Calling the Detectives, They’ve Got No Email

She pulls the eyes out with a face like a magnet
I don’t know how much more of this I can take
She’s filing her nails while they’re dragging the lake
— from “Watching the Detectives, by Elvis Costello (1977)

I’m less interested in the idea that U.S. intelligence officials have creating a MySpace for analysts — what tuneful thing will it be, covers of Elvis Costello’s “Watching the Detectives”? — than in the revelation that agents at the CIA can’t email or call people they want to.

“I am unable to send email, and even make secure phone calls, to a good portion of the Intel community from my desktop because of firewalls,” [CIA official Mike Wertheimer] says.

Lovely. Nothing like an intelligence agency so secretive and locked down that it can’t actually collect intelligence. It’s like, “I’d tell you what I want to know, but then I’d have to email you.”

[via FT]

Related posts:

1. Watching the Valentine’s Day Detectives
2. Elvis in San Diego
3. Dealing with Email Overload: Managing Email
4. The End of Email — Not!
5. This Email Will Self-Destruct in Four Months ….