Parenthetically; back in 2008 a book of mine was getting attention in some … odd … quarters, and I got invited to a weekend retreat by some people in US department of defense—a reading crit group for the summer reading list of the deputy sec for defens...
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Parenthetically; back in 2008 a book of mine was getting attention in some … odd … quarters, and I got invited to a weekend retreat by some people in US department of defense—a reading crit group for the summer reading list of the deputy sec for defense, at the time, which included "Halting State".
I was really curious and didn't figure they'd get anything damaging/useful from my novel, so I went along. (I'm a writer: it's all grist for the mill.)
One discussion stuck in my head.
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Parenthetically; back in 2008 a book of mine was getting attention in some … odd … quarters, and I got invited to a weekend retreat by some people in US department of defense—a reading crit group for the summer reading list of the deputy sec for defense, at the time, which included "Halting State".
I was really curious and didn't figure they'd get anything damaging/useful from my novel, so I went along. (I'm a writer: it's all grist for the mill.)
One discussion stuck in my head.
/1
I found myself sharing a table at breakfast on the second day with a couple of admirals. Who turned out to be former fast jet pilots a couple of years older than me, and formidably astute (their career ladder ran on "up or out", filtering for administrative competence: they both had PhDs along the way).
Their topic of breakfast convo after catching up on old friends was: the Department of Homeland Security, it's toxicity, and why it was *vital* to the nation's future that it be abolished.
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I found myself sharing a table at breakfast on the second day with a couple of admirals. Who turned out to be former fast jet pilots a couple of years older than me, and formidably astute (their career ladder ran on "up or out", filtering for administrative competence: they both had PhDs along the way).
Their topic of breakfast convo after catching up on old friends was: the Department of Homeland Security, it's toxicity, and why it was *vital* to the nation's future that it be abolished.
/2
One of them opined that if DHS wasn't abolished before the coming presidential election it would be too late for the nation. And that DHS and the attitude it embodied was a danger to democracy.
This, I repeat, was flag rank US military officers shooting the breeze nearly 20 years ago. (They're retired by now so if some gestapo hack goes digging for the attendee list that far back they won't get much.)
PS: I wouldn't accept an invitation like that today.
/3 (end)
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One of them opined that if DHS wasn't abolished before the coming presidential election it would be too late for the nation. And that DHS and the attitude it embodied was a danger to democracy.
This, I repeat, was flag rank US military officers shooting the breeze nearly 20 years ago. (They're retired by now so if some gestapo hack goes digging for the attendee list that far back they won't get much.)
PS: I wouldn't accept an invitation like that today.
/3 (end)
@cstross Wow. Sobering thought.
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One of them opined that if DHS wasn't abolished before the coming presidential election it would be too late for the nation. And that DHS and the attitude it embodied was a danger to democracy.
This, I repeat, was flag rank US military officers shooting the breeze nearly 20 years ago. (They're retired by now so if some gestapo hack goes digging for the attendee list that far back they won't get much.)
PS: I wouldn't accept an invitation like that today.
/3 (end)
@cstross So they were right, though it took a while for that to become clear... did you notice any awareness of DHS being part of bin Laden's plan for America?
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@cstross So they were right, though it took a while for that to become clear... did you notice any awareness of DHS being part of bin Laden's plan for America?
@martinvermeer No, but I see DHS as a symptom of the massive psychological anaphylactic shock that the USA collectively experienced after 9/11. An allergic reaction to the consequences of a century of diplomatic and military policy FAFO.
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@cstross So they were right, though it took a while for that to become clear... did you notice any awareness of DHS being part of bin Laden's plan for America?
@martinvermeer @cstross The soviet union used to like the name. They had three variants that I can remember:
- NKGB, People's Commissariat for State Security
- MGB, Ministry of State Security
- KGB, Committee for State SecurityPossibly something you don't want to have in a democracy...
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I found myself sharing a table at breakfast on the second day with a couple of admirals. Who turned out to be former fast jet pilots a couple of years older than me, and formidably astute (their career ladder ran on "up or out", filtering for administrative competence: they both had PhDs along the way).
Their topic of breakfast convo after catching up on old friends was: the Department of Homeland Security, it's toxicity, and why it was *vital* to the nation's future that it be abolished.
/2
@cstross
George W. Bush, MBA created that business so he could hire Republicans who could not find work elsewhere. INS did need reform, but that was prevented by this brilliant move. What business? DHS
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@martinvermeer @cstross The soviet union used to like the name. They had three variants that I can remember:
- NKGB, People's Commissariat for State Security
- MGB, Ministry of State Security
- KGB, Committee for State SecurityPossibly something you don't want to have in a democracy...
@davecb @martinvermeer @cstross Authoritarians always like to instill fear this way. I expect that's why the renamed it the Department of War.
The last few years have reminded me a lot of the first seasons of Babylon 5. Of course, JMS leaned heavily on Orwell when he wrote it.
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@martinvermeer @cstross The soviet union used to like the name. They had three variants that I can remember:
- NKGB, People's Commissariat for State Security
- MGB, Ministry of State Security
- KGB, Committee for State SecurityPossibly something you don't want to have in a democracy...
@davecb @martinvermeer @cstross
Yeah. The people should be secure, and part of that is being able to dismantle and reconstruct the state so it keeps doing its job with the people's consent.
As soon as the state is secure in itself, the people aren't. They're reduced to resources or enemies.
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I found myself sharing a table at breakfast on the second day with a couple of admirals. Who turned out to be former fast jet pilots a couple of years older than me, and formidably astute (their career ladder ran on "up or out", filtering for administrative competence: they both had PhDs along the way).
Their topic of breakfast convo after catching up on old friends was: the Department of Homeland Security, it's toxicity, and why it was *vital* to the nation's future that it be abolished.
/2
@cstross In the wake of 9/11 the West in general, and the US in particular, went mad. I think that when the history of the War on Terror comes to be written, not only will we learn a lot of things we won’t like, but actions like invoking Article 5, creating DHS, passing the Patriot Act will be seen as errors. The War on Terror was a generational mistake with generational consequences.
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