Military Intelligence Officer Interview (Blog)

[Savage]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

Military Intelligence Officer Interview

[Bradshaw]

Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. We're grateful. That was pretty interesting and I liked the answers the Major gave, especially the one about the conspiracy theories.

I have to say that the interview felt a bit... institutionalized. Perhaps this is because of the text medium. I do respect the mental order, discipline and emotional restraint that came across in the interview.

I did feel it was lacking a bit in the "oomph", "emotion" and "feeling" department. I was kind of waiting for the Major to really open his heart and openly discuss what he really felt about some of the deeper issues, but I suppose this wasn't really possible due to the circumstances.

Again, thanks for taking the time to do this.

[Fred Tracy]

It was pretty cool, I liked it. When I was reading it, I expected the Major to attack or be angry at some of the assertions made by people for some reason. I'm glad he didn't. He seemed like a real professional, and a smart dude too.

Also, the part about having to get clearance to release the article increased the cool factor by at least +20.

[pjhaggerty]

Steve

It feels like you pulled back in this interview.

Why no deep personal development questions? It would have been interesting to hear his take on some of the personal development issues. Especially things like setting goals and leadership. These are things that the military has a mystique around like everybody in the military is an amazing leader and good at setting goals and working towards them. I'd love to hear what kind of stuff they do if that reputation is deserved, and it would be equally interesting to hear that it is not deserved.

Perhaps this kind of thing was edited out?

Mainly it felt like you were scratching the surface during this interview, asking things that any reporter would have asked and getting pretty bland PR answers.

I'd love to hear any response you'd like to offer.

[cacheborn]

Interesting stuff. Felt like some of the answers were restrained and understandably so, what with all the clearance. Would have been interesting to know how much the intelligence image portrayed in movies etc. resembles real life.

Regarding issues like Iraq and Afghanistan, I think the military has operational role to play but they do not have much say in policies. And that's where the crux of the matter lies. IMO, it's unfortunate that the military has to follow the decisions made by politicians and put lives at stake, when most of the times the decisions themselves have been made based on personal agendas or pure whims. For instance, if we apply Ockham’s Razor to the theories of possible involvement of Iraq in 9/11, then the whole Iraq war was a colossal waste of innocent lives.

[Alstar]

Is torture a valid intelligence gathering method? To what degree is it currently employed? How effective is it?

No it is not valid. It is not practiced in the British, U.S. or allied militaries, nor is it condoned or supported. Nor, from what I’ve read of historical examples, can if be considered effective. More importantly, as a French official wrote when considering the use of torture in the Algerian war when ‘efficacy has become the sole justification…illegality has become justified’.

Really? I mean, did he really just try and pass that off as truthful?

[JSB]

Individual soldiers may practice torture, but if they do, they are doing so illegally and against US military policy.

Even the waterboarding practiced at Guantanamo (which many argue fits the definition of torture) was not implemented by military personnel, but by CIA contractors.

The US Army officially opposes torture because it's an ineffective means of interrogation; the victim will say whatever the torturer wants to hear, meaining the information is unreliable.

Torture isn't only immoral; it's also a stupid way to interrogate prisoners.

Originally Posted by Alstar

Really? I mean, did he really just try and pass that off as truthful?

[Elrond]

Originally Posted by pjhaggerty

It would have been interesting to hear his take on some of the personal development issues.

It's there.

[Andreas]

A very different kind of article this time, Steve. Thanks for the interview. And thanks especially for asking about his view on Afghanistan. I think the motivation around Afghanistan has become clouded as of late, and it was good hearing his view on it.

I agree with Bradshaw though, I wish you'd be able to dig a bit deeper and reveal more about how he felt about the military instead of just what he thought.

Too bad it wasn't an audio interview. Or, even better, a transcribed audio interview. Since he wanted to hide his identity, you could have recorded an audio interview and then transcribed it. Interviews come off WAY more alive that way. Thoughts for next time, I suppose.


This interview helped serve a great purpose though. I see it humanizing the military and reminding people that real people (imagine that!) work for our military. In that way, this interview was aligned with Oneness.

[Chizalia]

Reads like a press release or some only-kinda-subtle recruitment material. Not insightful and only mildly interesting.

[Cado]

Originally Posted by Chizalia

Reads like a press release or some only-kinda-subtle recruitment material. Not insightful and only mildly interesting.

Yeah, I'll be honest; I'm not terribly impressed.

[Jonathan Browne]

Um hell no.

Torture was expressly authorized by executive branch policy during the Bush years. This is fact, and not disputable.

The bush white houses legal team put together a flawed and illegal document to justify the so called legality of torture under the US constitution.

They even specified 11 different types of torture they felt they were legally justifiable to use.

This policy was then enacted by the US military chain of command.

I was in the military for a year. It is in fact very likely that you will go against your own ethics in the military.

You are not in anyway allowed to question or disobey orders.

I talked to people who had friends in military intelligence and it's known that the US military has done all sorts of totally unethical operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The wikileak scenario happened because of a soldier seeing the unethical nature of what was going on and feeling the need to expose it. It's not like he was paid to do that. In fact, the dude is in military prison being mentally tortured with rules not allowing him to exercise, sleep deprivation techniques etc.

The only reason the various people involved in drafting the torture orders and those carrying them out have not been prosecuted is because Obama and most of his team does not want to go into the past because it would be extremely dangerous politically.

Obamas choice for Attorney General, Eric Holder, has actually spoken out privately through various sources to the media about his frustration that he is not able to prosecute the Bush White House because of Obamas orders to hold back.

[MichaelAnthonyVet]

Honestly, man; I was in the Army for six years, I wasn't in intelligence, I just worked in a hospital, and I could have told you everything in this interview. Nothing groundbreaking that any military person doesn't know. From a military intelligence officer, I was expecting something groundbreaking. Something that would blow my socks off.

I was expecting something like the book 'Operation Dark Heart' - a book written by army intelligence officer Lt. Col Anthony Shaffer - a book that the military had to recall because there was too much classified information in there. (Anyone wanting to find out some real dirt from a military intelligence officer, look up Antony Shaffer.)

Not to diss the interview; but from a vet's standpoint, anyone could have told you what this guy did.

[Andrew Gubb]

Yeah, it sounded like he was saying what he had to say to not get fired. And pretty restrictive that was too. Unless he really thinks all this, in which case he must be happy due to a lack of internal conflict, but I think he can't be all that intelligent in that case.

Authoritarianism is a terrible disease. For a description of how a love-based military can work, read George Orwell's account "Homage To Catalonia".

[Andrew Gubb]

By the way, Steve, I was talking with my friend and we came to the conclusion that you must have been in the military in a good few past lives. Hence your focus on productivity, self discipline, and so on, and your attraction to the corporate arena.

I think I was a stay at home mom in most of my past lives

[Richful]

Really interesting interview I've been looking into Intelligence Careers lately and this little synchronicity was well timed.

Despite the criticism that the interview was 'watered down' I think the Major said what he was cleared to say and avoided personal speculation about issues he can't judge. Like the question about what will happen if the Military pulls out of Afghanistan... well he can't read the future (unlike practically everyone on this forum )... and giving a personal opinion about military matters is a quick route to retirement.

I think the Major hit the nail on the head when he said:

Many of the questions on the forum seemed to imply that there was a conflict between positive values and military service. I fundamentally disagree, and could not do my job if I did not think they were compatible.

Everyone has personal likes and dislikes about their work, if they fundamentally disagree with something it involves they can stop. He wouldn't be in that role (and talking to us about it) if he didn't believe in it's value.

Interesting indeed!

[Alstar]

Originally Posted by Richful

Everyone has personal likes and dislikes about their work, if they fundamentally disagree with something it involves they can stop.

Really? What happens when someone in the military refuses to follow an order? A few decades ago they'd be executed, I don't know if that's still true today but certainly you can't just "not do it" if something is going on in the military that you have a personal dislike to. Having positive values is meaningless if it hinges entirely on whether the orders you are given are positively progressive.

Originally Posted by Richful

He wouldn't be in that role (and talking to us about it) if he didn't believe in it's value.

The fallacy therein is that everyone who engages in warfare believes that they're doing the right thing. They have to believe that whether it's true or not (it usually isn't), morale > morality.

[Richful]

Originally Posted by Alstar

Really? What happens when someone in the military refuses to follow an order? A few decades ago they'd be executed, I don't know if that's still true today but certainly you can't just "not do it" if something is going on in the military that you have a personal dislike to. Having positive values is meaningless if it hinges entirely on whether the orders you are given are positively progressive.


The fallacy therein is that everyone who engages in warfare believes that they're doing the right thing. They have to believe that whether it's true or not (it usually isn't), morale > morality.

Execution is a pretty extreme response, care to name an example where US or British military personnel have been executed for not following orders in the last few decades, seriously.

Everyone has a choice, look at the "conscientious objection" that occurred during the latest Iraq conflict. There can be repercussions to refusing to do something, but the choice is always there. Military personnel usually have to serve a set term but they have the choice of going AWOL if they truly disagree with what they're being told to do. Choice can not be taken away from you and it was a choice to join and serve within the restrictions of the military system to begin with.

I'm not saying that the conflict in Afghanistan is right. It's too big an issue for me to judge. Perhaps the Major is deluding himself that his values match the Military's values to allow himself to do his job. Or maybe he's not, maybe - like he says - he believes military service includes positive values.

I was aware of the horrible things the Taliban was doing in Afghanistan before the World Trade Center attacks. It took American civilians dying before anything was done to help the Afghan people. I'm never in favour of war over diplomacy and reason, but I'm glad that Taliban control was stopped. The problem is they cut the head off the Hydra and now 3 are in it's place. So it's a fine mess.