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I don't think that's it. I personally think the best window into this world is William Binney and his thinthread project. He developed thinthread to protect Ame

I don't think that's it. I personally think the best window into this world is William Binney and his thinthread project. He developed thinthread to protect Americans privacy, and it only was going to cost a handful of millions. His functioning program was scrapped for a billion dollar program that didn't protect Americans privacy and that didn't work because all it did was make the haystack so big finding the needle became neigh impossible. That is a clear example of the good ol boy kickback system being allowed to take over and actually reduced national security. There is a reason that since 9/11, multiple counties in VA have the most growth of millionaires in the country. As for the CIA, most sources I listen to (Ray McGovern, John Kirakou, Bob Bear, etc) indicate they have been getting rid of analysts who speak "truth to power" due to the over politicalization of intelligence, so combine that with good ol boy kickback cruft, it's no wonder incompetence is allowed to abound. This is only a part of the reason the military Intel community has tended to have an adversarial attitude to the company.

mikeyouse 8y ago
Binney is a complete crank.. I'd be very cautious of any first person narratives that he tells, especially when he paints himself as the hero.
- arminiusreturns 8y ago
  You can't say shit like this without backing it up. I think you are full of it and just attempting character assassination.
  - mikeyouse 8y ago
    I mean.. Have you heard anything he's said lately? Here's his appearance on Infowars.. where he explains to Alex Jones how the "deep state" is setting up Donald Trump by scapegoating the Russians: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5XE96G5kN0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5XE96G5kN0
GVIrish 8y ago
Often it's not so much that the billion dollar program was created to make defense contractors rich. It's that the attitude of the US military and intelligence agencies is that if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing. The defense and intelligence contracting industries simply aid, abet, and exploit that propensity to enrich themselves. So where a simple and cost effective solution would work, the US Military/Spy Agencies would want a platinum-plated solution that would give them total dominance in the situation at hand, which would spiral the costs and complexity to the point that the solution doesn't work at all. Contractors are never going to be a brake in that situation because it makes them filthy rich. And any employees who object get swept aside because the powers that be want to pursue the most aggressive and ambitious solution possible.

mikeyouse 8y ago

Binney is a complete crank.. I'd be very cautious of any first person narratives that he tells, especially when he paints himself as the hero.

arminiusreturns 8y ago
You can't say shit like this without backing it up. I think you are full of it and just attempting character assassination.
- mikeyouse 8y ago
  I mean.. Have you heard anything he's said lately? Here's his appearance on Infowars.. where he explains to Alex Jones how the "deep state" is setting up Donald Trump by scapegoating the Russians: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5XE96G5kN0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5XE96G5kN0

GVIrish 8y ago

Often it's not so much that the billion dollar program was created to make defense contractors rich. It's that the attitude of the US military and intelligence agencies is that if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing. The defense and intelligence contracting industries simply aid, abet, and exploit that propensity to enrich themselves. So where a simple and cost effective solution would work, the US Military/Spy Agencies would want a platinum-plated solution that would give them total dominance in the situation at hand, which would spiral the costs and complexity to the point that the solution doesn't work at all. Contractors are never going to be a brake in that situation because it makes them filthy rich. And any employees who object get swept aside because the powers that be want to pursue the most aggressive and ambitious solution possible.