<story><title>The Last Diplomat</title><url>http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-last-diplomat-1480695454</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>tjic</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve got multiple thoughts about this story, but the biggest one is that Robin Raphel answered FBI questions for quite a while BEFORE thinking that she should get a lawyer.&lt;p&gt;For anyone who&amp;#x27;s not as politically connected as she is (say, if you&amp;#x27;re Martha Stewart, or - God help you - a mere mortal like any of us), this is a sure fire way to end up locked in a cage.  ...and make no mistake: if you read the article carefully, it&amp;#x27;s clear that the one thing that kept her out of jail is the fact that she was heavily connected to DC elites and worked a campaign of back-channel pressure.&lt;p&gt;Never, ever, EVER answer police or FBI questions.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>The Last Diplomat</title><url>http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-last-diplomat-1480695454</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>leodeid</author><text>That was a rather entertaining article, both for the story, but also for the subtext about the dangers of SIGINT-only intelligence gathering. The NSA hoovers up everything it can get automatically, but that data is used without context. In this story, the context of being a diplomat, the context of being in Pakistan, and the context of being conversational partners with a HUMINT source.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m sure the NSA is (at this point) aware of this problem, and trying to make the collected data more context-aware. I wonder to what extent the content of just phone calls, texts, emails, and facebook posts can be used to learn small-group dynamics. (Like the fact that the people of E-7 in the story consider talks of a Pakistani coup to be normal idle dinner talk.)</text></comment>