It would be ideal if we could have an uncontrolled flow of information. But we realized you can't do that.
TIA was being used by real users, working on real data - foreign data. Data where privacy is not an issue.
And we had our own laws. I mean, I wrote them. And we had our own customs, and traditions, and proprieties.
The guy that just arranges things so that the stock market holds up is nobody in my - in my estimation.
If you want to grow old as a pilot, you've got to know when to push it, and when to back off.
In 1966, NASA took over in space, and it has been a bureaucratic mess ever since.
You can't always get someone where you want to with just sticks. There have to be some carrots, there have to be some other shaping things.
I go to readings by fiction writers like Alice Walker, and I'm envious of the level of attention they generate.
Slavery is, as an example of what white America has done, a constant reminder of what white America might do.
Just the minute the FBI begins making recommendations on what should be done with its information, it becomes a Gestapo.
Without any intended hubris, I've lead a pretty exciting life. What I've tried to do in Mission Compromised is draw on those experiences to create a sense of excitement and realism within the story.
America was magnificently characterized in November of 2008 when we elected, for the first time, an African-American President of the United States.
It took me a long time to get selected as an astronaut. In fact, I applied for 20 years before I was selected.
I was tortured fifteen times, that's total submission. They did that with shutting off your blood circulation with ropes, giving you claustrophobia and pain at the same time, bending you double.
Although Patterson Beams was not my first plug-in, I knew from the beginning that I would write it, because the single biggest time consuming factor for me was editing each beam manually.
Now, today is the day we honor, of course, the Presidents, ranging from George Washington, who couldn't tell a lie, to George Bush, who couldn't tell the truth, to Bill Clinton, who couldn't tell the difference.
George: Ready Fred? Fred: Ready George! George, Fred: Bottoms up! [they drink the ageing potion together]
Look what's happened to Barack Obama over the last two years or George Bush for eight. It's a blood sport. But at some point I may feel the need to run for office again.
Iraq and Afghanistan will, over time, become stable. But the War on Terror will continue long after Iraq and Afghanistan have had success in standing up their own governments.
What is needed now is a transformation of the major systems of production more profound than even the sweeping post-World War II changes in production technology.
I do not believe that the men who served in uniform in Vietnam have been given the credit they deserve. It was a difficult war against an unorthodox enemy.
