ValleyWag has gotten this terribly intriguing tip about the former general/CIA Director’s possible comeback. More intriguing still is speculation that he could be headed for the high-profile data mining company, Palantir. Continue reading… 

Osama bin Laden may have met his fate at the hands of military men. But it’s a lesser-known fact that, for more than a decade, many of the CIA officers who were tracking the terrorist leader were women. Indeed, for as long as the CIA has been in the business of finding the founder of al Qaeda, and eventually killing him, women have been leading much of the hunt. Some say it’s work to which they’re particularly well suited. Continue reading…

The important and probably irresolvable debate about torture in the new movie has overlooked what it gets right: Namely, that the intelligence business is painstaking, frustrating, and slow. More…

The retired general resigned today, admitting to an extra-marital affair. Who might be on the short list to replace him at Langley?

The government claims Mark Owen violated secrecy agreements in writing about the mission to kill Osama bin Laden. Here’s how the ex-SEAL can avoid jail time.

A former Navy Seal who took part in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden has written a first-hand account. Despite the author’s public statements to the contrary, the book is political, and that’s too bad. More here.

My op-ed in today’s New York Times looks at a decade of secret government surveillance and why we’re still powerless against it.

Could “total information awareness” have prevented the killings in Colorado? No. Here’s why.

Airbus, which lost out in a bitterly contested Air Force contract to rival Boeing, is building a $600 million assembly plant in Alabama. Here’s what it means for the military, and for a saga that won’t end.

Palantir Technologies, the Silicon Valley upstart-turned intelligence community darling, has hired Gavin Hood, formerly a liaison between British and American spy services. More here.