military industrial complex

Official: Potential Syria strikes could include long-range bombers

"Aircraft including long-range bombers may be used in any eventual strike on Syria, but 'that does not fundamentally change the parameters of the mission,' a U.S. official said. The official was responding to a report from ABC News' Jonathan Karl that said the U.S. attack plan for Syria could potentially include missiles fired from B-2 and B-52 bombers flying from the United States. The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, has reported that the Pentagon was preparing to employ greater firepower to reach shifting military targets. The revised options under development include the use of Air Force bombers to supplement U.S. destroyers in the Mediterranean, the newspaper said." Continue reading →

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Michael Hastings: A Non-Conspiracy Theory

"Michael had been living in LA [alone] for at least 6-months renting two apartments in the same building; one for living, one for writing. Michael and Elise Jordan had been married less than two-years at the time of his death. In less than a year of marriage, Michael and Elise were technically physically separated for large amounts of time by this move and careers. Worth a glance, if you look at this video of the two of them from last summer [2012], you will notice they do not behave as a loving couple, let alone newlyweds in comparison to the reporter John Avalon and his wife. In fact, the bubbly-ness and warmth Elise usually exudes [in other media appearances] is completely lacking." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMichael Hastings: A Non-Conspiracy Theory

Revealed: The NSA’s Secret Campaign to Crack, Undermine Internet Security

"The agency has circumvented or cracked much of the encryption, or digital scrambling, that guards global commerce and banking systems, protects sensitive data like trade secrets and medical records, and automatically secures the e-mails, Web searches, Internet chats and phone calls of Americans and others around the world. The agency, according to the documents and interviews with industry officials, deployed custom-built, superfast computers to break codes, and began collaborating with technology companies in the United States and abroad to build entry points into their products. The documents do not identify which companies have participated." Continue reading →

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U.S. Navy: Cost of strikes against Syria ‘nagging’ but not ‘extraordinary’

"The cost of possible military strikes against Syria would not be 'extraordinary,' the US Navy chief said Thursday, downplaying the potential price tag of the operation. The Navy currently has four destroyers in the Mediterranean ready if called upon as well as the aircraft carrier Nimitz and accompanying warships in the Red Sea. It was the first time a senior US military officer had openly acknowledged the Obama administration was considering using Tomahawk missiles in a strike against Syria, though officials had privately leaked that possibility previously. The Pentagon’s estimates are apparently based on the assumption that any intervention would last no longer than a few days." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Navy: Cost of strikes against Syria ‘nagging’ but not ‘extraordinary’

The Costs of War in Syria

"Politicians want a war to appear cheap, at least up front, while the bureaucrats want bigger budgets. Once the war starts, though, all bets are off, and any political or legal authorization given to the administration to wage war will be a de facto blank check for future unlimited outlays for occupation and conflict on an unlimited timeline. We’ve already seen this in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and while the two countries descended into chaos, the claim was made that since the U.S. regime had 'broken' Iraq and Afghanistan, the taxpayers were now on the hook to finance the 'fixing' of the broken countries. The regime knows that all it needs to do is start a war, and the money will begin to flow indefinitely." Continue reading →

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Developers Scramble to Build NSA-Proof Email

"Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA’s mass internet surveillance is driving development of a slew of new email tools aimed at providing end-to-end encryption to users, and it has boosted interest in existing privacy tools too. Jon Callas, a Silent Circle founder, says his company is planning to take another run at secure email. He says he’s primarily concerned with email metadata like the sender, receiver and subject line, as well as the IP addresses and transit server information in the header of encrypted email." Continue reading →

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California Senate Says No To NDAA

"This week the California State Senate unanimously shot down the federal government's indefinite detention powers in a 37-0 vote. Lawmakers are refusing to provide material support for the National Defense Authorization Act, and if the measure becomes law it will be difficult for the government to enforce indefinite detention in the state. Tangerine Bolen, founder and director for RevolutionTruth, has more on the NDAA." Continue reading →

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Judge Napolitano: Can America bomb and kill for bragging rights?

"President Obama’s request for express congressional authorization for a limited aerial invasion of Syria raises profound legal and constitutional questions. For starters, there is simply no legal basis in international law to support an American invasion of Syria. Yet, notwithstanding that, federal law permits the president to commit U.S. military forces anywhere he wants for up to 90 days, without express authorization from Congress. So, why did Obama ask for the authorization he surely knows he already has?" Continue reading →

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Pentagon in 2012: 75,000 troops needed to secure Syria chemical weapons

"Securing Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles and the facilities that produced them would likely require the U.S. to send more than 75,000 ground troops into the Middle Eastern country, MailOnline learned Wednesday. That estimate comes from a secret memorandum the U.S. Department of Defense prepared for President Obama in early 2012. U.S. Central Command arrived at the figure of 75,000 ground troops as part of a written series of military options for dealing with Bashar al-Assad more than 18 months ago, long before the U.S. confirmed internally that the Syrian dictator was using the weapons against rebel factions within his borders." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPentagon in 2012: 75,000 troops needed to secure Syria chemical weapons

Senators Authorizing Syria Strike Got More Cash From Military-Industrial Complex

"Senators voting Wednesday to authorize a Syria strike received, on average, 83 percent more campaign financing from defense contractors than lawmakers voting against war. Overall, political action committees and employees from defense and intelligence firms such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, United Technologies, Honeywell International, and others ponied up $1,006,887 to the 17 members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who voted yes or no on the authorization Wednesday, according to an analysis by Maplight, the Berkeley-based nonprofit that performed the inquiry at WIRED’s request." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSenators Authorizing Syria Strike Got More Cash From Military-Industrial Complex