In response to last week’s frenzy about the disturbing language in the Army’s OPSEC guidelines - about which we’re still breathlessly awaiting a clarification to the “clarification” already made - the Army has sent the Federation of American Scientists a threatening missive arguably even more chilling than the OPSEC regulations at the heart of the matter.
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Internet geeks speak of the “hidden web”, the “invisible web”, or the deep web - the online content not indexed, or at least readily findable, by location aids like Google. The government is not immune from this problem, if you want to call it that - indeed, you could argue that a lot of the government’s material online is intentionally hidden from random, casual web-surfers like you and I.
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The following is excerpted from the beginning of an extraordinarily entertaining near-future science-fiction thriller:

It is now 2020, and the world economy is generally strong and stable with the exception of the U.S. and Latin America, which are in relative decline. Europe and the Pacific Rim have adopted the business model of increased liberalization that was previously more closely associated with the U.S., while the U.S. is muddling through with stagnant economic growth and heavy social burdens related to an aging population. With the stagnant economy and ever-ballooning entitlements, federal budgetary pressures are heavy and persistent. High levels of environmental deterioration, spread unevenly across the globe, affect economic stability. There is growing public concern about the state of the environment, but not enough to make the sacrifices in consumption required to mitigate the effects of global warming. The economic malaise here has generated even more problems to the South, resulting in increased illegal immigration from Mexico and Latin America. While the technology-driven U.S. Navy remains forward deployed in conflict areas vital to national interests, the biggest threats to our national security can be found on our own soil, in the guise of violent and erratic weather patterns, increased drug use and smuggling, crime and terrorism.

Prophetic, isn’t it?
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