The WaPo and Cybersecurity

The Washington Post writer Mike DeBonis had a very interesting article on Trump and cyber security.  The problem was, it wasn't ... If the WaPo was in a hole during the election, why are you digging a deeper hole?  Do you believe by digging a deeper hole it will seem like you're not in a hole?  That if you repeat something enough it will be a fact??

Fact:  IT IS NOT conclusive that the Russians government hacked anything.  There is absolutely NO consensus on this statement.  0.  None.  Nope.  Nada.  And for Democrats to rally around this, shows just how political they have made our national security.  They are less interested in security and more interested in politics.  Sad.  They cannot be trusted with anything more than the keys to the local animal control office.  Even that is too political. 

Fact:  Someone hacked into the DNC.  Wikileaks says it was NOT a Russian.  The person who gave them the information may have actually been a Democrat.

Fact:  What other hacking has occurred, maybe have been done by a Russian, but trying to connect a hacker to Putin .... is a step you should be very careful of.  Do I think Putin a thoughtful and respectful man ... no.  He has ordered the assassination of a number of people or been involved in their murders.  But he is not a hacker.

So, the WaPo political piece starts off ....


"President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned whether critical computer networks can ever be protected from intruders, alarming cybersecurity experts who say his comments could upend more than a decade of national cybersecurity policy and put both government and private data at risk."


Nope.  Nada.  Not at all.

If I was president, I would provide a couple hundred million more for cyber security/hacking/spying, from my own private secret presidential account on top of everything else the cyber spying department already get.  I would support an increase in their budget of 10%, and hire anyone from anonymous and for that matter any other computer criminals in prison, to teach our intel people how to be the best.

But, I would also question whether critical computer networks can ever be protected from intruders ... AND I WOULD NOT BE UPENDING DECADES OF NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY AT ALL!

Wanker

Why?  Because it's true.  They can't.  For all the money we have spent, they can't ensure.  That's a FACT!

The writing and journalistic ability of at least three writers at the WaPo ... are no better than a college newspaper 'journalist'.  In fact, the student journalist has an excuse.

Hillary Emails #13,587

I suppose accusing Trump of some sort of connection to Russia and having the media chase that around, is ok.

Asking Hillary why she sent her daughter classified material via unsecured server - not ok.

Asking Hillary why she deleted the email to her daughter, a person who did not need to know, possessed no security clearance, containing classified material via an unsecured email server sent to an unsecured email server is also not ok.

Asking Trump about connections that don't exist versus asking Podesta about stocks in Russian companies, under his daughters name (she is at college) - is also not ok.

Asking Bill and Hillary about payments for speeches and or donations to the foundation from Russians, or from Russian companies is also not ok.

She should be indicted on the email to her daughter alone.  That should exclude her from ever having access to top secret material.  What a disgrace.

Her husband was being blackmailed by foreign governments who gained access to communications between he and females ... and he was willing to pay!

The family is a disgrace.  A crime syndicate.

Versus Trump - an egotistical asshole.

Oliver Stone on Obama and his intrusive surveillance state

Something I say quite often ... the Patriot Act and all that kindergarten stuff from the early 2000s -
Oliver Stone apparently, now agrees -

"Obama has managed to put together the most intensive surveillance state in the history of the world," the 'Snowden' director told THR while discussing his film at the Toronto Film Festival. "This is pretty frightening when you think about the implications." 

 

Hillary and Bill used to keep piles of files sitting around in the White House, on their enemies.  In fact, go back and check on this - about the time of the travelgate stuff.  Now imagine her with this control.

We know what she has done.  We know what she is like.

Federal Government: We can spy on you, even journalists

Just so we are all on the same page.  This did not occur under Bush.  This DID occur under Obama - you remember, the guy who made idiotic claims about Bush abuses and charges against the Attorney General under Bush, and how it would all be different under Obama.  You remember.  Well, it is a bit different.  In order for the abuse to have occured, the Attorney General HAD TO SIGN OFF ON THIS for it to have occured.

How is all that change working out for you, and your civil liberties?





Feds spy on reporter in leak probe

By: Josh Gerstein
Politico
February 24, 2011 11:06 PM EST



Federal investigators trying to find out who leaked information about a CIA attempt to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program obtained a New York Times reporter’s three private credit reports, examined his personal bank records and obtained information about his phone calls and travel, according to a new court filing.

The scope and intrusiveness of the government’s efforts to uncover reporter James Risen’s sources surfaced Thursday in the criminal case of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer facing federal criminal charges for allegedly disclosing classified information. Sterling is accused of giving Risen details about what Risen describes as the CIA’s plan to give Iran faulty nuclear blueprints, hoping to temporarily thwart the regime’s ambitions to build an atomic bomb.

In a motion filed in federal court in Alexandria, Sterling’s defense lawyers, Ed MacMahon Jr. and Barry Pollack, reveal that the prosecution has turned over “various telephone records showing calls made by the author James Risen. It has provided three credit reports—Equifax, TransUnion and Experian—for Mr. Risen. It has produced Mr. Risen’s credit card and bank records and certain records of his airline travel.”

The revelation alarmed First Amendment advocates, particularly in light of Justice Department rules requiring the attorney general to sign off on subpoenas directed to members of the media and on requests for their phone records. And Risen told POLITICO that the disclosures, while not shocking, made him feel “like a target of spying.”

“We’ve argued that I was a victim of harassment by the government. This seems to bolster that,” Risen said. “Maybe I should ask them what my credit score is.”

Sterling’s attorneys and a Justice Department spokeswoman declined POLITICO’s request for comment.

The government’s interest in Risen’s sources for his 2006 book, “State of War,” has been known since 2008. In particular, investigators have zeroed in on a chapter which details what Risen describes as a botched CIA effort to trip up Iran’s nuclear program. The scheme involved using a Russian defector to deliver the faulty blueprints to the Iranians, but the defector blew the CIA’s plot by alerting the Iranians to the flaws — negating the value of the program, and perhaps even advancing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Risen was twice subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury to testify about his sources, but the first grand jury dissolved before a judge acted on Risen’s motion to quash the subpoena. Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema sided with Risen and quashed the second subpoena, though details of her reasoning haven’t been made public.

Soon after that decision, Sterling was indicted.

First Amendment advocates said the Justice Department’s use of business records to find out about Risen’s sources was troubling. Those records, they argue, could potentially expose a wide array of Risen’s sources and confidential contacts — information that might fall beyond the initial investigation that led to Sterling’s indictment.

“To me, in many ways, it’s worse than a direct subpoena,” said Jane Kirtley, a University of Minnesota law professor and former director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “Third-party subpoenas are really, really invidious…. Even if it is targeted, even if they’re trying to just look at the relevant stuff, they’re inevitably going to get material that exposes other things.”

Kirtley also said journalists often aren’t notified when the government asks telecom companies, banks or other service providers for their records.

Asked how journalists could credibly complain about such techniques when most also refuse more direct demands for information about their sources, Kirtley said reporters who become the focus of determined investigators face a “Hobson’s choice.”

“It’s the same thing as if the cops go to someone’s office with a search warrant and say, ‘Give us the information we want and we won’t tear the place apart,’” she said. “If you say ‘tear the place apart,’ all kinds of confidential information that you don’t think the police should have is going to end up in their hands.”

Lawyers tracking the case believed that both former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who was part of the Bush administration, and current Attorney General Eric Holder gave the go-ahead to subpoena Risen. Under Justice Department rules, the attorney general must approve a subpoena for a journalist and grant permission to obtain “telephone toll records of a member of the news media.”

It’s unclear whether the records investigators obtained about Risen’s phone calls came from his billing records or from records of incoming calls to Sterling or others. The Justice Department guidelines for investigations affecting journalists don’t appear to address travel, bank or credit card records.

Risen said the government never notified him that they were seeking his phone records. But he said he got an inkling in 2008 that investigators had collected some information about his calls.

“We heard from several people who had been forced to testify to the grand jury that prosecutors had shown them phone records between me and those people—not the content of calls but the records of calls,” he said. “As a result of what they told us, my lawyers filed a motion with the court as asking how the Justice Department got these phone records and whether or not they had gotten my phone records.”

“We wanted the court to help us decide whether they had abided by the attorney general’s guidelines,” Risen said. “We never got an answer from the court or the government.”

The new defense filings also offer the first official confirmation that Risen’s work was the focus of the investigation that led to the charges against Sterling. In addition to the phone, travel and financial records, Sterling’s defense said the prosecution handed over a copy of the cover of Risen’s book along with receipts and shipping records showing it was sold in Virginia.

While those familiar with the case immediately concluded that Sterling was a source for Risen, the journalist who got classified information from Sterling was referred to simply as “Author A” in the indictment, and was not named. Justice Department policy generally bars naming unindicted individuals in an indictment.

From 2004 to 2006, the New York Times fought a court battle to keep federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald from obtaining the telephone records of Times reporters Judith Miller and Philip Shenon. Fitzgerald wanted the information to help find out who leaked information that tipped off Islamic charities about federal raids on their offices.

A district judge ruled in the Times’ favor, but a federal appellate court overturned that decision. Fitzgerald ultimately obtained the records when the Supreme Court declined to step in; no one was ever charged for the leak.

Sterling’s indictment suggests that Risen urged the Times to publish details about the CIA’s attempt to stop Iran’s nuclear program, but Times editors declined after senior U.S. government officials warned that the disclosure could harm national security and endanger the life of the Russian intermediary. The information later appeared in Risen’s book.

The new details about the FBI’s investigation of Risen came in a motion that called on the government to provide more details about what specific information Sterling allegedly disclosed. Sterling's lawyers also filed a series of other motions challenging several counts of the indictment as duplicative. Some also sought to punish Sterling for acts he did not commit, such as Risen’s publication of the book, the defense argued.





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
obama

Let them eat Cupcakes: MI6 attacks Al Qaida with Cupcakes

MI6 attacks al-Qaeda in 'Operation Cupcake'


British intelligence has hacked into an al-Qaeda online magazine and replaced bomb-making instructions with a recipe for cupcakes.




By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
7:16PM BST 02 Jun 2011
The Telegraph


The cyber-warfare operation was launched by MI6 and GCHQ in an attempt to disrupt efforts by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular to recruit “lone-wolf” terrorists with a new English-language magazine, the Daily Telegraph understands.

When followers tried to download the 67-page colour magazine, instead of instructions about how to “Make a bomb in the Kitchen of your Mom” by “The AQ Chef” they were greeted with garbled computer code.

The code, which had been inserted into the original magazine by the British intelligence hackers, was actually a web page of recipes for “The Best Cupcakes in America” published by the Ellen DeGeneres chat show.

Written by Dulcy Israel and produced by Main Street Cupcakes in Hudson, Ohio, it said “the little cupcake is big again” adding: “Self-contained and satisfying, it summons memories of childhood even as it's updated for today’s sweet-toothed hipsters.”

It included a recipe for the Mojito Cupcake – “made of white rum cake and draped in vanilla buttercream”- and the Rocky Road Cupcake – “warning: sugar rush ahead!”

By contrast, the original magazine featured a recipe showing how to make a lethal pipe bomb using sugar, match heads and a miniature lightbulb, attached to a timer.

The cyber attack also removed articles by Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and a piece called “What to expect in Jihad.”

British and US intelligence planned separate attacks after learning that the magazine was about to be issued in June last year.

They have both developed a variety of cyber-weapons such as computer viruses, to use against both enemy states and terrorists.

A Pentagon operation, backed by Gen Keith Alexander, the head of US Cyber Command, was blocked by the CIA which argued that it would expose sources and methods and disrupt an important source of intelligence, according to a report in America.

However the Daily Telegraph understands an operation was launched from Britain instead.

Al-Qaeda was able to reissue the magazine two weeks later and has gone on to produce four further editions but one source said British intelligence was continuing to target online outlets publishing the magazine because it is viewed as such a powerful propaganda tool.

The magazine is produced by the radical preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, one of the leaders of AQAP who has lived in Britain and the US, and his associate Samir Khan from North Carolina.

Both men who are thought to be in Yemen, have associated with radicals connected to Rajib Karim, a British resident jailed for 30 years in March for plotting to smuggle a bomb onto a trans-Atlantic aircraft.

At the time Inspire was launched, US government officials said “the packaging of this magazine may be slick, but the contents are as vile as the authors.”

Bruce Reidel, a former CIA analyst said it was “clearly intended for the aspiring jihadist in the US or UK who may be the next Fort Hood murderer or Times Square bomber.”

In recent days AQAP fighters have capitalised on chaos in Yemen, as the country teeters on the brink of civil war.

Tribal forces marching towards the capital, Sana'a, clashed with troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh for a third day running yesterday.

China: Sinister by any name

We can attribute stealing passwords to those Nigerian 419 Scams - come save me, I'm stuck in.  Or perhaps it is the 'you just won a billion dollars in a lotto your great grandfathers 3rd cousin bought a ticket for you to play, and you did, and won' ... but those attempts are stupid.  While they suck away money from people who are neither bright nor deserving of whatever money they have, these sorts of attacks and others emanating from Russia, are far more sinister and dangerous.

Christopher McNally, a fellow and political economist stated that “a lot of this goes on internationally," and  “in most situations, it’s certain rogue organizations or even individuals that are doing it for profit.”   In China one does not access the internet unless the government has approved you to own a mouse and a computer, an apartment to live in from which to access the internet.  You must be extra special to access the internet from your abode, and to access the real WWW and not the WWW the Chinese government created for their educated masses, requires you to be among the elite - and from all of these people, all 50,000 of the billion possible, maybe 2,000 have the technical expertise to hack and they all work for the Chinese government.









Google Suspects China in Passwords Incident



By Douglas MacMillan and Brian Womack
Jun 1, 2011


Google Inc. (GOOG), owner of the world’s most popular search engine, said hackers tried to steal passwords from hundreds of Gmail users, targeting the accounts of government officials in the U.S. and Asia.

The campaign, which appears to have originated in Jinan, China, probably used a so-called phishing scam to collect passwords with the goal of monitoring e-mail content, Eric Grosse, engineering director on the Google Security Team, said in a blog post today. The company said it detected and disrupted the campaign, secured users’ accounts and notified authorities.

“We believe that being open about these security issues helps users better protect their information online,” Grosse said on the blog.

The campaign against Gmail users comes amid growing concern about network security, prompted by recent cyber attacks against Sony Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. Google said last year it was the victim of attacks against its systems that originated in China and focused on human-rights activists’ accounts. Google said it was no longer willing to censor search results in China, and then started redirecting users there to its Hong Kong service.

“A lot of this goes on internationally,” said Christopher McNally, a fellow and political economist at the East-West Center in Honolulu. “In most situations, it’s certain rogue organizations or even individuals that are doing it for profit.”

In the recent case, Google’s internal systems weren’t affected, and the attempts didn’t involve a security problem with Gmail, Grosse said.

Tricking Users

Phishing scams typically involve tricking users into sharing passwords that can then be used to obtain information. While most of these kinds of attacks aren’t very targeted, these “hijackings” went after senior U.S. government officials, Chinese political activists, officials in several Asian countries, military personnel and journalists.

Users should protect themselves by adopting such safeguards as multistep verifications for their accounts, strong passwords and checking for suspicious forwarding addresses, Grosse said.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, fell $3.42 to $525.60 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares have declined 12 percent this year.










Cina

Obama and Bush

I remember, quite well, the litany of charges brought by the left-fringe of the Democratic party - Bush was violating the laws of foreign countries by our actions abroad, whether secret prisons existing in foreign countries without the permission of the local governments.  This part of the claim included our ignoring the laws of foreign countries as we forced our will upon all nations in the search for terrorists.

Obama was going to be different.  He was going to respect people and countries.  Rebuild relations.

Thank you Mr. President, for carrying on all the Bush policies, for allowing intelligence agents to build on the  groundwork Bush laid for the United States in 2001.  Thank you Mr. President for pursuing terrorists wherever they may hide, as Bush told the world we would do.

Thank you for continuing the Bush Doctrine, even if you call it something else.




US ran 'secret terror hunt' in Sweden: report





23 May 11 11:56 CET


US intelligence agents have staked out suspected "terrorists" in Sweden, without the authorisation of the government there, the online edition of a Swedish daily reported Sunday.

Sweden's intelligence service Säpo discovered in 2009 that two Americans were conducting illegal, under-cover investigations in Sweden, the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) daily reported.

The two men were discovered when Säpo noticed them tracking people who it was also investigating for suspected ties to terrorist groups, the paper said, quoting several unnamed sources close to Säpo.

Washington had not informed Swedish authorities of the agents' activities in the country, and soon after their activities were discovered, the two US citizens left the country, the paper added.

Referring to Washington's failure to inform Pakistan before it tracked and killed Osama bin Laden three weeks ago, Svenska Dagladet insisted "the US has also carried out intelligence against terrorists on Swedish territory.

"Sweden has thus become the scene of a foreign power's terror hunt without the knowledge of the Swedish government," it said.

Säpo could not be reached late Sunday. Head of the agency Anders Danielsson refused to comment when confronted by the paper.

Following the report, US embassy spokesperson Christopher Dunnett stressed the importance of cooperation between the United States and Sweden.

"We have excellent cooperation with Swedish authorities in a several areas, including anti-terror activities," he told the TT news agency on Monday morning.

He refused to elaborate, however, on the allegations of unauthorised spying.

"We don't comment on security issues in detail," he said.

Neither justice minister Beatrice Ask nor foreign minister Carl Bildt were willing to comment on the matter Sunday night.

Speaking on Monday, prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said he wasn't aware of the details surrounding the US agents' alleged activities in Sweden.

"I don't want to speculate on information in the media because we have very independent agencies in Sweden which operate in their respective areas of responsibility," he told TT.

"I want to note that in this case the responsible agency hasn't confirmed or denied (the report)."

Reinfeldt didn't expect to pursue the matter further and emphasised that Sweden has a solid and close cooperation with the United States.

If the report about the unauthorised US spying is true, it amounts to a serious allegation, according intelligence expert professor Wilhelm Agrell.

"There's no support for this in international law. What's problematic is running an operation like this without going through the Swedish authorities," he told the TT news agency.

According to Agrell, it's more common for "less friendly states" to carry out unauthorised intelligence activities against exile groups, for example.

At the same time, he's not surprised that the United States would do the same thing.

"It's been common practice for the Americans since September 11th, 2001 to carry out operations both with and without consent from the country where the operation takes place," he said.

Legal scholar Dennis Töllborg said it was "incredibly strange" that the CIA reportedly chose not to follow normal procedures by allowing Säpo to conduct surveillance on the suspected terrorists.

However, he doesn't think that the CIA's alleged decision to go behind Säpo's back indicates that the US spy agency lacks confidence in agents from its Swedish counterpart.

"I believe more that after 9/11, the CIA has given itself rights which don't have any limits at all, here and everywhere," he told TT.

Töllborg added that he doubts the incident has damaged CIA-Säpo relations, but more that it amounts to an embarrassment for the Americans.

The new revelations cover operations different from the US embassy's Surveillance Detection Unit (SDU) which was the focus of an investigation by Sweden's top prosecutor after reports surfaced in the media suggesting that the unit may have engaged in unlawful intelligence gathering.

However, prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand dropped the probe in early April because he was unable to gather sufficient evidence to substantiate the allegations.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
obama

Julian Assange: To Rape or Not

Men can be many things, but most males would never force a woman to have sex - most especially against her will.  Julian Assange did NOT rape those women or any women.  He is not a rapist.  The women should be brought up on charges of filing a false police report, and given the maliciousness of the effort by these women - slander, libel, and theft - taking from him money he would otherwise have earned but for this smear attack, he is unable to satisfy those business agreements.  They took from him, they lied, and he was forced to flee and hide like a common criminal.  An apology is not enough - the women should be charged criminally and prosecuted.

This guy does not need to force anyone to have sex with him, women line up.  It is absurd on so many levels - yet the judicial offices in Sweden and the UK fell all over themselves lining up charges against Julian.  Bad bad bad.

Their intent is important in determining the ultimate disposition of Julian Assange and these two liars who accused him.  What was their intent - and that is clear by what has been done to Assange:  malign his reputation, cause him pain and suffering, loss of income, humiliation, vast expenses to defend himself against unlawful charges.  Their intention was clear.

Julian Assange opened a can of worms with his 'wikileaks' - he exposed the intent of the Obama administration, he exposed the truth about 2.5 years of double-speak from the Obamessiah.  He said one thing 'when I get elected I will send former presidents on a world tour to let the world know we are back, we want to rebuild relations, develop new relations, and mend fences' (or something very very close).  Obama never had that intention - he was manipulating and telling lies from day one and Assange exposes the dirty secrets in the US arsenal of lies. 

Transparency.

Julian Assange did not rape those women.  He went to the land of long, dark winters, Greta Garbo, and IKEA, to give a speech on some insipidly idiotic topic.  He was paid to go, and provided a place to stay and transportation - it happened that he stayed with one of those idiotic Swedes who are enablers - she loved the idea of being fucked by a man of passion and openness and tolerance, a man who sought "an interaction (that) would produce an interesting friendship."  He simply needed a place to stay and a body to fuck, and that is basically his opinion of women (makes me wonder about that mother of his) and each of the women obliged.  He never said he was going to have anything more to do with her than some "well intentioned amusement".    He never told her he was interested in her "messy reality" - and he moved on to another city and another woman he fucked and immediately left, as he should - he was finished in that city and only needed her for the night, and off he went, back to Stockholm, to spend another night or two with the first female, before returning to his rock. 

It is only because these pathetic women just can't understand - he never promised you a rose garden, he just wanted to fuck you like an animal (NIN) and leave.  Isn't that what men do - spread their DNA everywhere they possibly can.  It is genetic, we have a need, and it isn't simply sexual - it is biological, we have no control.  And comes the 2nd female, upset Assange did not offer her loving words and kisses, and she retaliates by calling the first female and telling her, and then both women, scorned - go to the police.

Assange is entitled to go from bed to bed - he never forced or demanded anyone have sex with him - they wanted him and he simply obliged.  What is a man to do.  How can he be expected to restrain himself when it is biological?  No promises were made, no assurances while banging her head against the bedboard or under the pillow.  He did nothing wrong, but bring some light to their dark world.  He gave of himself, the man who brings light to dark places - transparency.  The intent of the two women is clear - revenge.

But if the intent of the women is clear, is not intention also relevant when considering why Assange exposed all the top secret cables he did?  It is most certainly not to end an unjust war - for 198,000 cables had nothing to do with war of any kind.  Most were far more prurient in their revelations.  They dealt with FARC and Venezuela, Gordon Brown and whether he was an idiot, members of Parliament and their rentboys, an over eager Royal who won't shut his mouth and treats people like they are cardboard.  The cables reveal a dark side to the Obama administration - spyng on people, finding out personal details and having embassy staff follow up on mistresses and misters.  Not unlike Assange informing one female he wanted to fuck, that he knew her car license plate, secured her phone number from some unknown source, and otherwise seemed to secure all types of secret data on her personal life - to be used by him to impress her or otherwise get in her pants.   His intention was clear also - use whatever means to accomplish his goal.

In his case, to fuck the 19 year old.  Ok in all our books because it is an adult relationship.

The US uses all information at its disposal to secure a goal - the US determines as national security, just as Julian Assange would be the judge of whether or not he raped the women, for their involvement is not relevant, just his intent, and who better to determine intent than Julian Assange.  It is with no less ability that Assange determines the intention of the US government through the cables he has in his possession, and who better to decide what is and is not critical to security than a man who seeks transparency, openness.

So if 198,000 cables have nothing to do with the war, then what is the intent of Julian Assange - when he decides what is and is not relevant, what is and is not transparent ... what is his intent.  Unfortunately for his defenders - the criminal, the rapist, the murderer does not get to decide intent.  The law does.  A jury does. 

He is a criminal - the release of the cables have led and will lead to the deaths of scores of people around the world - including some CIA assets or perhaps CIA agents (remember the apoplexy of the left regarding Valerie Plame - a non-agent who was as unimportant as a hang nail - oh, Cheney or Bush or ... they put the lives of agents at risk and ...) ... Assange has most certainly caused the deaths of agents already or will be the cause soon enough.  Intent. 

He is a liar - he claimed his interest was to end unjust wars, but he releases stuff about sex partners and petty worries, marriage issues, and other insipidly idiotic meanderings.  He released the material to hurt the US government and to make himself relevant.  Intent.

Rapist - it is a crime in those enlightened countries to have sex with women and do so under false pretenses, that is, to hide your intention (I just want to fuck you like an animal and then leave).  Valid or not, those enlightened countries do believe that a valid use of their laws (unlike Switzerland  where the Parliament is voting to abolish laws against incest). 

Murderer - he will be an accomplice to murder or is now, as a result of the revelations.  Not 1st degree, not even close - but negligence for sure.

Intent.

It is not for Julian Assange to decide what is worth being exposed and what not, who can and who can't be played with ... what the US government does and has been shown to do, is absolutely NO different than anything all the others do - which is why we must.  For the others are not bound by the strict sets of laws we have - they are bound by whatever their Parliaments may deem to be legal or not at the time.

Julian Assange is a criminal and needs to be tried and if found guilty - put away for a long long time.



















wikileaks

Al Qaida: Making Moves Again

The Daily Telegraph
October 30, 2010
By Richard Edwards, Duncan Gardham and Gordon Rayner


MI6 tip-off foils al-Qaeda ink cartridge bomb plot



AN INTERNATIONAL terrorist alert over an al-Qaeda parcel bomb plot was triggered yesterday following the discovery of a package containing explosive material at a British airport.


Police load a parcel removed from a UPS container at East Midlands airport on to a helicopter. It contained a suspicious device, inset

The plot — described as a “credible threat” originating in Yemen — was uncovered by MI6 after a tip-off to one of its officers based in the Middle East.

Last night, airports in the United States were on high alert after parcels containing explosive material, and addressed to synagogues in Chicago, were discovered on cargo aircraft at East Midlands airport and in Dubai.

The “sinister” parcel at East Midlands, which was found in a UPS container, comprised what police described as a “manipulated” computer printer cartridge that was covered in white powder and had wires protruding from it.

The device initially tested negative for traces of explosives but it was understood that a further search uncovered a second suspect package containing a “cleverly hidden” device in a printer, which included a mobile phone as one of its components.

There were reports that up to 20 similar suspect packages had been sent from Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, targeting synagogues in the US.



Last night, President Barack Obama said: “Initial examination of these packages has determined that they do apparently contain explosive material.”

He said the authorities were investigating a “credible terrorist threat” against America.

But while Mr Obama praised the actions of intelligence agents, there were question marks over the response of British police, who missed the explosives during their initial search, carried out by officers from Leicestershire.

It was only after explosives were found in the device discovered in Dubai that the second search uncovered explosives and specialist officers from the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism command took over the investigation.

The confusion meant that it was not until 4pm that David Cameron was briefed, more than 12 hours after the initial find and more than 18 hours after Mr Obama had been informed about the threat.

Sources in the US said that the devices had tested positive for PETN, the same explosive as that used by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the al-Qaeda terrorist caught trying to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear on a flight to Detroit last Christmas.

Significantly, Abdulmutallab said he had been trained in Yemen, and US officials said the Yemeni-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) would be at the top of the list of suspects if any terrorism links were confirmed.

John Brennan, Mr Obama’s national security adviser, said the devices were “intended to do harm” but would not speculate on “how much damage they could do”.

Mr Obama ordered a security clampdown across the US after the discovery of the parcel at East Midlands airport. Aircraft were grounded in Philadelphia and New York to be searched for possible devices, but no others were found.

Sir John Sawers, the head of MI6, pinpointed Yemen as a security concern in his first public speech on Thursday. There is particular concern over Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaeda leader and US national who is based there and uses the internet to broadcast propaganda and terrorist instruction in fluent English.

MI6 is understood to have triggered the security operation after receiving information from a source in Saudi Arabia.

Following the tip-off, Leicestershire police found the package at East Midlands airport at about 3.30am.

US intelligence officials warned last month that terrorists wanted to send chemical and biological materials through the post as part of an attack against the country. It was not until after midnight, that Theresa May, the Home Secretary, confirmed that the package at East Midlands airport did contain explosive material. She said it was not yet clear whether it was a “viable explosive device” but there was nothing to suggest that any location in Britain was being targeted.

She said earlier: “The package originated in Yemen and was addressed to a US destination. We are considering what steps need to be put in place regarding security of freight originating from Yemen. There are currently no direct flights from Yemen to the UK.”

The terrorism alert prompted a frantic search in the US for packages sent from Yemen via UPS and FedEx. Using the tracking numbers of all packages sent in a consignment from Sana’a, which had been split as it made its way to the US, authorities began checking all other possible suspect packages.

Two UPS jets in Philadelphia that had flown in from Germany and France were moved away from terminal buildings. No explosives were found.

The East Midlands plane, which had been allowed to fly on to Newark, New Jersey, was also rechecked before being given the allclear. In Brooklyn, New York, police examined a package from a UPS lorry, but found nothing suspicious.

A spokesman for the Jewish Federation of Chicago said it was alerted early yesterday and had advised local synagogues to take security precautions.

There was a dispute over airline security earlier this week when senior figures in the industry said Britain should stop “kowtowing” to excessive US security demands.

The latest developments will only increase security measures, especially surrounding cargo planes. The threat level in Britain was raised from substantial to “severe” in March partly as a result of an increased threat from Yemen.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
al qaida

Top Secret - Everyone and Everything is - TOP SECRET

Post documents growth of intelligence since 9/11





Jul 19, 5:24 AM (ET)

 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, top-secret intelligence gathering by the government has grown so unwieldy and expensive that no one really knows what it cost and how many people are involved, The Washington Post reported Monday.

A two-year investigation by the newspaper uncovered what it termed a "Top Secret America" that's mostly hidden from public view and largely lacking in oversight.

In its first installment of a series of reports, the Post said there are now more than 1,200 government organizations and more than 1,900 private companies working on counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in some 10,000 locations across the U.S.

Some 854,000 people - or nearly 1 1/2 times the number of people who live in Washington - have top-secret security clearance, the paper said.

[This does not mean everything it purports to mean.  Our intelligence services, military services, and others require certain levels of clearance to work in whatever the industry - some aerospace, R&D, and mapping require at least top-secret, yet the individuals work for a company that does something for the government.  it is not as meaningful as 2/3 of the world probably thinks.]

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the Post that he doesn't believe the massive bureaucracy of government and private intelligence has grown too large to manage, but it is sometimes hard to get precise information.

"Nine years after 9/11, it makes sense to sort of take a look at this and say, 'OK, we've built tremendous capability, but do we have more than we need?" he said.

The head of the CIA, Leon Panetta, said he knows that with the growing budget deficits the level of spending on intelligence will likely be reduced and he's at work on a five-year plan for the agency.

The White House had been anticipating the Post report and said before it was published that the Obama administration came into office aware of the problems and is trying to fix them.

The administration also released a memo from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence listing what it called eight "myths" and intended as a point-by-point answer to the charges the Post series was expected to raise.

Among them was that contractors represent the bulk of the intelligence workforce. The memo put the number at 28 percent, or less than a third.

The memo said that 70 percent of the intelligence budget is spent on "contracts, not contractors."

"Those contracts cover major acquisitions such as satellites and computer systems, as well as commercial activities such as rent, food service, and facilities maintenance and security," the memo said.

The Post said its investigation also found that:

_In the area around Washington, 33 building complexes - totaling some 17 million square feet of space - for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since 9/11.

_Many intelligence agencies are doing the same work, wasting money and resources on redundancy.

_So many intelligence reports are published each year that many are routinely ignored.

"There has been so much growth since 9/11 that getting your arms around that - not just for the DNI, but for any individual, for the director of the CIA, for the secretary of defense - is a challenge," Gates told the Post.



















intel