*One of the first times we met I noticed a book on your table: "The
Prince" by Machiavelli. What have you learned about power in 10 years of
Wikileaks?*
"My conclusion is that most power structures are deeply incompetent,
staffed by people who don't really believe in their institutions and
that most power is the projection of the perception of power. And the
more secretively it works, the more incompetent it is, because secrecy
breeds incompetence, while openness breeds competence, because one can
see and can compare actions and see which one is more competent. To keep
up these appearances, institutional heads or political heads such as
presidents spend most of the time trying to walk in front of the train
and pretending that it is following them, but the direction is set by
the tracks and by the engine of the train. Understanding that means that
small and committed organisations can outmanoeuvre these institutional
dinosaurs, like the State Department, the NSA or the CIA".
So much for conspiracy theory....:-).
Anyone else got some good topical quotes they would like to submit to
cryptome mailing list...and why they liked them. I'd be interested to
see them
ATB
Dougie.