Public Intelligence Blog

Winslow Wheeler

Dina Rasor and Pierre Sprey have collaborated on an important and informative piece on the F-22.  It expands the publically available thinking about the nature of the toxicity problem facing F-22 pilots, and–just as importantly–it probes the nature of one of the prime suspects for the problem: the F-22′s “stealth” coating.  Note at the end of the piece: for all the astronomic cost, low sortie rates, and aerodynamic mis-shaping of aircraft those stealth coatings have caused, they bring little meaningful tactical advantage against an enemy who knows how to deal with them.  Case in point: not mentioned in the brief but important discussion of radars that see “stealth” aircraft is the antiquated Soviet era radar and SA-3 missile system that was used by the Serbs in the 1999 Kosovo air war to shoot down one “stealthy” F-117, as was widely reported, but also damaged a second F-117 seriously enough that it never flew again in the conflict–giving the F-117 the highest casualty rate of any US aircraft in that conflict.

Consider also, as Rasor and Sprey make clear, the values of a system that places the continued operation of a hardware system above the health, well-being and confidence of the pilots operating it.  It literally reminds me of Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” when nothing, not even workers’ severed body parts, were permitted to stop the sausage machine.

Find the important and informative Rasor authored piece at Truthout at http://truth-out.org/news/item/9195-pilots-as-lab-rats-the-reprehensible-risk-taking-on-the-f-22-raptor and below:

Pilots as Lab Rats: The Reprehensible Risk-Taking on the F-22 Raptor

Thursday, 17 May 2012 09:58 By Dina Rasor, Truthout | Solutions<

Full article and comment below the line.

Read the rest of this entry »

Josh Kilbourn

Chris Martenson: “We Are About To Have Another 2008-Style Crisis”

EXTRACT:

There really is no choice for Greece but to leave the euro, and the sooner, the better. Even then, there is a lot of hardship coming their way. But in my estimation, that’s better than the imposed austerity that is a guaranteed torture chamber. The institutions that avoided taking losses on their Greek debt on the first pass through, due to their preferred status in the process (the ECB among them), are almost certainly going to eat big losses this time, perhaps a full 100% of them.

Long article, many links, worth a full read.

Click on Image to Enlarge

Who? Mini-Me?

Huh?

Militia Groups

The Problem:  The depth of hostility which divides the United States is clearly evident to any observer of the ongoing political campaigns. What’s more worrisome, however, is the possibility that this conflict could escalate beyond the violence threshold. In this context, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s recent report on “patriot” groups and militia activity is quite troubling. It reveals that increasing numbers of people feel so alienated from society that they have essentially given up hope of working within the system. When we further consider the recent FBI report indicating that extremist groups have been recruiting military personnel, we have even more cause for concern.

Explosive Growth of the “Patriot Movement” and Militias

When things are not going well, until you get the truth out on the table, no matter how ugly, you are not in a position to deal with it.

Who? Mini-Me?

Huh?

Greeks Bank Run; Lines Form at ATMs; Nearly $1 Billion Withdrawn in Past Week

Without a government for the last eleven days, and amid mainstream discussion of a Euro Zone exit, the Greek people are realizing that the economic and political system as they know it is rapidly descending into chaos.

With massive jobless rates that have forced many into bartering to survive, and facing credit destruction across the entirety of the country that has led to shortages of critical supplies like life saving medicines, those with any money left at national banks are taking the desperate step of withdrawing as much of their savings as they can from a banking system on its last leg.

This is what it looks like when a populace plagued with uncertainty finally loses trust in the credibility of their country’s leadership and financial system.

Read the rest of this entry »

Who? Who?

WATCH THIS. 12 year old Canadian girl on banksters and debt

This little girl is simply amazing. She must have some pretty awesome parents. In a concise and clear way she explains the problem of national debt in language that anyone can understand.

VIDEO (5:26) from GodLike Productions

Phi Beta Iota:  Going viral, and rightly so.

See Also:

Matt Taibbi: GRIFTOPIA – RECAP

DefDog

I often ask folks who the Afghan hates the most. The most common answer, the Russians….that is not true.  It is the British and it is reminded to them in their flag:

The current Afghanistan flag is contained three solid colors such as black, red and green and each color represents a different page in the history of Afghanistan.

The black represents the 19th century era when Afghanistan was occupied and did not have independence. The red color means blood shed and fights for independence and the green means the independence achieved as well as hope and prosperity for the future. This three stripe flag was designed during King Amanullah Khan after he returned from a visit of Europe in 1928.

Also, a couple of articles from NPS…..

2012-05-14 Comparing USSR and US Losses in AF

2012-05-14 Deja Vu 22 Years After USSR Quits US Follows

Who, Me?

Phillip Knightley: When is a terror threat not a terror threat? Let’s ask a man called Felix…

All intelligence services rely on convincing the public there is a monster at large waiting to grab them

DefDog

There are some scare tactics in this….while it is possible, I am not convinced that CyberCom has the capabilities, they are pretty noisy in their actions…..and then we have Y2K as a precedent for all talk and no damage.

Cyber Briefings ‘Scare The Bejeezus’ Out Of CEOs

AP

Cybersecurity analysts work in the watch and warning center during the first tour of the government’s secretive cyberdefense lab intended to protect the nation’s power, water and chemical plants, electrical grid and other facilities on Sept. 29, 2011, in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Published: May 09, 2012

by Tom Gjelten

For the CEOs of companies such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard, talk of cyberweapons and cyberwar could have been abstract. But at a classified security briefing in spring 2010, it suddenly became quite real.

“We can turn your computer into a brick,” U.S. officials told the startled executives, according to a participant in the meeting.

The warning came during a discussion of emerging cyberthreats at a secret session hosted by the office of the Director of National Intelligence and the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, along with Gen. Keith Alexander, head of the U.S. military’s Cyber Command.

The meeting was part of a public-private partnership dubbed the “Enduring Security Framework” that was launched at the end of 2008. The initiative brings chief executives from top technology and defense companies to Washington, D.C., two or three times a year for classified briefings. The purpose is to share information about the latest developments in cyberwarfare capabilities, highlighting the cyberweapons that could be used against the executives’ own companies.

“We scare the bejeezus out of them,” says one U.S. government participant.

The hope is that the executives, who are given a special one-day, top-secret security clearance, will go back to their companies and order steps to deal with the vulnerabilities that have been pointed out.

“I personally know of one CEO for whom it was a life-changing experience,” says Richard Bejtlich, chief security officer for Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm. “Gen. Alexander sat him down and told him what was going on. This particular CEO, in my opinion, should have known [about the cyberthreats] but did not, and now it has colored everything about the way he thinks about this problem.”

Read full AP article.

Phi Beta Iota:  In fairness to General Alexander, he is making up for decades of dereliction of duty by OMB and his predecessors, but he is also going about it completely wrong, spending tens of billions on secret capabilities that are at best immature and incomplete, while failing to illuminate the battlefield publicly and call for common open source hardware, open source software, and open spectrum that are secure at “root.”  He is completely ignoring the related matter of computational mathematics and mathematical ethics.

Who? Who?

New Study Predicts Frack Fluids Can Migrate to Aquifers Within Years

Who? Mini-Me?

Huh?

Congressional Committee Proposal would raise US taxpayer support for Israel’s military in 2013 to a record $4 billion.

Tim King | Salem-News.com

(WASHINGTON DC) – As news about Israeli political parties merging dominates headlines, this one is being overlooked. The US House of Representatives Defense Appropriations Subcommittee yesterday approved almost $1 billion for Israel’s anti-missile defense programs.

The expensive systems are called Arrow 3. The American politicians propose spending this exorbitant amount in order to upgrade the current Arrow system, David’s Sling, and Iron Dome.

The names are fancy, unlike the missiles they say they are defending themselves from. The munitions fired from Gaza are al Qassam rockets and they are little more than unguided fireworks.

Israeli and American media portray the ‘rocket attacks from Gaza’ as a serious danger and they claim that the large U.S. tax payer contributions are necessary in order to ‘defend’ Israel. The Gaza rockets have in all time, killed a total of 28 Israeli citizens. Some place the number at 29.

The total appropriation is the highest ever approved for the four programs; it reflects the willingness of the United States to back yet another racist, apartheid government that uses American investments to send Israeli youth to college, and to kill Palestinians; Muslims and Christians, who have few rights under a system that Israel created, offering one set of laws and punishments to Jews, and a different set for all other human beings.

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota:  Equally troubling is the continued borrowing of $1 trillion a year and the continued waste of over $2 trillion a year.