WaPo Reaction Round Up: I am an Abraxan

Hopefully the mainstream media will wake up to the strong public interest in the outsourcing of intel since the blogosphere has been abuzz with over 50 blogs linking into "Who Runs the CIA?" on the Washington Post site making it one of their most blogged about stories and with over dozen blogs and linking only into The Spy Who Billed Me about it plus a few very active forums discussing it.  (For the stats sticklers out there, Technorati doesn't pick up everything.)  Major blogs included the Huffington Post, Wired, Salon, Crooks and Liars, BuzzFlash and GovExec.com.  The popular Air America radio host Randi Rhodes also linked in.  It was one of the most emailed articles on the WaPo website on Sunday and Monday.  But the most interesting responses have come to me via email.  Many have thanked me for writing the piece, some misunderstood me and some, well, they were unique... 

The one of my favorite email responses came from an alleged intel insider and I am convinced he is truly that since only an insider could come up with such a theory since it involves inside baseball at Langley:  He is convinced that I am an op being run by Abraxas. 

Now Abraxas has a rep for good work and (the business sense of a Ferengi), but if they're this good and I'm a privatized NOC so deep undercover that I don't know it, we should all be scared...

 

Shadows Aflutter

Reaction from the Dark Side was mixed with about a 50-50 split between those who enthusiastically welcomed someone finally speaking up about the issues and those green badgers who thought it was time to duck and run for cover.

Objections Noted

Since it's boring to post about those agreeing with me or repeating my points, here are a few responses that thought I was a little off:

Journalist Tim Shorrock thinks I got it wrong on morale--that outsourcing has hurt rather than helped it at the Agency.  He makes a good point, but it depends upon whether you see the proverbial glass as half blue or half green.  As we know from our tree hugging friends, a green world can be a happier place.

A new blog I've been following over the last couple of weeks, The National Security Drone, made some of the most interesting observations.  It's written by an individual who works as a contractor to the Intelligence Community.  He asserts that I was too optimistic when I praised the high quality of contractor work.   

And finally, from Stargate007:

Maybe R.J. is missing the boat when it comes to the UFO angle? We've seen the advent of the antigravity gurus and their low-profile government contracts (Podkletnov, Ning Li et al), the incestuous relationships between wealthy entrepreneurs interested in alternative science (Bob Bigelow, Joe Firmage), private intelligence and think tanks (James Woolsey, John L. Petersen's Arlington Institute), and U.S. Government intelligence officials and consultants right here on the world wide web. R.J. are you listening yet?

Beam me up, Dick.

 

***

For those in and near the Pentagon, come by and say hi today on Wednesday, July 11, 11:00-1:00 p.m. at the book siging at:

Marine Corps Community Services 

Headquarters Battalion, Marine Corps National Capital Region Command,   

Henderson Hall   

1555 Southgate Road   

Building 25, Keith Hall   

Arlington, Virginia 22214   

 

 

Comments

[Erik Rader]

In addition to the above links, your story was linked on Fark.com. Didn't make the main page, but interesting nonetheless :-)

[Joshua Foust]

I think you may be onto something with the Ferengi reference. I think we should start calling the executives of these companies "Damon." And maybe, I dunno, stroke their ears or something.

BTW it was fun meeting you!