The Intel/McAfee mystery and Charlie Rose...

I've been an Intel watcher from more than 25 years and I'm still trying to make sense of the McAfee deal in which Intel has offered an astounding $7.7 billion for the maker of anti-virus software.

I've been reading a lot of articles by people trying to make sense of the deal and haven't found anyone that has succeeded. Even Intel's top executives are surprised by Intel's sudden focus on security.

Take a look at this from Ars Technica: Why Intel bought McAfee

"At the most recent Intel R&D day, Intel CTO Justin Rattner did a Q&A session with the press in which he was asked something to the effect of, "What do you spend most of your time working on these days?" Rattner didn't hesitate in answering "security."

He then told an anecdote about how he was watching Intel CEO Paul Otellini being interviewed by Charlie Rose, and Otellini told Rose, "I've given our company a charter to make [security] job one." Rattner laughed and told us that this statement seemed to come from out of the blue, and it took him and other Intel execs by surprise. But from that day forward, Rattner was focused on security."

How is it that Mr. Rattner, one of Intel's top execs and in charge of its R&D Labs didn't know that the company's charter is to make security "job one." Charlie Rose knew it before anyone at Intel.

Mr. Rattner said that for him and his colleagues, this focus on security came as a surprise, it came out of the blue.

What's going on at Intel?