Pentagon Investigation on CENTCOM Intel Reports. An expanding internal investigation is underway at the Pentagon about intelligence assessments on ISIS that may have been altered to paint a more positive picture of Iraqi security forces. For instance, instead of saying that Iraqi security forces hastily retreated from ISIS attacks the reports were modified to say that the government forces 'repositioned' or 'redeployed'. The investigation is also looking at allegations that CENTCOM sugarcoated intelligence reports about Afghanistan as well. They shouldn't have to look too far for that evidence! Read more in "Pentagon Expands Inquiry Into Intelligence on ISIS Surge", The New York Times, November 21, 2015.
CIA, Amazon, and Cloud Computing. "Amazon is building a cloud for the intelligence community that could bridge the sort of gaps that preceded the 9/11 attacks". Read "How the CIA Partnered With Amazon and Changed Intelligence", by Frank Konkel, Defense One, July 11, 2014.
Spymasters - a Review. A two hour documentary on the Central Intelligence Agency aired on Showtime on Saturday, November 28th. Twelve of the living former directors of the CIA were interviewed. Afghanistan and the Global War on Terror (GWOT) are recurring themes. Read a review of the program by Lea Carpenter, in "Showtime's CIA Documentary Takes On New Relevance After the Paris Attacks", Vogue, November 27, 2015.
Selfies Instigated by NSA? One LinkedIn account put forth the rumor that selfies are just a fad created by the National Security Agency in order to get as many faces on file as possible for facial recognition technology. Naw, no way.
"Yeah . . . About That Facebook Account". It was recently disclosed that over 600,000 Facebook users were taking part in an experiment conducted by Cornell University on how emotions spread on the popular social network site Facebook. This is the type of new ground that the intelligence agencies are now exploring as well - using open-source indicators in order to predict social unrest, growth of insurgent or terrorism organizations, and more. Read "The Military Is Already Using Facebook to Track Your Mood", Defense One, by Patrick Tucker, July 2, 2014.
"John has a very long beard". All you secret squirrels will appreciate the latest comic from "The Further Adventures of Doctrine Man", November 27, 2015.
Nations CI Strategy 2016. For those who may have missed it - the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has released the National Counterintelligence Strategy of the United States - 2016.
http://www.ncsc.gov/publications/strategy/docs/National_CI_Strategy_2016.pdf
Scholarship and Intelligence. Stephen Coulthart and Damien Van Puyvelde have penned an article about national security education and subsequent employment - the process where students take courses relating to security or intelligence studies and then find employment in the intelligence community. The authors believe, contrary to some recently published news reports, that there are plenty of national security programs to provide the prospective employees for the many intelligence agencies and organizations. Read more in "What Crisis? Scholarship and National Security", War on the Rocks, November 19, 2015.
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