Been quite a bit in the news on whistle-blowers (not the newly invented ‘leakers’ a trigger word)  lately.  The NSA has been trashed by the Snowden leaks.  The CIA humiliated and damaged by the Wikileaks papers.  At one level this is journalism at it’s finest.  But if social sentiment turns to far against them this can go really really wrong.

It turns out a varient of Freud’s subconscious model id,ego,superego is also displayed in psychopaths narcissist, ASPD, and sociopath.  We are all most familiar with the ASPD stage.  They are popular villain, namely one who wears his disdain on his sleeve.  Up to thinly veiled (or unveiled) no good both in fictional and real world courtrooms.  Narcissists, while threatening to advance into an ASPD are strategically comical to the self aware, lost in a maze of their own image.  The real problem is sociopaths.

Sociopaths are usually intelligent, sometimes wealthy and well connected. Partly because it is so difficult to navigate the ASPD government trap that is the rule of law in the western world.  They have exited the gauntlet.  They know who they are and will never show you until the chips are down.  That is the nature of their logically constructed superego.  Their conscience construct or system of limits can be defined as ‘give away nothing.’

Law, and the police that follow it are powerless against them.  They just don’t have the tools, because often they don’t break the law.  When they do they make sure to cover their tracks with blackmail and mechanics so complicated that the court system can’t reconstruct it without a career change.  To them the world is a ripe crop of golden opportunities.  Companies, societies, and even whole countries built on trusting relationships are social engineering attacks waiting to happen.

Who can stop them?  Sometimes no one, or when it goes really wrong, society itself.  But sometimes, the right person, operating at their level of intelligence can throw a wrench in the just the right place, and stop their ghastly machines.

When the intelligence agencies are down on their luck, the sociopaths know it and are on the move.  Time for a little soul searching.  If your privacy is already dead (it is) who really benefits when the NSA gets shut down?  Even just for a minute.  Who can move in the open when the spys are staring at their shoes?  Not a condemnation, but certainly a suspicious consideration.

I’m sure best sociopaths can walk though the psychological exam stapled to their job application.  Such is the world of mirrors and smoke.  Every organization with meaningful power has them in the ranks.  But for every applicant with their own purpose 100 well meaning people who truly want to make society better apply.  Many will fail to crack the code, but some have the tools AND the talent.  The best spies are the only effective police for the sociopath.

Thanks to Michael Westens of the world.  You know who you are even if we don’t.  Without you society is lost.