Report: Amazon Lands Contract to House CIA Data

Here's something to think about as you cozy up to your Kindle Reader: Amazon may soon be a CIA contractor.

As reported originally in Federal Computer Weekly and picked up by the LA Times and The Christian Science Monitor, Amazon Web Services has landed a $600 million deal to provide a cloud-computing "solution" for the intelligence service The two entities may be a perfect match, as both share a penchant for secrecy and a lust for data. The CIA at least has to undergo Congressional oversight, something Amazon often dodges artfully.

Both Amazon and the CIA also prefer storing data indefinitely. The CIA's CIO, Gus Hunt, recently told a tech-heavy gathering in New York that "connecting the dots" in intelligence gathering required the CIA to "collect everything and hang on to it forever." Amazon's M.O. is essentially the same as the spooks' approach to everyday business, except that Big A's clients and prospects offer up their data without question. The CIA just takes.

For some time, the Obama Administration has been cozy with Amazon. The Obama re-election campaign's successful use of "big data" showed the president's awareness of this tool's scope and reach. For some time, I've wondered why the Department of Justice would go out of its way to conduct investigations whose principal commercial beneficiary was unquestionably Amazon.  Of course, Amazon has the data capacity to make many things happen, even for an institution with unique needs, such as the CIA. Perhaps the calculation was that it would be best to keep Big A happy, and keep it on your side. Maybe some top-secret data business could be "accommodated" by the secretive Seattle-based firm. (Keep in mind that Amazon chief Jeff Bezos' "Blue Origin" project is building a rocket for manned space flight.)

Oh yes, for the record, neither the CIA nor Amazon would comment to the media on the reported cloud-computing contract.

Olympic Committee Recommends Dropping Wrestling from 2020 Summer Games

You don't have to follow legitimate wrestling or the Olympic Games to cry "foul" over the International  Olympic Committee's (IOC) executive committee's recent recommendation to drop the sport from the 2020 Summer Games. That's right: the sport associated with the original, ancient Greek Olympics is going to be dumped. This action, and its indefensible rationale, has generated worldwide condemnation. The IOC managed to pin a truly worldwide sport to the mat of TV popularity and commercial endorsement.

Antique Greek Cup Showing Athletes
(photo: British Museum)

Wrestling's advocates in the United States have quickly published op-ed articles, interviews, and other publicity initiatives protesting the IOC's outrageous decision. A Bloomberg video segment with Fortress Investment Group principal Michael Novogratz articulates the case against the IOC's decision. Among the printed, high-profile opinion pieces was one former Secretary of Defense (and Princeton University wrestler) Donald Rumsfeld published in The Washington Post.

Rumsfeld mentions that his athletic activity helped develop his ways of thinking and his character. He has considerable company in that line of reasoning. When I was a pre-teen, I had what today are called "self-esteem" issues. I had just failed a junior life-saving program that, along with other disastrous life changes, brought my self-confidence down to zero. My father thought one way to reverse that trend was to take boxing lessons at a private, somewhat privileged neighborhood athletic club. However, one look at boxing and I wanted out. I thought my chances of getting slugged in the ring were far greater than any punishment I could deliver. Wrestling seemed a safer play.

The wrestling lessons were taught by the boxing instructor, a short man who could argue with either his wits or his fists. My usual opponent was an age peer who lived in the neighborhood, but didn't fit the prosperous area's demographic profile. He lived in an apartment above some shops. He was raised by a single mother and I believe went to public school. Both circumstances were unusual for a 7th grade Catholic kid in Forest Hills at that time. He was a better wrestler than I was, and he was quicker and stronger than I was.

There was a public competition at the athletic club; my usual nemesis and I were names on the wrestling card. This time, I beat the odds, mostly by using a defensive strategy. My opponent never really displayed what he could do, and I won. Did I feel good about the victory? No. I didn't really win as much as avoided defeat. Much more significantly, I felt badly for my opponent. The result clearly hammered his self-confidence. I felt guilty that happened. How would his life have changed had he performed as he had practiced? As a consequence of his defeat, was he destined to be trapped in a world where he always ended up on the wrong side of the tracks, the losing end of an argument, the runner-up in a two-person race?

Clarissa Mei Ling Chun
US Female Olympic Wrestler
Bronze Medal/London 2012 Olympic Games
(photo: Reuters, and shown in the Christian Science Monitor)

I realize people overcome disappointment, and that is as much character building (maybe even more so) as the cult of winning fosters. Meanwhile, the experiences and lessons from my brief encounter with wrestling have stayed with me for a lifetime. They have done so for others, from august American cabinet ministers to anonymous athletes from obscure nations. They have done so for centuries. Why the International Olympic Committee chose to drop wrestling from its 2020 Games defies common sense and global experience.

Hillary Abroad During Democratic Convention

Secretary of State Clinton during Cook Island visit.
(photo from Reuters, used in Christian Science Monitor story)

Hillary Rodham Clinton will not be attending the upcoming Democratic National Convention. Instead, the former First Lady will be overseas, representing the United States as its Secretary of State. Mrs. Clinton's choice of venues is revealing. According to The Washington Post, She'll be building relationships in nations such as the Cook Islands and Timor-Leste. These Pacific island destinations are as geographically far away from Charlotte, North Carolina, as possible. They are also, from a media standpoint, located in inconvenient time zones and lack any useful media infrastructure.

Clinton's trip assumes greater gravitas when she visits heavyweight contenders China and Russia. Those moments are likely to be dovetailed with President Obama's re-election campaign messages. Mitt Romney, meanwhile, may want to point out how the former corporate raider intends to follow through on his campaign threats to economically "punish" the world's largest holder of American government debt --China -- and resume a Cold War stance against strongman Vladimir Putin's commodity-rich nation. It's difficult to imagine Romney's message winning traction or respect in those two countries.

Of course, Hillary will bid official Washington au revoir in January. However, au revoir is not adieu. 2016 should be a very, very interesting political year.