My Life In The CIA

It's part of a writer's profession, as it's part of a spy's profession, to prey on the community to which he's attached, to take away information - often in secret - and to translate that into intelligence for his masters, whether it's his readership or his spy masters. - John le Carre

It has come to my attention in recent days that a certain percentage of my network have come to the conclusion that I belong to the CIA or some other covert organization.

They base this revelation on the nature of the projects I have participated on, the nature of segments of my network, the subjects I write about (especially my #1206 series) and my way of analyzing the world around me.

But it was a tweet by Newfoundland political activist Brad Cabana (@BradCabana) to a third party that made me realize that it was time to come clean regarding my background.

Here is the tweet.

As the impact of private and public accusations sinks in, I realize I can’t deny my past or present any longer.

With a heavy heart, I release this letter from my superiors.

Anyone who understands the file # at the bottom will appreciate that I have a sense of humor. :-)

In a world where social media, the news media (being an entertainment industry and not an information one) and Hollywood weave fantasies to relieve us of the pressures of reality for a little bit, too many people have trouble separating fantasy from reality.

Unfortunately, this disconnect between fantasy and reality also applies to many people when it comes to solving problems.

Reality: To get things done, coherent strategy built upon solid data matters. A little paranoia can be healthy.  Too much is a disaster.

The ability to use strategy, facts and data, fuelled by appropriate levels of passion and emotion (not excessive levels of either), will mean the difference between whether your objectives produce any positive, measurable results at all or whether you serve as an example to others (or a source of mild entertainment at your expense).

So to all those who try to move the world in the direction they believe is right by using taunts, intimidation, bullying or paranoia instead of service to others via appropriate, measurable strategy and appropriate, verifiable data , I have a warning for you.

You are about to be left behind.

You just don’t know it yet.

Or as Despair.Com notes:

As for my real background, I offer the following training film.

In service and servanthood,

██████████████████