Many of you have probably seen Monday’s Washington Post article on the current state of our national intelligence infrastructure. Although I have yet to read the entire article, it is my understanding that the authors worked for two years, sifting through mountains of public-source documents to develop their conclusions. The main conclusions are that our country has invested billions of dollars in a huge buildup of intelligence infrastructure in the years since 9/11, but that much of this buildup has been executed inefficiently and ineffectively with much overlap, redundancy, and waste. I will read the complete article before I make my own conclusions, but I am very interested in what you think about it.

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Last Monday a group of us consisting of Paul Kouris, Mark Waldschmidt, our skipper Ron Arnold, Peter Economy, and I motored to Catalina on Solutions. It took us about 2 1/2 hours each way, with an average speed of 30 knots (34 miles per hour) and a top speed of 38 knots (44 miles per hour).
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It was a beautiful day on the island, and summer season is in full swing. It was sunny and warm in Avalon, quite different from cold and cloudy San Diego. We had a seafood lunch at Armstrong’s, then ice cream next door at Big Olaf’s. I went shopping at a store, Buoys and Gulls Menswear, where I bought a new short-sleeve shirt with a sailing design. I have included a YouTube video of the trip from San Diego to Avalon, and some photos. If you watch the video, you’ll see the tip of Point Loma, a submarine being towed by a Coast Guard ship, and our arrival at Avalon.

On Friday we rented a sailboat from Harbor Island Sailing Club. Robert Craig, Mark Waldschmidt, and I sailed in San Diego Bay, then tied up at the Bali Hai restaurant for lunch. I had the ahi, but skipped their mai-tais. It was a perfect day for a sail.

Sunday night’s big event was driving to Leucadia with Betty and others, where we attended a party at Victor Orphan’s house. Victor worked for me at General Atomics and at SAIC, and is an excellent researcher and salesman. Many former SAIC people attended and I had a great time catching up with everyone.

– Bob