Intelligence

‘How Can You Work … For A President That Undermines Your Work?’

July 31, 2017 Mattathias Schwartz, www.propublica.org Educate! CIA, Intelligence, Trump Administration

By Mattathias Schwartz for Pro Publica - Last week, Dan Coats, the former senator from Indiana and current head of the U.S. intelligence community, was interviewed by NBC’s Lester Holt in front of a live audience at the Aspen Security Forum, a gathering where diplomats, journalists and top U.S. officials mingle with business executives in between livestreamed panel discussions on world affairs. (The hourlong discussion was posted on YouTube.) ProPublica has obtained internal talking points, apparently written by one of Coats’ aides, anticipating questions that Holt was likely to ask. They offer a window into the euphemisms and evasions necessary to handle a pressing issue for Coats: how to lead the intelligence community at a time when the president has insulted it on Twitter and denigrated its work while questions about Russian influence consume ever more time and attention in Washington. Sixteen of the 26 questions addressed by the talking points concerned internal White House politics, the Russia investigation, or the president himself. One question put the challenges facing Coats this way: “How can you work as DNI for a president that undermines your work?”

Intel Vets Challenge ‘Russia Hack’ Evidence

July 25, 2017 Staff, www.consortiumnews.com Educate! Hacking, Intelligence, Russia

By Staff of Consortium News - Key among the findings of the independent forensic investigations is the conclusion that the DNC data was copied onto a storage device at a speed that far exceeds an Internet capability for a remote hack. Of equal importance, the forensics show that the copying and doctoring were performed on the East coast of the U.S. Thus far, mainstream media have ignored the findings of these independent studies [see here and here].After examining metadata from the “Guccifer 2.0” July 5, 2016 intrusion into the DNC server, independent cyber investigators have concluded that an insider copied DNC data onto an external storage device, and that “telltale signs” implicating Russia were then inserted. Independent analyst Skip Folden, a retired IBM Program Manager for Information Technology US, who examined the recent forensic findings, is a co-author of this Memorandum.

Former CIA Intelligence Analyst Says Whistleblowers Are Vital To A Transparent Democracy

July 24, 2017 Mark Karlin, www.truth-out.org Resist! CIA, Democracy, Intelligence, Transparency, Whistleblowers

By Mark Karlin for Truthout - Melvin A. Goodman: I spent 24 years at the CIA as a Soviet analyst in the directorate of intelligence. I was not drawn to the agency by idealism, but by a fascination with the incredible repository of intelligence that is held within the entire community. I received an early introduction to this collection as a US Army cryptographer in the 1950s. There have been many intelligence failures over the past 70 years since the creation of the CIA, but virtually all of them have been due to analytical failures, either politicization of intelligence from above (e.g., missing the decline of the Soviet Union; Iraqi weapons of mass destruction) or simply poor analytic tradecraft (e.g., October War of 1973; 9/11 attacks; Soviet invasions of Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968). These failures were not due to inadequate collection. In fact, the collection of intelligence was sufficient to prevent every one of these failures, including 9/11. If I had been more idealistic then, perhaps I would have paid more attention to the CIA's role in the conduct of covert action, particularly the illegal and immoral activities prior to my entry into the CIA, including the overthrow of the Mossadegh government in Iran, the attempt to assassinate Lumumba in the Congo, and the efforts to overthrow Castro in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Jared Kushner Was Right To Seek Private Channels With Russia

June 1, 2017 Mary Dejevsky, www.independent.co.uk Educate! Intelligence, Russia

By Mary Dejevsky for Independent - Trump critics are treating the latest revelation as further evidence of Russian collusion, but given the constant stream of leaks coming from the intelligence agencies, it may have been the best option to improve relations with the Kremlin. Just as the Russia fracas in Washington seems to be dying down, Donald Trump’s critics have found a new Russia-related stick to beat him with. His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is accused of meeting Moscow’s man in DC (yes, that would be Ambassador Sergey Kislyak again), to explore setting up a confidential communications channel between the Trump team and the Kremlin. Why, Trump’s enemies ask, would any loyal citizen possibly want a channel closed to the prying eyes and ears of US officials and its agencies, unless for some treasonous purpose? Given the latest leaks to the US media of sensitive shared UK intelligence, part of the answer to that question should be obvious. Most of the leaking against Trump from the presidential transition to this day has come from one branch or other of the US agencies (the FBI or the various intelligence-gathering branches).

Former US Intelligence Officers Scathingly Critique Trump’s So-Called Foreign Policy

May 10, 2017 Dahr Jamail, www.truth-out.org Resist! Donald Trump, Foreign Policy, Intelligence

By Dahr Jamail for Truthout - While Donald Trump delighted in launching 59 cruise missiles toward Syria while eating chocolate cake at one of his resorts, Syrians, as they have for years of living under conditions of extreme violence, feared the worst. The devastatingly bloody conflict in Syria, which the US has already been involved in for years, has left nearly 500,000 dead and nearly 2 million injured. That means that more than 1 out of every 10 Syrians has been killed or wounded, and more than 85 percent of the country is living in poverty. According to the UN, more than 6 million Syrians are displaced within their own country, and nearly 5 million have fled the country altogether and are now refugees. As the Trump administration appears poised to become increasingly involved in Syria and the greater Middle East, what is life like under the bombs? "It is a day-to-day kind of life where nothing is guaranteed and everything is unexpected," Syrian architect Marwa Al-Sabouni, who lives in Homs, told Truthout, emphasizing that securing day-to-day amenities is a struggle. "There is little room for anything normal."

Intelligence Dilemma: Collision Of Truth And Politics

April 26, 2017 Staff, www.tothepointanalyses.com Educate! Intelligence

By Staff of To The Point Analyses - Government intelligence agencies, particularly those in the United States, have a problem. Its nature was spelled out by the retired British diplomat Alastair Crooke in an article entitled “Trump’s 59-Tomahawk Tweet,” appearing 8 April 2017. As the title suggests, Crooke was reacting to President Trump’s precipitous attack on a Syrian government airbase, following the chemical weapons episode of 4 April 2017 at the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun. Crooke notes that U.S. intelligence had raised doubts as to the Syrian government’s responsibility for the release of poison gas. It seems likely that the Russians had alerted U.S. forces that the Syrian air force was going to attack a rebel warehouse in Khan Sheikhoun that was allegedly full of explosives and weapons. Unbeknownst to the Russians, the Syrians, and the Americans, the warehouse also held a poisonous mix of organic phosphates and chlorine. There is also evidence suggesting that whatever released the poison gas came from an explosive device placed on the ground. Wherever the resulting gas cloud came from, and a Syrian government bomb is certainly not the only possibility, It spread over a local neighborhood and killed a number of exposed residents.

The Surveillance State Behind Russia-Gate

March 30, 2017 Ray McGovern and Bill Binney, www.consortiumnews.com Educate! Intelligence, Russia, Surveillance, US Foreign Policy

By Ray McGovern and Bill Binney for Consortium News - What President Trump decides will largely determine the freedom of action he enjoys as president on many key security and other issues. But even more so, his choice may decide whether there is a future for this constitutional republic. Either he can acquiesce to or fight against a Deep State of intelligence officials who have a myriad of ways to spy on politicians (and other citizens) and thus amass derogatory material that can be easily transformed into blackmail. This crisis (yes, “crisis” is an overused word, but in this highly unusual set of circumstances we believe it is appropriate) came to light mostly by accident...

German Intel Clears Russia On Interference

February 19, 2017 Ray McGovern, www.consortiumnews.com Educate! CIA, Germany, Intelligence, Russia, Vladimir Putin

By Ray McGovern for Consortium News. After a multi-month, politically charged investigation, German intelligence agencies could find no good evidence of Moscow-directed cyber-attacks or a disinformation campaign aimed at subverting the democratic process in Germany. Undaunted, Chancellor Angela Merkel has commissioned a new investigation. President Barack Obama talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the G7 Summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria, Germany, June 8, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) President Barack Obama talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the G7 Summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria, Germany, June 8, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) Like the vast majority of Americans malnourished on “mainstream media,” most Germans have been led to believe that, by hacking and “propaganda,” the Kremlin interfered in the recent U.S. election and helped Donald Trump become president.Last year, Berlin’s two main intelligence agencies, the BND and BfV (counterparts of the CIA and FBI) launched a joint investigation to substantiate allegations that Russia was meddling in German political affairs and attempting to shape the outcome of Germany’s elections next September.

US Intel Agencies Try To Strong-Arm Trump Into War With Russia

January 11, 2017 Mike Whitney, www.counterpunch.org Educate! CIA, Donald Trump, Intelligence, Russia, Wars and Militarism

By Mike Whitney for Conter Punch - Powerful elites are using the credibility of the US Intelligence agencies to demonize Russia and prepare the country for war. This is the real meaning of the “Russia hacking” story which, as yet, has not produced any hard evidence of Russian complicity. Last week’s 25-page report, that was released by the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, illustrates to what extent intelligence is being “fixed around the policy”. Just as the CIA generated false information related to Weapons of Mass Destruction to soften public resistance to war with Iraq, so too, the spurious allegations in the DNI’s politically-motivated report are designed to depict Russia as a growing threat to US national security.

US Intelligence Agencies Play Media Critic And Fail

January 11, 2017 Adam Johnson, www.fair.org Educate! Intelligence, Media

By Adam Johnson for FAIR - The much-anticipated Office of the Director of Intelligence (DNI) Report—the combined assessment of the CIA, FBI, DHS and others—on alleged attempts by Russia to influence the 2016 election was released on Friday to a combination of uncritical boosting and underwhelmed perplexity. To many, it was further proof of Russia’s involvement in the DNC and Podesta hacks; to others–even to typically bullish Daily Beast–it was remarkably thin on details and evidence. As the New York Times (1/6/16) noted in paragraph five of their report on the release, “The declassified report contained no information about how the agencies had collected their data or had come to their conclusions.”

US Intel Vets Dispute Russia Hacking Claims

December 14, 2016 Steering Committee, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, www.consortiumnews.com Educate! Hacking, Intelligence, Russia

By Steering Committee of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity - A New York Times report on Monday alluding to “overwhelming circumstantial evidence” leading the CIA to believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin “deployed computer hackers with the goal of tipping the election to Donald J. Trump” is, sadly, evidence-free. This is no surprise, because harder evidence of a technical nature points to an inside leak, not hacking – by Russians or anyone else. Monday’s Washington Postreports that Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has joined other senators in calling for a bipartisan investigation of suspected cyber-intrusion by Russia.

Donald Trump’s National Security Choices Are Not ‘A’ Team In Intelligence Circles

December 6, 2016 John Kiriakou, www.truthdig.com Educate! Donald Trump, Intelligence, National Security

By John Kiriakou for Truth Dig - Donald Trump’s efforts to build a national security team have ricocheted between abject chaos and extreme conservative ideology. There’s no reason for progressives to be optimistic about retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as national security adviser or Rep. Michael Pompeo, R-Kan., as CIA director. Trump’s national security transition advisers have proven so far to hold extreme anti-democratic and anti-Muslim views. It’s not going to get any better. The real question is whether Trump’s appointees will refuse to reinstate former President George W. Bush’s illegal and immoral torture program ...

5 Corporations Now Dominate Our Privatized Intelligence Industry

September 12, 2016 Tim Shorrock, www.thenation.com Organize! Corporations, Intelligence, Privatization

By Tim Shorrock for The Nation - The recent integration of two military contractors into a $10 billion behemoth is the latest in a wave of mergers and acquisitions that have transformed America’s privatized, high-tech intelligence system into what looks like an old-fashioned monopoly. In August, Leidos Holdings, a major contractor for the Pentagon and the National Security Agency, completed a long-planned merger with the Information Systems & Global Solutions division of Lockheed Martin, the global military giant.

Washington Obsessed With Punishing Secrecy-Until Hillary Clinton

July 5, 2016 Glenn Greenwald, theintercept.com Educate! FBI, Hillary Clinton, Intelligence, Justice

By Glenn Greenwald for the Intercept. This extreme, unforgiving, unreasonable, excessive posture toward classified information came to an instant halt in Washington today – just in time to save Hillary Clinton’s presidential aspirations. FBI Director James Comey, an Obama appointee who served in the Bush DOJ, held a press conference earlier this afternoon in which he condemned Clinton on the ground that she and her colleagues were “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information,” including Top Secret material. Comey also detailed that her key public statements defending her conduct –i.e., she never sent classified information over her personal email account and that she had turned over all “work-related” emails to the State Department – were utterly false; insisted “that any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton’s position . . . should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation”; and argued that she endangered national security because of the possibility “that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton’s personal e-mail account.” Comey also noted that others who have done what Clinton did “are often subject to security or administrative sanctions” . . . .

Price For Witnessing Against War

May 8, 2016 Ray McGovern, www.consortuimnews.com Resist! Accountability, Intelligence, Peace, Wars and Militarism

By Ray McGovern for Consortium News. During the first Ronald Reagan administration, it was my job to conduct early morning one-on-one briefings of the Secretary of Defense (Caspar Weinberger), Secretary of State (George Shultz), and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Gen. Jack Vessey) and also, depending on their schedules, Vice President George H. W. Bush, as well as a movable feast of Assistants to the President for National Security Affairs. Another senior CIA officer and I took turns, each of us briefing every other day six days a week. As professional intelligence analysts, we conducted ourselves in a completely non-partisan way, and our services were appreciated. We relied largely on The President’s Daily Brief that we had helped prepare the day before, and we updated and supplemented the material in it, as needed.

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