Don't mention al-Quaeda.

As supplied to me by the magic of PSB television the NSA (US National Security Authority) had been tracking al-Qaeda calls and the hijackers for three years before 9/11 but they wouldn’t share their information with the CIA, which in turn wouldn’t give any info to the FBI. So the NSA, who had no jurisdiction to act inside the US, had both sides of the conversation, the CIA only had one side and the FBI, who do have US jurisdiction, had none. So those that knew couldn’t talk to those that could act, i.e. 9/11 could probably have been stopped if they had. My brief experience of working in the US bears this out. Guys in the same open plan office working on the same project wouldn’t talk to each other in case someone else got the credit for their work. Basically the American Dream is underpinned by a nightmare of fear. Anyway GW Bush passed a decree post 9/11 that the NSA could listen to all American communications, not just those from al-Qaeda headquarters, which incidentally wasn’t the problem in the first place. So post 9/11 the NSA budget has doubled to $50 billion and they’ve got billions of US tax returns, shopping lists and love letters to sift through and listen to. Ah but they have super computers to help. Assuming your typical love letter won’t refer to al-Qaeda or biological warfare their computers are set to only look for special phrases, like al-Qaeda and biological warfare. So before you even read this blog Stiffmouse will be a marked rodent. Now OK I’m not very up on espionage matters but if I were some terrorist organisation I’d feel a certain reticence in using such incriminating phrases, I’d more likely use ‘a bottle of milk’, or ‘two packets of thinly sliced ham and a jar of pickles’ or alternatively ‘$2,000- working lunch (bill lost, sorry.)’ No, fear makes you think badly and shrinks your gonads; it’s not a good place to be logical from. So if you write anything on the net don’t for God sake mention al-Qaeda or biological warfare. Oops.