Here and There, August 22

Always look on the bright side. What is the bright side of idiotic and inconvenient airport "security" that causes people to travel less? (assuming that the net effect is that people are staying home more and not simply driving more) Less money spent on jet fuel = less money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, etc.

Charles Johnson discovered an article by Claire Berlinski about what really goes on at the CIA. It describes an ossified bureaucracy, to put it kindly. Unfortunately, it jives with too many other things one has been hearing lately about our various federal "intelligence" and "security" agencies. I wish I didn't believe this article, but unfortunately I do. Read the article and weep. As Arnold Kling wrote

My guess is that somewhere, in some random agency far removed from the Department of Homeland Security, there is a skunkworks of fewer than 300 people that is going to defeat violent Islamic extremists operating in the United States. If not, then we are in big trouble.

I hope he's right.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at August 22, 2002 02:55 PM