Why does the media think John Pike is a "national security expert"?

Media and GlobalSecurity.org | January 17, 2001

[the Wayne]

I remember a few years back when this guy got his jollies by publishing the locations of classified government facilities on the internet. He thought he was so damned clever. Some of his observations were correct and some were ludicrous.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I guess that's the shotgun approach to "expertise."

[TADSLOS]

Just another left wing nut beaker freak.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Just another left wing nut beaker freak....who claims to have no ideological bent. What a load of Barbra Striesand.

[Brett66]

He's one of the many reasons I no longer watch network news. Anytime they have a story related to space/physics they robotically go to him. I would rather have someone like Robert Zubrin or Rick Tumlison commenting on space. The network's space related stories are always boring, trite and shallow.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The network's space related stories are always boring, trite and shallow.

The media is filled with lazy reporters eager to latch on to a "talking head" waiting in the wings to give a quick sound bite. When you think about it, if these "talking heads" had real jobs, they'd be busy somewhere else. The media has air time to fill and these types fill it. Accuracy and content doesn't matter to news readers. But it should matter to us, because Pike has an agenda.

[r9etb]

Based on my own experience, John Pike is very knowledgeable about some things, at least in his descriptions of hardware at the FAS website.

Where he falls down is in the practical application of his knowledge.

I first became aware of Pike back in the late '80s, when he was CNN's favorite commentator on NASA's DOD missions. Pike would smugly describe the payload ... and he would invariably be wrong.

I can confidently state that Mr. Pike would have avoided such errors if he'd simply bothered to read the latest issue of Aviation Week....

[r9etb]

I'm saying is, regardless of the liberal agenda the FAS has, if you can find a better, more comprehensive site for details of weapons systems than this, then I'd like to know about it.

They're right about a lot, but not everything -- especially in the "forum" parts.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I can confidently state that Mr. Pike would have avoided such errors if he'd simply bothered to read the latest issue of Aviation Week....

It would seem the bottom line is, you can't trust what the man says.

[r9etb]

It would seem the bottom line is, you can't trust what the man says.

Actually, it's that you can't trust his opinions at all, and that you should take his technical revelations with a grain of salt.

Of course, his whole agenda -- to expose secrets to the world -- looks like little more than a juvenile attempt to gain attention. And we must admit that he's a sharp enough to be pretty successful at it.

[Jonah Hex]

I can confidently state that Mr. Pike would have avoided such errors if he'd simply bothered to read the latest issue of Aviation Week....

Or, as we call it, Aviation Leak.

(smile)

You're right, though, you can get a lot of good info from that mag.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Actually, it's that you can't trust his opinions at all, and that you should take his technical revelations with a grain of salt.

So because he bills himself as "...Pike is widely noted for his ability to translate complex technical information into concise and pithy soundbites. He has consistently provided insight and understanding of world affairs, military, space and satellite technology to policy makers, the press and the public at large. " let the buy beware.

Of course, his whole agenda -- to expose secrets to the world -- looks like little more than a juvenile attempt to gain attention. And we must admit that he's a sharp enough to be pretty successful at it.

Washington Post Column on John Pike --Stone, a PhD mathematician from Stanford, acknowledged that his star staff member [Pike] attended Vanderbilt but never got a degree. "I view him as the Edwin Land of our community - Land never graduated from Harvard. He was a great genius, and he didn't have time for college," Stone said. "John didn't have time for anything that didn't interest him. As opposed to working on lost causes, John works on things that are ripe for media attention - and he's been far more successful at managing the media than any scientist at FAS."

[KC_for_Freedom]

No one is saying they are not comprehensive, what they have is a bias. They believe we spend too much on defense, and that the US does not have any enemies (except those we make with our mistaken policies). These "scientists" have expertise in their fields, but they publish something and it gets used to make a dis-armament arguement. It is muchlike bonefied scientists reporting on the environment only to have a "leftist" take the data and show that the sky is falling or the earth is warming and its all our fault.

Beware that these scientists may not have the latest classified data and that the programs that they think may not work may in fact be showing better performanc than they realize.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

No one is saying they are not comprehensive, what they have is a bias.

And this is the point. Pike's free to say what he will, but if he has have nothing to hide, why not be upfront about himself and his agenda?

I'd like the media to give their readers and viewers the credentials of their "experts" so we could weigh what they're saying and decide why they're saying it.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump for the evening crowd!

[JohnHuang2]

Thanks for the ping, Cincy

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Talk about a Left-wing disarmament wolf in a self-styled, "national security expert" cloaking device !

[Doctor Raoul]

He makes himself available on short notice. A boon to lazy producers.