We hear the same story play out over and over again: a group of senior officials conducting top level intelligence work and one green grasshopper in the midst of them. Somehow this one person ends up making decisions the top officials should be making and manages to screw something up. We know the names: Kevin ClinesmithIgor DanchenkoAli Watkins and who could forget Eric Ciaramella? All of these began as no namers in the middle of big time intelligence scandals. Before you heard their names it's as if they came from out of nowhere, you'd swear they're spooks. The same strategy is used in crooked intelligence operations all over, the Bonsai Fall guy. Like a Bonsai tree, a BFG can be molded to appear both veteran and inexperienced as anyone sees fit. When the guys are in trouble, he's the cause of it. When things are going well, he's part of the group of experienced professionals. When reporters ask them what they know, they say they know everything, when investigators ask them what they know, they say they know nothing.
We've heard the bombshells describe events the same way; the one person who doesn't belong in the room of big suits and big names who happens to blend into the shadows, a pretender, a puppet. Along the way we'll find many such BFGs but none of them matter. That's the point, that they can be discarded like litter and everyone moves on like nothing happened. They disappear and so does the story. Just thought I'd point how the pattern of systematic corruption always manages to drain itself clean when there's so much muck on the ground. You'll be hearing many similar stories very soon.
We hear the same story play out over and over again: a group of senior officials conducting top level intelligence work and one green grasshopper in the midst of them. Somehow this one person ends up making decisions the top officials should be making and manages to screw something up. We know the names: Kevin Clinesmith Igor Danchenko Ali Watkins and who could forget Eric Ciaramella? All of these began as no namers in the middle of big time intelligence scandals. Before you heard their names it's as if they came from out of nowhere, you'd swear they're spooks. The same strategy is used in crooked intelligence operations all over, the Bonsai Fall guy. Like a Bonsai tree, a BFG can be molded to appear both veteran and inexperienced as anyone sees fit. When the guys are in trouble, he's the cause of it. When things are going well, he's part of the group of experienced professionals. When reporters ask them what they know, they say they know everything, when investigators ask them what they know, they say they know nothing.
We've heard the bombshells describe events the same way; the one person who doesn't belong in the room of big suits and big names who happens to blend into the shadows, a pretender, a puppet. Along the way we'll find many such BFGs but none of them matter. That's the point, that they can be discarded like litter and everyone moves on like nothing happened. They disappear and so does the story. Just thought I'd point how the pattern of systematic corruption always manages to drain itself clean when there's so much muck on the ground. You'll be hearing many similar stories very soon.