The CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence is one of the agency's most open branches. The in-house think tank sponsors studies on how to improve intelligence collection and analysis and publishes a respected journal, Studies in Intelligence. But since 2003, at least three unclassified CSI reports -- all critical of the agency -- have been withheld from the CIA's website. During that same time, the agency has placed online three other CSI reports, all of those relatively positive or neutral.

A tangled web woven at the CIA

It's when truthiness moves beyond the realm of entertainment that it's a potential peril.

What's remarkable is how much fictionalization plays a role in almost every national debate. It's as if the country is living in a permanent state of suspension of disbelief.

It says everything about the Democrats' ineptitude that when they spin fiction, they are incapable of meeting even the low threshold of truthiness needed to make it fly in this lax cultural environment.

Truthiness 101: From Frey to Alito | Frank Rich

The pace and scope of attrition in the ranks of the FBI's analysts suggest root causes that are more serious in nature and more systemic in effect than the inspector general and the bureau realize. It wasn't the photocopying or the lack of promotion potential that compelled me to leave my job as an FBI analyst this year -- it was the frustration of working in a system that does not yet recognize analysis as a full partner in the FBI's national security mission.

For example, not all the people carrying the title "All Source Analyst" in the division for which I worked even had desktop access to the Internet or to intelligence community e-mail and intranet servers.

The analyst's access to investigative data becomes almost entirely a function of personal relationships cultivated with agents in the field -- a difficult task for those whose work it is to assess threats emerging across the nation and overseas.

The FBI needs MemeStreams, period.

The FBI's 2nd-Class Citizens

The waves of riots that swept across France this year have had an unexpected consequence for the French music industry.

Last week, 200 politicians backed a petition by MP François Grosdidier calling for legal action against several hip hop musicians for their aggressive lyrics. The 200 MPs have accused the rap world of causing the recent riots, forcing Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to state that the French government is not anti-hip hop.

Laws designed to protect the "French identity" helped create a movement which is now seen as a threat to that identity.

I can't wait for Hillary to hook up with 50 Cent in an effort to court the rap vote. Maybe Pharrell will produce her TV spots. Can you see a duet with Beyoncé and Chelsea?

Should hip hop take the rap for rioting?

What happened to embracing diversity of opinion in this country? What happened to the idea that a healthy opposition is good for us, that it helps clarify our own views, that only when one idea is shown better than another does it truly strengthen? And when did we stop listening to the other side, if for no other reason than it's polite, humane and hey, it helps us hone our own viewpoint?

Rock and a Hard Place

The last two elections have seen the fewest incumbents defeated by challengers in all of American history - four in 2002 and five in 2004. In 2004, the average margin of victory for House incumbents was 40 percentage points.

The result is a coordinated political apparatus skilled at designing and presenting even unpopular policies so that they don't set off alarm bells.

Consider a GOP tactic that has come to be called "catch and release." After the leadership has assured itself that a controversial bill will pass, moderate Republicans are released to cast highly publicized votes of "conscience." This is one reason why so many big bills end up magically squeaking through with no votes to spare.

The Center No Longer Holds

Looks as if it may be time to stop mouthing the alt-rocker Ben Folds's song lyrics, "There's always someone cooler than you," and let out a round of huzzahs for the glamour-averse, straight-arrow, speak-softly-and-carry-a-big-brain gang.

Authentically Unhip

Should the United Nations control the Internet? That’s the subject of a heated debate slated to take place at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis later this month. The European Union is pressing for a UN role in governing the Internet, which is currently in the hands of a US nonprofit. Lawrence Lessig breaks down the debate and offers his views.

He talks about coexistence of multiple TLD hierarchies, censorship, and more.

The fundamental point I’ve conveyed in my writing and teaching—apparently no policymaker has yet learned this—is that policy is a function of technology. You can’t do policymaking in cyberspace without thinking about the interaction between technology and policy. It’s as ridiculous to be a policymaker and believe that you can make policy without thinking about the technology as it is to be chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and think that you can talk about competition policy without thinking about the economic consequences of the rules you impose. A smart policymaker asks, “What technology will my policy produce?” and “Will the net result of that technology in my policy be the policy result I want?”

Larry Lessig, on Battling for Control of the Internet

The CIA is divided between the Directorate of Intelligence, which houses the analysts, and the Directorate of Operations, which houses the spies and the paramilitary forces. The spies are, in general, divided into two groups. There are those with official cover and those with non-official cover. Official cover means that the agent is working at the U.S. embassy in some country, acting as a cultural, agricultural or some other type of attache, and is protected by diplomatic immunity. They carry out a variety of espionage functions, limited by the fact that most foreign intelligence services know who the CIA agents at the embassy are and, frankly, assume that everyone at the embassy is an agent. They are therefore followed, their home phones are tapped, and their maids deliver scraps of paper to the host government. This obviously limits the utility of these agents. Being seen with one of them automatically blows the cover of any potential recruits.

Then there are those with non-official cover, the NOCs. These agents are the backbone of the American espionage system. A NOC does not have diplomatic cover. If captured, he has no protection. Indeed, as the saying goes, if something goes wrong, the CIA will deny it has ever heard of him. A NOC is under constant pressure when he is needed by the government and is on his own when things go wrong. That is understood going in by all NOCs.

George Friedman of Stratfor on the way the CIA divides up its clandestine staff, and how it relates to the Plame situation.

Stratfor via DailyKos: The Importance of the Plame Affair

What I Did on My Summer Vacation
By George W. Bush

Day One: Cleared some brush.
Day Two: Cleared some brush.
Day Three: Cleared some brush.
Day Four: Cleared some more &*$#! brush.

...

Day Thirty-One: Andy Card said something about "New Orleans" and "getting hammered." I told him I'm too old for that sort of stuff. Besides, it's time to get back to work.

In Crawford, the tedium is the message