MySpace for Spies (OMG!)

August 22nd, 2007 by Brian McDonough

That’s right, there’s going to be a MySpace for spies. And you thought getting an early invite to Gmail was a status symbol.

The U.S. intelligence community is going to launch “A-Space” before the end of the year, according to an article from the Financial Times:

The Director of National Intelligence will open the site to the entire intelligence community in December. The move is the latest part of an ongoing effort to transform the analytical business following the failure to detect the 9/11 terrorist attacks or find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
…
Underscoring the power of social-networking sites, the Central Intelligence Agency recently used Facebook to help boost applications for the national clandestine service.

Naturally, the arrival of the CIA and its related mystery agencies to the flashpoint technology of Web 2.0 will change the nature of intelligence work. Mostly, we think the quality of spelling in top secret reports will nose dive. and NSA operatives will totally be hooking up more. And promoting their garage bands. Oh, and everyone will want to have really famous foreign spies prominently in their friends lists. But most importantly, it’s only a matter of time before the spies of Generation Whatever-Letter-We’re-On display the same 4 am, Mountain Dew-addled humor of their lower-security-clearance brethren.

To wit: Where bored teenagers not doing their trig homework or surfing porn created LOLcats, bored spies not finding Osama bin Laden or surfing porn will need … LOLspies. Though crude even by LOLcats standards, Badmouth offers here a few pioneering efforts. We, whenever our boss wasn’t in eyeline of our monitor, furtively repurposed the Bond and Mission Impossible franchises. Actual spy hipsters will use less recognizable faces, such as Aldrich Ames and that Russian guy who got all radioactive. But in the spirit of verisimilitude, we took a shot at the official portrait of CIA director Michael Hayden. (If we don’t get fired by the end of the day, we’ll be in Guantanamo by the end of the week.)

Sexy fake spies are more fun, anyway. We think the real untapped potential is in appropriated Jennifer Garner pictures.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 at 1:58 pm and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

20 Responses to “MySpace for Spies (OMG!)”

1
Boing Boing: MySpace for Spies: A-Space Says:
August 22nd, 2007 at 4:29 pm
[...] MySpace for Spies: A-Space The Financial Times today reports on a planned social network for the U.S. intelligence community — a sort of MySpace for spooks, dubbed A-Space. Idle question: are users referred to as “a-holes”? Anyway, snip: The Director of National Intelligence will open the site to the entire intelligence community in December. The move is the latest part of an ongoing effort to transform the analytical business following the failure to detect the 9/11 terrorist attacks or find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. (…)Underscoring the power of social-networking sites, the Central Intelligence Agency recently used Facebook to help boost applications for the national clandestine service. Link to story. BoingBoing reader Brian McDonough says, “I immediately realized what the result of CIA agents adopting Facebook/MySpace culture would be: LOLspies!” Link. [...]
2
StumbleUpon » Your page is now on StumbleUpon! Says:
August 22nd, 2007 at 4:46 pm
[...] Your page is on StumbleUpon [...]
3
BoingBoing Says:
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:21 pm
[...] realized what the result of CIA agents adopting Facebook/MySpace culture would be: LOLspies!” Link. Panflute Flowchart Xeni Jardin: BoingBoing reader Anthony says, Since we’re on a flowchart [...]
4
Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things Says:
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:10 pm
MySpace for Spies: A-Space[IMG]The Financial Times today reports on a planned social network for the U.S. intelligence community — a sort of MySpace for spooks, dubbed A-Space. Idle question: are users referred to as “a-holes”? Anyway, snip:
5
Crunchy Says:
August 23rd, 2007 at 12:14 am
Xeni Jardin:[IMG]The Financial Times today reports on a planned social network for the U.S. intelligence community — a sort of MySpace for spooks, dubbed A-Space. Idle question: are users referred to as “a-holes”? Anyway, snip:
6
fresh wordpress installation Says:
August 23rd, 2007 at 12:17 am
Xeni Jardin:[IMG]The Financial Times today reports on a planned social network for the U.S. intelligence community — a sort of MySpace for spooks, dubbed A-Space. Idle question: are users referred to as “a-holes
7
rawdog Says:
August 23rd, 2007 at 12:35 am
[...] Xeni Jardin: The Financial Times today reports on a planned social network for the U.S. intelligence community — a sort of MySpace for spooks, dubbed A-Space. Idle question: are users referred to as “a-holes”? Anyway, snip: The Director of National Intelligence will open the site to the entire intelligence community in December. The move is the latest part of an ongoing effort to transform the analytical business following the failure to detect the 9/11 terrorist attacks or find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. (…)Underscoring the power of social-networking sites, the Central Intelligence Agency recently used Facebook to help boost applications for the national clandestine service. Link to story. BoingBoing reader Brian says, “I immediately realized what the result of CIA agents adopting Facebook/MySpace culture would be: LOLspies!” Link. [...]
8
news aggregator | Heterotopias Says:
August 23rd, 2007 at 12:55 am
recently used Facebook to help boost applications for the national clandestine service. Link to story. BoingBoing reader Brian McDonough says, “I immediately realized what the result of CIA agents adopting Facebook/MySpace culture would be: LOLspies!”Link.
9
Stuarts Blog » MySpace for Spies: A-Space Says:
August 23rd, 2007 at 3:46 am
[...] Link to story. BoingBoing reader Brian says, “I immediately realized what the result of CIA agents adopting Facebook/MySpace culture would be: LOLspies!” Link. [...]
10
News From My Friends Says:
August 23rd, 2007 at 3:49 am
[...] Aug. 22nd, 2007 at 7:14 PM boingboing_nethttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/147101516/myspace_for_spies_as.htmlhttp://www.boingboing.net/2007/08/22/myspace_for_spies_as.htmlXeni Jardin: The Financial Times today reports on a planned social network for the U.S. intelligence community — a sort of MySpace for spooks, dubbed A-Space. Idle question: are users referred to as “a-holes”? Anyway, snip: The Director of National Intelligence will open the site to the entire intelligence community in December. The move is the latest part of an ongoing effort to transform the analytical business following the failure to detect the 9/11 terrorist attacks or find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. (…)Underscoring the power of social-networking sites, the Central Intelligence Agency recently used Facebook to help boost applications for the national clandestine service. Link to story. BoingBoing reader Brian says, “I immediately realized what the result of CIA agents adopting Facebook/MySpace culture would be: LOLspies!” Link. [...]
11
Fellow Inaniacs on life's bizarre path Says:
August 23rd, 2007 at 4:44 am
12
he who listens, will hear the voices within. Says:
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:13 am
it seem
13
Friends Says:
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:36 am
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14
My Friends Says:
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:44 am
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15
Cbox Says:
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:20 pm
[...] Tag zale: gov’t setting up "myspace" for spies [link] which brings us to … LoLspies [link] do click on the small pix is worth it DJEd: Badger Stew Ziggy: Youre not fickle, were just jealous [...]
16
The Watchers Says:
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:32 pm
[...] you wonder how much more fucked up the world could get, but then you realize, things like this can happen; and realize that things could get A LOT more fucked up. Nothing bad can come of this, [...]
17
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August 24th, 2007 at 1:38 am
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18
15 december Says:
August 24th, 2007 at 4:00 am
MySpace for Spies (OMG!)
19
malibran's Friends Says:
August 24th, 2007 at 10:10 am
[...] you wonder how much more fucked up the world could get, but then you realize, things like this can happen; and realize that things could get A LOT more fucked up. Nothing bad can come of this, [...]
20
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December 13th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
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