I was surprised to see Old Jim scrutinizing the fine beverage section of the Willow’s formidable wine list- the one in the rugged leather binder. “Special occasion?” I asked as I slid into my customary stool. Jim is normally a strict Budweiser man. A vodka and tonic with lime appeared in front of me, as […]

We saw some tantalizing stuff that went back to the very beginning of the institution that now is NSA yesterday. The memo purported to demonstrate that some people were setting things up to become very powerful in the Secret World. They had almost three years to get ready for the time of peace. Here is […]

(Navy Department Building (“Main Navy”), Washington, D.C. View of the building’s central entrance, on Constitution Avenue NW, across from the foot of 18th Street in Washington, DC.) I told you yesterday about the memo, found in a search by a comrade through the dusty archives of the greatest conflict in human history. Until the next […]

I am not going to get to the sort of robust and fully-developed story that discerning readers have come to expect form the Daily Socotra. Instead, I will give you a preview of what our editorial staff is hard at work on right now for the week to come. The declassified SECRET document was annotated […]

There was a hell of a string going on about our days in the Fleet. Having achieved full Geezerhood, I had the time to react and reflect as some shipmates swapped sea-stories from our Fleet days. Vince said: “Reminds me of my squadron days. I had a great mentor: the VA-56 Leading Chief Petty Officer, […]

There is always a dynamic tension in communal living. I have seen it here at Big Pink, the place I have lived longer than any other in my life. I moved to the building in 2001, so that is fourteen years. The place is a condominium, so residency is relatively stable. It is diverse, to […]

(The Green Fairy- in fin de ciecle France, the five pm call to cocktails was called “The Green Hour.”) It was a fine, fine summer day that had just about everything in it- a high-tech demonstration of a internet search engine that seems to have the potential to change the whole nature of serious analysis […]

(Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta’s Official portrait. I lifted it off the Government server like everyone else does). I have been bustling around this morning. The dashboard on the Panzer has been yelling at me quite insistently about getting “AO” servie, whatever that might be, for the past couple weeks. I finally got […]

It is no secret that things are pretty slow in the business of providing all-source intelligence analysts to the Federal Government. It was a pretty hot business sector when there were two or three major wars going on, but now not so much. A lot of us who were in the business for several decades […]

I was on a roll yesterday and actually read a book to try to get ready to tour guide the Australian delegation down to Nebraska Avenue. Between that, and the interesting relationship between the Nebraska Avenue Complex and Arlington Hall Station just across Route 50 from Big Pink I was so saturated with World War […]