zenpundit.com

CHESTER’S ADVENTURE AT TCS

Blogfriend Josh Manchester of The Adventures of Chester has become a contributing writer at TCS Daily and his first article is ” Shaken, Not Stirred “. Congratulations to Josh on the new writing gig.

I like to see my blogfriends rising in the world.

HEZBOLLAH ACCUSED OF WAR CRIMES

By Human Rights Watch, according to Marc at American Future, for possibly deliberately targeting civilians.

ROUNDTABLING ERIC ALTERMAN

This should be a link of interest to readers Left, Right and Center – particularly if political history is their thing.

Eric Alterman is best known for his partisan commentary in The Nation and blogging at Altercation ,but he is also an academic, when not engaged in polemical pursuits, with a Ph.D in History from Stanford. In his scholarly role, Professor Alterman has a new book out, When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception and Its Consequences, which has been reviewed by an H-Diplo Roundtable. That in itself is an endorsement of the book’s quality.

I was surprised to learn that Dr. Alterman had studied under the eminent historian Walter LaFeber, which I found somewhat ironic as Eric and I have swiped at each other a few times on H-Diplo, yet my own mentor in history was a friend and classmate of LaFeber’s when both were studying under William Appleman Williams ( as a result I think I read every book and most of the papers LaFeber had published up until the mid-late 1990’s).

The roundtable is a thorough and scholarly treatment of the book from historians across the political spectrum and Dr. Alterman is given an opportunity to resond to criticisms and make extended comments. It’s a good online read ( PDF format).

These symposiums represent H-Diplo at its best.

DEVELOPMENT OR CONNECTIVITY?

Tom and Steve were debating changing Enterra’s conceptual brand from “Development-in-a-Box” to “Connectivity-in-a-Box“. After some online angst by Dr. Barnett, it seems DiB won out but Tom is looking to retrofit connectivity in the proper place.

The difference between the two concepts comes down to ends and means.

While it is true that “development” is a actually a process, ” Development in a Box” is a phrase that screams ” Outcome !”. In contrast, ” connectivity” has a range of possile understandings that can indicate only the potential for future exchanges or mass migration or ongoing flows of economic and military might. Therefore, what “Connectivity” yells is “Change !”.

Connectivity is inherently crucial to development – Dr. Barnett mentioned the economic impact of mobile phones in Gap states and as mobile phones effectively transition to mobile computers with wireless broadband, that effect will multiply by orders of magnitude. If anything was ever “outside the box”, it’s the evolutionary, revolutionary, power of connectivity.

Tom should keep connectivity in his mantra and link it categorically and irrevocably with Steve’s DiB.

Just don’t put in a box :O)

EXCELLENT !

From Michael Tanji of GroupIntel Blog, rare good news in the guise of quiet change of practice in the IC:

“But the Office of the Director of National Intelligence seems to be casting an unusually wide net as it seeks the best qualified staff it can find in academia and the public interest sector.
Historian Nancy Bernkopf Tucker, a China specialist at Georgetown University, became an Assistant Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analytic Integrity in January 2006, and was appointed last month as the first ODNI “analytic ombudsman.” (She also previously served in the State Department…

Trying to get IC leadership to hire people from outside the gene pool is something akin to cold fusion: we’d all like it to happen, but progress has been limited and tainted by hoaxes. A lot of potential hires don’t get accepted because while their real-world experience is stellar, the lack of clearance means tendering an offer is a crap-shoot; maybe they get cleared but it takes a year; maybe a year passes and they fail the poly. “Outsiders” tend to only be strangers from a given agency and inevitably golfing/poker/drinking/academy buddies of the guy running the show. There is a certain amount of tradition to the practice and sometimes it actually works, but there is nothing like creating new high-end gigs and then filling them with your pals to depress the workforce and make them wonder if directorship brings with it ownership papers. Even cross-pollination of disciplines is rare, even when such moves would make supreme sense. “Not invented here” syndrome has a little-known cousin, “Not hired here.”

Counterintelligence security is an important concept but as it was practiced during the Cold War may not be the best practice for the War on Terror in an increasingly open source, high complexity, deep uncertainty, world. No group, however bright and well-trained, can maintain its analytical edge through institutional insularity and isolation.

Opening up to outside “superstars” and mixing them with the cream of the insiders is a must to shake things up in a way that will not be reflected by little boxes and dotted lines on an org chart.