military industrial complex

I Am Curious About Why Vital Information Was Not Publicized

"The government’s intelligence statement says that they had information three days before the gas event. I am curious. Did Obama privately warn the Syrian government not to make a gas attack? Did he reveal to them that he had intelligence of their activities so as to stop them? Why didn’t Obama make this intelligence fully public prior to the attack? Wouldn’t that publicity have made it very difficult for an attack to have been ordered? Even if the intelligence was not 100% able to nail down an impending attack, why was it not made public? How can we be sure that this intelligence is meaningful if, prior to the event, the U.S. government didn’t consider it reliable enough so as to issue a warning?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingI Am Curious About Why Vital Information Was Not Publicized

$652 million project ‘GENIE’: U.S. conducted 231 ‘offensive cyberoperations’

"The revelation is based on a classified intelligence budget provided to the paper by fugitive leaker Edward Snowden, as well as on interviews. Under a $652 million project code-named 'GENIE,' US specialists hack foreign computer networks to secretly put them under American control. This involves placing 'covert implants' in computers, routers and firewalls, it said, adding that by year’s end 'GENIE' is projected to control at least 85,000 'malware' plug-ins in machines around the globe. US intelligence services make 'routine use' of government-constructed malware around the globe that 'differs little in function from the ‘advanced persistent threats’ that US officials attribute to China.'" Continue reading →

Continue Reading$652 million project ‘GENIE’: U.S. conducted 231 ‘offensive cyberoperations’

Australian spies participating in global deal to tap undersea cables

"The British Government Communications Headquarters is collecting all data transmitted to and from the UK and Northern Europe via the SEA-ME-WE-3 cable that runs from Japan, via Singapore, Djibouti, Suez and the Straits of Gibraltar to Northern Germany. Singaporean intelligence co-operates with Australia in accessing and sharing communications carried by the SEA-ME-WE-3 cable which lands at Tuas on the western side of Singapore Island. Access to this major international telecommunications channel via Singapore's government-owned operator SingTel and the country's Defence Ministry has been a key element in an expansion of Australian-Singaporean intelligence and defence ties." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAustralian spies participating in global deal to tap undersea cables

Hacker: US government tricked Anonymous into attacking foreign targets

"Just as a former member of Anonymous accuses the United States government of coercing hackers to do their dirty work in America’s cyberwars, the sentencing hearing for the group’s alleged ex-ringleader has been mysteriously delayed yet again. News has surfaced that the hacker-turned-informant who compromised the underground movement for the FBI and helped facilitate Hammond’s arrest will remain free for now. Hector Xavier Monsegur, a single father from New York involved with a number of high-profile hacks carried out by Anonymous and its offshoots, pleaded guilty to a dozen criminal counts two years prior and stands to face more a maximum sentence of more than 124 years." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHacker: US government tricked Anonymous into attacking foreign targets

Snowden reveals US intelligence’s black budget: $52.6 billion on secret programs

"Despite the hefty cost of operating the secret operations amid sequestration, excerpts from the summary leaked by Snowden show that the US still has significant setbacks keeping it from achieving its intelligence goals. For one, the disclosure in and of itself demonstrates the intelligence community’s inability to prevent sensitive information from being leaked. For those nations of upmost interest, the intelligence community is investing heavily on 'offensive cyber operations' launched by the CIA and NSA to hack foreign competitors, steal data and sabotage servers, at a time when, domestically, so-called cybercriminals are prosecuted at an alarming rate for comparably less harsh crimes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSnowden reveals US intelligence’s black budget: $52.6 billion on secret programs

Codename ‘Apalachee’: How America Spies on Europe and the UN

"The classified documents, which SPIEGEL has seen, demonstrate how systematically the Americans target other countries and institutions like the EU, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna and the UN. They show how the NSA infiltrated the Europeans' internal computer network between New York and Washington, used US embassies abroad to intercept communications and eavesdropped on video conferences of UN diplomats. The surveillance is intensive and well-organized -- and it has little or nothing to do with counter-terrorism. In an internal presentation, the NSA sums up its vision, which is both global and frighteningly ambitious: 'information superiority'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCodename ‘Apalachee’: How America Spies on Europe and the UN

New Snowden Leak Reports ‘Groundbreaking’ NSA Crypto-Cracking

"The Post’s article doesn’t detail the 'groundbreaking cryptanalytic capabilities' Clapper mentions, and there’s no elaboration in the portion of the document published by the paper. But the document shows that 21 percent of the intelligence budget — around $11 billion — is dedicated to the Consolidated Cryptologic Program that staffs 35,000 employees in the NSA and the armed forces. Last year James Bamford reported that the NSA secretly made some sort of 'enormous breakthrough' in cryptanalysis several years earlier. The leaked budget document is the first published Snowden leak to touch upon the question of how safe routinely encrypted traffic is from cutting-edge nation-state spying." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew Snowden Leak Reports ‘Groundbreaking’ NSA Crypto-Cracking

Defiling the Memory of President Eisenhower

"On a Tuesday night, 52 years ago. President Dwight D. Eisenhower appeared on TV sets across America. Three days later, he would leave the Oval Office to John F. Kennedy. It all happened very fast. No one was prepared for the grim prophecy Eisenhower would tell that night in his farewell address. In 1961, the words 'military-industrial complex' probably sounded nuts. But writing in 2013, I can say with confidence that an alert and knowledgeable citizenry is far more absurd. Back when Ike made his address, defense spending was about $350 billion in today’s dollars. Today, it’s over half a trillion dollars. What would Eisenhower say today? Probably, 'I told you so you, idiots!'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDefiling the Memory of President Eisenhower

David Galland: Mexico Invades Syria!

"Could the attack trigger a quick and violent sympathetic public uprising in Saudi Arabia, sending the Saud family on the run and oil prices to $200 or more? In terms of consequences of a less violent nature, what if the Russians and the Chinese, the latter being Syria's largest trading partner, decided to protest by dumping some of the massive amount of US dollars they hold? I could go on, but won't. Instead, I'll leave off by saying that, given the risks vs. the rewards of yet another Western attack on the Middle East, I personally couldn't be more opposed to it. Hopefully there are enough people in what's left of the degraded Western democracies who feel the same way." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDavid Galland: Mexico Invades Syria!

Obama executive order to kill 110-year-old Civilian Marksmanship Program

"The Civilian Marksmanship Program was administered by the United States Army from 1916 through 1996 when it was changed to the Corporation for the Promotion of Rifle Practice & Firearms Safety, a 501(c) (3) organization federally chartered by the U.S. Congress. There are no data indicating any of the weapons involved in homicide were imported surplus military rifles. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s homicide crime statistics, rifles accounted for only 323 deaths out of 12,664 homicides in 2011, the most recent data set provided by the FBI. The rifles that the Executive Order would affect are typically from U.S. allies and are pre-Vietnam era." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama executive order to kill 110-year-old Civilian Marksmanship Program