ST05 : ENDEX

The SimTerror05 Exercise is now ended.

I hope you've found it as instructive reading the posts as I've found it writing them.

For what it's worth, I've got a new respect for the people running our side of the War on Terror, it's not as easy as it looks. And it looks damned hard.

The hardest part of this difficult task was never the "how do we nab the Enemy" bits, it was always "how far can we go and still remain within the bounds of ethics?". Australia ended up being a very different place under "my" regime, and one that frankly alarms me. The Road to Hell is paved with Good Intent.

One thing I think everybody can agree on : that it was a happy day for the country, and indeed the whole world, when I decided not to get into politics.

The Exercise ended with a number of issues still unresolved - but that's like reality too. Anyone who joined the Yahoo Simterror05 mailing list would have gotten some peeks of what went on behind the scenes, but even they didn't reveal everything.

A quote from Silent Running :

And to all the hard working guys and gals at GCHQ Cheltenham and the NSA boffins in Alexandria, VA who work with CARNIVORE to wade through the ECHELON intercepts of all internet traffic, we hope we haven't wasted your time too much, and maybe raised a smile as you read our imaginary plots and thought "Bloody amateurs, they should see some of the genuine stuff that crosses our desks. All their hair would turn white with shock and they wouldn't be able to fall asleep for a week".

I believe it. Thanks, guys, for doing a hard job that will remain unsung for a long time, and yet still managing to preserve the majority of our privacy and freedom of speech.