And not really all that comforting. A high ranking NSA official...and serial 4th Amendment violator
woos Congress.
When he was running the Army's Intelligence and Security Command, Alexander brought many of his future allies down to Fort Belvoir for a tour of his base of operations, a facility known as the Information Dominance Center. It had been designed by a Hollywood set designer to mimic the bridge of the starship Enterprise from Star Trek, complete with chrome panels, computer stations, a huge TV monitor on the forward wall, and doors that made a "whoosh" sound when they slid open and closed. Lawmakers and other important officials took turns sitting in a leather "captain's chair" in the center of the room and watched as Alexander, a lover of science-fiction movies, showed off his data tools on the big screen.
"Everybody wanted to sit in the chair at least once to pretend he was Jean-Luc Picard," says a retired officer in charge of VIP visits.
Patrick Stewart should kick their asses.
Rising Hegemon
8 comments:
Stardate 1984.2
Nice to know our benevolent overlords have the mental age of a twelve year old.
Your tax dollars at work, fulfilling the infantile fantasies of authoritarian creeps.
It's not surprising in the least that our elected officials can be bought; it's just that the price is so goddam low. Give 'em a fancy chair on an ersatz Hollywood set, and the world is your oyster.
on the bright side, its NOT light sabers + the death star. or space balls.
And, oddly enough, old wooden barracks were good enough for the Army's cryptology unit to figure out the Japanese military's "Purple" coding machine without ever even seeing one.
Apparently, life does imitate art--and rather badly--in today's U.S. Army. Perhaps "show" is more important these days than "go."
The original Star Trek bridge set inspired a number of real bridges and command centers. Not out of Sci-Fi delirium but because the layout makes a lot of sense.
But to quote them: The U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) conducts intelligence, security and information operations for military commanders and national decision makers. That does not sound like a command that needs to make immediate navigational or attack decisions but one that passes on information. More like Lt. Uhura's station than Capt. Kirk's command chair.
And did the vistiors also get free balloons? And there picture taken with an actor made up as spock? Inquring minds and all that.
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