CIA and Internet

[Ralph McGehee]

[Edward Combs Jr.]

One(just one) of the things with the CIA is its ability to generate moneys thereby having funds that the Congress cannot oversee. Some people would report the income to congress and some would not(several names come to mind). If we are going to discuss the CIA and the discussion is going to be carried on between current and former members of Plans and Operations then by all means create a soc. newsgroup with participation by invitation only. If the discussion is to include peripheral members of the Intelligence Community then the NG will have to stay as is and forget about the people that "hear all CIA plans from a broken tooth" type poster. Slow reads of selected books like the new book by Valisi Mitrokhin (the secret history of the KGB) and discussions of people(the good; the bad and the ugly...Philip Agee(and his books) comes to mind for the "bad".......all of his books are available through Amazon Books)). IMHO...the REAL CIA people are just as guilty of playing as the UFO people and I hope this changes. Ralph McGehee <rmcg...@igc.org> wrote in message news:37F74312...@igc.org... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- > CIA and New Technology Follow-up > Ralph : It reads to me like the CIA has established In-Q-It as an attempt > keep abreast and in the forefront of leading Internet technologies . What's > wrong with that? Moreover, I like the idea of it being non-profit (so > that it does not become a fiefdom unto itself) and if it pays for itself > (saving tax payers dollars). name deleted by R. McGehee > ---------------------------------------------- > I did not indicate any "wrongness" re this development. > I have frequently noted that the CIA avoids open source information > as if it were a plague. Indeed analysts using open sources may > defeat the exclusiveness the CIA attributes to its own clandestine > sources -- calling into question the reasons for its own intelligence > existence. > If in fact this development means that the CIA plans to use the > information on Internet and other open sources -- it is a very positive > development -- and it could shut down many of its own flawed espionage and > analytical functions. It then could produce real intelligence not slanted > assessments meant to support this or that policy -- of the administration's > or its own. For instance, would it treat the situation in Colombia > accurately -- using also open sources -- or would it continue to support > via directed assessments the Administration's "Anti-Drug Policies" > without questioning the rationale or consequences of those activities? > The money-making aspects bother me -- does the CIA become its own > budget generating operation, indeed a "not-so-secret government" > of its own separate for Congressional and Presidential controls? > The brief earlier notice (attached herewith) does leave a number of > unanswered questions. > Ralph McGehee > http:/come.to/CIABASE > ------------------------------------- > CIA and New Technology > The CIA is to create its own venture capital firm, called "In-Q-It," > to help connect better with the Internet revolution. CIA in a world of > start-ups and instant millionaires, isn't getting technology's best and > brightest. So it to create their own start-up, an office on Sand Hill Road > in Palo Alto. In-Q-It to fund promising technologies that can help it > keep pace with the info explosion. It will have a staff of 20 to 25 people, > and will operate much like a normal venture fund -- partnering with other > companies and funds. In theory, will be unclassified. > It will be a nonprofit, but the goal is to invest wisely to be > self-financing. In-Q-It will work on, smarter CIA search engines, > better ways to visualize data, and better security for CIA web surfers. > CIA has chosen a board of directors -- including such as John Seely > Brown of Xerox PARC, Jeong Kim of Lucent, Alex Mandl of Teligent > and Norm Augustine of Lockheed Martin. The first CEO is Gilman Louie. > In-Q-It evolved out of frustration that CIA was losing its technical > edge. The idea for the venture-capital fund was hatched between DCI Tenet, > and a former investment banker named A. B. "Buzzy" Krongard, who joined > CIA in 2/98. The project was turned over to a group that included Sue Gordon, > working in the Science and Technology Directorate. The name: "In" for > intelligence; "It" for information technology, and "Q" was the code name > for James Bond's technology wizard. What the intelligence > community didn't understand, says Louie, is that technology is moving too > fast now for anyone to try to control it. Op-ed by David Ignatius, > Washington Post 9/29/99 A29. > Ralph McGehee > http://come.to/CIABASE

[John M Hansen]

The CIA is hardly the only intelligence organization that wants
to raise money from sources other than the government. Most of the
national intelligence agencies do this. All of the so called
'sponsored' and 'cover' organizations make money for their agencies,
and pay taxes like any other legitimate businesses in the nations in
which they operate.
Air America flights were made for many organizations and people
other than the CIA. One well known and public source example.
The idea that P&O should insist that these organizations pay the
profit money back into the government coffers is absurd. It is just
another way to try and break the balls of the CIA. NO other
government requires this, why should we?
The Stassi made a lot of money in the USA, as did the KGB. That
money was used to fund and expand the companies that were started
with their seed money.
We should do the same. We are not, after all, talking about tons of
money here, usually only a pittance compared to the regular budget.

[Edward Combs Jr.]

Because the money made COULD be used for projects that are outside the
oversight of Congress(some are already, but not many). Of course other
governments allow the Intelligence Services to "make a profit", but do we
want to become like theses countries? Not the ones I was in.
.....................
John M Hansen <jmha...@erols.com> wrote in message
news:7t86fb$pne$1...@autumn.news.rcn.net...

[Ms. Morrow]

In article <37F74312...@igc.org>, Ralph McGehee
<rmcg...@igc.org> wrote:

> In-Q-It evolved out of frustration that CIA was losing its technical
> edge. The idea for the venture-capital fund was hatched between DCI Tenet,
> and a former investment banker named A. B. "Buzzy" Krongard, who joined
> CIA in 2/98.

We know bankers join the CIA for we could not fail to notice all the S
and L robbers that came from the CIA. Ah, the Bush family trash, a
shining sample of cesspools overflowing from the bowels of the CIA.