An interesting OpEd about the role of women and the lack of credit they get for their efforts.
QuoteI felt a moment of panic at being led into the minefield of gender stereotypes. I worried about discounting the efforts of some excellent male counterterrorism analysts I had known. Then I thought to myself, "Yes, women do have a special genius for the job."
source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/03/opinion/hasler-women-intelligence-analysts/index.html
(https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/936900_369281756511768_1199495322_n.jpg)
Those boots (not boobs) look somewhat impractical.
Yeah but the fishnets, otoh...
^I'm with you on that one bro!
A number of folks who work in the government facility in Langley, Va. tell me they will be leaving. There is practically no chance for advancement unless one is of a particular gender.
For so long, it was the other way around, but seems unfair to punish the present operators for policy decisions long ago.
Quote from: besilarius on May 04, 2013, 08:00:47 AM
A number of folks who work in the government facility in Langley, Va. tell me they will be leaving. There is practically no chance for advancement unless one is of a particular gender.
For so long, it was the other way around, but seems unfair to punish the present operators for policy decisions long ago.
Competence should be the first priority.
I'm not sure why this article was published, but my guess is its intent was to goad the misogynistic jihadis rather than be some weird reverse-sexist rant.
Regardless, competence is the overriding factor. Race and gender should be secondary or tertiary, if a factor at all. Two wrongs don't make a right.
Quote from: LongBlade on May 05, 2013, 08:59:41 AM
Two wrongs don't make a right.
but they do seem to make a federal government.
Heh.
Were that it was only two...
I watched a bit of a documentary on the CIA team that was tasked to follow Bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda bunch, during the 1990s. The documentary seems to imply that the team of analysts was 100% female as the task was deemed to be 2nd rate.
All I could think was "if they deemed the task to be 1st rate, perhaps they would have prevented 9/11."
Quote from: Centurion40 on May 06, 2013, 10:05:17 AM
I watched a bit of a documentary on the CIA team that was tasked to follow Bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda bunch, during the 1990s. The documentary seems to imply that the team of analysts was 100% female as the task was deemed to be 2nd rate.
All I could think was "if they deemed the task to be 1st rate, perhaps they would have prevented 9/11."
Somewhere I read/heard that the priority of the FBI (and maybe also CIA) prior to 9/11 was the threat of Chinese money influencing Congressional races.
UBL was considered a secondary problem.
In my humble and non-expert opinion, the billions of dollars poured into creating redundant agencies to chase bad guys and the removal of many civil rights has been unnecessary. Greater funding to existing agencies, respect for our law, and re-prioritization were all that was needed to keep us safe. The rest has been wasted time and money.
Perhaps so.