Sunday, October 25, 2015

Connections


I recall a story from World War II about an American soldier who found a German cigarette butt near a combat zone; a seemingly meaningless find except the American intelligence officers knew that wasn't just any cigarette but instead was one used exclusively by a certain SS unit.

That story came to mind recently while reading an email. One small bit of information, mentioned as an aside, was combined with three other items that had been received from three other people to produce a very interesting and important piece of information.

Projects need information clearinghouses. Usually that is only one person but if diligent that individual can achieve a sense of what is known and not known.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

When the Germans set up a weather station in Greenland during WWII, they put American cigarette butts around to mislead anyone who found it.

Random fact.

Michael Wade said...

Nice touch.

I hope they had the good judgment to scatter Camels.

That brand was all I picked up when I was in the Army.

Michael