Loopy:

There has been a lot of chit-chat over whether Clarke was "in the loop" or not. This reminds us of when Bush Sr. claimed he was "out of the loop" vis-a-vis Iran-Contra. Our view is that the expression "out of the loop" is practically meaningless. It has no firm definition. Does it mean "not involved at all" or does it mean "not primarily involved" or does it mean "partially involved but not a decision-maker"?

It is far better to say things that have clear meaning , for example: "He was not part of the policy-making apparatus" or "He was the responsible agent for program X". Those things can be answered without reference to the subjective concept of "in the loop".

posted by Quiddity at 3/25/2004 04:19:00 PM