Games have always taught many skills required of an intelligence analyst. What has changed is the advent of video games and their ability to command the attention of the people playing them.
Effective oversight of state intelligence activities matters: agencies exist to protect public safety and security, but can infringe on privacy and, if unchecked, their actions may be damaging.
Details of PRISM were leaked by whistle-blower Edward Snowden, and have spurred much controversy. PRISM poses major questions for the U.S., its intelligence partners, and for liberal democracies.
Despite recent revelations by Edward Snowden, the program of mass surveillance by the NSA and its affiliates is new only in its scale and technical characteristics, not in its intent.
American sanctions against exporting smartphones and computers to Iran are not only violating civil liberties but also common sense.
America is the only industrialized power that does not use its state intelligence apparatus to steal commercially valuable information on behalf of its domestic companies. What is happening today is that many US based firms are awakening to the advantages that their overseas rivals have gained from intelligence and adopting these practices themselves to fight back.
Glimpses of post-9/11 anti-terrorism machinery are not particularly edifying, whatever one’s views. The real solution to terrorism is more rule of law, not less.
The UK intelligence community continues to operate outside meaningful democratic control. Their cultures are self-perpetuating oligarchies, where mistakes are glossed over and repeated, and where questions and independent thought are discouraged. We deserve better.
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