Snort

Joseph Cannon thinks I’m full of shit and down a pint in my posting on Dubai and the American ports, but wonders about the proposed acquisition by Israeli firm Check Point of the American computer security firm Sourcefire.  Sourcefire makes intrusion detection software known as ‘Snort’, which guards some classified U.S. military and intelligence computers.  Putting it in the hands of an Israeli company is tantamount to handing all these secrets to the Israeli generals on a silver platter.  Israel has what can only be described as an abominable record of misusing American secrets, from Pollard, to the most recent controversy over selling secret American  military technology to China (“Harpy” and “Phalcon” the the words to search, with the most recent incident quietly resolved), to the AIPAC scandal (not to mention the long history of neo-con treason against the United States), and you really have to wonder how far the ‘special relationship’ will stretch.  The difference between the ports and possible monitoring of the telephone system and intelligence computers is that everybody will know if something goes wrong at the ports – and will be quick to blame Dubai for it – while monitoring of secrets can take place for years without anyone having the slightest idea.