The Internet is filled with spies.
American intelligence agencies are working to counter the perceived threat of potential access into the homes of nearly every citizen by foreign powers.
But what about journalists and bloggers who report on the spy games? Can they be considered "agents" of the games?
Yes, and they are sometimes approached by intelligence services, domestic and foreign, to "assist" the cause; typically they are asked to publish specific content at specific websites.
For example: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200812/spies
Here are the first five of the Top Ten reasons I might be suspected of being a spy:
1. The hunt for "Ron."
Jon Ronson made "Ron" famous in his book, The Men Who Stare at Goats, but I actually wrote the expose' about "Ron" and Internet spy game exploits. In his battle to preserve truth, justice, and the American way of life, "Ron" went after technology leaks to China and pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo. Already an Internet legend for his UFO interests, "Ron" has recently left the Office of the Director of National Intelligence DIA MASINT for a new job, according to his friend, Dan Smith. A few persons have expressed the opinion that exposing "Ron" is all part of the spy game.
2. Dan T. Smith.
Dan writes about his spy friends and disguises the information within paragraphs of philosophical ramblings about the nature of the Best Possible World. To an outsider, Dan's blog might appear as the rants and raves of an unsettled mind. If you know how to separate the facts from the rest, you can glean details of on-going spy-agency stuff, like the recent DNI DIA MASINT HFGW Report, which Dan reported about a year before it was published, which makes Dan an "agent" in the spy games.
3. Some of my sources have or used to have day jobs with a real spy agency ...
Some of my sources' day jobs involve(d) working for the USG intelligence community. Anyone who reports on the spies and their various associates probably has been in communication with numerous 'persons of interest' who are involved at some level within the spy games.
... And some of my sources are government advisers.
This includes anyone in a position to affect government policy based upon their expert opinion. Any undue influence on that opinion may be considered suspect.
For example, this recent "For Official Use Only" DNI document about influential British journalists which was obtained by the Federation of American Scientists:
The Open Source Center (OSC) of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence recently ranked the individuals whom it considers to be the ten most influential political commentators in the British press and profiled them in an OSC publication.
The OSC publication, which has not been approved for public release, is marked "for official use only." Furthermore, its "authorized use is for national security purposes of the United States Government only." What the relevant U.S. Government national security purposes of such material might be was not specified.
A copy of the document was obtained by Secrecy News. See "United Kingdom -- Profiles of Influential Political Commentators," OSC Media Aid, October 22, 2008.
4. Some of my sources are Foreign Nationals:
Networking with foreign persons of interest (especially scientists) and introducing them to your other (virtual) friends (some of whom are/were 'the spies') might make you look at least a small bit suspicious on both sides of the big pond. Especially if (after they meet in person on foreign soil) there is discussion of a collaborative research program.
5. I approached the FBI about how my ex-wife refused to release confidential proprietary research papers during a hotly disputed divorce.
It was Senator Robert Byrd who supported the funding that brought Dr. James Corum from defense contractor SARA Corporation to the ISR (Institute for Scientific (formerly "Software") Research) -- but early on it was Joe Firmage's International Space Sciences Organization (ISSO) debating the merits of Corum's vacuum reaction propulsion concept. I had obtained a copy of the (then) confidential ISSO analysis of the Corum concept and my ex-wife refused to allow me to obtain the documents from our home during our divorce.
Needless to say I was furious over how easily confidential documents (with potential national security implications, according to NASA Special Agent Keith Tate) could be obtained using local domestic legal actions.
Eventually my ex-wife relented and I regained possession of the documents, after several months had passed.
