Power of the Puppet Master Ӫ Surveillance in the Cloud
“People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.” – V for Vendetta
Billion dollar question: Why did Mike Griffin, President and COO of In-Q-Tel, reported to be a private enterprise funded by the CIA, escort Elon Musk on a trip to Russia in February 2002, just five months after the 9/11 terrorist attack?
Griffin appeared more interested in finding Dnepr rockets for the “golden boy” than finding Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden. This allure to help Elon continued for years. On April 20, 2005, as Under Secretary of Defense Research and Engineering, Griffin invited Elon Musk to Washington for a meeting.
And while everyone was spacing out on rockets in space, few questioned Griffin’s real reason for going to Russia. Reportedly to “identify and invest in companies developing cutting-edge technologies that serve national security interests.” Companies who would win billion dollar contracts like SpaceX and now those competing for Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC).
But no matter which Big Tech company wins, aren’t CEOs like Elon and Bill: Puppets Working for the Same Master?
Is the Future in the Clouds?
Right, not about rockets to space but satellites in space → surveillance.
On October 16, 2009, I turned in my class paper, “Is the Future in the Clouds?” for a Real World Assignment. I pointed to interlink of tech and government.
Politics is as much a part of cyberspace as it is in all aspects of our lives and of organizations. One of largest organizations in the world, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, is seriously researching cloud computing. Why? Due to “growing economic and competitive pressure, cloud computing will be far more disruptive than currently anticipated . . . as it creates strategic advantage both on the provider and user side.”
According to Gartner Inc., the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company, “Cloud computing implies risks, but creates economies of scale that can benefit large as well as small government organizations.”
Finally and most importantly, how does this affect you and me? In cloud computing, “users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure in the cloud that supports them.”
Today, the Future, Netflix, NASA, JPL, and FINRA are some of Amazon’s EC2s “featured customers.” Intelligence agencies, not surprisingly, have reportedly contracted AWS cloud computing and as “associates” are able to access data → your data.
Time to take back “knowledge of, expertise in, or control” from companies and governments. Knowledge is power, but only if you control it.
Operation Skylark: “Back to the Future”?
Next G-Men, it appears, will be Faces in the Crowd and Cloud wearing their own version of indistinguishable masks and boiler hats.
group of business men with white masks
NSA and CIA, unsuccessful in deterring multiple attacks in New York, seemingly executed their Plan B: Surveillance. Or what I termed Operation Skylark. In this “Technique State” start-ups were funded and monopolies facilitated: SpaceX, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft….
National Security? As COO of In-Q-Tel, funded by CIA, Griffin appears to have failed in 2001. Busy helping Elon may explain why it took CIA 10 years to hunt down the mastermind of the 9/11 attack.
April may be a lucky month for America’s “Golden Boy” but it was bad luck for Saudi’s Mastermind. CIA was reportedly putting their finishing touches on a planned attack aimed at Osama bin Laden in May 2, 2011. Finally, SEAL Team Six got the order to shoot and kill.
Interestingly, the following year, DOD awarded SpaceX two launch contracts joining DOE/NASA in contracts worth billions.
Some may question the real intent behind CIAs visit to Russia back in February 2002. But perhaps the biggest question is why did it take the CIA reportedly 10 years to hunt down Osama bin Laden?
With so much goddamn funding in space, the “eyes in the sky” was unable to locate the mastermind? Could the activation of SpaceX Starlink be successful in providing “secure transmissions,” away from the eyes of masterminds and cyber hackers in the cloud?
Run by SpaceX, Starlink’s thousands of satellites are known to provide internet service. Partnering with Microsoft, will it provide “secure communication” linking two networks – cloud computing and satellite?
SpaceX is said to be in competition with Blue Origin. But is it really? Since its founding two decades ago, how many contracts has it obtained from Space Force and NASA/DOD?
Jeff, since Blue Origin’s founding in 2000 it took 21 years to take a crew up to sub-orbital space? Really, a flight experience of a matter of minutes costing hundreds of thousands? Space tourists, seems you’re not getting a “bang for your buck” compared to a trip up Space Mountain on Land from Disney.
No space contracts? Reportedly flight engines have not qualified. Jeff, “Blue Moon” name for plans of a moon lander set for 2024 is ideal. Song with the same title could not be any sadder or apropos. Wait! Did you whisper, “Please adore me”? Yes, something tells me we’ll see you standing alone looking up at the stars.
Jeff, failure to launch or is it that Elon is still America’s “golden boy”? Recall in 2002, two years after Blue Origin reportedly took off, Elon was off to Russia with Mike Griffin, NASA Administrator who would later invite Elon back to Washington in April 20, 2005.
I wonder who DOD presented the newly acquired designs of RD-180 engines for American Atlas V launch vehicle, Jeff or Elon. As SpaceNews notes, “NASA and the Pentagon routinely use the Atlas 5 to launch high-value satellites. The rocket’s RD-180 engine, built by NPO Energomash of Khimki, Russia…” Feel vindicated Elon? Guess we know who’s the favorite huh Jeff? 😉
Cyberspace Race: From JEDI to JWCC
The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) project “was meant to store and process vast amounts of classified data, allowing the U.S. military to improve communications with soldiers on the battlefield and use artificial intelligence to speed up its war planning and fighting capabilities.”
Yet, the JEDI was not to return. Pentagon reportedly canceled JEDI putting in its place Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) valued at $9 billion. JWCC was pushed back to end of the year.
Pentagon is opening a competition and inviting select companies. John Sherman, Chief Information Officer has noted possible qualifiers: Amazon, Microsoft, Google, IBM and Oracle.
In the Cyberspace Race, the DODs blueprint appears to follow old designs. According to Breaking Defense “The increased use of connected technologies in the field is one of the forces driving the Pentagon to adopt a secure cloud.” How secure, really?
On cyber, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall was asked “How does the US Air Force and the Space Force work with Military branches to defeat cyberattacks and develop capabilities to defend even large attacks from disrupt potential enemies?” His response does not inspire confidence.
Kendall: “Cyber Command has overarching responsibility…It’s something that I think we need to revisit constantly to see how it’s going. Most of the time if you look at Joint Operation Center for example, all the sources are present…One of the things that I’ve talked to leadership about is the need for more technical oversight, standardization, design control from the Secretary of Defense’s office…”
Sir, how do you compete with adversaries who are 10, 20 and 30 years ahead of the game? As you admitted, not only has China been building capability “to defeat our 5th generation capability but how to defeat our 6th generation capability.” Has Joint Operation Center prepared for the time when “all the sources are” NOT present?
“Technical Oversight?” No amount of money will bring in talented recruits across the spectrum of defense: Space, Military or Navy. Not unless US continues recruiting from China, India, Israel, and Russia.
US, with no “Return of the Jedi,” you may feel jaded. But a bad situation can get worse. Imagine if Taiwan was not able to return to your “semiconductor table.”
A little birdy, a “canary in the coalmine” heard of those “Mikey Mouse” operations in the South Atlantic, Africa and South America. Land rich with Technology-Critical Elements TCEs your Big Tech and Nuclear Power companies as well as “Black Markets” depend so much on.
Guessed who’s the Cloud Master? The “Cool Cat” in the hat who ate the singing canary!
