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This is an investigation by the Washington Post regarding the top-secret initiatives that were started following 9-11

* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.

* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.

* In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings - about 17 million square feet of space.

The Washington Post - A hidden world, growing beyond control

Some questions:

1. Do you think these programs are justified? Do the massive expenditures need to be explained to the American people?
2. These initiatives were started by Conservative Republicans and Neocons in the Bush administration. Isn't this expanding the government in the worst way possible?
3. Do you think that we are safer after 9-11 than before, due to these sorts of measures and bills such as the Patriot Act?
4. Would you ever become a spy?

1. If they were explained, would they still be secrets? No.
2. It was mostly Neocons. They don't think the military and intelligence agencies are government for some reason..
3. I was never in any danger.
4. I am the red spy.

That's... actually not too surprising. If you want to work in Aerospace, there's a good chance you'll be getting security clearances of some sort. I can't even talk with half of our family friends about what they do because they're all employed by Lockheed or Raytheon or Ball. I know at least one probably has top secret clearance. And then you get into the whole ECHELON thing. It takes a lot of people to spy on every conversation ever, you know.

And the United States has always been one of the safest places on Earth to live. We're all just paranoid because we are trained from birth to be that way by Clorox and its ilk.

I would never be a spy in the traditional sense. I want to discover things for myself, not for other people. Getting paid to do that seems more like an insult than anything.

I don't know anybody in intelligence or with security clearance. My friends are lame. :/

I often think about intelligence spending and government 'black projects' such as the hoving fighter craft they've been working on. I wish there was a box I could check when filing my taxes to exclude my money from funding for useless programs, unnecessary expansions, and bullets for Blackwater. :p

But if everyone did that, how could our country defend FREEDOM?

Sorta, kinda related:



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/world ... .html?_r=1

I'm not going to say a thing. Not. One. Damn. Thing.

Wikileaks is my hero. I'm loving what they're doing, as journalists and just striking a blow for the truth.

And yeah, Pakistan...

Accepts your humble adoration and worship.

6/15/2004(S//REL GCTF) CJSOTF REPORTS NAVSOF TIC 57K NORTH OF QALAT. AT 0455Z CJSOTF REPORTED TIC AT GRID 42S UB 1937 0974, 10K SW OF EARLIER CJSOTF TIC. AT 0502Z GRIP 21 AND BOAR 01 ON STATION WITH BOTH CJSOTF TIC SITES. 0522Z NAVSOF (C/S TRIDENT AT POSITION 42S UB 19436 09968) THEIR POSITION BEING OBSERVED BY 3 ACM LOCATIONS; AIR SUPPORT IS OVERHEAD. 0528Z CJSOTF IS STANDING UP ODA 324 (18NM SOUTH OF TRIDENT) NOT MOVING ODA 324 YET. WILL DECONFLICT ODA 324 MOVEMENT W/ NAVSOF/LITHSOF ELEMENTS. CJSOTF HAS COMMS WITH GRND FORCE CDR (AT NAVSOF). TRYING TO WORK THRU THE DUST HAZE LOW VISIBILITY PROBLEM. 0531Z BOAR 01 (2XA-10) EXPENDING IN SUPPORT OF CJSOTF TIC. 0544Z NAVSOF IS REQUESTING EMERGENCY RESUPPLY OF AMMO. REPORTING INDICATE ACM ARE REINFORCING THEIR POSITIONS. 0620Z GRIP21 HAS EXPENDED 3X ROCKETS ISO NAVSOF TIC. 0639Z ODA 324 IS ENROUTE TO TIC LOCATION TIME NOW. ODA 324 COMPRISED OF 7X USSF, 2X PMV''S, 3X USMC, 1X UPARMORED HMMWX, 50X ANA & 5X HILUX''S. AT APPROX. 0710Z NAV SOF TIC HAS SUBSIDED, LITH SOF HAS REIGNITED AT GRID 42S UB 30429 16411. 4X 10S ARE OVERHEAD BOTH TICS. AT 0733Z LITHSOF TIC AT GRID 42S UB 19435 09971 HAS FLARED BACK UP. AT 0820Z CJSOTF REPORTS NO CONTACT FOR LAST 20 MINS. AT 0912Z SITREP FOR TIC: BDA ASSESSMENT 1 X EKIA.

That's a report of a SEAL team and some Lithuanian Spec Ops in contact for nearly four hours, requesting an emergency supply of ammo after about an hour. Even after the A10s came in for the assist, they continued to chase the enemies for another two hours. Everyone's talking about how the documents show how shitty we're doing, but they forget to mention the awe-inspiring feats of balls-out skull-smashing madness our boys are performing out in the sandbox. Damn, dude, Marcus Luttrell and his ilk's missions are usually classified, I'm assuming, but if the government released more like this people might be more inspired. I'm going through the 91,000 docs searching for things like callsign TRIDENT and I'm finding some incredible stuff. And considering SEALs are one of the most hyped special forces groups, I'm sure there are even more crazy mofos out there that get absolutely no glory besides angry lead screaming at them.

This is very true.

I haven't had time to go through the Afghan dox drop on Wikileaks. People are making a big fuss over it, but I'm not certain as to why, since most of these documents were not top secret, and most of the information was available from other sources. I think what certain officials are angry about is that it's all been collected in one place for easy perusal, aka the public can now more easily inform themselves. In most cases, troops or intelligence assets that may have been in danger a decade ago are no longer in place, and it's also not exactly a secret that Pakistan is helping the Taliban.

I agree, there are more interesting ramifications than the literal data itself. For an organization that supposedly takes pride in its glasnost policy, they certainly were pissed about the leak. But that's not news to anyone with common sense. Would a truly transparent government ever work? It seemed like a good idea 250 years ago, but those were *somewhat* simpler times.