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

EULAlyzer™ 1.0

Analyze license agreements for interesting words and phrases.

This is a very good idea. I've wondered before about the idea of making a parser to sum up legal contract text. It always seemed like something that was possible, even if way outside my personal coding skill level.

I hope they release a OSX version of this.

EULAlyzer

When reading the latest commentary on Harriet Miers, I found myself curious about where her position in the West Wing was. Over the course of trying to get an answer to this, I got sidetracked reading various papers about the history of various parts of the White House. I figured I'd pass this on, in case anyone else found it interesting.

The best source I've found for the current West Wing floor-plan come from the Washington Post. Depending on which version is correct, Miers has an office either right down the hall from the president or on the south-west corner of the second floor. Both are prime locations.

The Federation of American Scientists has another page with the layout of the West Wing, including the ground floor containing the Situation Room. This paper written by a Navy staffer who worked in the Situation Room gives a good breakdown of its history and operations.

Its been closed since September 11th, but the bowling alley in the White House complex is still there. It was in the West Wing previous to 1961 when the Situation Room was built, and now resides in the Eisenhower Building. Strangely, the bowling alley has never made an appearance on the The West Wing TV show, who's floor-plan is similar to the real West Wing in some ways, but has major differences.

After research, John Fund has changed his mind about Miers, leading to this must-read article.

Conservatives shouldn't care about her personal views on issues if they can convince themselves that she agrees with Chief Justice John Roberts's view of a judge's role: that cases should be decided the way an umpire calls balls and strikes, without rooting for either team. But the evidence of Ms. Miers's views on jurisprudence resemble a beach on which someone has walked without leaving any footprints: no court opinions, no law review articles, and no internal memos that President Bush is going to share with the Senate.

It is traditional for nominees to remain silent until their confirmation hearings. But previous nominees, while unable to speak for themselves, have been able to deploy an array of people to speak persuasively on their behalf. In this case, the White House spin team has been pathetic, dismissing much of the criticism of Ms. Miers as "elitism" or even echoing Democratic senators who view it as "sexist." But it was Richard Land , president of the Southern Baptist Convention, who went so far as to paint Ms. Miers as virtually a tool of the man who has been her client for the past decade. "In Texas, we have two important values, courage and loyalty," he told a conference call of conservative leaders last Thursday. "If Harriet Miers didn't rule the way George W. Bush thought she would, he would see that as an act of betrayal and so would she." That is an argument in her favor. It sounds more like a blood oath than a dignified nomination process aimed at finding the most qualified individual possible.

Reactions to her from her former colleagues were mixed. Craig McDaniel, a liberal council member, praises her ability to get along with diverse groups of people and tells the Dallas Voice, a gay newspaper, "This is as good as we would ever get out of a Republican administration." Jerry Bartos, a conservative council colleague, rated her effectiveness at "zero" and called her "the consummate loner." But Sharon Boyd, a longtime friend and GOP activist, says many conservatives resented her solely because she had remained a Democrat until 1988. Ms. Boyd calls Ms. Miers's record on the council "very conservative." Yet when pressed for examples, she could only offer Ms. Miers's opposition to civil unions for gays and support for a constitutional amendment against flag burning.

David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter, who describes Ms. Miers's role in the White House as largely that of a "bureaucrat who couldn't see the forest for the trees," nonetheless believes that Team Bush is right--but only for a while. He believes she will be remain a conservative justice at least until Mr. Bush leaves office in early 2009. "But then the Bushies will have gone home, and she will develop new friends, and then the inevitable tug to the left may prove irresistible."

Indeed, in many ways, Ms. Miers resembles the early Sandra Day O'Connor, another elected official who backed some liberal positions during her time in the Arizona Legislature. As Justice O'Connor began drifting to the center she became the crucial swing vote on a host of cases. Legal scholars began referring to the "O'Connor Court." Now, with Ms. Miers slated to take the O'Connor seat it may become the "Miers Court."

"This is the most closely divided court in history," says Jay Sekulow , a conservative legal activist who backs Ms. Miers. "Everybody knows what is at stake here." With such high stakes, it should disappoint everyone that the Senate will now have to debate the confirmation of a nominee who, when it comes to Constitutional law, resembles a secret agent more than a scholar.

I also suggest reading this post on The Volokh Conspiracy.

OpinionJournal - Miers Remorse

I am sorry to inform all interested parties that Red Rose Stories is a DEAD site.

The FBI has suceeded in closing me down.

I am being charged with 'OBSCENITIES' and face charges for having posted fantasy stories.

They are trying to say fantasy stories are illegal.

The men in black (FBI) took ALL of my computer equipment, and many of my diskettes,
and have access to ALL my files and site information. They came when I was NOT home and seized my belongings, I had no choice, and no recourse.

BoingBoing seems to be providing coverage of a number of cases. My understanding is that the stories on this site were, ehm, perhaps a bit over the top. Certainly not the sort of writing one would recommend in polite company, or even, perhaps, in impolite company.

Nevertheless, they are just stories. They aren't pictures. They aren't movies. They are written stories. They are someone's thoughts. If it can be a crime to publish these stories then the only appropriate name for that sort of crime is thoughtcrime. This person's house has been raided for sharing inappropriate thoughts.

The owner of NowThatsFuckedUp is also feeling the heat and has been charged with 300 misdemeanors and one felony. He's in jail on more than $150K bail. The site is basically a discussion board where people are encouraged to post links to pictures and video of amateur porn. In this situation, the web site administrator was encouraging people to send pictures from Iraq in exchange for free access to paid sections of the site.

Ask your Republican friends who claim to advocate a strict constructionalist jurisprudence to explain how this is consistent with a literal reading of the first amendment.

The Bush Administration's porn war has begun

The University of Michigan Law School has put together a collection of writings by Harriet Miers. I don't have any comments yet. I have not had a chance to read anything over.

University of Michigan Law Library. Hot Topic: Harriet Miers

If it wasn't for the animal court thing, Joseph Wapner would be a better candidate for the high court of the people than Harriet Miers. This action might inspire adults to laugh, but it would also inspire children who normally want to be firemen, to be lawyers. (Which is just what the world needs...)

Judge Wapner for the Supreme Court

There is a good round-up of commentary on the Volokh Conspiracy about the Harriet Miers nomination. Slate also has a good round-up article. More on the way.. This is clearly going to be the appointment that results in a giant battle.

The conservatives seem to be the loudest voice of opposition so far this time around, surprisingly. It seems no one is happy with this nomination aside from the most go-go of the go-team republican crowd.

My initial opinion in regard to this is that Roberts looks _really_ good now. This lady may be a very accomplished lawyer, but she does not appear to be SCOUTS material by a long-shot.

I also noticed in several articles that she has represented Microsoft and Disney. Does anyone know which cases? I'm going to have to spend some time digging through Lexus/Nexus getting some details on that. Depending on which ones, that might be the thing that makes me click over from "don't like" to "rabidly opposed".

Update: When Pat Buchanan is making reasonable statements about judicial picks, you know its a dark day.

Update2: I was only able to find one case in involving Miers, and she was not even the lead council. Nothing of relevance can be discerned from it. So much for litigation experience...

The Volokh Conspiracy - Harriet Miers

"I will be considering it next year," Giuliani said during a visit to Denmark. But he added that playing with the idea of running for the Republican nomination for president did not mean he would actually do it.

"Sometime you warm up and get ready and you don't get in and pitch," he told reporters, in a baseball analogy.

Could we wind up with Rudy Giuliani and John McCain on the same ticket in 2008? Against Hilary Clinton maybe? Al Gore take two? It would be a big mistake to have John Kerry run again. Who do the Democrats have in the wings at this point? I couldn't picture myself voting for Clinton..

Giuliani to Mull 2008 Decision Next Year - Yahoo! News

The United States and Europe clashed here Thursday in one of their sharpest public disagreements in months, after European Union negotiators proposed stripping the Americans of their effective control of the Internet.

These people are silly. Threatening to leave the DNS system just because you don't think you have enough influence? What do you want them to do differently? Have you made reasonable proposals that have been ignored? Don't you realize that if you can leave the DNS system so can I, and so your influence cannot be coercive?

It is inevitable that the DNS system is going to fragment... I'm all for it. We ought to start talking about what kinds of tools we need to support multiple roots on one computer, and put an end to this government puffery as well as vile sitefinder once and for all.

No doubt, the naming situation is going to get more complex. I think we are going to see innovation that stretches beyond the DNS system as it is today. Think AOL keywords. Google Names?

But will it be better? It will probably get worse before it gets better...

EU Tries to Unblock Internet Impasse