Early Warning

Defense Tech has tipped me off to an essential new blog by William Arkin, entitled Early Warning.

Arkin has just inaugurated a feature called "Code Name of the Week," which discusses top-secret government programs. Today's is called Granite Shadow:

Granite Shadow is yet another new Top Secret and compartmented operation related to the military’s extra-legal powers regarding weapons of mass destruction. It allows for emergency military operations in the United States without civilian supervision or control.....Granite Shadow posits domestic military operations, including intelligence collection and surveillance, unique rules of engagement regarding the use of lethal force, the use of experimental non-lethal weapons, and federal and military control of incident locations that are highly controversial and might border on the illegal.

Some of you may recall my earlier post on BushCo's apparent attempt to paint Arkin as a spy for Saddam Hussein, by means of that old standby, forged documents. A good number of Arkin's commenters, oddly enough, are similarly vicious and unprincipled. My favorite comment so far:

The sooner we hang you for treason, the better.

Arkin's a brave, patriotic man who's chosen an uncomfortable and dangerous line of work. I hope everyone who reads this will bookmark or blogroll him.