Tangled

People have always peeked around corners to acquire information to further their cause. But it looks to me as if the Secret Service came first in the race to become an official  department of government. It was 1865 and we wanted to catch the paper money counterfeiters. Two years later we needed revenuers to get after the hill-country moonshiners.  Then came the Ku Klux Klan, smugglers, train robbers, etc.  It was 1930 before we realized that the SS (not to be confused with the murderous WWII Nazi Schutz Staffel ) should keep its eye on the President as well.  You’ve read a lot about that in the news lately.

It’s possible that their increased efficiency? results from being swallowed up by the DoHS in 2002 charged with securing the nation from the many threats we face. On their very public website they proudly boast that “This requires … more than 240,000 employees in jobs that range from aviation and border security to emergency response, from cybersecurity analyst to chemical facility inspector. Our duties are wide-ranging, but our goal is clear – keeping America safe.”

The Office of Strategic Services provided a decidedly critical function in acquiring information, safeguarding secrets, instigating misinformation to our enemies and disseminating propaganda for US consumption.  In 1947 after the Second World War President Truman gave those roles to the CIA. On Facebook they secretly say, “We are the Nation’s first line of defense. We accomplish what others cannot accomplish and go where others cannot go.”

My pet, the NSA , involves itself with cryptology in an attempt to keep the secrets from other nations while revealing theirs to us (cryptography and cryptanalysis).

The FBI, founded in 1908, would be hurt if we left them out. Their official site declares they are “the lead U.S counterterrorism agency and the lead U.S counterintelligence agency. It is the USA’s security service. The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime” including those on “Native American reservations”. That may be their only exclusive territory.

From playing Authors as a child I learned of Sir Walter Scott’s adroit admonition, “Oh! What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”  Our multi-lettered protectors may not have practiced their deception, but they are certainly Tangled. Think About It.

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