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I’m breaking radio silence in part because of the comment left by “Moon” and partly because I should have done this a week ago. Unfortunately, I’ve been swamped with a constellation of projects, problems and papers and I’ve had to put the blog on the backburner in a (mostly futile) effort to get caught up. Nevertheless, I’m quite pleased to offer the following information:

On Monday February 4th, Chicago Boyz will be hosting a blogging roundtable on Science, Strategy and War: The Strategic Theory of John Boyd by Colonel Frans P. Osinga. Slightly over ten years since his death, the influential strategist and iconoclastic USAF Colonel John Boyd remains a subject of controversy despite the fact that ( or more likely, because) many of his ideas impacted and informed military “transformation”, Network-centric Operations and the theory of 4th Generation Warfare.

The full introductory post will be made on Monday but I am proud to say that we have a very strong stable of reviewers and that the author, Dr. Osinga has agreed to participate in the discussion.

Cross-posted at Chicago Boyz

Posting is slow this week because I am working on a couple of projects, including the Science, Strategy and War roundtable that will occur at Chicago Boyz, starting next Monday. I also have a number of important papers to read for several friends and I am taking tonight off from blogging in order to catch up on these commitments. 

Two demographics that  I’m certain have a degree of congruency, as it stands.

Blogfriend Gunnar Peterson, the cybersecurity guru at 1 Raindrop sent me this.

Kudos to the “Imperating Kents“ for their pointing to the digital archive of the private papers of Allen Dulles, the OSS spymaster and seminal DCI whose tenure was responsible for much of the CIA’s later cultural mystique. KI had it right when they declared:

It is thus with great interest we note that Princeton University has opened a digital archive of the private papers belonging to former DCI Allen Dulles. The variety and volume of materials is simply extraordinary, and although it is organized by librarians (rather than intelligence professionals or modern search engine experts) it is well worth the time to explore these virtual stacks. Given that the gentleman’s 1963 text The Craft of Intelligence, is still reprinted for use as a basic text at many university level programs, these further materials are both substantively illuminating and historically invaluable. Of particular interest are the French and German language items, which may never have been previously referenced in depth during intelligence studies research on the matter.

Eisenhower’s role as a decisive voice in IC operations during his administration has been frequently underestimated by historians, with the consequent inflating of the role played by Allen Dulles. In reality, Dulles was deeply influential, given Ike’s high level of interest in intelligence matters and his brother John Foster Dulles as SecState and sister Eleanor also in several consequential bureaucratic position at Foggy Bottom, including a stint in State’s intelligence bureau, creating a formidible familial troika. But Dulles was not a free-lance operator in any sense of the word. That was something a hot-tempered President Eisenhower would never have tolerated for an instant, despite cultivating a public image of genial, grandfatherly, disconnection; nor was it in Dulles’ character to personally micromanage operations to the extent that being a “rogue” DCI would require.

Dulles might have been America’s master spy but as DCI he carried out the orders of his political masters – to both great success and global scandal.

Going to try a few topical pairings today though I must warn that the bloggers in question may or may not like whom they have been matched.

Heh.

Top Billing!: On Ronald Reagan: 

Ralph Brauer of ProgressiveHistorians –The Paradox of Ronald Reagan: His First Inaugural

Dan from Madison at Chicago Boyz –The Man Who Grew Up In Dixon

On The New York Times  agitprop series on murderous Iraq War Veterans ( I won’t link to this nominal act of journalism, go find it if you are interested):

Bruce Kesler of Democracy Project – Public Fool #1, NYT’s “War Torn” Giving Me PNYTTSD

Robert Bateman of SWJ Blog – More Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

Now for some solo acts:

Matt at MountainRunner – Former SecDef calls for new USIA and Upcoming events on Africa

Dr. Von – Further Decline in US Science Commitment

Valdis Krebs at Network Weaving – Social Networks: 1 Political Machine: 0

Russia Blog –The Institute for Democracy and Cooperation: Less Democracy, More Cooperation Please

Andreas Umland at HNN –Putin’s New Man at Brussels

That’s it.