
Studies in Intelligence [pdf] - politicdone
https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol-64-no-1/pdfs/Studies-64-1-March-2020-UnclassifiedExtracts.pdf
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082349872349872
"Lasting Wisdom of the Ancients" is interesting to diff against the _Tao Te
Ching_ , because it clarifies how (what we would express as) relatively simple
messages were heavily ornamented with stylistic flourishes in this genre.

Also compare "The highest realization of warfare lies in attacking the enemy’s
plans; next is attacking their alliances; next their army; while the lowest is
attacking their fortified cities" with the japanese _{Ki, Waza, Ken} wo
korosu_.

For current US literary style, see
[https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Doctrine/pubs/jp2_0...](https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Doctrine/pubs/jp2_0.pdf)
"Intelligence should increase the commander’s understanding of the threat and
adversary’s probable intentions, end states, objectives, most likely and most
dangerous COAs, strengths, and critical capabilities. This allows the J-2 to
recommend objectives, requirements, and centers of gravity (COGs). Once these
objectives are approved by the commander, the J-2 must continuously review
them with respect to the adversary and the changing situation to determine
whether they remain relevant to the commander’s intent."

Edit: p9, footnote c for early (late Ming) steganography.

[https://jmss.org/article/download/58139/43748/](https://jmss.org/article/download/58139/43748/)

But not as early as
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histiaeus#Ionian_revolt_(499-4...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histiaeus#Ionian_revolt_\(499-494_BC\))

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bryanrasmussen
The current US literary style clouds the message, instead of clarifying it.

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unishark
I can't stand this kind of writing, communicating, and conveying of ideas,
concepts, and points which tries to pack, cram, and insert too damn many
variations, subtleties, and nuances into each point in a sentence.

It seems like a military thing. Though I know other people that do it whenever
they're trying to summarize anything tersely (and think they're succeeding
when they failing terribly).

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navbaker
This is intended to convey meaning to anyone engaged in military planning
activities and it is assumed that the reader has the relevant education in
military planning so they can quickly understand what is being said. It’s no
different than reading a scientific paper where a single sentence may be
unpacked on multiple levels because the reader/audience for the paper is
someone who has a deep background in the subject.

~~~
neutronicus
As someone who has become practiced in parsing scientific papers, I do not
actually think the format is a very good one. If you are not a sub-domain
expert it is IMO much easier to get up-to-speed by reading a tangentially-
relevant PhD Thesis or two than by reading even Review papers.

> a single sentence may be unpacked on multiple levels because the
> reader/audience for the paper is someone who has a deep background in the
> subject.

This supposed information density is often a pretext for obfuscation, though.
The author is essentially hostile to the reader, fighting a vicious
obfuscatory rear-guard action against their comprehension of anything beyond
the conclusion they're meant to cite or the technique they're meant to
implement (and cite).

I often wonder whether I found student theses so much more helpful because
they're long-form, or because either idealism or a less-developed sense of the
threshold of acceptable bullshit they can get away with leads them to present
their claims and process more clearly.

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raxxorrax
Humans got disqualified in round 2. Round 1 was telling your name which 83%
mastered gracefully.

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politicdone
Just lots of interesting reading in this:

 _Beginning in the late 1940s, the Soviet Union began building deep
underground facilities at Russian sites. Those near Chekov and Sharapovo, both
outside of Moscow, were notable for their heavily concealed national command
authority wartime relocation functions. Disguised to look like research and
development facilities to US overhead collection, they thus conveyed a
deceptive imagery signature to analysts. Only persistent analysis in the early
1980s by the US Air Force Special Studies Group based on anomaly detection and
change comparison over 10 years of imagery coverage eventually exposed the
facilities ' true purposes.

Designed principally to ensure the survivability of the top leadership and
provide continuity in command and control during wartime, these exceptionally
well-hidden, deep underground, facilities implied Soviet intentions and
capabilities to prepare for protracted nuclear war._

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082349872349872
_Dr. Strangelove_ : "we must not allow a mineshaft gap":
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybSzoLCCX-Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybSzoLCCX-Y)

 _A Boy and His Dog_ would continue the trope.

for the serious original, see p11 of
[https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM2206.html](https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM2206.html)

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politicdone
I wonder, is Dr Strangelove a parody of Wernher Von Braun?

~~~
cyberbanjo
The real Dr Strangelove, Frank Barnaby suggests that Dr Strangelove may have
been based on Henry Kissinger

New Scientist › letter › The real Dr Strangelove | New Scientist

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082349872349872
[https://www.newscientist.com/letter/mg18224505-100-the-
real-...](https://www.newscientist.com/letter/mg18224505-100-the-real-dr-
strangelove/) argues for a composite persona. Note that Khan was the author of
the RAND paper linked above.

