Spies & Foreign Policy

Spy World II
(Previous Habeck post. See also title link above)

The CIA
Today's (10/22/05) "Washington Journal" program on C-Span featured a very informative interview focused on the CIA. John Diamond, USA Today's Defense and Intelligence Correspondent, provided a good deal of information in our current national intelligence system. It will likely be rebroadcast later in the day. I recommend it as a good primer on the current CIA, as well as the progress of our new National Intelligence Director, John Negroponte.


9/11 Commission

This week saw the second progress "Report Card" issued by the former members of the 9/11 Commission. This report of the former 9/11 commission states that there has been little progress in implementing several of the original report's recommendations. The entire text of Report Card II is here, at Public Discourse Project website. CNN has a very thorough and useful summary report of this story. This Washington Post editorial by David Ignatius asserts that the recent reorganization of the country's intelligence community has not made us safer.

Science
The bulk of spending on intelligence gathering goes to the Pentagon, much of it for electronic "eyes in the sky" equipment.

The following two "happy" stories relate to the peaceful use, by Britain and Europe, of satellite imagery--sort of like "beating swords into plowshares." I believe that part of our own national security depends on leaders making rational use of scientific evidence in making their strategic decisions. One story reports on one of the most important uses for satellite imagery, tracking what is happening in our earth's polar regions. The other is a global warming story about a different kind of satellite's capacity to track coral bleaching.

Foreign Policy
Steve Clemons, writing for TPM Cafe, explains behind the scene elements of the administration's foreign policy. Wilkerson recommended the book The Assassin's Gate, by George Packer who also guest posted at TPM Cafe.blogged here. His post and the following comments were very valuable for my broader understanding of the central question of a rationale for the Iraq war. Slate magazine has a good summary of Wilkerson's speech.

Clemons own blog TWN carries a follow up story about a similar defection from the current administration by Brent Skowcroft, revered foreign policy expert in previous Republican administrations.