nerdgirl

{Blatantly stolen …} “As passionate as I am about personal freedom [& *liberal* privacy & civil rights – nerdgirl], I don't buy the claims of anarchists [or radical libertarians – nerdgirl] that humanity would be just fine without any government at all. There are too many people in the world who believe that they know best how people should live their lives, and many of them are more than willing to use force to impose those beliefs on others. A world without government simply wouldn't last very long; as soon as it was established, strongmen would immediately spring up to establish their fiefdoms. So there is a need for government to protect the people's rights. And one of the fundamental tools to do that is an army that can prevent outside agencies from imposing their rules on a society. A lot of people will protest that argument by noting that the people we are fighting in Iraq are unlikely to threaten the rights of the average American. That's certainly true; while our enemies would certainly like to wreak great levels of havoc on our society, the fact is they're not likely to succeed. But that doesn't mean there isn't still a need for an army. Americans are fortunate that we don't have to worry too much about people coming to try and overthrow us, but part of the reason we don't have to worry about that is because we have an army that is stopping anyone who would try.” Andrew Olmsted, RIP And, strong civilian oversight is important too. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Concur. VR/Marg

Good points. It may be an arguable case for the UK & Australian idea of 'gap year.' VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

This has been a really neat thread to read. Thanks for starting it Dave! ~~~~~ Having a degree will open doors; what you do once your inside is largely up to the individual regardless of the specific degree(s). Without a degree a few doors will be shut, and other doors may take a whole lot of extra effort to budge open. I’m employed in a field far from that from that in which I was formally trained. Just makes it more challenging-fun. Am I using my degrees? Unquestionably! Am I using them in the ways the donors to USC or the taxpayers of the State of Illinois would have imagined? Probably not ... but I highly doubt they would object either. Every now & then I think about getting a law degree or MPH or doing a doctorate in cosmology, ancient near eastern studies, or neurobiology; it's my quest/path/addiction to more knowledge/learning & compulsion to more letters to put behind my name/longer cv. Fully embrace my nerd-girl self! ... Altho’ curiously (to me at least

From a financial perspective - in general, yes. While there are exceptional exceptions (e.g., rock stars), a 2002 US Dept of Commerce study found that “over an adult's working life, high school graduates can expect, on average, to earn $1.2 million; those with a bachelor's degree, $2.1 million; and people with a master's degree, $2.5 million. Persons with doctoral degrees earn an average of $3.4 million during their working life, while those with professional degrees do best at $4.4 million.” VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Yes. I have a print subscription to the Weekend Edition of UK's Financial Times (FT). Why? Because I can't get a subscription to UK's Guardian where I am now in US. Like to check on-line (altho’ I wouldn’t call it regular reading): -- UK's Guardian -- Norway’s Aftenposten, altho’ if I’m feeling linguistically brave, I try to read the Norwegian version & -- Iran’s Tehran Times VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

I cheered when President Bush proposed doubling funding for basic research funding in physical sciences! VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Thank you for the post. I very much appreciate the outside view and synopsis. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Neither – it’s a flawed dichotomy. Perhaps unintentionally (?), you do bring forth an interesting point: Should the UN, as an organization, be responsible for the actions of troops from member states? Or should the states be responsible? How does that reconcile with the concern that US citizens, including US uniformed service members, might be prosecuted or convicted (maliciously) as one of the main objections (#2, p. 7 of the CRS report) to the US joining the Rome Statute of International Criminal Court (ICC) as a state party? VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

The viral messaging/viral smear campaign has reached a point that the US Army has explicitly instructed soldiers to not forward the erroneous email. From military.com, Troops Warned About Bogus Obama E-mail: “The U.S. military has warned Soldiers not to use official computers to forward an e-mail accusing Sen. Barack Obama of being a Muslim who attended a radical Muslim school. “‘Currently there is a Chain Email floating around with the Subject line: “Who is Barack Obama,”’ states the official warning, which was sent to all personnel who work for Army Medical Command, based in Fort Sam Houston, Texas. ‘Like virtually all chain e-mails this one is false.’” More from Boston Globe article: “The memorandum, dated Thursday, went out after the discredited claims about Obama's background were sent from an Army computer to what appear to be thousands of Army personnel worldwide. “The controversial e-mail that spreads the falsehoods about Obama's background begins by saying that this is ‘something that should be considered in your choice’ for president. “Obama is a practicing Christian in the United Church of Christ and was sworn in as a US senator with a Bible, not a Koran, as asserted by the bogus e-mail.” (Note: the Hatch Act does not prevent or inhibit members of the uniformed services or federal employees from participating in (most) partisan activities; one just can’t use official resources (e.g., a us.army.mil email acct).) One (indirect) response from Sen Obama’s campaign was a pro-Christian flyer distributed as part of the South Carolina primary, which includes affirmations on “Being Called to Christ” and the “Power of (Christian) prayer.” Given the tenacity of this mis-information, is it any wonder that Sen Obama is compelled “to campaign from a church pulpit,” (re: Chris’ thread)? VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

And ???

Yes. Concur on both. How to accomplish that & enable the independence & credibility mentioned in the original post is the challenge. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

… or just who does the USAF think its main “peer competitor” is? With apologies to the USAF folks among us. Tom Hicks in today’s Washington Post reports, posts the incriminating PowerPoint slides (attached), & explains the jargon: “You may think that the United States' enemies are overseas. But that isn't always the way it looks from the Pentagon. Here, the Air Force [via its 2-star USAF Director of Communication, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force on “Strategic Communications” - nerdgirl] uses the jargon of modern warfare to discuss its competition with the Army and Navy. “Usually, it is China that U.S. officers describe as a ‘peer competitor’ -- that is, a real or potential adversary. But in these briefing slides, it is the other services that the Air Force is targeting. And this ‘Budget Battle’ is a ‘Zero Sum Gain’ [sic – on original PowerPoint brief] -- meaning that some services are going to win and some are going to lose. Hey, it's a ‘non-permissive environment’ (that is, hostile situation) out there.” More commentary at Small Wars Journal: USAF "Threat Estimate"? & Abu Muqawama: “Here we were, thinking ‘strategic communication’ meant the effort to win hearts and minds. Apparently it does, but those ‘hearts and minds’ belong to Congressmen and defense contractors.” Yes, public affairs failed here. Nonetheless, one is ultimately responsible for the content of their own slides. And yes, I realize (virtually) no MG actually makes his own slides. The retired Army LTC who fwd'd the link to me sarcastically quipped “God Bless the Air Force!” People may accuse Congress-folk of being lots of things, but they (& their staff) do have long memories. The Defense Department has a POM build underway and the services are beginning the next QDR process. In defense of MG Chambers, the message he likely intended to communicate is discussed here. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Agree it is something to consider ... Whether one excoriates or exalts former SecDef Rumsfeld’s leadership, he is much too active and assertive an individual to be a “fall guy.” He took a lot of risks and he took a lot of proverbial punches for those risks; I don’t recall him ever apologizing for being willing to take risks that he thought represented the best national security and foreign policy choices for the US. He may be responsible, culpable, or commendable (depending on one’s perspective) but is hardly a “fall guy.” VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

I don't know as much about Commerce as I do other parts of the federal govt, so I'm hesistant to recommend for or against Commerce. Or, perhaps, consider something closer to an ACDA (before Pres Clinton merged it into State) or Peace Corps model -- completely independent. You have identified a critical piece at which SecDef Rumsfeld hinted: the need for 21st Century business acumen. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

(Part 1 here, from earlier this month.) The “So What? Who Cares?” … or “Why should I care I care about what the world thinks?” is … Because it makes executing America’s strategic and foreign policy goals easier and more effective. Easier equals less costly both in $$$ (i.e., American tax dollars) and decreased risk to deployed American service members. It’s “soft power.” Additionally every terrorist group has a larger civilian base, albeit interdependence may vary highly. One of the most effective examples was following the Feb 1977 assassination of the manager of a U.S.-owned Du Pont Chemical facility located in Northern Ireland by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Du Pont Chemical was the largest single employer in the county and as considered a very good workplace. The local populace responded and the PIRA campaign to target businessmen was “dropped quietly: without any public declaration” (Tim Pat Coogan, The IRA, pp. 377.) At last week’s Network Centric Warfare forum, former SecDef Donald Rumsfeld emphasized that America is “losing the war of ideas in the Muslim world.” He proposed creation of the new office – a "21st century agency for global communications" -- somewhere between the now-defunct Defense Dept’s Office of Strategic Influence, the U.S. Information Agency, which was merged into the State Dept almost 10 years ago, and the White House of Global Communcations (OGC), which had/has great intent but never established (independent) credibility. ”Private media does not get up in the morning and say what can we do to promote the values and ideas that the free Western nations believe in? It gets up in the morning and says they're going to try to make money by selling whatever they sell... The way they decided to do that is to be dramatic and if it bleeds it leads is the common statement in the media today. They've got their job, and they have to do that, and that's what they do. “We need someone in the United States government, some entity, not like the old USIA … I think this agency, a new agency has to be something that would take advantage of the wonderful opportunities that exist today. There are multiple channels for information … The Internet is there, blogs are there, talk radio is there, e-mails are there. There are all kinds of opportunities. We do not with any systematic organized way attempt to engage the battle of ideas and talk about the idea of beheading, and what it's about and what it means. And talk about the fact that people are killing more Muslims than they are non-Muslims, these extremists. They're doing it with suicide bombs and the like. We need to engage and not simply be passive and allow that battle of competition of ideas.” He’s talking about the value of “strategic communications” (the buzzword) to improve America’s standing in the world. Office of Strategic Influence failed and lost credibility because of its own actions and hubris. Perception is critical. The next attempt needs to be transparent and completely above reproach. The type of organization that former SecDef Rumsfeld describes should not be a Title 50 agency, i.e., *not* part of the intelligence community. A fire-wall (like there is with the Peace Corps) may not be a bad idea. Prolly not at DoD. Independent from State would be good. Connected into SSTR efforts. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Love the topic! … & I’m not being at all facetious. I’ve met Tariq Rauf (professionally), the IAEA verification chief, who is accused of being a Russian spy – the “Canadian nuclear weapons expert who became a U.N. nuclear verification expert” mentioned in the article above. Last week’s Congressional Quarterly article named him. The whole issue & the book’s thesis are far from just ‘old’ politics – it’s very much interconnected with the recent Iran nuclear weapons program NIE; differences/antagonisms with folks in the White House and Israel toward the conclusions of the NIE; the ongoing debate within the UN Security Council on punitive sanctions against Iran, which the US is heavily pushing (some characterize as “demanding”) and Russia is protesting; and that NATO proposal I mentioned last week advocating pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons. Meanwhile back at Foggy Bottom, former DepSecDef & World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has been tapped to chair the State Department’s International Security Advisory Board. The ISAB mission is “arms control, disarmament, nonproliferation, political-military issues, and international security and related aspects of public diplomacy." (My prediction, if a Dem gets the White House, Joe Cirincione, who's got a scathing indictment of Wolfowitz in the linked Bloomberg News piece from the Boston Globe, will get Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security or Asst Sec for IS and Nonproliferation at State.) Per the CQ article: “The book’s sensational allegations, however, conveniently allow U.S. intelligence to showcase old news — that the Russians have been spying and pulling “dirty tricks” on the United States and its allies as much, if not more, than they were during the Cold War — on a new platform. “Likewise, some see the hand of the Bush administration in Tretyakov’s allegation that the IAEA’s top nuclear verification official is a Russian spy. It could be used to taint IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who drew the wrath and scorn of the White House by contradicting its claims that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has also opposed administration threats to attack Iran. “But if Tretyakov is right about Moscow’s spies, how come nobody he’s fingered has been charged, much less arrested? (He gave the names of his alleged spies to Canadian security officials years ago.) “Because he’s making it up, suggests James M. Olson, a former CIA chief of counterintelligence who now lectures on intelligence issues at Texas A&M University. “Tretyakov, obviously egged on by his publisher, needed something sensational to sell his book,” says Olson, who worked against the Russians for three decades.” The book attempts to discredit the individual (Rauf) who is responsible for getting and keeping IAEA nuclear inspectors in Iran. So much of that is personal dynamics dependent. To make a rough analogy, it would be like someone publishing in Parachutist an article alleging you (general, not specific “you”) were a SkyRide agent. Potential US action toward Iran remains an active foreign policy issue. Rauf has publicly called the allegations “nonsense” and indicated that he may challenge them in court. He & I (along w/other folks) are scheduled to attend a meeting at the end of March. I am confident the issue & allegations will come up, if only at dinner. Yes – & not just because the US helped design & build it. Like any institution or organization composed of fallible human beings -- be it the US Congress, USPA, Major League Baseball, or these Army Rangers snagged in a cocaine sting . VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Occam isn’t always right ... whether applied to those who were pro-invasion finding intelligence/construing indicators in intelligence data that fit their hypothesis/policy goal or those pushing to Hussayn what they thought he wanted to hear (otherwise may have had grave implications). VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

I'm of mixed opinion on these sites. Students are customers these days. OTOH, easiest and most effective way to get an excellent review there (& in the evaluations most universities do internally) is to give everyone "A"s, whether they deserve it or not. Pressure to grade inflate? Absoutely! If one is an adjunct prof, renewal of one's contract may depend on "good" evaluations, If one is non-tenured prof, teaching evaluations are a small portion of consideration for promotion & pay raises. Rarely are there any tangible negative consequences if an instructor does grade inflate and few to no positive incentives for an instructor to not grade inflate. (Ethics is another thing.) When I t.a.'d as a grad student, I remember one written comment from end of semester evalauation (actually still have it ... somewhere): "She's the John Wayne of chemistry t.a.'s." Wasn't quite sure whether that was supposed to be a good thing or not? The student did give me good numerical scores ... /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Thanks for the additional information. I was not aware of the Privacy Act exemption for the FBI program. We may be in, as they say, ‘violent agreement’ here. I’m at the far opposite end of the spectrum from the techno-phobes. That doesn’t preclude asking (even if it’s only intellectual fodder): should we do it? Really most of what the FBI program is asking to do is (relatively) old science, as [champu] observed a lot of the potential practical utility comes from process algorithms that can handle the signal vs noise problem ... maybe. Beyond the FBI’s program, what other technologies are being pursued for nominally law enforcement/security applications that also have privacy implications? E.g., functional MRI for lie detectors. There’s already at least one commercial endeavor: No Lie. Although according to the company President, in this NPR interview, most of his business is coming from folks concerned about something other than national security: “‘We have had a huge number of people contact us with regard to sexuality,’ he said. ‘In other words: “I am being faithful to my partner, but he doesn't believe me.” That's a common complaint. Interestingly, it is mostly women who are calling and asking to do this.” “[Joel] Huizenga says No Lie has received hundreds of requests from people in relationships who want to pay $10,000 for an fMRI scan that proves their fidelity.” VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

One alternative option (to credit card debt) is to investigate a student loan. Advantages: -- *Much* lower interest rates, -- Deferments until at least 6 months after you leave school/graduate. (Can be deferred longer term if you post-doc or get some fellowships.) -- If you’re savvy, you can ‘consolidate’ at a *very* low interest rate & take advantage of incentives like electronic deductions to pay, say ~2%. Even an ING savings account will provide a higher rate of interest (>4% …until yesterday ); much better rates can be got through other investment choices. In order to benefit financially, you’ve got to be willing to manage actively your money/investments and post-graduate school choices/expenses wisely. The instant gratification value and other considerations of new gear are a different mental calculus. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

It’s a great question. Folks are trying. More driven by the prospect of individualized medicine than identification - there’s more $ in healthcare. It’s also a heavily multi-disciplinary problem. Hypthetically, yes ... altho' there's still tremendous basic research in molecular biology and bio-informatics to be done. The first issue is identifying the pertinent molecular markers. More than 80% of human DNA is noncoding or “junk” DNA.* (There is a lively debate as to whether those regions do play a role a more active role than originally thought or are purely evolutionary left over from bacteria.) There are a couple current techniques used, the most common is restriction fragment length polymorphism (or RFLP), which is used for genetic testing, including forensics (OJ Simpson trial) & paternity tests. Other folks like Dave Relman (Stanford), non-profits like TIGR, and federal labs like Naval Medical Research Center are working toward that potential via different routes and different applications. It is still very much basic research. How do you see the FAR acting in such a way? Most of the folks who *really* know the FAR (I don't), don't know the science & technology or law enforcement, & vice-versa. Also, OTAs can override the FAR, e.g., the pharmaceutical firms Chiron & GSK got OTAs (>$10M) in this program. (Nota bene: please do not interpret that as opposition to those OTAs, just provided as specific examples). May need an Undersecretary signature, but they do happen. Personally, I'm more likely to read the "R-forms" executive agencies submit to Congress. Sometimes wealth of info ... sometimes not. All publicly available, no FOIA request required (as opposed to acquisition sensitive documents). Respond to Presidential & DOJ directives, yes. Respond to NSA directives, no; NSA is DoD. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Corollary to last week’s threads on real ID and secure documentation … (& perhaps to the dystopian vision of [galvar2439]’s video …) instead of papers, it may be blood, spit, or tears … “The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion project to build the world's largest computer database of biometrics to give the U.S. government more ways to identify people at home and abroad. “The FBI, the main investigative arm of the Department of Justice, has already started compiling digital images of faces, fingerprints, and palm patterns in its systems. “In January [2008], the agency -- which focuses on violations of federal law, espionage by foreigners and terrorist activities -- expects to award a 10-year contract to expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives, it said. “If successful, the system, called Next Generation Identification, will collect the biometric information in one place for identification and forensic purposes.” Concerns w/this on 4 fronts (at least): (1) Privacy … slippery slope … As a Washington Post article on the FBI’s project posed: will people’s bodies “become de facto national identification cards”? When one is convicted of certain crimes or when one is in a sensitive national security position (e.g., working with classified materials), one relinquishes certain rights. Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 requires a Government-wide standard for secure and reliable identification for Federal employees and contractors. Half my initial response was “we don’t have one already? …” Sounds reasonable & good, right? Some of the currently used cards contain biometric information (fingerprints), which are used for authentication or as an alternative to authentication via a PIN. Additional biometric information (retinal images, hand geometry, facial recognition) has been incorporated in pilot tests. Where’s the line on between personal privacy and appropriate actions for security? Where does technology become too invasive, i.e., the parable of the slow frog boil to a dystopian vision? This is not a “DARPA-esque” basic or even applied research program, it’s for commercial development, operations, and maintenance, which may not be justified given the state of some of the technologies included … (2) Technical – biometrics is a huge field. Digging into the Congressional Budget Forms, the program, which started in FY06, plans to focus on fingerprints, palm prints, facial recognition, retinal scans (iris), and speech & movement (i.e., gait) patterns. Nothing on DNA (currently whole genome sequencing is unrealistic/too costly) or limited genomic/proteomic profiling. Akin to concerns w/r/t innapropriate use of less-than-lethal weapons, e.g., tasers, technology should complement not be a susbtitute for good law enforcement. (3) Accountability: When you remember things like this, news like this doesn’t give one that “warm, fuzzy feeling.” (4) Cyber-insecurity: The biometric database will be all ‘on-line.’ The conclusion of the recent National Academy of Sciences report, "Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace," is … well, to put it less than diplomatically, we’re screwed. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

I read it as evidence of the need for (1) more technically competant individuals in the intelligence community (IC); (2) more stringent and better utilization of outside subject matter expertise by the IC, e.g., the JASONs; & (3) institutional-cultural change to enable dissident voice. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying