THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

LET ME REMIND YOU OF WHITAKER'S LAW OF EXPERTS | 2004-08-28

Whitaker's Law of Experts goes this way

1.) When there is a crisis in a given area, it is almost invariably because the experts in that area failed to see something they should have seen or didn't prepare for it or caused the crisis by just plain screwing up;

2.) So who does the government call in to solve the crisis?

3.) It calls in the experts, the experts who caused the crisis or let it happen.

In 1870 France fought Germany. The French Army was bigger than the German Army, but the German Army used speed and outflanked the French and totally defeated them

In 1914 France fought Germany. Much of the German Army was occupied on the Eastern Front, so the French Army was bigger than the German Army. The German Army used speed and outflanked the French and totally defeated them. Paris was saved by using its taxicabs.

In 1940 France fought Germany. France had massive defense preparations, but the German Army used speed and outflanked the French and totally defeated them

All this time, each generation of French military experts were training and giving promotions to the next generation of French military experts.

When 9/11 occurred, experts were consulted. The security agencies were called in to give their expert advice. Not one single security bureaucrat was reprimanded, much less fired. They all got more money and many of them got promoted because we needed more security experts because of 9/11.

One thing every security expert agrees on is that we shouldn't "play the blame game."

Now if the French defeats in 1870, 1914 and 1940 and the disaster of 9/11 didn't break the solid front of experts protecting experts, what do you think happens when the ones in the security agencies get to protect each other with the magic words, Top Secret?