Three spook agencies at U Md
Today's N&S guest blogger is McClatchy's science and technology correspondent, Robert Boyd...
Three high-tech spook operations are consolidating their activities in a well-guarded new building just off the University of Maryland's campus in College Park, Md.
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) brings together the National Security Agency’s Disruptive Technology Office, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s National Technology Alliance; and the Central Intelligence Agency's Intelligence Technology Innovation Center.
The consolidation is supposed to plug dangerous gaps and end wasteful overlaps in the next generation of spying and counterspying.
IARPA's three divisions bear lofty titles: ``Office of Smart Collection,'' ``Office of Incisive Analysis," and ``Office of Safe and Secure Operations.''
According to IARPA's website, ``Incisive Analysis'' includes such activities as exploring ``Virtual Worlds and Massive Multiplayer Online Games.''
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair dedicated IARPA's half-finished headquarters Monday, along with Maryland politicians who wrested the project away from a competitor site in Northern Virginia.
IARPA is located in the congressional district of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and the home state of Sen. Barbara Mikulski, powerful Maryland Democrats who belong to the Intelligence committees of their respective chambers.
. IARPA's task is to figure out ``the best ways of preventing terrorist attacks,'' Mikulski said.
I feel the same as soullite here. But my problem is that I don't believe there's really anywhere to move to to escape the reach of these banal Big-brothers. If you moved to central Africa or the Amazon you'd delay their listening on certain types of communication for several years maybe. Makes you feel depressed, but I'm almost past being scared and just starting to feel a wonderfully calm wistful ennui. The 21st century's closest cousin of nirvana, apathy.
Posted by: dave | May 02, 2009 at 11:53 PM
This is Stassi type crap. WTF do these people think, that WoW is a breeding ground for night-elf terrorists?
I think it's time to start looking for a new country. this one is headed down a path I don't want my children caught up in.
Posted by: soullite | April 29, 2009 at 12:33 PM