The CIA christmas ornament

On Friday, I finished the second of two sessions at StratGroup, a sort of CIA in-house think tank. It holds non-classified, open source seminars with academics and different experts on different kinds of possible future events and trends. I was involved with one on the future of transnational advocacy networks - networks of NGOs. A terrific small group of academics, from political science, network theory, and so on, trying to suggest where transnational network advocacy might go over the next twenty five years, and what factors might affect that. My thanks to all the people who participated - I certainly had my thinking stimulated.

But I must add that the CIA headquarters has the finest gift shop of any US government agency I've ever been in, including the Pentagon. Amazing for a building that is not open to the public for tours - you could buy not just sweatshirts and caps, but Waterford crystal with the CIA logo. And anything related to golf. So for my wife, who collects Christmas ornaments but who never reads this blog, I got a CIA Christmas ornament, which I'll give her when we put up the Christmas tree this year. And a hot pink CIA cap and bag for my kid.

Apropos of something Instapundit linked about undercover security, the sign at the checkout register said: "If you are undercover, do not use your credit card to pay for purchases!"