Glenn Reynolds on TechCentralStation.com
Glenn Reynolds on TechCentralStation.com
October 23, 2002
Glenn Reynolds in, TCS: Defense - Who Can't Handle the Truth?, points out the intriguing possibility that the Government could be employing disinformation to fool decentralized terrorist cells.
Maybe, Glenn suggests, the government is providing bad information in order to fool the terrorists, who are so decentralized they can only rely on the bad information the Government is providing through the press.
God, how I wish Glenn were right! But of course, if wishes were wings....
Here's another theory, the government is providing bad information because the government is too big, bloated, and hopelessly disorganized. The government actually has way too much information, and can't figure out how to analyze all that information even as efficiently - and this is no exaggeration - as you or I can.
It's the classic problem of information overload - just like on centralized servers that get overloaded with too many requests. And the solution is not to give the government more information. That only makes the problem worse. The solution is to give more information to you and me, so we can use our own intelligence to figure it out, and track the bad guys down ourselves.
The terrorists are not this highly efficient decentralized organization of sleeper cells - they're not highly efficient at all. But they do have the advantage of being decentralized.
So let's fight fire with fire. Let's let the American people and the free citizens of the world form their own sleeper cells for freedom, an international citizen's militia. I promise you, we'll track down every last one of those bad guys before you can say, "Osama Bin Laden Is Dead."
But oh, how I wish you were right, Glenn. And now I've got to get back to school!
