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Author Archives: Charles Duelfer
Asteroid Near Miss (?): Monday, 2 November 2020
Indications and Warning – You won’t get anywhere else Based on European Space Agency database (drawing on JPL and many other sources), on Monday, 2 November 2020 Near Earth Object (NEO) 2018 VP1 will pass very close to earth(est. 62,000 … Continue reading
Posted in Asteroids, Elections, Intelligence, Space
Tagged Asteroid Impact, Elections, Space, Trump
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Understanding the Dataverse: Beirut Explosion and the future of Intelligence Collection/Analysis
As a thought experiment to see what’s coming in intelligence collection and analytics, consider the forensics associated with the recent Beirut disaster. The event itself was obviously detected instantly by witnesses all over the city. And instantly, decision makers needed … Continue reading
Posted in China, Cyber Threat, Financial Wars, Industrial Policy, Intelligence, NSA, Space, Ukraine
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9/11 is Over
For almost two decades policymakers, intelligence analysts, defense planners and warfighters have focused on strategies and priorities birthed on September 11, 2001. “Today is September 12, 2001” was a sign posted in many offices and field operations. It’s not September … Continue reading
Corvid-19 and Industrial Policy Reconsideration
The weak national response to Corvid-19 in the US will produce a re-awakening of debate on national industrial policy. Are there national interests that cannot be left simply to the free market and shareholders seeking to maximize profit? Yes, of … Continue reading
Posted in Chemical Weapons, China, Corvid-19, Industrial Policy
Tagged Chemical Weapons, Industrial Policy
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CORVID-19 is WMD–US Government Must Reconfigure Institutions to Sustain Resources for Bio-Preparedness
CORVID-19 is WMD. Among the many lessons we are re-learning as we experience the current pandemic is the enormous effect it has on military operations and national security generally. The aircraft carrier whose captain was recently fired for expressing his … Continue reading
Corvid-19 and Y2K
Books will be written detailing the series of decisions made that preceded the current Covid-19 crisis. Lessons will be learned. And our government being what it is where leaders regularly turnover–they will be forgotten as well. But a key question … Continue reading
Impeachment and Foreign Policy Redux
In February 1998, I was in Baghdad discussing the ongoing disputes between Iraq and the UN weapons inspectors with Saddam’s key deputy Tariq Aziz. (I was the deputy chairman of the UN WMD inspection group called UNSCOM.) It was late … Continue reading
Posted in Iran, Iraq, United Nations, WMD
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Qasem Soleimani – Some Aspects
The United States (over two Administrations) and the international community expended much effort rolling back ISIS in Iraq and Syria. This included attempts to kill the leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi–ultimately successful just last October. ISIS killed a few Americans. Qasem … Continue reading
Posted in Intelligence, Iran, Iraq, Uncategorized
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Donations from Convicted Sex Offender Offend MIT–What about China?
The New Yorker posted a story on 6 September 2019 that described financial links (donations) to MIT’s highly regarded Media Lab from the now infamous sex offender Jeffery Epstein. The next day the President of MIT, L. Rafael Reif wrote … Continue reading
Posted in China, MIT
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Quandaries: Deep Fakes and Cyber Conflict
The Council on Intelligence Issues* held a seminar on “Intelligence Operations in a Digital Age” this week. The discussion covered many current issues, but lingered on couple of looming problems with no satisfactory answers aired among a broad group of … Continue reading
Posted in Allies, Cyber Threat, Intelligence, Iran, journalism coverage, NSA
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