In most of other countries in the world there generally is an even tighter association between companies from those countries and their spy agencies(FIS's). The US (and maybe the FVEY countries, I am not sure there) is somewhat unique in that there is basically no real provisions for economic espionage (defined as spying aimed to obtain trade secrets (generally not of military application) and passing those on to the local companies (saving massive amounts in R&D money/time)). And because of that relationship there is often services offered back from those companies to those FIS's. Who needs a court when you are just helping out an organization that has saved you millions of dollars over time (and patriotism is also a factor in that decision as well)? I think you are very naive if you think that this is a uniquely American (or a RUS, CHN, IRN) issue. It is very nuanced and occurs behind closed doors that you will almost never get a glipse of.

Color me suprised. Not. In all fairness I want all the other countries spy agencies to release a list of countries they spy in (in particular the national intelligence services of China, Russia, France, England, Germany and Israel). I bet you it would be a pretty similiar list.....

Just like in the computer world, those who get elevated rights should get increase scrutiny of their actions. Cops have elevated permissions in the real world (the blue code (getting away from certain crimes because they are cops), implied trust when testifying (if it is your word vs a cops in court, guess whose testimony gets trusted?)). All of which means that they should surrender a certain amount of privacy when they put on the badge (and now technology is finally allowing for this to happen).

Funniest comment in a while. If you think that Israel will ever disarm so long as they are surrounded by people who want their State destroyed, then you must share those drugs. From a historical perspective this will never happen, the entire Israeli Jewish State has one phrase imprinted in their conciousness, "Never again."
When you have whackjobs like the leaders of Iran around you will never see them pre-emptively disarm that weapon system that they officially never have had.

For once (and based on most of my CS colleagues this will be a one time thing) these guys will learn what it is like to be the "pretty girl." Hired on their looks (American), expected to be there, act as eye candy and overall not be expected to perform as well as the guys who were hired for their brains....

Such a sad thing.... Not.

Oh, he is an "artist". You just need to put "scam" in front to truly appreciate the art....

Is already on display. I don't think it is going anywhere. It is at the Udzar Hazey Annex to the Air and Space Museum. Though it would be cool for the main downtown site to have on that actually went into space.

CBP (Customs and Border Patrol were around far before the creation of DHS... Customs in particular is one of the oldest missions of the US Government... it used to be the sole manner that the federal body could raise revenue). DHS is just a conglomeration of a number of other agencies that already existed with an extra layer of bureaucracy at the higher level... Maybe you can complain about the extra spending, but just getting rid of DHS won't make this stuff go away, the agencies will just revert to their previous Agencies/Departments that they were in prior to the creation of DHS.... Expansion of the mission/decrees really come from the top. I do not see _ANY_ substantive difference between the Bush administration and the Obama administration on matters such as this, since for different reasons they offer certain levels of control that both find politically useful (since you never cede power when you have the chance... look at the recent push for the renewal of the Patriot Act from the WH).

This really deserves even more mod points than the rest. A _VERY_ good analysis. The eternal fight of CND people, getting actionable intelligence (we want to fix it yesterday, they want to see what the BG are doing and also don't want to give away how they knew to listen in the first place).

I think I would have walked away right as he said that.... it would have been the easiest money I could ever make. Assualt charges on the individual and civil suit to the company. ka-ching!!

psst... that is a secret...
no need to mention that to people not in the know.. Those feeble minded folks who believe a couple of days of food and water and then the Government will arrive and help are useful sources of supply for those of us who are well equipped...