Rattle wrote:

Cofer Black, former CIA Center for Counterterrorist (CTC) and Vice Chairman of Blackwater USA along with some other former CIA heavy-hitters have created a new private intelligence corporation, Total Intelligence Solutions with Black as chairman. The new firm is marketing itself as a security and intelligence solution for large corporations, with little emphasis upon government contracting except in Homeland Security, signaling a major shift in private intelligence corporations. Former spies are prohibited by law from plying their trade to lobby the US Government on behalf of foreign governments, corporations or individuals (that's Congressional turf). However, nothing forbids them from using their own contacts--in spy terms, agents--to get information to further the interests of clients--foreign or domestic.

Read the whole post. And I strongly suggest following RJ Hillhouse's blog.

Just in case anyone here hasn't been paying attention.. We continue on the gentle side into the world envisioned by William Gibson and Neil Stephenson. I, for one, am no longer bothered by this. Quite on the contrary, it sounds like more fun every day.

So, now we have non-nation-state standing armies * * and non-nation-state intelligence services, complete with DO. The jokes I can make here could go on forever. The only problem, is that they would only be funny to those with my warped sense of humor.

Total Intel has an infosec group too. Don't miss their Google Maps mashup intel watch map. Very Web2.0. Trans-national non-state warfare 2.0, even. Just think, with any luck... ...We will be able to trade stocks of trans-national armies and IC organizations in a few years.

I'm just about to read this, but yeah... it occurred to me last night that I am torn between watching the world change for the worse, and wanting to live in Blade Runner world.