Re: Hey Barrett
Subject: Re: Hey Barrett
From: Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com>
Date: 7/20/11, 03:36
To: Jane Hamsher <firedoglake@gmail.com>

Hi, Jane-

I'd absolutely be interested in doing a series along those lines, particularly one that covers some of these others issues such as persona management and other capabilities mentioned in the e-mails which have unfortunately not received sufficient coverage (or any at all, in the case of such things as "misattributable marketing services" as well as Disney's employment of Dr. Eric Haseltine).

Perhaps the best way to start such a series would be a piece introducing the industry in the context of the persona management issue. Several firms are verified to have either developed or sought to develop their own versions of the capability, which is to say that it's representative of the industry as a whole and the direction in which it's moving, rather than some one-off thing that we need not worry about. This also provides an opportunity to introduce several of the companies and note some specific relationships in a way that illustrates the intertwined nature of the industry, as well as the manner in which some companies intentionally obscure those relationships. For instance, we just discovered via a tax filing that the firm which won the 2010 USAF contract for custom persona management software, Ntrepid, is a fully-owned subsidiary of Cubic; there's no public mention of that fact and Ntrepid's website contains nothing but a logo.

That Aaron Barr is among those who bid on that contract and was also offered $100,000 by Mantech to develop another version, considered alongside Barr's involvement in the deployment of other advanced capabilities against domestic targets, illustrates the inevitability of persona management and other capabilities proliferating and eventually becoming a relatively common means by which private entities may deceive the public on a far more efficient basis than what was formerly available. That Palantir, Berico, and Endgame Systems were also involved in Team Themis confirms that the industry as whole is willing to provide information war services to private firms; that Hunton & Thompson, Bank of America, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce had come to them in the first place confirms that there's a market for such things. And the fact that the USAF put out that call for bids in the first place illustrates how the military and intelligence community is making it lucrative for those firms to develop such capabilities in the first place - thereby contributing to a dynamic that promises to be corrosive to the informed consent of the public.

Altogether, I think persona management best illustrates the fundamental problem with this industry that you and I discussed briefly the other day. We have here thousands of the most talented software people in the world building powerful capabilities that can analyze and/or manipulate information on a mass scale and in ways so increasingly sophisticated that it will become harder to even detect them - and even to the extent that one does manage to detect them, the nature of these things are such that many will laugh them off as "conspiracy theories." Meanwhile, the technology that's being developed behind the scenes isn't going to get any less bizarre-sounding as time goes on and new possibilities arise without a simultaneous increase in the general public's knowledge of what has already shown to be feasible.

Let me know what you think about starting it that way; a second piece could likewise center on what's known from the e-mails about Romas/COIN and thus provide an opportunity to illustrate the issue with Google, Apple, Disney, and other corporations providing their services to the intelligence community and even intelligence contractors while also providing additional specific info on major industry players such as TASC, Northrop Grumman, and Archimedes Global.
 
On Sat, Jul 16, 2011 at 10:53 AM, Jane Hamsher <firedoglake@gmail.com> wrote:
I totally understand Barrett, and thank you for being up front about it.  I worried myself, because the job is a huge time and energy commitment.  I wouldn't want you to feel cheated.

We can't pay a lot for pieces, but if you think you could discipline the HB Gary stuff into a coherent series (and I mean that not as a critique of anyone's work to date, just the challenge of the project) I'd be interested in finding a way to have you do it for FDL.  We certainly could get a big audience for it, and would push it hard with press releases etc.

I've always wanted to do a dedicated HB Gary page with Muckey relationships, bios, etc. We started one but the task just got overwhelming, and I figured we needed some perspective before we could make decisions about what was important and what was superfluous:

http://firedoglake.com/interactive-map-of-operation-ratck/
http://firedoglake.com/key-players-in-operation-ratfk/

If that's something you'd be interested in, let's talk about it.



On Sat, Jul 16, 2011 at 1:05 AM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi, Jane-

Having thought about it some more, I don't think an editorial role would be right for me, especially since I'm committed to the book and film projects already, but I appreciate being considered for it. If you'd ever be interested in having me write for the site, though, do let me know.

Here's the info on Romas/COIN if any of your writers might have an interest in pursuing some aspect of this. http://wiki.echelon2.org/wiki/Romas/COIN

On Thu, Jul 14, 2011 at 4:45 PM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi, Jane-

Thanks for getting back to me. Give me a call today if you'd like; my number is 512-560-2302.


On Thu, Jul 14, 2011 at 4:33 PM, Jane Hamsher <firedoglake@gmail.com> wrote:
Barry forwarded your email to me.  I would love to talk with you about this. When is a good time?

Jane

--
Jane Hamsher
Follow me on twitter:  http://twitter.com/janehamsher
skype:  firedoglake
202 834 1498 (cell)





--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302



--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302



--
Jane Hamsher
Follow me on twitter:  http://twitter.com/janehamsher
skype:  firedoglake
202 834 1498 (cell)





--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302