious surprise attack on our financial and military hubs in this country; when the Twin Towers were still burning and crashing down; when smoke was rising out of the Pentagon; and when a plane crashed in Pennsylvania—I think most of us would say, these terrorists need to be dealt a severe and deadly blow.

Who would’ve though that just a mere 8 years later, questions would abound on the righteousness of killing the terrorists who planned, executed, and supported these murderous attacks and still seek every day to do us incredible harm—quite likely with chemical, nuclear, biological, or radiological (CNBR) weapons—it they could pull it off in the future.

We are a society with a short-term memory. We are a reactive society. As some have rightly said, we plan to fight the wars of the past, rather than the wars of the future.

We are also a doubting society. We question ourselves, our beliefs, and our actions. And to some extent this is a good thing. It elevates our humanity, our desire to do what is right, and to improve ourselves. But it can also be destructive, because we lose heart, we lose commitment, we change our minds, we are swayed by political currents, and to some extent we swing back and forth like a pendulum—not knowing where the equilibrium really is.

What makes the current argument really fascinating to me from an IT perspective is that we are okay with drones targeting missiles at terrorist targets (and even with a certain degree of civilian “collateral damage”) from these attacks from miles in the sky, but we are critical and repugnant to the idea the CIA wanted to hunt down and put bullets in the heads of the terrorists who committed the atrocities and are unwavering in their desire to attack again and again.

Is there an overreliance on technology to do our dirty work and an abrogation of hands-on business process to do it with our own “boots on the ground” hands?

Why is it okay to pull the trigger on a missile coming from a drone, but it is immoral to do it with a gun?

Why is it unethical to fight a war that we did not choose and do not want, but are victims of?

Why are we afraid to carry out the mission to its rightful conclusion?

The CIA, interrogators, military personnel and so forth are demonized for fighting our fight. When they fight too cautiously—they have lost their will and edge in the fight, we suffer consequences to our nation’s safety, and we call them incompetent. When they fight too vigorously, they are immoral, legal violators, and should be prosecuted. We are putting “war” under a huge microscope—can anyone come out looking sharp?

The CIA is now warning that if these reputational attacks continue, morale will suffer, employees will become risk-averse, people will quit, and the nation will be at risk.

Do we want our last lines of defense to be gun-shy when the terrorists come hunting?

According to the Wall Street Journal, “one former CIA director, once told me that the ‘CIA should do intelligence collection and analysis, not covert actions. Covert actions almost never work and usually get the Agency in trouble.’”

The Journal asks “perhaps covert action should be done by someone else.” Who is this someone else?

Perhaps we need more technology, more drones to carry out the actions that we cannot bear to face?

I believe that we should not distinguish between pulling the trigger on a drone missile and doing the same on a sniper rifle. Moreover, a few hundred years ago the rifle was the new technology of the time, which made killing less brutal and dehumanized. Now we have substituted sophisticated drones with the latest communication, navigation and weapons technologies. Let’s be honest about what we are doing – and what we believe needs to be done.

(As always, my views are my own and do not represent those of any other entity.)