Homeland Stupidity

The US Uses Gas To Kill Civilians

"The US government itself has used similar weapons openly as recently as the FBI/ATF attack on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco Texas in the spring of 1993. While domestic and world reaction to the Davidian massacre ranged from shock to horror, in 1993 there were no bellicose calls for military attack on the US by other nations for this blatant violation of the rules of war, the Geneva Conventions, and legal due process. France, Britain, China and Russia did not propose UN authorization for military retaliation. Nor did the US government ever apologize but instead gave medals and honors to the government killers responsible for these horrific deaths." Continue reading →

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Paul Craig Roberts: America Totally Discredited

"Tthe United States government has lost its credibility throughout the world and will never regain it, unless the Bush and Obama regimes are arrested and put on trial for their war crimes. Obama’s destruction of US credibility goes far beyond diplomacy. It is likely that this autumn or winter, and almost certainly in 2014, the US will face severe economic crisis. When the proverbial hits the fan, the incompetent and corrupt Federal Reserve and the incompetent and corrupt US Treasury will have no more credibility than Obama and John Kerry. How long will it be before American citizens are shot down in their streets by 'their' government as occurs frequently in Washington’s close allies in Egypt, Turkey, Bahrain?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: America Totally Discredited

UK Asked New York Times To Destroy Edward Snowden Documents, Request Ignored

"The British government has asked the New York Times to destroy copies of documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden related to the operations of the U.S. spy agency and its British partner, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), people familiar with the matter said. The British request, made to Times executive editor Jill Abramson by a senior official at the British Embassy in Washington D.C., was greeted by Abramson with silence, according to the sources. British officials indicated they intended to follow up on their request later with the Times, but never did, one of the sources said." Continue reading →

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Glenn Greenwald’s Partner ‘Was Carrying A Stunning Amount Of Sensitive Documents’

"The Daily Telegraph's David Barrett tweeted out some of the details from the statement made Friday by Oliver Robbins, deputy national security adviser for intelligence, before U.K. judges. 'The material seized is highly likely to describe techniques which have been crucial in life-saving counter-terrorist operations, and other intelligence activities vital to U.K. national security,' Robbins said. 'The compromise of these methods would do serious damage to U.K. national security and ultimately risk lives.' The government told The Guardian newspaper that it had 'no confidence in their ability to keep the material safe.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald’s Partner ‘Was Carrying A Stunning Amount Of Sensitive Documents’

Deadly Cyberattacks Highlight the Need for a Cybersecurity Upgrade

"The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydro-dam disaster was a cyberattack. You can characterize it as an accident in the nature of 'friendly fire.' But overall, this cascading wave of destruction was triggered by a bad computer command. Sayano-Shushenskaya demonstrates the immense scope of destruction that can come from cyberattacks. Indeed, per Gen. Alexander, only nuclear bombs and other weapons of mass destruction can cause more damage, faster, over wider areas. [..] In a speech at the National Press Club, Napolitano stated that the U.S. 'will, at some point, face a major cyber event that will have a serious effect on our lives, our economy and the everyday functioning of our society.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDeadly Cyberattacks Highlight the Need for a Cybersecurity Upgrade

Microsoft and Google to sue over U.S. surveillance requests

"The companies announced the lawsuit on Friday, escalating a legal battle over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), the mechanism used by the National Security Agency (NSA) and other US government agencies to gather data about foreign internet users. Microsoft’s general counsel, Brad Smith, made the announcement in a corporate blog post which complained of the government’s 'continued unwillingness' to let it publish information about Fisa requests. The companies denied the NSA had 'direct access' to their systems but said they were legally unable to disclose how many times they have been asked to provide information on users." Continue reading →

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Mike Gogulski: Is America still a democracy? Who cares? It’s DANGEROUS!

"If you look at the visible signs of how the country has been developing for the last 25 years, the signs of the emergence of a police state are obvious and everywhere. The Department of Homeland Security recently purchased something like one billion rounds of high-powered rifle ammunition. These are not to be used in wars. The US government has just purchased three bullets for every man, woman and child inside the country. When you add to these things the endless American wars that have been going on since 'peace' after World War II, the question becomes: 'Is America a democracy? Who cares? It’s DANGEROUS!'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMike Gogulski: Is America still a democracy? Who cares? It’s DANGEROUS!

James Clapper Says Feds Will Start Releasing Some FISA And NSL Metadata

"For what it's worth this is a step forward -- and something the government should have done ages ago, but perhaps not nearly as big as Clapper would like everyone to believe. Note that they only say they'll reveal the number of 'targets' rather than people impacted. Given that each person "targeted" may lead to scooping up records on many, many others, this seems fairly weak. Remember, for a 'target' they can scoop up all kinds of records, and then go three hops deep. So, one target could impact thousands or possibly hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of people. This is a baby step forward, but it still seems designed to mislead." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJames Clapper Says Feds Will Start Releasing Some FISA And NSL Metadata

Snowden Leak: U.S. Paying Contractors Ten Times as Much as Bureaucrats

"While contractors represent fewer than 20 percent of the workforce, 70 percent of the intelligence budget goes to them, according to a figure from the U.S. Director of National Intelligence Agency (DNI) at a Colorado sponsored by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). That rare peek behind the veil is likely still relatively accurate. Traditionally the lion's share of this money has gone to Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC), Honeywell Int'l Inc. (HON) (via is Science Applications Int'l Corp. subsidiary), Raytheon Comp. (RTN), Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), and Edward Snowden's former firm Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Comp. (BAH)." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSnowden Leak: U.S. Paying Contractors Ten Times as Much as Bureaucrats

Leaked documents show massive expansion of CIA budget

"The CIA has mushroomed into the largest US spy agency with a nearly $15 billion budget as it expands intelligence, cyber sabotage and overseas covert operations, secret leaked documents showed Thursday. It shows a dramatic resurgence of the Central Intelligence Agency, once thought to be on the decline after it acknowledged intelligence failures prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. It now is the dominant colossus within the national intelligence community, expanding its workforce by more than 25 percent from a decade ago, to 21,575 this year." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLeaked documents show massive expansion of CIA budget