Monday, July 19, 2010

Nobody Could Have Predicted...

The Washington Post has a massive investigative piece today that takes a look at the military/intelligence/contractor clusterfuck that was spawned post 9/11:
The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.

These are some of the findings of a two-year investigation by The Washington Post that discovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight. After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.
The article is definately worth a read, but I thought two reactions were pretty dead on:

Atrios:
Oh Well

It occurs to me that some crazy hippies thought that a massive overreaction to 9/11, including pointless wars and massive expansion of the security state, might not be such a good idea. Well, nobody could have predicted. Bygones.
Matt Yglesias:
Dana Priest continues to do the kind of reporting that 90% of "reporters" only think they do.

2 comments:

  1. Incredible piece so far, I am really looking forward to the rest of the pieces

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  2. Intense but great article, good job Post. Definitely going to share this with others.

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