PoliSci Nerd Freakout
An International Relations student's scrapbook. Over the course of reading and writing and researching, and just plain living I discover all kinds of interesting facts and figures and quotations that I'll never end up using in a report or a presentation. This is my place to share them. I hope you like it. I'll also probably share random shit I find interesting like kittens or game of thrones, potential followers have been warned.
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The third concern about putting generals at the helm of the CIA has to do with rules. Rules are the lifeblood of an organization, making clear what matters. In the military there are all sorts of rules about appearance and fitness. How fast you can run, how many push-ups you can do, whether your hair is short enough, how neatly your clothes are pressed. Why? Because unit discipline and individual fitness can spell the difference between life and death, success and failure.
Ever seen a bunch of CIA people? Let’s just say appearance and fitness do not spring to mind. Instead, CIA rules are fixated on guarding information, everywhere, all the time. Why? Because in intelligence, that’s what can spell the difference between life and death, success and failure. It is hard to overemphasize just how seriously security procedures are taken in this world.
Amy Zegart writing for Foreign Policy on Petraeus as head of the CIA -
hmmmmm, this doesn’t trample all over the CIA’s prevue at all.
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Even a cursory look at my tumblr will show I’ve been on a bit of a spy/espionage/intelligence kick of late: reading Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Spy who came in from the Cold, so it won’t be hard to see why I found this Wired article fascinating. In such fictions and in reality for most of recent history spys would swap passports like your or I change clothes, such easy infiltration is becoming much harder with the ever growing importance of biometrics in border security. Now this isn’t an insurmountable problem, as the article points out the key is to co-opt foreign border and immigration personel, but it does drastically increase the difficulty in what was once a simple procedure for intelligence men: just crossing a border.
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I love libraries! Everyone loves Benedict Cumberbatch. It’s a win-win!
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They would know that inconsistency in human decision can make nonsense of the best-planned espionage approach; that cheats, liars, and criminals may resist every blandishment while respectable gentlemen have been moved to appalling treasons by watery cabbage in a Departmental canteen.John le Carré - The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
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They would expect him to be afraid; for his Service pursued traitors as the eye of God followed Cain across the desert.John le Carré - The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
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With numbers, with facts of all sorts, Lacon never faltered. They were the gold he worked with, wrested from the grey bureaucratic earth.John le Carre - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, spy (86)
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Photo reblogged from pastries are coming
This just tugs at the heart strings.
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Post reblogged from Rí Rá agus Ruaille Buaille
the more I read Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the more I dislike the movie. The script doesn’t show much of any of the characters at all, expect maybe Smiley.
…also, Guillam is gay in the movie and not the book?
Where does it say this is in the movie?
I mean…like why would they even mention his sexual orientation when it’s a movie about spies and his girlfriend/boyfriend doesn’t even do anything but expand on his character a bit?Because it expands his character a bit? you were just complaining that there wasn’t much characterization; here’s some right here. I agree with you though that it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t learn more about the other characters (specifically the suspects), but I think that was just a function of time limitations. I think they did a fine job with what they had available. That said, I’m pretty excited to watch the old BBC mini-series since that has more time to flesh everything out.
