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[ by Charles Cameron — a note on mental process ]
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A dozen mailed packages, and thankfully none of them exploded.

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When Brennan received a package, I intuitively, quietly flashed to a mental equation, Brennan = Clapper“. I’m sure plenty of other people, investigators included, had the same sort of equation in their minds, or — what amounts to the same thing — the expectation that if Brennan had had a package addressed to him, surely a package for Clapper couldn’t be too far behind.. Both, after all, are intel chiefs who have been critical of Trump on matters of national security and have drawn his ire. And if Brennan is the first shoe, Clapper would be the second shoe to be expected.

And now that second shoe has dropped: my equation is confirmed.

If I say this is something of a vindication of my DoubleQuote analytic method, I don’t mean to suggest that many others won’t have intuitively come to the same sort of equation and conclusion. Far from it — part of the motivation behind my development of the DoubleQuotes method was the sense that it’s a built-in human mental process, analogical or horizontal thinking, powerfully important when poets, scientists and others make “creative leaps” across disciplines and silos, typically leaping “out of the box” of conventional assumptions, in a direction opposite to that of linear logic..

In fact, this analogical thinking may be a more powerful aspect of human thought — but it’s one that is often down-played in our obsession with linear thinking. My DoubleQuotes method merely formalizes a pre-existing, almost instinctual process.

I do think, however, that practicing this form of thinking, which the HipBone analytic formalism invites us to do, will reinforce our ability to think across silos and disciplinary boundaries, and make those all-important creative leaps.

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At this point, thirteen devices have been found. Let’s pray there are no copy-cats, and in particular none annoyed at the lack of professional skill in the current suspect’s bomb-making, with the skills to carry out less easily intercepted and more potentially fatal variant attacks.

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Use this to plot your own leap, see if it works for you:

[ by Charles Cameron — unequal sides of a coin spinning, methinks ]
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Aw, c’mon, Friedman, c’mon now:

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Sources:

Business Insider, Former DNI James Clapper: Putin is handling Trump like a Russian ‘asset’

New York Times, Thomas L. Friedman, Is Putin a C.I.A. Agent?

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Supporting James Clapper, we have this from Barry McCaffrey:

Reluctantly I have concluded that President Trump is a serious threat to US national security. He is refusing to protect vital US interests from active Russian attacks. It is apparent that he is for some unknown reason under the sway of Mr Putin.

— Barry R McCaffrey (@mccaffreyr3) March 16, 2018

And this, by way of explanation, from Megyn Kelly:

The host of “Megyn Kelly Today” recently sat down for an interview with Putin, and told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that she thinks the Russian president “knows some things” that Trump would not want out in public. In the interview, she confronted Putin about why Trump speaks so highly of him, and said she does not think the Russian president likes Trump. “I would not say that Putin likes Trump,” she said. “I did not glean that at all from him. I did glean that perhaps he has something on Donald Trump.”

“I think there’s a very good chance Putin knows some things about Donald Trump that Mr. Trump does not want repeated publicly,” she added. Kelly said that she doesn’t think Putin’s information has to do with the infamous dossier linking Trump to Russian nationals. “My money’s not on the dossier,” she said. “I think it has to do with money and Trump’s early years dealing with the Russians back in the ’90s, his facilities here in the United States.”

And from Brennan:

John O. Brennan, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said Wednesday that he thought Russia may have some kind of compromising information on President Trump, setting off furious speculation about whether the former spy chief was basing that assertion on inside information.

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Supporting Friedman?

Bupkis.

But anyway.The two quotes in the DoubleQuote — they make a nice tai-chich symbol — ☯ — an ouroboros of sorts: Trump is Putin’s asset; Putin is Trump’s asset; Trump is Putin’s asset; ad infinitum or nauseam, whichever comes first.

Hence The Wilderness of Mirrors, via XX Committee. Tbis bears repeating:

Greg Treverton, a brainy wonk who has worked on the high margins of the U.S. Intelligence Community, famously explained that puzzles and mysteries are fundamentally different: the former, with their pieces, can be solved, while the latter, with inexact pieces and no firm map, defy easy solution. And some mysteries will defy solution indefinitely.

One of the best things about working in counterintelligence, if you’re comfy with imprecision, is that it’s all about mysteries (one of the worst things is that it can make you crazy), some so vexing and intellectually challenging that they elude agreed-upon solutions for decades, in some cases in perpetuity. James Angleton, the poet-turned-counterspy who became CIA’s genius/flake chief of CI for much of the Cold War, referred to this experience as “the wilderness of mirrors,” which captures the enduring mystery of never quite grasping up from down in a case, or knowing who’s really running the show, no matter how closely you look at it (the memorable phrase also happens to be the title of the best book about the CIA’s Angleton experience).

[ by Charles Cameron — this will surely encourage Comey to be forthcoming on Thursday ]
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From Clapper‘s stunning speech at the Australian National Press Club:

Comaring Watergate with the current crisis:

I lived through Watergate. I was on active duty then in Air Force, I was a young officer. It was a scary time. It was against the backdrop of the post Vietnam trauma as well which seemed, at least in my memory, amplified as a backdrop, amplified the crisis in our system with Watergate. I have to say, though, I think you compare the two that Watergate pales really in my view compared to what we’re confronting now.

Sources of concern:

I am very concerned about the assault on our institutions coming from both an external source — read Russia — and an internal source, the President himself.

Paranoia and the dossier:

Clapper said he sensed “extreme paranoia” in Trump during his interactions with the new president, and lamented Trump’s stance toward the U.S. intelligence community in particular.

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“Then President-elect Trump disparaged the intelligence community’s high-confidence assessment of the magnitude and diversity of this Russian interference that I just described by characterising us as Nazis,” he said.

“This was prompted, I found, I realised later, by his and his team’s extreme paranoia about and resentment of any doubt cast on the legitimacy of his election which, of course, our assessment did.”

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Clapper claimed that when he called Trump to talk about intelligence, the president asked him to disavow the controversial intelligence dossier that claimed Russia had compromising material on Trump.

“I tried, naively as it turned out, to appeal to his higher instincts by pointing out that the US intelligence community that he was about to inherit is a national treasure in our country and that the people in it were committed to supporting him and making him successful. Ever-transactional, he simply asked me to publicly refute the infamous dossier which I couldn’t and wouldn’t do,” Clapper said.

Clapper said he sensed “extreme paranoia” in Trump during his interactions with the new president, and lamented Trump’s stance toward the U.S. intelligence community in particular. Clapper claimed that when he called Trump to talk about intelligence, the president asked him to disavow the controversial intelligence dossier that claimed Russia had compromising material on Trump.

“His subsequent actions, sharing sensitive intelligence with the Russians and compromising its source, reflect either ignorance or disrespect and either is very problematic.”

Firing Comey:

“Certainly the whole episode with the firing of Jim Comey, a distinguished public servant, apart from the egregious inexcusable manner in which it was conducted, reflect complete disregard for the independence and autonomy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, our premiere law enforcement organisation.”

Trustworthy in the Administration:

He observed there were people in the administration who could be trusted – nominating Jim Mattis, the defence secretary, John Kelly, the homeland security chief, and HR McMaster, the national security adviser. “They have understanding and respect for our institutions,” he said.

Smoking gun:

“Is there a smoking gun with all the smoke? I don’t know the answer to that. I think it’s vital, though, we find that out.

Upcoming Comey testimony:

Mr Clapper pointed to the possibility of further damaging revelations when James Comey, the former FBI director sacked by Mr Trump, gives evidence on allegations of Russian interference in US politics before a congressional hearing Thursday, Washington time.

“I think it will be very significant to see both what he says and what he is asked about and doesn’t respond to,” said Mr Clapper.**

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My sources and more:

It is to be regretted that neither a complete video nor a complete transcript of this major speech is readily available as yet, except perhaps in Australia. I have made this compilation as well as I coud, working from some of the following sources:

The Australian, Trump administration ‘pales’ compared to Watergate

Sydney Morning Herald, US-Australia bond transcends transitory occupant of White House

Huffington Post, Oz, Former U.S. Intelligence Chief Just Unleashed On Donald Trump

News.com.au, Former US intelligence chief ranks watergate less of a scandal

Guardian, James Clapper says Watergate ‘pales’ in comparison with Trump Russia scandal

ABC, Oz, Donald Trump’s alleged Russia links will dwarf Watergate scandal