military industrial complex

State Department: Bradley Manning had ‘chilling effect’ on foreign relations

"'Every single embassy' was affected, said Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy, who warned about long-term consequences of Manning’s 2010 leaks to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. The unauthorized releases made foreign diplomats, business leaders and other information sources 'reticent to provide their full and frank opinions and share them with us,' he said. Most of the leaked diplomatic cables originated after 2005, when a new information-sharing system was adopted to address intelligence failings exposed by the attacks of September 11, 2001." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingState Department: Bradley Manning had ‘chilling effect’ on foreign relations

Justin Amash vs Former NSA Head General Michael Hayden 8/4/13

"Amash cautions that you need to have actual facts to support allegations, and in the meanwhile, he'd favor focusing on what previously unknown information is now known to Americans. 'Members of Congress were on the whole not aware of what these programs were being used for,' he says, and in that respect, he considers him a 'whistleblower' for the time being. 'He may be doing things overseas that we'll find to be problematic or dangerous, we'll find those facts out over time,' he says, 'but as far as Congress is concerned, sure, he's a whistleblower. He told us what we needed to know.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJustin Amash vs Former NSA Head General Michael Hayden 8/4/13

Other Agencies Clamor for Data N.S.A. Compiles

"The NSA's dominant role as the nation’s spy warehouse has spurred frequent tensions and turf fights with other federal intelligence agencies that want to use its surveillance tools for their own investigations, officials say. Agencies working to curb drug trafficking, cyberattacks, money laundering, counterfeiting and even copyright infringement complain that their attempts to exploit the security agency’s vast resources have often been turned down. Smaller intelligence units within the DEA, the Secret Service, the Pentagon and DHS have sometimes been given access to the security agency’s surveillance tools for particular cases." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOther Agencies Clamor for Data N.S.A. Compiles

Ron Paul: Why Won’t They Tell Us the Truth About NSA Spying?

"The Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday heard dramatic testimony from NSA deputy director John C. Inglis. According to the Guardian, the NSA has previously claimed that 54 terrorist plots had been disrupted ‘over the lifetime’ of the bulk phone records collection and the separate program collecting the internet habits and communications of people believed to be non-Americans. On Wednesday, Inglis said that at most one plot might have been disrupted by the bulk phone records collection alone. We do not have to accept being lied to – or spied on -- by our government." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRon Paul: Why Won’t They Tell Us the Truth About NSA Spying?

NSA defenders: embassy closures followed ‘pre-9/11 levels’ of ‘chatter’

"Saxby Chambliss, who was briefed by the vice president, Joe Biden, last week, said he believed the intelligence had been gathered by the NSA using foreign surveillance powers granted under section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. 'This is a good indication of why they [the surveillance powers] are so important,' he said. His defence of the NSA was echoed by another Republican, Lindsey Graham. Asked by CNN host Candy Crowley whether Americans were right to be frightened, senator Graham said: 'It is scary … the NSA programme is proving its worth yet again.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA defenders: embassy closures followed ‘pre-9/11 levels’ of ‘chatter’

Bloomberg Article Describes the Death of Digital Privacy: Snowden’s Revenge

"If anyone has any doubts that Edward Snowden personally blew a hole in the dam of the U.S. government’s surveillance state, consider this article on Bloomberg. This is a conventional media site. It is mainstream to the core. Yet here is what it has reported. There is no way that anything like this would have been published by Bloomberg three months ago. Snowden provided the evidence. This blew the hole in the dam. The dam is beginning to crack. The American public is now aware of what has taken place. The government’s attempt to paint Snowden as a traitor is not working." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBloomberg Article Describes the Death of Digital Privacy: Snowden’s Revenge

Glenn Greenwald: Members of Congress denied access to basic information about NSA

"It is not merely that members of Congress are unaware of the very existence of these programs, let alone their capabilities. Beyond that, members who seek out basic information - including about NSA programs they are required to vote on and FISA court (FISC) rulings on the legality of those programs - find that they are unable to obtain it. Two House members, GOP Rep. Morgan Griffith of Virginia and Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida, have provided the Guardian with numerous letters and emails documenting their persistent, and unsuccessful, efforts to learn about NSA programs and relevant FISA court rulings." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: Members of Congress denied access to basic information about NSA

Yemeni Engineer Begs Obama to Stop Murdering His Family with Drones

"Last year, Salem Ahmed bin Ali Jaber, a respected Muslim cleric in Yemen, gave a speech denouncing al Qaeda. Representatives from Al Qaeda came to speak with Jaber and his cousin in a private meeting. During this meeting, they were all incinerated in a drone strike by the United States. Jaber’s brother-in-law, Faisal bin Ali Jaber, has written a letter, distributed by human rights group Reprieve, begging Obama and Hadi to stop killing innocents in these drone strikes and warning that they are making enemies of the very communities they claim to be trying to protect." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingYemeni Engineer Begs Obama to Stop Murdering His Family with Drones

U.S. military helicopter crashes in Japan’s Okinawa

"A U.S. military helicopter crashed on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa on Monday, U.S. Forces in Japan said, an incident which may stoke anger over the concentration of U.S. military bases on the island. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to move the U.S. Marines’ Futenma airbase to a less crowded part of the island, but stiff opposition from Okinawa residents is stalling the plan. Residents of Okinawa, host to the bulk of U.S. military forces in Japan, have long resented bearing what many feel is an unfair share of the burden for the U.S.-Japan military alliance. Many associate the U.S. bases with accidents, crime and pollution." Continue reading →

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The Latter-Day Rome Lives And Kills

"Libya is no longer. Ditto Iraq. Afghanistan is not doing much better since Rome set up camp there. The Comitatus – 'the sprawling apparatus that encompasses the ministries of government, the lawyers, the diplomats, the adjutants, the messengers, the interpreters, the intellectuals' – refused to keep count of the casualties in the Iraq war. Likewise has 'Operation Enduring Freedom' in Afghanistan, still ongoing, been the direct and indirect cause of the deaths and displacement of many thousands of Afghan civilians. The latter-day Rome has mechanized the warfare state’s killing capabilities and has refined its propaganda wing to an art." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Latter-Day Rome Lives And Kills