[9828] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: "F--- you," says Open Source Spook (Blanks Filled in)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dave Hughes)
Sat Jan 22 02:22:37 1994
From: dave@oldcolo.com (Dave Hughes)
To: cook@path.net
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 1994 00:12:58 -0700 (MST)
Cc: com-priv@psi.com (compriv)
In-Reply-To: <9401212001.aa25017@pandora.sf.ca.us> from "Gordon Cook" at Jan 21, 94 11:02:40 pm
Gordon, I find this Flame War amusing, as much for what it
reveals about the fuzzy knowledge of the organization and activities of
the US Government as it pertains to national security functions, as
to the merits of the case as to whether persons involved in US
Government 'intelligence' should or should not be on the net.
So far I have detected less than impressive 'intelligence'
in those perceptions. For a while I thought I might write a parody
of the discussions going on, substituting for the words
'intelligence mind set', 'spooks,' CIA - nerds, techies, hippie mind
sets, hackers etc. But that would have been work, and I would be
laughing too hard.
Yes, you are correct. After 4 years of West Point, I spent
23 active years as a Infantry officer of the US Army. Commanding
small and large formations of soldiers, tanks, armored personnel
carriers, combat engineers, artillery pieces, gunships and lift
helicopters in two wars in combat operations. Never in the support
services, whether it be logistics, personnel or intelligence. And
always served as an operations officer, student, or instructor, or,
at the Pentagon, as a politico-military policy advisor, right up to
advising the Secretary of Defense in where military power should NOT
be used. In short my career was being a warrior, plain and simple.
And I was a damned good one.
But believe you me I deeply understood, appreciated, and
sucked up every scrap of 'intelligence' from those who were in it,
from that little rotund lieutenant in 1951 who correctly predicted
my company would be hit by *both* North Korean and Chinese Army
battalions to sucking the brains and country studies of the CIA, DIA
(Defense Intelligence Agency), State Department I&R (Intelligence
and Research), Army Intelligence, Navy Intelligence, Air Force
Intelligence before advising the Secretary of Defense about
*anything* to do with a foreign country, including whether it was
wise to send baseball equipment to the Sudan to start a sports
program among the youth. So yeah, was I 'associated with
intelligence' - it was as important to me as my ammunition and water
canteen. And I was always well served by it.
Which is where that Marine, Steele hails from. And believe
you me if I were to go to Bosnia in any official capacity, I would
take Bob Steele (with micro and modem, natch. And his contacts in
the CIA) quicker than anyone from any academic or business operation
I have observed on THIS maillist. (Especially since I notice from
his language he still has the kind of fire in his belly that gets
things done when it counts.)
By contrast, while in the Pentagon I was always frustrated by
the lack of responsiveness and relevance to the problems I was
trying to solve of the technological support staffs and services,
from the vaunted ARPA to the Defense Research and Engineering
directorate. (Which is why I eventually learned how to program a
computer - so they couldn't so easily bullshit me any more about
what they could and could not do, and for how much.)
