military industrial complex

Lawmakers Who Upheld NSA Phone Spying Received Double the Defense Industry Cash

"On Wednesday, the house voted 217 to 205 not to rein in the NSA’s phone-spying dragnet. It turns out that those 217 'no' voters received twice as much campaign financing from the defense and intelligence industry as the 205 'yes' voters. The investigation shows that defense cash was a better predictor of a member’s vote on the Amash amendment than party affiliation. House members who voted to continue the massive phone-call-metadata spy program, on average, raked in 122 percent more money from defense contractors than those who voted Wednesday to dismantle it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLawmakers Who Upheld NSA Phone Spying Received Double the Defense Industry Cash

Afghanistan Audits Reveal Billions in U.S. Taxpayer Waste

"As the U.S. prepares to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, the government watchdog charged with overseeing nearly $100 billion in contracts to reconstruct the country has found almost $2 billion in potential waste, fraud and abuse in the last three months alone — some of which has likely led to the deaths of American servicemen and women, according to the agency’s reports. The string of alleged violations includes phantom projects, improperly awarded contracts, aborted projects, deserted construction, a general lack of transparency to comprehensively oversee projects and, in one instance, building a $34 million military facility that will never be used." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAfghanistan Audits Reveal Billions in U.S. Taxpayer Waste

Glenn Greenwald and other NSA critics to testify before Congress

"Congress will hear testimony from critics of the National Security Agency’s surveillance practices for the first time since the whistleblower Edward Snowden’s explosive leaks were made public. Democrat congressman Alan Grayson, who is leading a bipartisan group of congressman organising the hearing, told the Guardian it would serve to counter the 'constant misleading information' from the intelligence community. The hearing, which will take place on Wednesday, comes amid evidence of a growing congressional rebellion [on] NSA data collection methods." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald and other NSA critics to testify before Congress

Halliburton pleads guilty to destroying Gulf spill evidence

"Halliburton Co has agreed to plead guilty to destroying evidence related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Thursday. The government said Halliburton's guilty plea is the third by a company over the spill and requires the world's second-largest oilfield services company to pay a maximum $200,000 statutory fine. Halliburton also agreed to three years of probation and to continue cooperating with the criminal probe into the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. Houston-based Halliburton also made a separate, voluntary $55 million payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation." Continue reading →

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History of the Internet (Wikipedia)

"Since the mid-1990s, the Internet has had a revolutionary impact on culture and commerce, including the rise of near-instant communication by electronic mail, instant messaging, VoIP 'phone calls', two-way interactive video calls, and the World Wide Web with its discussion forums, blogs, social networking, and online shopping sites. The Internet's takeover over the global communication landscape was almost instant in historical terms: it only communicated 1% of the information flowing through two-way telecommunications networks in the year 1993, already 51% by 2000, and more than 97% of the telecommunicated information by 2007." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHistory of the Internet (Wikipedia)

Blind Man’s Bluff: Why the Surveillance State Is Doomed

"The bureaucrats' quest for omniscience and omnipotence will come to a well-deserved end, just as it did in the Soviet Union, and for the same reason. The state is inherently myopic: short-sighted. Computers make it blind. The state focuses on the short run. Computers overwhelm bureaucrats with short-run information. Let us not forget that the Internet was invented by DARPA: the military's research branch. It invented the Internet to protect the military's communications network from a nuclear attack by the USSR. Today, there is no USSR. There is the World Wide Web: the greatest technological enemy of the state since Gutenberg's printing press." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBlind Man’s Bluff: Why the Surveillance State Is Doomed

NSA Official: Privacy Of NSA Employees Should Remain Despite Hampering Leak Detection

"Privacy mandates that prevent the government from monitoring the personal data of National Security Agency employees should not be altered to stop insider threats, despite leaks of Top Secret information, a senior NSA official said on Thursday. 'This is a case where I wouldn't advocate a change of laws,' NSA Technical Director Boyd Livingston said. 'It's very difficult to do insider threat monitoring -- there are a whole other set of federal laws having to do with personal identification information, PII, and your Social Security [number], that prohibit various monitoring.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA Official: Privacy Of NSA Employees Should Remain Despite Hampering Leak Detection

Even who we’re in a drone war with is classified

"Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked the Defense Department to provide him with a current list of Al Qaeda affiliates. The Pentagon responded - but Levin’s office told ProPublica they aren’t allowed to share it. Kathleen Long, a spokeswoman for Levin, would say only that the department’s 'answer included the information requested.' A Pentagon spokesman told ProPublica that revealing such a list could cause 'serious damage to national security.' 'Because elements that might be considered 'associated forces’ can build credibility by being listed as such by the United States, we have classified the list,' said the spokesman, Lt. Col. Jim Gregory." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEven who we’re in a drone war with is classified

America has history when it comes to forcing down planes in defiance of international law

"International law (and the Chicago Convention regulating air traffic) emphatically asserts freedom to traverse international airspace, but America tends to treat international law as binding on everyone except America (and Israel). Thus when Egypt did a deal with the Achille Lauro hijackers and sent them on a commercial flight to Tunis, US F-14 jets intercepted the plane in international airspace and forced it to land in Italy, where the hijackers were tried and jailed. In 1986 Israel forced down a Libyan commercial plane in the mistaken belief that PLO leaders were among its passengers, and the US vetoed UN security council condemnation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmerica has history when it comes to forcing down planes in defiance of international law

Women in combat no later than 2016, Pentagon says

"Women could be officially moving into combat roles by 2016, according to top US military officials. But some lawmakers continue to express concern about whether the Pentagon will be able to make this move without lowering physical standards. Others express concern that the integration of women into fighting units could increase incidents of sexual assault." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWomen in combat no later than 2016, Pentagon says