we could get into a naval gazing activity and wonder if waterboarding is torture - it was allowable at that time........

synthetic environment A criminal with unlimited funds is a genius these days. - Larisa Alexandrovna

that I spend most of my time news aggregate information - - 'blogging' I don't debate discuss or offer opinions all that much; journalism is dead the news has been cancelled; if we/internet don't research and report - it won't get done!

http://presciencellc.com/

http://www.maximonline.com/articles/index.aspx?a_id=7399

Maxim Online, Jan 2007

Mike Baker spent 15 years as a covert field operations officer for the CIA, before founding Prescience LLC, an intelligence advisory firm. He's also a technical consultant for the British television series MI-5. Despite his training in counterintelligence—and our lack of any intelligence whatsoever—he agreed to answer some unnerving questions.

In the television series MI-5, the British agents uncover all kinds of domestic conspiracies, right-wing zealots, eco-terrorists, evil capitalists—not exactly the usual suspects in the war on terror. How can you tell if the quiet guy in the next cubicle is some kind of homegrown extremist?
Does their cubicle have the faint aroma of cordite, ammonia, fertilizer, Semtex or gun oil? These, normally, could be considered warning signs.

How do I know if my boss is reading my email?
Well, you may not know. That's the short answer. There's some terrific technology out there, in terms of keystroke logging and remote tracking. The bottom line is, nobody should use their work computer for anything that they don't want someone to find out about. Surfing the net, playing games, or spending the day looking at the Victoria's Secret web site…You're a complete moron if you use your work computer thinking that it's private.

Should guys with something to hide assume that electronic privacy is a thing of the past?
I conduct myself as if it's an open book. You're not going to go wrong that way. It's a very transparent world now. If somebody wants to find out something about you, they can do it.

Is that why Osama bin Laden never picks up the phone? Is it true he passes notes by hand, like a flirty girl in math class?
That's exactly right. When things get tough, the terrorists or the criminal organizations always revert to the old ways. That's both in terms of how they transfer money, and how they pass communications. Everything. Once they dumb it down, it can be very difficult to track.

What are some techniques that can help anyone stay covert in corporate America?
Most people trip themselves up by either not being aware of their environment, or talking too much. The smart people pay attention and they don't open their yap. They play their cards close to the vest.

You want to understand the politics of your workspace, and make sure that you understand where the power resides. And you want to understand what information is important to your progress in that organization. Information is your currency. That's true working for MI-5 or CIA, and that's true for working in a large corporation or a small firm.

How hard is it to completely disappear?
Most people assume that because information is so readily available now, what that means is you can find anybody. But the flip side is that it has created the ability to do certain things, in terms of creating a second identity, and cleaning up an individual's past, setting out false trails, doing a variety of things that would make it extremely difficult to be found.

The reason why they catch the criminals and fugitives from justice…most of them are mooks. And most of them are also doing it spur-of-the-moment, they're pressed for time. If you're going to do it properly, you have to be, personality-wise, suited to doing something in a very anal-retentive fashion. But it can be done.

So it's more than packing a suitcase, and throwing away your credit cards?
If that's all the person had done—dropped his cards, maybe grabbed a forged passport, and taken off—you could pick up that scent pretty quickly. I don't want to sit here and sound like I'm Sam Spade, but I think most people out of intelligence or law enforcement would tell you that.

Having said that, we're having a hell of a time with bin Laden. But that's an entirely different issue. He's not eating in a café, and using a new American Express card.

synthetic environment A criminal with unlimited funds is a genius these days. - Larisa Alexandrovna

Thanks, Ruth. It's downloading now.

Edit: Just watched. Wes was so clear and precise and the other guy tied himself up in knots trying to justify torture. Good appearance by Wes.

"The Right always knows who its enemies are" Lance Mannion

I missed this one completely- good of you to post it. For anyone interested I watched Ruth's blog angel clip here then did a diary called Got Torture? Life Imitates Artlessness which will take you to some great reads about how the genuine West Point trainers went to the set of 24 to speak with the producers... and how real torture had a hand in taking us into Iraq when the admin was busy whipping up a batch of that oh so yummy radioactive yellow cake... 

I wish someone to talk to him in more depth about this issue. Wes is always very clear.

Did Wes seem tired to anyone?

sounds so reasonable as he justifies the United States of America using torture. People will buy it. Extraordinary circumstances, my ass.

Thank you, Ruth for catching this and posting it!

And yes, I thought General looked tired too, haypops.

Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.

Bam. Take that.