All this is plenty disturbing on its own, but in a sense it distracts from the larger question: is gleefully murdering civilians, journalists, and children a red flag of sorts? Is there any room in our criminal justice system for addressing such behavior? Is there any money to spare for a program aimed at training people to identify potential war criminals within the military and the government? Would it make sense to criminalize neglecting to report activity that might lead someone to suspect a fellow soldier as a potential rapist or war criminal?

To focus on one contrasting example, fewer than 5% of rapes within the military are reported, less that a third of those reported result in imprisonment, and the terms of imprisonment are generally quite short. The war crimes revealed by Bradley Manning and others have resulted in no charges being filed. The government's record on arresting, sometimes torturing, prosecuting, and convicting whistleblowers is much stronger. The quaint word "values" comes to mind.

Would it be threatening for me to suggest that a few million dollars should be spent training government employees in basic constitutional gurantees so that behavior which threatens to undermine the constitution may be reported promptly before too much damage is done? I would favor such a program even if it sometimes happened to help the underdog. (I can say this without fear of being reported only because I don't work for the FBI.) Obviously, the aim of Insider Threat is precisely the opposite of this: to nip in the bud attempts to reveal the ways in which the USG, in partnership with its corporate sponsors, has declared permanent war on the world, including most of its own citizens.

It is important to understand the forces at work, not through a paranoid lens but rather through an understandable human behavior lens.  I like the way Assange describes the process here.  He first reads from the screenplay of a movie purportedly about Assange and wikileaks to be released this November.  The film opens with a lie-filled scene claiming that Iran is close to developing nuclear weapons and would sell the technology.  He reads 2 or 3 lies embedded in the film, then goes on to say,

Ahmed Rashid has a new book out, Pakistan on the Brink:  The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

The following is from a blog post before the election: