military industrial complex

Internet Explorer 0-day attacks on US nuke workers hit 9 other sites

"Attacks exploiting a previously unknown and currently unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser have spread to at least nine other websites, including those run by a big European company operating in the aerospace, defense, and security industries as well as non-profit groups and institutes, security researchers said. The revelation, from a blog post published Sunday by security firm AlienVault, means an attack campaign that surreptitiously installed malware on the computers of federal government workers involved in nuclear weapons research was broader and more ambitious than previously thought." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInternet Explorer 0-day attacks on US nuke workers hit 9 other sites

Benghazi Talking Points Underwent 12 Revisions, Scrubbed Of Terror Reference; Risk Of Impeachment

"When it became clear last fall that the CIA’s now discredited Benghazi talking points were flawed, the White House said repeatedly the documents were put together almost entirely by the intelligence community, but White House documents reviewed by Congress suggest a different story. ABC News has obtained 12 different versions of the talking points that show they were extensively edited as they evolved from the drafts first written entirely by the CIA to the final version distributed to Congress and to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice before she appeared on five talk shows the Sunday after that attack." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBenghazi Talking Points Underwent 12 Revisions, Scrubbed Of Terror Reference; Risk Of Impeachment

What About Karzai Cash Before 9-11?

"The entry below at History Commons (www.historycommons.com) includes a reference to a Vanity Fair article and the note that 'Blee hands Massoud a briefcase full of cash.' That would be before 9/11, given that Massoud was assassinated a couple days before 9/11. I've also seen references to Karzai being aligned with / working with Massoud in the years before 9/11. Did cash payments to people like this accelerate in July/August 2001, amidst intensified covert operations in Afghanistan or elsewhere in Central Asia?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhat About Karzai Cash Before 9-11?

The top five myths about Guantánamo Bay

"Renewing his push to close the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, President Obama said what many of his critics have been saying for years – that it is inefficient, inspires new terrorists, alienates the US’s allies and, above all, 'is contrary to who we are'. Coming in response to the detainee hunger strikers, whose numbers increase every day, Obama’s comments suggest that the inmates are close to accomplishing what others opposed to the prison have not: they’re making it necessary that their cases get resolved. Let’s revisit some myths about the prison." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe top five myths about Guantánamo Bay

83-year-old nun gets 20 year sentence for ‘symbolic’ nuclear facility break-in

"An 83-year-old nun who broke into a Tennessee depleted uranium storage facility in 2012 and splashed human blood on several surfaces, exposing a massive security hole at the nation’s only facility used to store radioactive conventional munitions, was convicted Wednesday and sentenced to a term of up to 20 years in prison. She and two other peace activists, 64-year-old Michael Walli and 56-year-old Greg Boertje-Obed, were convicted of 'invasion of a nuclear facility' in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, even though investigators admitted they did not get close to any actual nuclear material." Continue reading →

Continue Reading83-year-old nun gets 20 year sentence for ‘symbolic’ nuclear facility break-in

U.S. Navy Petty Officer arrested in California for pimping 17-year-old girl

"A Navy Petty Officer stationed in Lemoore, California is charged with sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl and forcing her to have sex with multiple men. A Porterville Police Department spokesperson told the Bee that Benavidez met the teenager on a social networking site and, knowing that she was underage, traveled to Porterville, California to have sex with her. He made a second visit for similar purposes and on a third, forced the girl to have sex with a second man. Benavidez later transported the girl to his home in Lemoore where she was forced to perform sexual acts with multiple men. Benavidez reportedly filmed and distributed via the Internet." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Navy Petty Officer arrested in California for pimping 17-year-old girl

Air Force Strips 17 Officers Of Authority To Control And Launch Nuclear Missiles

"The Air Force stripped an unprecedented 17 officers of their authority to control nuclear missiles after a string of unpublicized failings, including a remarkably dim review of their unit's launch skills. The group's deputy commander said it is suffering 'rot' within its ranks. 'We are, in fact, in a crisis right now,' the commander, Lt. Col. Jay Folds, wrote in an internal email obtained by The Associated Press and confirmed by the Air Force. The tip-off to trouble was a March inspection of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., which earned the equivalent of a 'D'' grade when tested on its mastery of Minuteman III missile launch operations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAir Force Strips 17 Officers Of Authority To Control And Launch Nuclear Missiles

Reuters: U.S. cyberwar strategy stokes fear of blowback

"Even as the U.S. government confronts rival powers over widespread Internet espionage, it has become the biggest buyer in a burgeoning gray market where hackers and security firms sell tools for breaking into computers. The strategy is spurring concern in the technology industry and intelligence community that Washington is in effect encouraging hacking and failing to disclose to software companies and customers the vulnerabilities exploited by the purchased hacks. That's because U.S. intelligence and military agencies are using the tools to infiltrate computer networks overseas, leaving behind spy programs and cyber-weapons." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingReuters: U.S. cyberwar strategy stokes fear of blowback

U.S. Blames China’s Military Directly for Cyberattacks

"The Obama administration on Monday explicitly accused China’s military of mounting attacks on American government computer systems and defense contractors, saying one motive could be to map 'military capabilities that could be exploited during a crisis.' The accusations relayed in the Pentagon’s annual report to Congress on Chinese military capabilities were remarkable in their directness. Missing from the Pentagon report was any acknowledgment of the similar abilities being developed in the United States, where billions of dollars are spent each year on cyberdefense and constructing increasingly sophisticated cyberweapons." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Blames China’s Military Directly for Cyberattacks

Glenn Greenwald: U.S. oligarchs focused on military and surveillance state to put down unrest

“You can do one of two things in response to that discontent: You can try to placate it, whether symbolically placate it or substantively placate it so you avoid that kind of extreme income disparity… [and] even things out a just little bit more, however much you need to calm people down; or you consolidate your own power so that even if people become discontent, there’s nothing they can do to you because you’ve created this massive militarized state, this massive surveillance state. Our elite appears to be doing the later, and very little of the former, if any.” Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: U.S. oligarchs focused on military and surveillance state to put down unrest