dispatches from the new world of work

Pot Boiler, Peerless Organizational Anthropology Primer

Brian Haig is the son of Al Haig, a West Pointer and one hell of a novelist. The President's Assassin is a no-baloney page turner (and I'm an expert here). But I call it to your attention for another reason. It is a beautiful, mischievous piece of "inside Washington" work on the bureaucratic wars that surge across the Capitol—and make us far less safe in the process. To have started the book the day we got our first meta-intelligence chief is the height of irony; Mr Negroponte will have his hands full—and the excellence of his work (or not) will determine your & your children's safety. In fact the book's anthropological excellence will resonate with anyone living in a big bureaucracy: e.g. tens of the thousands of at sea HP employees.

Tom Peters posted this on 02/18/05.

Comments

The Washington, D.C. area is amazing - I "thrived" for 2 solid years - however, the power plays and politics regarding ALMOST EVERYTHING is mind-boggling at times.

Luckily the design of a republic is effective for the most part, though fewer democratic procedures are needed to more effectively safeguard the nation.

Posted by John at February 19, 2005 3:01 PM

Tom: sounds like a fascinating book. Thanks for the recommendation.

As for Mr. Negroponte, while I wish him a lot of success, I donâ€™t think his nomination will simplify the already bureaucratic intelligent community, not to mention will make us safer. But forget about what I â€œthinkâ€, here is what Efraim Halevy, an ex-chief of the Israeli Mossad agency, wrote in an excellent article that appeared in the Economist on July 29th 2004:

â€œIn my humble opinion no greater mistake could be made [than the one to appoint an intelligence â€œtsarâ€ in the United States] so far as the intelligence community is concerned. If the new tsar is to assume command responsibility for the intelligence community, then he will be de facto director of the CIA and the other intelligence agencies in the country. He, and he alone, will be responsible for the content and standard of the evaluation. The professional director of the CIA will be responsible to the tsar, and the president of the United States will be functioning through a â€œproxyâ€ on matters of war and peace. In intelligence, there can be no sharing in responsibility; it is, and will always remain, indivisible.â€

I am sending you the Halevy article by email just in case you misplaced your subscription ID to the Economistâ€™s archive and you want to read it.

Best,

Daniel Leon

Posted by S. Daniel Leon at February 19, 2005 11:26 PM

John, I worked on drug abuse and illegal drugs in '73-'74 from Room 424 in what was then called the Old Executive Office Building--despite my relatively short distance from the throne and membership in the White House Mess, I was routinely trapped, drawn, quartered, and spit out by power tussles between the DEA, CIA, Customs, INS, FBI, etc, etc. I barely escaped--it took me 10 years before I could land in D.C without getting a literal case of the shakes. As Geo Shultz said, "the game" becomes so ubiquitous that you frequently forget what you're fighting for .

Posted by tom peters at February 20, 2005 11:49 AM

Dr. Tom - thanks for sharing that - luckily then I had a relatively easy time compared to you - early this month I just finished the 2 years in D.C. - am happily in Albuquerque now.

Hope to keep my distance given the craziness and frenzy of commute/security logistics - thank God for the 2 years of home equity though - 45%.

Posted by John at February 20, 2005 6:52 PM