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Comments: 190 +- News: CIA Manual Thought Lost In 1973 Available On Amazon on Thursday November 26, @07:57AM
Posted
by
samzenpus
on Thursday November 26, @07:57AM
from the there-is-no-manual-nor-has-there-ever-been-a-manual dept.
from the there-is-no-manual-nor-has-there-ever-been-a-manual dept.
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usa
An anonymous reader writes "At the height of the Cold War, the Central Intelligence Agency paid renowned magician John Mulholland $3,000 to write a manual on misdirection, concealment, and stagecraft. All known copies of the document were believed to be destroyed in 1973. Turns out one survived — and is now available on Amazon."
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Submission: CIA Manual thought lost in 1973, on sale at Amazon by Anonymous Coward
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eating one peanut.
-- Channing Pollock
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Trickery and misdirection (Score:5, Funny)
'Turns out one survived -- and is now available on Amazon'
Or at least, that's what they want you to think...
Waves hand... (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
That won't work on Amazon, only money.
Re: (Score:2)
I stopped reading comic books when I was 10 years old.
"See Bobby" :)
"See Bobby on TV"
"See Bobby babble nonsense"
Oh, Look, the Kindle Version is Available! (Score:2, Funny)
I wonder how long until it gets globally deleted via the wireless updates.
The original article? (Score:5, Informative)
Genius idea: have the Slashdot summary link to the actual story. YES!!!
Re:The original article? (Score:5, Funny)
Genius idea: have the Slashdot summary link to the actual story. YES!!!
You must be new here.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Meh that's so 1994. This is the new /b/ inspired internet where links are linking links that link links. There isn't even a story or a book. It's all links.
Re: (Score:2)
Yo dawg, I heard you like links, so I put some links in your links so you can link your links.
Anyhow, this manual's existence just goes to show that information really does want to be free. Or at least wants to go from classified document to $10.99 a copy.
Re:The original article? (Score:5, Funny)
So the Slashdot summary links to an article in the Huffington Post. And the HuffPo article links to an article in Wired. And the Wired article links to the actual story in the Boston Globe [boston.com]
Slashdot: now a free treasure hunt with every story !
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Oh come on, everybody has that on his hard disk! (Score:5, Interesting)
It’s not particularly hard to find. Amongst the things that I found on eDonkey, some old anarchy sites, etc, are tons of CIA and army manuals about questionable topics. The one I found particularly nice was a guide that explained to you how to get a major or other politician off his post, or even killed, trough small nudges here and there in the town. Talk to someone here, do this there, and let the event cascade roll into a avalanche that breaks his neck. ;)
Then of course torture and interrogation manuals, building bombs and healing yourself in emergency situations or covert operations, etc. etc. etc. Everything from TNT over Napalm, termite, picking locks, spying on people, spy protection, and ten years ago I found a complete technical description of how to build a nuclear bomb. With a text file attached, saying to ask there and there when you’d find yourself in need for the “materials” to build it. ^^
Luckily I was only angry at my dad, and not at any country, back then. ^^
Hmm... I wonder if I still have them somewhere... probably locked away in a archive with military-grade encryption that I forgot the password to.
Re:Oh come on, everybody has that on his hard disk (Score:5, Funny)
Remind me not to get on your bad side. If I had any mod points, I'd give them to you, my friend. In fact, I'd give you all of them...really.
Parent
Re:Oh come on, everybody has that on his hard disk (Score:5, Interesting)
Most of those files were work of BBS users and can range anywhere from complete bullshit all the way to actually working stuff.
I guess you know this, but rest of slashdot could take a peek at those manuals here: http://textfiles.com/ [textfiles.com]
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Hmm... Now I really wonder where the “flamebait” part of my comment is supposed to be. :) ;P
Or is this some special agent? If so: Hello there. I can see you.
Disclaimer: I am not pro- or contra- anything. I just think that some idiot should stop beating their heads (and especially those of others) in over pointless shit. :) If that means you hate me, then I’m proud of it. ^^
Re: (Score:2)
Sure. Install eMule, configure it, and enter “cia” or “army” and you got half of it. The other half is found by searching for “bbs anarchy” on Google. Don’t expect me to send it to you directly though, for obvious reasons. :)
Oh, and of course I forgot, that the “illegal” cookbook (yes, THE cookbook) is also easily available.
My father, being a bit of a collector, also once acquired the original 70s paper version of that book. Even back then you could go s
Deception.... (Score:2)
So, it looks like it worked, then...
Amazon link (Score:2)
I much prefer a link to the book on amazon than a write up about how it exists there. Given that the book is "In Stock" for $15, I'm guessing this isn't the one remaining copy for sale :)
Re: (Score:2)
A few excerpts. (Score:5, Funny)
Let me preface this with a few words WHOA LOOK BEHIND YOU MAN! Did you look? I knew it! There you go. Misdirection.
Chapter 2: Concealment:
Watch Pulp Fiction. Captain Koons talking to Butch about his grandpa's wristwatch is all you need know.
Chapter 3: Stagecraft.
See Chapter One. Do something while they're not looking. If someone looks while you're doing whatever it is you're doing, kill them. Claim they were terrorists.
Re: (Score:2)
WHOA LOOK BEHIND YOU MAN!
Ok, I looked. And where's the three-headed monkey?
Mandatory (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
PS is a street magician an actual CIA employee with a security clearance?
Re:wow (Score:5, Funny)
This isn't the manual you're looking for.
</handwave>
Parent
Re:wow (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re:wow (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:wow (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:wow (Score:5, Informative)
You do know The Prince was meant as satire, right?
That's very much a minority view, and certainly not as obvious as your sarcastic tone implies. Most people do not subscribe to that view at all, and reading the book shows exactly why: it doesn't come across as a satire at all. The satirical interpretation is based largely on extrapolating from biographical details and making a lot of tenuous assumptions.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It is in the public domain and you can find linked copies from that page. The point of this is that believe it or not, every single president in the US or leader elsewhere has read that book.
"Machiavelli stands strongly against the use of mercenaries. He believes them useless to a ruler because they are undisciplined, cowardly, and without any loyalty, being motivated only by money."
Even if every single US president read the book, it appears some didn't do so thoroughly enough.
Re:wow (Score:4, Interesting)
Are you sure Machiavelli's concerns about mercenaries are obsolete?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_Worldwide [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DynCorp [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Professional_Resources_Inc [wikipedia.org].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northbridge_Services_Group [wikipedia.org]
Parent
Re:wow (Score:4, Informative)
You don't even know (of course, never having read the book) that Machiavelli, in his book The Prince which we are talking about now, STRONGLY RECOMMENDS AGAINST HIRING MERCENARIES. Machiavelli hated mercenaries, considered them a scourge, and advocated armies of citizens instead. Does "the draft" ring a bell?
Parent
Re:wow (Score:5, Insightful)
I know what you mean, but that's the wrong terminology to be using when discussing Machiavelli and the school of realism (which is essentially what you're describing). It's nothing to do with "good" and "evil". It's only about power, and continuing the existence of the state by whatever means necessary. This tradition goes all the way back to Thucydides, who basically recorded that the “the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept [and] by conquering you we shall increase not only the size but the security of our empire – it is a general and necessary law of nature to rule whatever one can". Rousseau, Niebuhr, Edward Bernays, and various others all expound the same principles.
The only usage of the term "good" that you can probably use in this scenario is that the actions taken continue the existence of the state. Machiavelli even notes that "it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity – it will be found that something which looks like virtue, if followed, would be his ruin; whilst something else, which looks like vice, yet followed brings him security and prosperity.” "Good" and "evil" simply do not apply as most people would understand them; that's a moral code used for propaganda i.e. whatever we do is "good", while whatever they do is "evil". Lying, deception, torture, wars of aggression, ignoring human rights issues, etc. are not things that most people would endorse as being "good" in any shape or form, but in the realm of realism they are all legitimate means towards the one goal i.e. continuing the existence of the state.
This is one of the prime reasons that there exists a core contradiction in states: internally, its citizens are meant to uphold a strict moral code. Externally, as a collective, they engage in activities that very rarely, if ever, coincide with this moral code.
Parent
Re:wow (Score:4, Interesting)
every single president in the US or leader elsewhere has read that book.
I bet half the college students in the U.S. have read it, too. What's your point?
Parent
Ironic (Score:5, Informative)
Stripped of his position, and having been barred from holding any political office by the de' Medici, after a lifetime of public service, embittered, Machiavelli wrote "The Prince" basically saying: "if you want to grab, hold, and expand your political power," (adding under his breath, "like those de' Medici bastards,") he continued, "this is what you do..." (He could not insult them openly, he had already been imprisoned and tortured by them once, and I guess he wasn't "feeling strong" anymore.)
It was not meant literally! I guess the De Medici had the last laugh though, whether by their actions or not, Machiavelli's name is associated NOT with his own good and noble life's work, but with the behaviours and beliefs of those he most loathed and despised. For a better idea of what this great Renaissance figure really thought, try instead his "Discorsi sulla prima deca di Tito Livio", or "Discourses on the first ten books of Livy", (Titus Livius, Roman historian)
~ Hallux
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I read "The Prince", but it's not very useful for manipulation. It's more focused on diplomacy.
IMHO, the best one is "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie.
Much more practical than "The Prince", and it works !
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
>I>The point of this is that believe it or not, every single president in the US or leader elsewhere has read that book.
I choose not. As does any rational person. Go take your pills.
Re: (Score:2)
Point?
If you want to effectively fight fire employ fire. The world is full of complex issues and the better the guides you comprehend to navigate through those issues the more effective you will be. Whatever your purpose, it's raising the bar. That's progress.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
If you want to effectively fight fire employ fire... That's progress.
I'd recommend instead Aqueous Fire-Fighting Foam, Halon, water mists, Mars water bombers, and electronic-safe extinguishers, depending on the type, severity, and location of the fire.
Now THAT'S progress.
In terms of your analogy, which is what you really meant -- the people using fire can recognize fire and will take counter-measures. Come at them sideways, get them to fall into their own traps, and they won't see it coming.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The US doesn't rely on mercenaries to fight the wars. They are used as defense after the "war" was won.
The US military literally rolled over the Iraqi army twice. 1991's Desert Storm crushed the air and tank defenses of iraq. Something Iran spent 8 years trying to do, the armed forces of the USA did in weeks. So if oyu want something crushed, destroyed or captured the USA army is great. If you want a police force the USA is like using a nuclear warhead to take demo a single building. There are hundred
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
and: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122901896.html [washingtonpost.com]
and: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123025595706634 [wsj.com]
Re: (Score:2)
hehehehe (Score:3, Informative)
Now, if you are calling them criminal because of Iraq/Afghanistan, then nope. The real problem was not CIA. These were simply foot soldiers doing what they were ordered to by the highest level of the gov.
Re:PDF Torrent? (Score:4, Insightful)
Er... parent not insightful, unless one believes the summary implicitly. At the cost of $10.99 (plus shipping), I'm pretty sure they've mass produced this sucker, or else the info is absolutely worthless (*stage whisper* DO NOT SEEK THE TREASURE!).
One of the questions raised on the Amazon page is: shouldn't this material be public domain? It is owned by the US Government and any copyright would seem to have expired at this point, and moreover it seems like we should be able to get a copy for free under the FOIA.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Shouldn't one be able to believe the story summary? If not, why even bother having them?
And yes, unless its classified, it is in the American pubic domain on day one since it was paid for by US citizens. However that doesn't mean you cant sell a copy for the cost of 'printing', sort of like the GPL. Even the government often charges a 'reproduction fee' when you order documents directly.
Re:PDF Torrent? (Score:5, Informative)
> And yes, unless its classified, it is in the American pubic domain on day
> one since it was paid for by US citizens.
Not true. The government cannot enforce its copyright on "works for hire" where the government is the employer but it can enforce copyrights it acquires. Contractors also often retain copyright is works produced while performing a contract (the government usually acquires a nonexclusive license). The mere fact that a work was paid for by tax money does not put it in the public domain.
Parent
Re:PDF Torrent? (Score:5, Informative)
> One of the questions raised on the Amazon page is: shouldn't this material
> be public domain? It is owned by the US Government...
If the author wrote thing as a US Government employee then the goverment is the author and is not permitted to enforce its copyright. If he was acting as a contractor he is the author in which case he may still own the copyright.
> ...and any copyright would seem to have expired at this point...
Not yet.
> ...it seems like we should be able to get a copy for free under the FOIA.
The FOIA does not work the way you think it does.
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
I didn't much of it.
I almost a full of it though.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, 1 out of 4 reviewers has given it 2 stars. Two others gave it 4 stars and the last gave it 5 stars. Seems like the consensus is that's it's a cool read.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, 1 out of 4 reviewers has given it 2 stars. Two others gave it 4 stars and the last gave it 5 stars. Seems like the consensus is that's it's a cool read.
So... it was reviewed by Generals?
Re: (Score:2)
I believe "one copy" is a reference to the original copy, on which the published book is based.