Sic Semper Tyrannis

"Strike The Tent" trilogy by W. Patrick Lang

     

Available from:

 iUniverse

http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/BookSearchResults.aspx?Search=patrick%20lang

E-Book version of all three available at iUniverse

Barnes and Noble

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/W--Patrick-Lang?keyword=W.+Patrick+Lang&store=allproducts&iehack=%E2%98%A0

Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Butchers-Cleaver-Confederate-Secret-Services/dp/0595474764/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358700423&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Butcher%27s+Cleaver

I was interviewed some time ago by the North Carolina Museum of History concerning the writing of this trilogy.

"The Confederate Secret Services, a conversation with W. Patrick Lang, novelist, retired U.S. Army colonel, and military intelligence consultant

Patrick Lang discusses his two novels, The Butcher’s Cleaver and Death Piled Hard, both of which focus on Claude Devereux, a Virginia banker who is recruited by the Confederate secret service and placed in the office of Union secretary of war Edwin Stanton. Approximate run time: 24 minutes. Podcast " 

This podcast is highly recommended

http://ncmuseumofhistory.org/civil-war-and-reconstruction

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"Science currently holds that time travel is an impossibility, but readers of Down the Sky, thefinal volume of Colonel Pat Lang’s Strike the Tent trilogy will question that assertion. Code-named “Hannibal,” Confederate penetration agent Claude Devereux is firmly lodged in the upper echelons of the Federal war machine. Now a Brigadier General of the Union forces with the new Congressional Medal of Honor on his chest, Major Devereux of the Confederate Secret Service knows time is running out. His minders in Richmond may no longer trust him, his personal life is a shambles, and Union spy-catcher Lafayette Baker is determined to bring him down. Only his peculiar, personal friendship with President Lincoln holds his enemies at bay.

Claude’s missions for the Federal War Department take him to major battles, and the reader will experience Cedar Creek, and Fort Fisher as if in person. The vision of Lincoln standing in full view of the Confederate sharpshooters at Fort Stephens is indelible, as is the vignette of a severely wounded Union officer on the grounds of the Belle Grove Plantation after Cedar Creek. Such a view of battle could only have come from the author’s personal experiences.

The book stands alone, but it is a worthy successor to its two predecessors, The Butcher’s Cleaver, and Death Piled Hard. The great Shelby Foote said:

'The Civil War brings everything into a sharper focus with heightened color. Anytime you want to study human behavior, it is well to study the Civil War, because in that you study human behavior under terrific pressure and heat. So that men show what they are for good or bad more readily than in ordinary times.'

Readers of the trilogy, and of Down the Sky in particular will find this unerringly demonstrated by the historical rigor and deep creativity of Patrick Lang.

James Peak

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These books are available in electronic formats to include "Kindle' from major vendors. pl

Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith gets probation after making a false statement in the FISA surveillance warrant process

By Robert Willmann

The pretense and bogus public face that an even-handed application of law exists in the federal legal system showed itself again today as former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith received 12 months probation and a $100 special assessment after pleading guilty to making a false statement during the process for the third renewal of a surveillance warrant on Carter Page, PhD.  The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows the most intrusive surveillance of a person and his or her communications, and can also include physical searches and the production of business records and other tangible things.  Clinesmith pleaded guilty on 19 August 2020, and court records and a transcript of the plea hearing were made available here on SST [1]. 

This is the only criminal case filed so far by Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham, who was directed by Attorney General William Barr on 18 May 2019 to conduct a preliminary review, which turned into a criminal investigation, about matters related to the 2016 presidential campaign and governmental conduct.   Part of what Durham is to look into is the FBI's "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation, which was officially opened in 2016 and which allegedly was about the Trump campaign and the Russian government.  Clinesmith's criminal conduct happened as part of that FBI activity.  Barr made Durham a "special counsel" under Justice Department procedures on 1 December 2020 that would give Durham some degree of independence as the Biden administration moved in.

The written order of conviction and sentencing is not yet in the court clerk's file, with the only notation being on the clerk's docket sheet about the sentencing on 29 January 2021.  One other bit of activity occurred in the case, when Carter Page filed a request under the Crime Victims' Rights Act to be acknowledged as a crime victim under that law, since he was subject to surveillance based on unlawful applications for orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) [2].  He also filed a supplement to that request saying that with the current posture of the case, it would not be workable to establish a dollar amount of restitution he should receive [3].  He was the target of four consecutive surveillance warrants, an original one which was then renewed three times.  Each one was for 90 days, which means the surveillance of him went on for an entire year.  

Unraveling the Deep State Coup

The courageous, brilliant duo of Sidney Powell and Congressman Louis Gohmert stirred up a bit of a storm in the last few days with this tweet

When I saw this it did not make sense. Let me explain. I spent four years working at State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism (now it is the Bureau of Counter Terrorism). I was one of two officers who dealt directly with the FBI in the investigation of the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103. I learned through this experience that US law enforcement cannot operate in other countries without the permission of those countries.

I also spent 22 years scripting terrorism exercises for U.S. military special operations. My job was to replicate State Department and Embassy communications that would occur during a terrorist crisis. So, I have a lot of experience in working real world with US law enforcement, US military and our Embassies in sorting out the issues that arise when the United States wants to pursue a law enforcement or military operation in a foreign country.

The U.S. Army did not conduct a raid in Germany on either Sctyl or Dominion offices or servers. They are foreign nationals and we must operate in accordance with German law. Moreover, the U.S. Army does not have law enforcement powers with respect to such entities.

The Chinese Communist Party Is Playing A Very Dangerous Game Threatening To Take Americans 'Hostage'. by J

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is upset with the U.S.'s Department of Justice (DOJ) seeking prosecutions of several Chinese research scientists arrested in the U.S. this year.  So upset that it's threatening to take Americans in China 'Hostage' if DOJ doesn't drop its prosecutions. 

The reason that DOJ is pursuing their charges, is that the Chinese Researchers are affiliated with and working on behalf of the CCP's military wing the People's Liberation Army (PLA).  These Chinese Researchers lied about their affiliations and their active duty status with the PLA in their applications to enter and work in the U.S.

VISA fraud, and lying to U.S. Immigration Authorities are not things not be taken lightly.

The CCP is playing a very dangerous game. 

https://nypost.com/2020/10/18/china-warns-it-will-take-americans-hostage-if-charges-arent-dropped/

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/researchers-charged-visa-fraud-after-lying-about-their-work-china-s-people-s-liberationJ.

Chinese intelligence files are the Achilles Heel of the Globalists

"GTV, a Chinese dissident billionaire’s Taiwan-based media outlet, is releasing sordid, depressing videos and photographs of a person purported to be Hunter Biden engaging in sex and seemingly smoking crack. That’s not the big news. The big news is that the same outlet claims that (a) Communist China owns Joe Biden; (b) Joe Biden sold out CIA assets in China who were then executed or imprisoned; and (c) GTV has millions of images showing other presumably influential people in comprising positions. If all this is true, we may see a complete realignment in Western politics.

The Hunter Biden videos and images are at GTV’s video site. I won’t give the link here because the material is pornographic. However, the following are two cropped pictures. In both, the person appearing to be Hunter is naked and with a woman. In the second picture, Hunter appears to be lighting a crack pipe while engaged in sexual activity with the woman:"

"What’s more interesting than the images themselves is the story behind them and the allegations included with them. Taiwan-based GTV and GNews, which published the material, are owned by Guo Wengui, a dissent Chinese billionaire.

Guo was born in mainland China and gained his wealth doing construction work. Eventually, he ran into trouble, and the Chinese government accused him of corruption. (The reality, of course, is that anyone who has become wealthy in China was corrupt.)

Guo escaped with his wealth to America. He is a fervent enemy of the Chinese Communist Party and has made it his mission to bring it down. One of his friends is Steve Bannon, with whose help he founded GTV and GNews. In June, Bannon joined with Guo to declare a “New Federal State of China” they hope will overthrow China’s communist government.

When the New York Post, on October 14, published its first report about Hunter Biden’s hard drive, that wasn’t the first time Hunter’s computer made the news. According to the Daily Beast, on September 25, a Guo-affiliated YouTube station uploaded a Chinese-language video announcing that Guo and Bannon had sent “sent three hard disks of evidence” to both the Justice Department and Nancy Pelosi.

Three days later, Himalaya Global, a movement that Guo and Bannon started, published a tweet making the same announcement, only adding that the disks created a “big money and sex scandal.” Twitter has since suspended the account, but the Daily Beast captured the contents:"

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"Millions of images?"  Hmmm!  this would imply for me that this man Guo's money bought its way into the files of a major Chinese government intelligence collection or decision making institution.

It seems to me that Guo, as a former senior member of the CCP with a wealth of mainland contacts could do that.  People do come and go from mainland China and the smuggling of massive  amounts of data on miniaturized media devices would not be difficult.  It would be dangerous but not very difficult.  Transfer of the data could take place anywhere in the world.

The Chinese are pragmatic people.  The prospect of a nice house in British Columbia and the money with which to maintain the life style would persuade a lot of Chinese with access to the files.  

A "New Federal State of China?"  Yes!  Yes!  We should be putting money and effort into that project.  But, are we?  pl

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/10/forget_the_hunter_biden_sex_tapes_the_real_news_is_much_bigger_than_that.html

"WHISTLEBLOWER: HUNTER BIDEN RAPED CHINESE CHILDREN" Church Militant

"A whistleblower is claiming there are multiple videos on Hunter Biden's laptop showing him raping and torturing underage Chinese girls, and that the Chinese Communist Party is using these videos as blackmail against Democrat presidential contender Joe Biden.

DingGang Wang, a member of Miles Guo's team, which has worked with Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani for many months, said in a Sept. 24 broadcast for Lude Media — two weeks before the New York Post bombshell — that he has reviewed the contents of a laptop owned by Hunter Biden.

"So what about Hunter Biden? Sex tapes, pedo tapes, one by one — Hunter Biden," said Wang. "Extremely disturbing and obscene ..."

Indicating extreme abuse, he continued, "Not treating the Chinese as human beings.""

""Who filmed these?" he asked. "The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did it!"

Wang indicates there is much more compromising material on the laptop, and that the CCP is using the child porn videos as blackmail against Joe Biden, whom they hope is elected president."

""The message of the CCP is: Don't ever think I don't have your secrets in possession," Wang explained. "To give you this hard drive is to let you know that, don't forget, we have evidence of your crimes. You have to win this election."

Sexual blackmail is a classic tactic of the communists, and was routinely used by the KGB. In addition to the famed "honeytrap," wherein female KGB agents seduced American men and caught their misdeeds on tape, there is evidence General Secretary Yuri Andropov created pedophile rings in order to blackmail businessmen and political leaders.

The tactic is also used in communist China."  Church Militant

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It is a common practice in the dark world of clandestine intelligence to blackmail sources to insure their continued cooperation.  I never saw it done in the American intelligence services but I wasn't everywhere and cannot state categorically that something like this never happened on our side.  The best recruitments are the result of careful cultivation over long periods of time.  pl 

https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/whistleblower-hunter-biden-raped-chinese-children

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Militant_(website)

Murder in Berlin. Did the Russian FSB do it? by J.

In August 2019, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili a former Chechen insurgent commander who had been seeking asylum in Germany, was murdered in Berlin.  The German attorney general's office says the suspect in Khangoshvili's murder, who is identified only as Vadim K. or an alias of Vadim S., is very likely the same man who murdered a Russian businessman in Moscow in 2013.  His suspected accomplice has been identified as a former Russian FSB (Vympel) Officer .

Vadim S. traveling under the guise of a tourist and using a Russian passport, was ID'd by two teens who had seen the individual attempting to dispose of the murder weapon into a river.

Vadim S. ID'd as former Russian FSB (Vympel) named Vadim Krasikov.  Krasikov has a close association with current and former members of the Russian Speznaz, and had spent extended periods of time at a FSB training base outside Moscow.

An investigation team comprised of The Bellincat, with The Insider (Russia) and Der Spiegel (Germany) findings conclude that the assassination of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin was organized by the FSB which used the Vympel group of companies (and the affiliated Regional Association of Former FSB Spetsnaz veterans) for the operation, and as deniable cover. They conclude that the Vympel group of companies is a de facto arm of the FSB earmarked, at least partly, for deniable overseas assassinations. The role of the Vympel group for such targeted assassinations is not dissimilar to the use of Wagner PMC for deniable military operations abroad. FSB’s use of a proxy for overseas illegal operations is different than the modus operandi of the GU.

The Berlin murder trial kicked off this past Wednesday.

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2019/12/03/identifying-the-berlin-bicycle-assassin-part-1-from-moscow-to-berlin/

https://oc-media.org/khangoshvili-murder-trial-kicks-off-in-berlin/

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-trial-idUSKBN26S193

J.

Russia's GU's Creation of a NATO Mole By Honey-trap/Blackmail Means. by J

Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, is today officially known by the acronym GU, and still many refer to it by it's former Soviet acronym, the GRU.  Russia's Military Intelligence.

This story deals with the creation of a NATO mole by the Russian GU through honeytrap/blackmail means.  It involves a former Estonian Soldier Deniss Metsavas, who while still single fell into a honey-trap/blackmail operation that Russia's Military Intelligence had set up to ensnare the Estonian Army artillery specialist. 

 

Source: The Atlantic article

J.

Countering The Foreign Intelligence Threat. by J

National Insider Threat Awareness Month came to a close at the end of September, and Cybersecurity Awareness Month began the 1st of October.

The FBI, in conjunction with the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC), released to the public at the end of last month a 30-minute movie, called “The Nevernight Connection,” detailing a fictional decription of a former U.S. Intelligence Community official targeted by a foreign intelligence service via a fake profile on a professional networking site and recruited to turn over classified information.   NCSC disseminated this movie and other resources to the U.S. Intelligence Community to help employees recognize fake online profiles, realize the threat they pose, report these suspicious approaches to appropriate authorities, and take steps to avoid being targeted in the first place.

Current and former government clearance holders who believe they have been targeted in this way are asked to contact their local FBI office.

Recent examples:  Singaporean national Dickson Yeo, and former CIA officer Kevin Mallory.

Dickson Yeo:  On July 24, 2020, Singaporean national Dickson Yeo pleaded guilty to acting within the U.S. as an illegal agent of China without first notifying the Attorney General. Posing as a consultant, Yeo used a professional networking site to target and recruit U.S. officials at the direction of Chinese intelligence. According to court documents, after Yeo contacted potential targets online, “the professional networking website began to suggest additional potential targets.” According to Yeo, “the website’s algorithm was relentless” and “it felt almost like an addiction.” Among those who provided Yeo with information was a clearance holder working with the U.S. Air Force on the F-35B military aircraft program and a State Department employee who confided to Yeo he was dissatisfied at work and having financial troubles, and later wrote a report for Yeo about a then-serving U.S. Cabinet Member for money.

Former CIA officer Kevin Mallory:  On May 17, 2019, former CIA officer Kevin Mallory was sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to transmit national defense information to China. Mallory was first approached by Chinese intelligence via a fake profile on a professional networking site. Fluent in Mandarin, Mallory worked for CIA, DIA, Department of State, and the U.S. Army. After leaving CIA in 2012, Mallory launched a consulting business, resulting in little success and mounting financial debt. In 2017, Chinese intelligence officers initiated contact with Mallory by having an operative posing online as a corporate headhunter send him a message on a professional networking site. Mallory traveled twice to China, where he was met by a Chinese intelligence officer and paid $25,000. On his second trip, he was provided with a covert communications device to transmit classified information to Chinese intelligence. A subsequent search of Mallory’s covert communications device by the FBI revealed classified document remnants.

"To reduce the risk, people should never accept an invitation to connect from someone you do not know, even if they are a friend of a friend. If possible, validate invitation requests through other means before accepting them.  Report suspicious online approaches to appropriate authorities. And most importantly, be careful what you post on social media platforms about yourself and your job, as it could draw unwanted attention from adversaries and criminals."  Government guidance

Working hand in hand with International Partners to Counter the foreign intelligence threat:

The NCSC and FBI are working with international partners to raise awareness of this threat. Earlier this year, the United Kingdom’s (U.K) Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) released to the public a set of “Think before you link” videos and awareness materials to help U.K. government and industry sectors address this threat.  CPNI’s “Think before you link” materials can be found here. A direct link to CPNI’s two-minute video “Glitch” can be found here.

In a 2020 National Security Threat Assessment, the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence and the State Security Department noted that “hostile foreign intelligence services increasingly use online social networks to find and recruit sources abroad. Chinese intelligence services are particularly aggressive in this area and they mainly use the opportunities provided by the social network LinkedIn.”

In 2019, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization noted that it had warned business and government partners about “how hostile intelligence services use LinkedIn and other social media platforms to target people in positions that could fulfill a wide range of intelligence objectives.”

In 2017, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, Bundesamt fur Verfassungsschutz (BfV) issued a public report accusing China’s intelligence services of using fake profiles on social media platforms to target more than 10,000 German citizens, including members of parliament, ministries, and government agencies, over a nine-month period. The BfV report includes screen shots of some the fake profiles used for recruitment purposes, which have since been closed down.

Source:  FBI and NCSC press release.

J.

Chinese Spy Spilled The Beans On CCPs Interference Spy Operations. by J

In October of 2019, ASIO (Australia Security Intelligence Organization) had a walk-in, a CCP spy walk-in.   Wang ‘William’ Liqiang apparently gave a sworn statement to ASIO regarding CCP's interference spy operations in a number of countries and within governments that include Australia,  and Taiwan.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3039046/chinese-spy-who-infiltrated-hong-kong-taiwan-defects-australia

Australia's 60 Minutes broadcast a segment interviewing Liqiang who outed himself seeking  Australian Governmental Protection.  Australia's 60 Minutes broadcast resulted a few days later in Beijing accusing Liqiang of being a wanted felon.  The initial 60 Minute broadcast was aired Nov. 25, 2019.

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Chinese spy spills secrets to expose Communist espionage | 60 Minutes Australia Nov 24, 2019

UPDATE: Chinese spy spills secrets to expose Communist espionage | 60 Minutes Australia Dec. 2 2019

J.

The Vikasi Will Give Communist China Their Comeuppance. by J.

The Vikasi, have never given up on one day reclaiming their homeland, Tibet. 

Establishment 22, a Special Frontier Force (SFF) created by India in 1962, with their main goal to conduct covert warfare operations behind Communist Chinese lines.  Establishment 22 conducts special reconnaissance, as well as direct action, hostage rescue, counter-terrorism, unconventional warfare, and covert operations.

Establishment 22 has a long and proud history dating back to World War II.  Its first Inspector General, Major General Sujan Singh Uban had commanded the 22nd Mountain Regiment in Europe during World War II.  Major General Uban also commanded a recon and raiding unit of the British Army in North Africa during the war.

The SFF while not a part of the Indian Army, falls under the Army's operational command.  Women are also part of the SFF, and perform unconventional warfare tasks, and covert operations.

The Vikasi are approximately 10,000 plus strong, most of them Tibetan Highlanders, who's unquestioned loyalty is to the Dalai Lama, and who have been itching for a fight to reclaim their Tibetan homeland from the illegal Communist Chinese occupiers.  India's PM Modhi has given them the green light.  August 29-30 in the evening hours saw the Vikasi preempting the Communist Chinese PLA occupying a strategic position Southern Pangong Tso near Thakung.  The SFF pummeled the Communist Chinese troops while snatching the strategic location.

Every, and I do mean 'every' Vikasi are mountain-guerrilla warfare specialist, some of the toughest around. Somebody you*d want sharing a fox-hole with you.  A former Gurkha commander once exclaimed that the Vikasi could survive in any condition.  The SFF are a truly self-sufficient force, who also serve under in the DGS under India's external intelligence agency R&AW.

By giving the Vikasi the green light, India sends China a wake-up call. 

Court Rules Against NSA And It's Metadata Collection Activity. by J.

Will we ever return to a time when USSID 18 was adhered to by NSA?  Sadly, our politicians or those who quest for power and stroke won't let U.S. go back to that time of protections for all Americans.

9th Circuit Court of Appeals found the activity regarding NSA and its metadata collections, illegal. 

https://www.rt.com/usa/499742-nsa-spying-illegal-snowden/

https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000174-4f61-de4a-ad7d-ffeff5e80000

J.

French LTC Assigned To NATO, Arrested For Committing Espionage On Behalf of Russia. by J

French DSGI Counter-Intelligence (their MI5 equivalent) arrested a French LTC assigned to NATO, as he was wrapping up his vacation in France and heading back to his NATO base in Italy.  The LTC was arrested for committing espionage on behalf of Russia. 

The LTC speaks fluent Russian and his position appears to be that of a specialist on  Russian military affairs for his NATO base in Italy.  French authorities began investigating the LTC when he was spotted with an individual who was later identified as an Intelligence Officer for the Russian GRU, Russia's Military Intelligence.

The LTC is being held in ‘La Santé’ prison in Paris.  55 years old, father of five, has relatives in Russia.  The LTC was assigned to Allied Joint Force Command.

Earlier in the month French DSGI arrested two Retired DGSE agents, one is in his 60s, and the other in his 70s for committing Espionage on behalf of China.  French law prohibits disclosure of the full names of their agents, current and retired.

Europe 1

J.

Chinese National Charged with Destroying Hard Drive During FBI Investigation into the Possible Transfer of Sensitive Software to China. by J

Guan Lei, 29, of Alhambra California, was arrested pursuant to a one-count criminal complaint unsealed Friday afternoon during his initial appearance in U. S. District Court.

Guan is being investigated for possibly transferring sensitive U.S. software or technical data to China’s National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) and falsely denying his association with the Chinese military – the People’s Liberation Army – in connection with his 2018 visa application and in interviews with federal law enforcement. Guan later admitted that he had participated in military training and wore military uniforms while at NUDT. One of Guan’s NUDT faculty advisors in China was also a lieutenant general in the PLA who developed computers used by the PLA General Staff Department, the PLA General Armament Department, Air Force, military weather forecasts, and nuclear technology. NUDT is “suspected of procuring U.S.-origin items to develop supercomputers with nuclear explosive applications” and has been placed on the Department of Commerce’s Entity List for nuclear nonproliferation reasons, according to the affidavit.  In addition to destroying the hard drive, the complaint alleges that Guan concealed digital storage devices from investigators and falsely told federal officials that he had not had any contact with the Chinese consulate during his nearly two-year stay in the U.S.

Case is being investigated by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service.

DOJ Release

J.

Former Army Captain Charged In Russian Espionage Conspiracy by J.

Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins was arrested Friday.

“According to the allegations, Mr. Debbins knowingly provided information to self-proclaimed members of Russia's Intelligence Service, the GRU,” said James A. Dawson, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office. “As a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, the American people and his fellow service men and women should have been able to trust Debbins with secrets and information. Debbins allegedly fell very short of that and exploited his role in the military and his fellow service members to benefit one of our top adversaries for years. Today’s charges are another example of the dedicated and unrelenting efforts of the FBI and our partners, domestic and international, to aggressively pursue and bring to justice those who violate this sacred trust and place our national security at risk.”

DOJ release:

"From the DOJ press release:  According to court documents, from December 1996 to January 2011, Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, 45, a former member of the U.S. Army, allegedly conspired with agents of a Russian intelligence service. During that time, Debbins periodically visited Russia and met with Russian intelligence agents. In 1997, Debbins was assigned a code name by Russian intelligence agents and signed a statement attesting that he wanted to serve Russia."

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-army-special-forces-officer-charged-russian-espionage-conspiracy

Indictment:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1307186/download

J.

Former DCI Brennan Spokespeson Says Brennan Told By Durham He's Not Target Of Criminal Probe. by J

 
A spokesperson for Brennan said Friday that Durham told the former DCI that he's not the subject or target of a criminal probe. 

How can that be?  Isn't Durham aware how Brennan using his 'independent businesses that deal with Intelligence' attempted using them in the election process. Brennan has businesses in the  IIO (Influence Intelligence Operation) . 

Brennan according to some former independent contractors used intelligence and software attempting to change/manipulate U.S. election outcomes. Should not these accusations against Brennan be investigated for criminal misconduct by Brennan?

Mr. Durham was not election tampering or attempted tampering not a crime?  Or is Durham's investigation nothing more than smoke-n-mirrors, another dog-n-pony show.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/22/john-brennan-spoke-john-durham-part-review-russia-probe/3418778001/

J.

FBI Counter Intelligence, Ever Viligant. by J

See that guy over there with all the gray hair?  He was an FBI Counter Intelligence, and it's a wonder he still has all his hair, as he's pulled a lot of it out through out his career.  Long hours, tired hours countering threats to U.S. National Security.  See all the holes in the bottom of his shoes, they reflect many hours chasing leads.   It's a job that keeps on giving, and giving, and giving.   When anybody mentions the FBI, one thinks of a pristine swashbuckling  debonair man in a suit without wrinkle one, the public at large still envisions the Special Agent In Charge that Efram Zimbalist Jr.'s portrayed in the FBI TV Series.  What they don't see is the FBI's Counter Intelligence division hard at work behind the scenes.  If anybody wanted to read a really good novel, that would be the one to read if they ever declassified it, and cleared it for print.

Do you know how long FBI Counter Intelligence has been around?  FBI Counter Intelligence was created in 1917,  quite a bit older than everyone reading this.

FBI Counter Intelligence deals with a host of threats, from the Israeli Mossad, to the Russian SVR, to the Chinese MSS, and beyond.

The Chinese MSS threat is at the top of the FBI's Counter Intelligence food chain.  FBI Counter Intelligence is well aware of the 2049 goal of the Chinese Communist Party.   

Some of the recent accomplishments by the FBI's Counter Intelligence dealing with China include:

• Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, a former CIA officer, was charged in a conspiracy to communicate classified information to intelligence officials of the People’s Republic of China.
• Dr. James Patrick Lewis, of Fairview, West Virginia, was sentenced to three months' incarceration for a fraud charge involving West Virginia University.
• Li Chen, formerly of Dublin, Ohio, pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal exosome-related trade secrets.
• Simon Saw-Teong Ang was indicted for wire fraud and two counts of passport fraud related to his failure to disclose ties to companies and institutions in China to the University of Arkansas and to U.S. government agencies.
• Dr. Charles Lieber, the former Chair of Harvard University’s Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department, has been charged in a superseding indictment with tax offenses.
• Jun Wei Yeo, also known as Dickson Yeo, entered a plea of guilty to one count of acting within the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign power. 
• Four individuals have been charged with visa fraud in connection with a scheme to lie about their status as members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) while in the U.S. conducting research.
• And the list goes on.

Almost half of the FBI's Counter Intelligence current cases deal with Communist China.

To sum up, the FBI's Counter Intelligence are ever watchful, working their tails off to negate the threats posed to U.S. National Security.

Here are two good videos to watch:

The Company Man: Protecting America's Secrets

Game of Pawns

J.

 

CIA Officers Violating Their Oaths, Sell Out To Communist China. by J

There are a lot of hard working dedicated patriotic personnel at CIA, and then there are those who decide for whatever reason to step over to the dark side, and sell out their nation to those seeking to undermine U.S. National Security. 

We disdain those who sell out our U.S.   The Chinese and the Russians disdain those of their nations who do the same.  We take advantage when there is an opening, and they do the same.  We salute our flag, they salute theirs.

Chinese Intelligence saw an opening and they took it (and they still are), their target -- retired CIA personnel.  Even though they're retired from the CIA, they still carry a lot of baggage in their upstairs, how the CIA system works.  Gaining insight into how the CIA system works, is like a candy-store full of goodies to the opposing side.  We do the same.  All of this is a nightmare for our Counter Intelligence, as we, as theirs, when we're able to breach their National Security and gain access to their candy-stores.  And they wonder why gray hair comes early, a nightmare for Counter Intelligence,

Back to the story, last year former CIA Jerry Chung Shing Lee plead guilty and was sentenced to 19 years for conspiring with Chinese Intelligence beginning in 2010 when he left the agency. His compromising CIA methods led to the deaths of Chinese informants.

The latest case is that of a 15 year veteran of the CIA,  67 year old Alexander Yuk Ching Ma of Hawaii, was charged today Monday August 17th with his selling U.S. secrets to China and then unwittingly admitting his spying to the FBI .  Ma joined the CIA in 1967 and retired from the agency in 1989.  Ma met with at least five officers of China's Ministry of State Security in Hong Kong.  Ma disclosed CIA's internal organization, methods of covert communications, and the identities of CIA officers and assets. 

After Ma left CIA, he got a job as a Chinese linguist at the FBI's Honolulu field office.  There he copied/photographed classifed documents on missile and weapons systems as well as other U.S. secrets, and passed it on to his Chinese handlers.  When the FBI became aware of Ma's treason they set up a sting posing as a representive for the Chinese government.  The FBI recorded their sting on video.  Ma disclosed to the FBI why he did it, he said he wanted the motherland to succeed.  Ma also had an 85 year old relative who had worked for CIA also passed on information to Chinese Intelligence.  He hasn't been charged as he suffers from an advanced cognitive disease.

The passing on of State Secrets to opposing sides, is no game, it all too frequently leads to many deaths, and wrecks many battlefields. 

J.

President To Consider Pardoning Edward Snowden. by J

 

President Trump will consider a request to pardon NSA leaker Edward Snowden who released a trove of national secrets (and illegal goings on by alphabet agencies) in 2013.

“I’m going to start looking at it,” Trump said at a news conference in New Jersey.

Snowden was granted asylum by Russia in 2013.

Snowden’s leaks exposed a vast domestic and international surveillance operation carried out by the NSA. U.S. authorities have since sought to have Snowden return to face criminal espionage charges.

His attorney says it differently.

“He was acting not only in the interest of the American citizens, but in the interest of all the humankind,” the attorney, Anatoly Kucherena, said.

The NSA was (still is) collecting data on every American.

Trump once called Snowden a spy who should be executed. Reflecting now about he now sees him as more of a leaker. I used to think Snowden should have gone through the legal process as a leaker but after having seen how our intel agencies operate, I’d sooner believe in the Tooth Fairy.

What Snowden showed was how alphabet agencies who are bound by U.S. laws are skirting those very laws legally using independent contractors for many of their intelligence operations, contractors many of whom employ foreign nationals, and grant them access to raw unfiltered extremely sensitive and damaging intelligence information which in foreign hands poses an extremely grave threat to U.S. National Security. 

                                                                         

In effect these independent intelligence contractors have been given the keys to the kingdom with no oversight.

J.

"New notes will show FBI lied to Congress about Steele dossier" Washington Examiner

"A top Republican defended his committee releasing the declassified FBI interview with a top source for British ex-spy Christopher Steele and said a forthcoming document would show the bureau misled Congress about the reliability of his anti-Trump dossier.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, criticized the former MI6 agent, said Steele’s dossier was compromised by Russian disinformation, and argued newly public FBI notes from a January 2017 discussion with Steele’s "primary subsource" demonstrated the FBI knew the dossier was unreliable but continued to use it anyway. During his interview with Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures on Fox News, he also previewed new bureau records to be released in the upcoming week he said would show the FBI misled not just the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court about the Steele dossier, but also lawmakers.

“We also now have found, and this will come out next week, that Congress got suspicious about the Russian subsource and reliability of the Steele Dossier, and that members of Congress asked to be briefed about it,” Graham said. “Here is what I think I’m going to be able to show to the public: not only did the FBI lie to the court about the reliability about the Steele dossier, they also lied to the Congress. And that is a separate crime.”"  Washington Examiner

-------------

The first thing to do is fire Christopher Wray, the present Director of the FBI, for malfeasance and neglect of duty in this whole matter.

The second thing to do is to seriously consider dissolution of the FBI and its replacement with a new federal police force severely limited to criminal investigations of violations of federal law.

There should also be a separate domestic internal security investigative body modeled on the UK's MI-5 (the Security Service).  Whether or not such a service should have the power of arrest is an open question.  If arrests become necessary after their investigations the agents of some other federal police force could be used to make them after examination of the security service's case.

The rest of the USIC should be examined with an eye to re-organization in light of the partisan role they played in the 2016 election.

pl

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/lindsey-graham-new-notes-will-show-fbi-lied-to-congress-about-steele-dossier

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_A._Wray

Ghislaine Maxwell wants out of jail with a personal recognizance bond and an ankle monitor!

By Robert Willmann

In the face of agitating propaganda pushing a marxist cultural attack and conditioning the public about a virus, a little humor is always welcome.  After Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers filed their memorandum in opposition to the government's motion for detention, I eagerly looked for their proposal for her pretrial release from jail, and there it was on page four.  When reading number one I started laughing and could hardly stop, at their bulls**t that would make Donald Trump blush: "(i) a $5 million personal recognizance bond, co-signed by six financially responsible people, all of whom have strong ties to Ms. Maxwell, and secured by real property in the United Kingdom worth over $3.75 million ...."

I thought I better jet up to New York City and tell Maurene Comey and the other two prosecutors that Maxwell and her lawyers were just about to hand the court an empty sack! A personal recognizance (PR) bond is a piece of paper signed by the defendant and maybe others that says they will pay the government 'X' dollars if the defendant fails to show up in court. No money is deposited with the clerk. No bail bond company that has given collateral to the government to write bonds signs it.  Is $5 million too small an amount for Ghislaine? Then just write on that PR bond $10 million, or $100 million, or whatever amount you want, sucker.

But do not worry. This piece of paper is "secured" by real property worth "over $3.75 million" that is located in the United Kingdom. Wait a minute. I thought the Southern District of New York (SDNY) was in the United States, not the United Kingdom.  Do Maxwell and those New York and Denver lawyers think this is the year 1775?

Now, who are these "six financially responsible people" who are going to co-sign this worthless piece of paper? Page 20 (pdf page 24) tells us -- and the court -- in marvelous detail: "Ms. Maxwell's siblings, relatives and friends -- many of whom [but not all!] reside in the United States".

The first New York City court appearance for Ghislaine Maxwell may be Friday, July 10

By Robert Willmann

(Update, Tuesday, 7 July:  The hearing is now set for Tuesday morning, 14 July)--

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/gmaxwell_letter_hearing_to_be_14july.pdf

After being arrested in Bradford, New Hampshire last Thursday, before the Fourth of July weekend, Ghislaine Maxwell, charged with helping Jeffrey Epstein abuse underage girls, may have her arraignment, initial appearance, and bail hearing in Manhattan, New York City on Friday afternoon, 10 July.

In a letter dated and filed in the federal court on Sunday, 5 July, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) said that when in New Hampshire Maxwell had what would have been a brief appearance before a judge.  This is required after an arrest, and is to occur "without unnecessary delay" [1].--

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/gmaxwell_letter_initial_appearance.pdf

The government asked that Maxwell be detained in custody until a trial, in a paper filed the day of the arrest.  The motion for detention contains a few items of interest.  She was born in France and is a citizen of and appears to have passports for at least France, Britain, and the U.S.  The request for detention says:  "Based on the Government’s investigation to date, the Government has identified more than 15 different bank accounts held by or associated with the defendant from 2016 to the present, and during that same period, the total balances of those accounts have ranged from a total of hundreds of thousands of dollars to more than $20 million"--

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/gmaxwell_motion_to_detain.pdf

The criminal indictment of Maxwell, which was unsealed the day of the arrest on 2 July, charges a curious time period of only "at least in or about 1994, up to and including at least in or about 1997", and refers to only three victims--

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/gmaxwell_indictment.pdf

The very limited written criminal charge can of course be seen as an opening gambit by the prosecution, since it can be expanded in a superseding indictment.

The letter filed with the court clerk identifies Christian Everdell as the current attorney for Maxwell; he had been a federal prosecutor in the SDNY for nearly 10 years [2].  In court documents a familiar surname appears as one of the SDNY co-prosecutors for the federal government -- Maurene Comey -- who was in the same role in the aborted prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein.  The legal communities in New York City and Washington D.C. are two little clubs that sometimes tend to overlap.

“Russia offered bounties to Afghan militants to kill US troops” - TTG

(CNN) - Russian intelligence officers for the military intelligence GRU recently offered money to Taliban militants in Afghanistan as rewards if they killed US or UK troops there, a European intelligence official told CNN.

The official was unclear as to the precise Russian motivation, but said the incentives had, in their assessment, led to coalition casualties. The official did not specify as to the date of the casualties, their number or nationality, or whether these were fatalities or injuries. "This callous approach by the GRU is startling and reprehensible. Their motivation is bewildering," the official said.

This story was first reported by the New York Times.

US intelligence concluded months ago that Russian military intelligence offered the bounties, amid peace talks, the New York Times reported Friday. Citing officials briefed on the matter, the Times reported that President Donald Trump was briefed on the intelligence findings and that the White House's National Security Council held a meeting about it in late March.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement Saturday that the President and Vice President Mike Pence were not briefed "on the alleged Russian bounty intelligence." McEnany said her statement "does not speak to the merit of the alleged intelligence but to the inaccuracy of the New York Times story," which said Trump had been briefed. McEnany did not deny the validity of the reported US intelligence that a Russian intelligence unit offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to carry out attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan  (CNN)

————

Russia denies the story in its entirety. That’s to be expected. The Washington Post, Wall sStreet Journal, CNN and Sky News back up the NYT reporting through their sources. The White House doesn’t deny the intelligence reporting, but denies Trump was in the loop. McEnany’s insistence that Trump is clueless about this is either a damning indictment of the Trump administration or a damned lie. Either way, it’s not good. At any rate, it does appear this is another serious leak of classified information within the White House. That’s also not good.

So was Trump kept in the dark by his NSC? Did he just refuse to believe the IC reporting? Or did he not know whether to shit or go blind? Did he decide to keep this out of the public eye and quietly confront Putin about this episode in the continuing shadow war. That would be a reasonable response. Totally unsatisfying to me, our military and most of the American public, but reasonable from a realpolitik point of view.

Russia’s alleged action is not near as heinous as it may sound. Remember, we supported and supplied the Mujahideen with weapons to kill Soviet soldiers while they were in the process of withdrawing from Afghanistan. It does show that Russia is not our friend and Putin is not Trump’s friend. It doesn’t mean we have to go to war with each other, but we should realize our relationship is not akin to a herd of glitter fartin’ unicorns prancing across the rainbow bridge. 

TTG

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/27/politics/russia-us-troops-afghanistan/index.html

The NSA list of people asking that a name be unmasked which turned out to be Michael Flynn

By Robert Willmann

Released today is a list from the National Security Agency of officials who asked -- between 8 November 2016 and 31 January 2017 -- that a name be unmasked in intercepted communications, and the name turned out to be Gen. Michael Flynn--

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/michaelflynn_nsa_unmasking_requests.pdf

Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, the Director of the NSA, included the list with a short memo to Richard Grenell, the Acting Director of National Intelligence, who declassified the list and then routed it today to U.S. Senators Charles Grassley and Ron Johnson.

I think the senators should have asked for a wider time frame.

 

The DOJ moves to dismiss the criminal case against Michael Flynn

By Robert Willmann

In a 20-page document filed today in the criminal case against Gen. Michael Flynn (ret.), the U.S. Department of Justice asked that the charging document against him, the "information", be dismissed with prejudice, meaning that it cannot be re-filed in the future.

Filed before the motion to dismiss was a notice by the Robert Mueller group lawyer Brandon Van Grack that he is withdrawing as an attorney for the government in the case.  He is still employed at the DOJ as chief of the Foreign Agents Registration Act section.

Thirteen exhibits were attached to the government's motion.  Here is the request, without the exhibits--

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/michaelflynn_gov_motion_dismiss.pdf

I may have to get on the road, but I hope to provide more information soon.

 

The Five Eyes do not believe the CCP/WHO

"A research dossier compiled by the so-called "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance states that China intentionally hid or destroyed evidence of the coronavirus outbreak, leading to the loss of tens of thousands of lives around the world

The 15-page document from the intelligence agencies of the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, was obtained by Australia's Saturday Telegraph newspaper and states that China's secrecy amounted to an “assault on international transparency."

TIMELINE OF CHINA'S POSSIBLE CORONAVIRUS COVER-UP

The dossier touches on themes that have been discussed in media reports about the outbreak of the virus, including an initial denial by China that the virus could be transmitted between humans, the silencing or "disappearing" of doctors who tried to speak up, the destruction of evidence in laboratories and refusal to provide live samples to international scientists working on a vaccine.

Specifically, the file notes that China began censoring news of the virus on search engines and social media beginning Dec. 31, deleting terms including “SARS variation," “Wuhan Seafood market” and “Wuhan Unknown Pneumonia.”

Three days later, on Jan. 3, China’s National Health Commission ordered virus samples to be either moved to designated testing facilities or destroyed, while simultaneously issuing a "no-publication order" related to the disease."  Foxnews et al

--------------

Just so we understand what the Five Eyes is ...  These agencies operate as though the Anglo World really is what Churchill called the "English Speaking Peoples."  The extent to which their governments can actually impede that cooperation is IMO a debatable matter.

Much good has come of the alliance and also much evil.  The Brennan/Clapper scumbags made effective use of this alliance.  pl

https://www.foxnews.com/world/new-dossier-condemns-china-for-destroying-evidence-of-covid-19-outbreak

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/coronavirus/bombshell-dossier-lays-out-case-against-chinese-bat-virus-program/news-story/55add857058731c9c71c0e96ad17da60

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes

3 criminal cases: Harvard professor Charles Lieber for lies to DoD and NIH, plus two Chinese in science

By Robert Willmann

With television networks and other media saturated by constant stories about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, an intriguing criminal case has remained beneath the radar.  And two others illustrate the lack of vetting and lack of limitations on access by non-citizens to advanced science and laboratories in the U.S., and the failure to emphasize domestic students.

At the time of his arrest on 28 January 2020 for two federal felony crimes, Charles Lieber was the chairman of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He has been removed as chairman and was placed on indefinite paid administrative leave; he is not allowed on campus and will not continue his teaching and research duties, according to the student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson.  His release from custody required a $1 million dollar cash deposit for bail, travel restrictions, and a few other conditions.

A criminal complaint was filed supported by an affidavit.  Lieber had an arrangement with the Wuhan University of Technology in Wuhan, China.  The large city of around 10 million people or more is in current news stories about the SARS-CoV-2 virus.  The affidavit contains considerable detail about alleged false statements Lieber made to the Department of Defense (DoD) on 24 April 2018, and to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through Harvard on 10 January 2019--

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/charleslieber_crim_complaint-1.pdf

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/charleslieber_affidavit_for_crim_complaint.pdf

Zaosong Zheng came into the U.S. through the  "J" nonimmigrant visa category, often called a J-1 visa.  He had a medical degree from China, and was working in cancer research in a lab at the Harvard Medical School teaching hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.  One of its labs is the Wenyi Wei Laboratory, where Zheng was working.  As he was preparing to leave the U.S. at Boston Logan airport, 21 vials were discovered hidden in a sock in his checked bags.  He admitted that he had stolen 8 of them from the teaching hospital lab. He was first charged by a complaint supported by an affidavit, and later was formally charged by an indictment with making a false statement and trying to send material out of the country that was not properly declared and packaged [1]--

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/zheng_indictment.pdf

Zheng's wife is also a Chinese doctor and is working at an NIH laboratory in Maryland.  Zheng was released from jail pending trial by a percentage cash bond, home detention, and location monitoring when he leaves his apartment.   His home detention order sounds just like the bizarre and illegal orders issued  by governors and mayors across the country:  "Home detention.  You are restricted to your residence at all times except for employment; education; religious services; medical, substance abuse, or mental health treatment; attorney visits; court appearances; court-ordered obligations; or other activities approved in advance by the pretrial services office or supervising officer" [2].

Did Joe Biden's Former IT Guy Masquerade as Guccifer 2.0? by Larry C Johnson

Why does the name of Joe Biden's former Internet Technology guru, Warren Flood, appear in the meta data of documents posted on the internet by Guccifer 2.0? In case you do not recall, Guccifer 2.0 was identified as someone tied to Russian intelligence who played a direct role in stealing emails from John Podesta. The meta data in question indicates the name of the person who actually copied the original document. We have this irrefutable fact in the documents unveiled by Guccifer 2.0--Warren Flood's name appears prominently in the meta data of several documents attributed to "Guccifer 2.0." When this transpired, Flood was working as the CEO of his own company, BRIGHT BLUE DATA. (brightbluedata.com). Was Flood tasked to masquerade as a Russian operative?

Give Flood some props if that is true--he fooled our Intelligence Community and the entire team of Mueller prosecutors into believing that Guccifer was part of a Russian military intelligence cyber attack. But a careful examination of the documents shows that it is highly unlikely that this was an official Russian cyber operation.

The Ghost of FISA warrants past visits Judge Collyer

In the spirit of Adam Schiff's parody of the transcript of  Trump's ill conceived (and executed) phone call to Zelensky I offer this version of an imagined visit by the Ghost of FISA warrants past to Judge Rosemary Collyer, head of the FISA court panel of judges.  Her term was to expire in March but she has apparently decided to return to the District Court of the District of Columbia before that.  pl

--------------

The Ghost - Rosemary! Rosemary! You have been a naughty girl!   You knew the Steele Dossier was opposition research!  You knew it and you still granted those crooks at DoJ and the FBI a surveillance warrant on that pathetic creature Carter Page.  You knew the whole thing was a sham.  You knew it!  Now the chickens are coming home to roost! (H Rap Brown reference from the 60s)  You published a letter saying they should be better boys and girls at the FBI.  They did not like that and Lou Dobbs told millions that you are a phony.  Then you sent out another letter demanding "accountability" for those who lied to you and deceived you.  Now the FBI is really angry.  Do you think that they will not tell the truth to save themselves?  How are they different from you?  They will follow you back to the DC District court.  They will follow ...  I am sorry but I will have tell the nuns at Trinity University about this, so sad.

Rosemary - So what!  Trinity has been declared a Trump Free Zone!  I will be praised for my courage in being an early adherent to The Resistance.  I will be appointed to more boards there.  I might even be a graduation speaker.  Let's see, my talk can focus  on the perfidy of  anyone like Kelly Ann Conway who IS NOT in The Resistance.  She is a Trinity alumna you know.

The Ghost - This may work out for you.  If a Democrat is elected this time there may be a SCOTUS seat in it for you.  Those old geezers can't last forever.  Sleep well your honor.

-------------

In the interest of full exposure, I know Judge Collyer slightly having testified several times in her DC district court as an expert in a habeas corpus case involving a Gitmo prisoner whom I thought had been framed by Central Asian police and handed over to the US as an Al-Qa'ida official.  I thought and still think that the aforesaid police were just trying to get rid of someone to whom they owed money. 

When I first entered her court she remarked that I looked like a stereotypical colonel, a British colonel actually.  I thanked her.  In the course of the hearing she spoke to me in chambers to say that she was under  a lot of pressure from "people who wanted this prisoner kept at Guantanamo."  I said that I had thought she was appointed for life.  She did not respond to that.

So far as I know the prisoner is still at Guantanamo.

BTW, Rosemary and SWMBO were educated by the same order of nuns.  pl

https://www.eurasiareview.com/20122019-fisa-judge-rips-into-fbi-demands-action-oped/

http://www.allgov.com/news/appointments-and-resignations/presiding-judge-of-the-foreign-intelligence-surveillance-court-who-is-rosemary-collyer-170209?news=860072

Giraldi on Intelligence Community Reform

"Lang cites numerous examples of “incompetence and malfeasance in the leadership of the 17 agencies of the Intelligence Community and the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” to include the examples cited above plus the failure to predict the collapse of the Soviet Union. On the domestic front, he cites his personal observation of efforts by the Department of Justice and the FBI to corruptly “frame” people tried in federal courts on national security issues as well as the intelligence/law enforcement community conspiracy to “get Trump.”

Colonel Lang asks “Tell me, pilgrims, why should we put up with such nonsense? Why should we pay the leaders of these agencies for the privilege of having them abuse us? We are free men and women. Let us send these swine to their just deserts in a world where they have to work hard for whatever money they earn.” He then recommends stripping CIA of its responsibility for being the lead agency in spying as well as in covert action, which is a legacy of the Cold War and the area in which it has demonstrated a particular incompetence. As for the FBI, it was created by J. Edgar Hoover to maintain dossiers on politicians and it is time that it be replaced by a body that operates in a fashion “more reflective of our collective nation[al] values.”" Giraldi

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/11/21/rethinking-national-security-cia-and-fbi-are-corrupt-but-what-about-congress/?fbclid=IwAR17hoQQec8kYaP3v34J0hRi8zkFHbEj6BkRiopjJf1FUtITCudoUYVjis4

"...Tucker Carlson Criticized for Saying 'Russia Poses No Threat to the United States At All'"

"If we're really being honest here, Russia poses no threat to the United States at all."

"Too many careers depend upon keeping our assumptions exactly where they were in the fall of 1977, when fighting the Soviet Menace consumed the lion's share of our federal budget," Carlson said.

"So here in Washington that's what we're doing. Our real fear is that the rest of America will at some point discover that the Soviet Union no longer exists," he continued.

Carlson went on to list things about Russia intended to minimize their power: an economy the size of Italy's, a military budget that is one-tenth of ours and an aircraft carrier "that needs to be towed around the ocean because it's broken."  Newsweek

------------

Yup.  It is true, pilgrims.  The USSR no longer exists.

For years after the fall of that communist monstrosity, Soviet specialist analysts in the IC used to sing at office Christmas parties in Washington that they were dreaming of "A Red Christmas Just Like The Ones They used to Know."  These characters had lived "high on the hog" since WW2.  They got the lion's share of everything, funds, attention, you name it.  Poor sods like me who specialized in regions where people actually fought each other with rusty rifles and machine guns were definitely the poor relatives come to town hat in hand.

And then, all of a sudden, the Soviet specialist people were essentially out of a job.  Or, at least, they were a hell of a lot less important.  The same thing happened to all the Iranian specialists when the Pahlavis went down.  Fortunately for me, my good old Arabs and other assorted ME scoundrels kept right on bashing and backstabbing each other while most of them sat on a great big puddle of oil.  That and the Zionist thing kept me well employed.

The Soviet guys needed a few years to rebound, but as Tucker says, they have done so by merchandising the notion that Russia = the USSR.  The two pomposities (Taylor and Kent) from the Foreign Service who testified yesterday made it very clear that their real bitch against Trump is that 1.  He thinks he can do business overseas without their bureaucratic intervention and 2.  He doesn't really accept the assumption that Russia is an indispensable and inevitable enemy.  Kent rather sadly said that it has been a basic assumption of his entire career that Russia is THE ENEMY.  The whole swamp is infected with group think to that effect.  In the case of the Foreign Service it is remarkable that such a group of soi-disant intellectuals and sophisticated veterans of the FOREIGN SERVICE EXAM should in truth be just another bunch of conformists seeking the approval of their colleagues.  But, then, that is how one gets promoted.

No, pilgrims, China is THE REAL ENEMY.  pl

https://www.newsweek.com/fox-news-tucker-carlson-criticized-saying-russia-poses-no-threat-united-states-all-1471681

Burn CIA and FBI to the ground? Start over?

IMO there is a lot of evidence of incompetence and malfeasance in the leadership of the 17 agencies of the Intelligence Community and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  A partial list of failures and misdeeds:

1.  They failed to predict the collapse of the USSR.  There was a lot of scholarship on the subject before the event and individual analysts were sure that the end was approaching for the Soviet government but the agencies refused to believe that such a thing could happen.  Why?  The IC accepted the insistence of the elected government of the US that history would continue in a straight line forever with concomitant profits for industry.

2.  They failed to predict 9/11. This failure was not "failing to connect  the dots."  It was largely a failure to run clandestine HUMINT collection operations well enough to know what al-Qa'ida was up to in detail.  This was not an impossible task.  The IC was offered the means of penetration of the group and refused to take the risk of disclosure with subsequent damage to executives careers even though it was well understood how dangerous AQ was after the East Africa bombings.

3. They failed to infiltrate Al-Qa'ida before 9/11.  Once again, this was not an impossible task. I could tell you how, but ...

4. The FBI has repeatedly participated in DoJ efforts to "frame" persons charged in federal courts.  They helped DoJ prosecutors do that to Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska.  To my certain and personal knowledge from my work as a consultant to the federal courts and an expert witness in national security cases the FBI/DoJ have repeatedly withheld evidence from the discovery process in which security cleared defense attorneys were due this knowledge,  I have seen the FBI bribe witnesses to testify against defendants on what amounted to a contingency basis, i.e., no conviction, no fee.

5.  And then there is the current murky situation concerning the leaders of the IC; Brennan, Clapper etc., and the leaders of the FBI.  IMO it is clear that whatever they did exactly, they aligned themselves against Candidate/President elect Trump.

There are many, many more examples but time and space available here must limit my recitation of these issues.

Tell me, pilgrims, why should we put up with such nonsense?  Why should we pay the leaders of these agencies for the privilege of  having them abuse us? We are  free men and women. Let us send these swine to their just deserts in a world where they have to work hard for whatever money they earn.

TTG and I are agreed that the very first thing to do is strip CIA of whatever role they still have in the world of Covert Action.  CA includes all measures short of war but more violent than diplomacy that are taken to implement legal US foreign policy.  The CIA should not have this mission, one they have shared with the armed forces since 9/11.  CIA's present mission is to serve as the main US Clandestine Service, backed up by the military.  In this role they are supposed to recruit foreigners to spy for us but also to run a large part of CA.   It is obvious to anyone who has watched them try to do that over many decades that they simply lack the skills needed.  Watching them try, is like watching a monkey try to f---k a football.  In their efforts to comply with this mission the civilian leadership of CIA hire people who once were soldiers but who sought other employment and they also borrow junior soldiers from Army Special Forces.  Why not cut out the "middle man" in the process and have the military run CA?

An argument can be made that the FBI, the spawn of J. Edgar Hoover's peculiar brain (he amassed dossiers on US politicians in order to control them) and the CIA an artifact of the Cold War (which ALWAYS had too much power) should simply be torn down as institutions and replaced with other government bodies more reflective of our collective nation values.

The country needs a police agency that obeys the law.  The country needs a small agency to conduct strategic level penetrations of important foreign threats.

Should existing structures like the US Marshal's Service and/or DIA be given the missions of the CIA and FBI or should altogether new groups be constructed with better controls inflicted on them?

I look forward to the discussion.   pl

Changes regarding scheduling and filing papers in the Michael Flynn case

By Robert Willmann

In orders on Monday and Tuesday of this week, the judge presiding over the Michael Flynn criminal case cancelled the court hearing set for 7 November 2019, and set deadlines for new documents to be filed.  Judge Emmet Sullivan directed that the Justice Department, as the prosecution, file a response by noon this Friday, 1 November, to Flynn's document that has a file date of 24 October.  Gen. Flynn's lawyers are to file a reply to that upcoming government document by noon next Monday, 4 November.

The order cancelling the hearing stated--

"10/28/2019 Minute Order as to Michael T. Flynn. In view of the parties' comprehensive briefing concerning 109 Defendant's Motion to Compel Production of Brady Material, the Court cancels the motion hearing previously scheduled for November 7, 2019. Signed by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on 10/28/2019. (lcegs3). Modified to change date of motion hearing 10/28/2019 (lcegs3). (Entered: 10/28/2019)"

Documents filed on behalf of Flynn and the government have led to this latest change in scheduling.  After Flynn's new lawyers entered appearances, they filed a request (a "motion") to compel the production of exculpatory material (called "Brady material") and for an order directing that the prosecutors show cause why they should not be held in contempt of court for failing to produce the material.  The government filed a response on 1 October 2019.  Then Flynn filed a motion to compel the production of newly discovered evidence, which was for the government to produce the data and metadata from two BlackBerry cellular phones that allegedly had been used by Joseph Mifsud.  On 24 October 2019 Flynn's reply to the government's response to his initial motion was filed, and it included some 16 exhibits.  Then on 28 October, because of those papers that had been filed, the judge cancelled the court hearing that was set for next Thursday.

On Tuesday of this week, 29 October, the government filed two more items.

Shut up old man! - TTG

A couple of days ago, Colonel Lang asked a question about HUMINT support to SFOD Delta in light of the recent raid on Barisha.

PL> Woolsey just said on Fox that CIA was the main support for the raid. Do the two of you agree with that?

TTG> I personally think Woolsey is talking out his ass. DoD and JSOC in particular has developed a lot of capability in this area. DIA was doing the same. We had people integrated into the various task forces in Afghanistan and Iraq for years. CIA is still involved, but not to the extent it was decades ago.

I listened to the Woolsey comment today. I am now even more convinced he was talking out his ass. He represents the old CIA attitude of undeserved superiority and misplaced disdain for military intelligence. It’s a common attitude for a lot of these old fossils. I’ve seen it many times.  It was annoying. Well, times have changed. As I told Colonel Lang, military intelligence has changed dramatically in recent years. I witnessed a lot of these changes first hand working at DIA. I will be careful about what I say since many of the details of these changes remain classified. I will say only what I can find in unclassified, printed documents. Here are three documents you can review yourselves at your leisure.

https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/FOID/Reading%20Room/Administration_and_Management/09-F-0656_DoDD_5200.37_Management_and_Execution_of_Defense_Human_Intelligence_02-09-2009.pdf?ver=2017-05-15-135557-533

https://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm2-22-3.pdf

https://info.publicintelligence.net/CALL-CommandersGuideHUMINT.pdf

The first document is the culmination of a multi-year struggle by DIA and USD(I) to provide better and more timely HUMINT support to the commands and task forces operating in Afghanistan and Iraq. We created a new category of controlled collection operations called military source operations (MSO). The most significant change wrought by the creation of MSOs is that ultimate approval/coordination lies with USD(I) for the most sensitive category of MSOs. Other MSOs are approved at lower DoD levels. Prior to this, all controlled collection operations required CIA coordination/approval. CIA didn’t like this change, but DIA, the Army and the combatant commands loved it.

The remaining two documents are Army publications. They discuss a new prominence for HUMINT operations at the combatant command and joint task force (JTF) levels. A robust J2X is established at these levels to oversee and control HUMINT operations. In addition to controlled HUMINT operations, the J2X controls debriefing and interrogation operations. DIA also began to emphasize this full range of HUMINT in support of joint commands in Afghanistan, Iraq and other regions where JTFs operated. This included various JSOC JTFs.

Now back to Woolsey’s comments. He was fishing for nice words from Trump for his old CIA. He still lives in a world where CIA dominated the HUMINT world, a world where everyone only thinks of the CIA when HUMINT is mentioned. I still see this. People look at me cross eyed when I tell them I worked for DIA. They say, “What’s DIA? Do you mean CIA?” At least we got a mention from Woolsey. He did say, “I’m sure there were other agencies involved, Defense and so forth, too, but the CIA pulled the main strings on human intelligence there and it was brilliant.” Shut up, old man. I don’t buy it. I’m sure the CIA was represented in the J2X and had collectors and analysts involved, but HUMINT support to these JTFs are now a DoD affair.

So who did provide the key HUMINT support to the raid on Barisha? According to Polat Can, it was the YPG. Polat Can is a senior adviser to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and former Representative of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) to the International Coalition. I wouldn’t be surprised if my old unit was involved with the YPG Huminters. We did a lot of that kind of liaison work in support of Delta and ST6. We often passed ourselves off as CIA when he did so. It saved a lot of questions.

Here’s Polat Can’s account on twitter:

@PolatCanRojava   SDF Senior Advisor  (28 August)

1- Through our own sources, we managed to confirm that Al Baghdadi had moved from Al Dashisha area in Deir Al Zor to Idlib. Since 15 May, we have been working together with the CIA to track Al Baghdadi and monitor him closely.

2 - One of our sources was able to reach the house where Al Baghdadi was hiding. Al Baghdadi changed his places of residence very often. He was about to move to a new place in Jerablus.

3 - Our own source, who had been able to reach Al Baghdadi, brought Al Baghdadi’s underwear to conduct a DNA test and make sure (100%) that the person in question was Al Baghdadi himself.

4- More than a month ago, the decision was made to eliminate Al Baghdadi. However, the US withdrawal and the Turkish invasion prompted us to stop our special operations, including the pursuit of Al Baghdadi. The Turkish invasion caused a delay in the operation.

5- All intelligence and access to Al Baghdadi as well as the identification of his place, were the result of our own work. Our intelligence source was involved in sending coordinates, directing the airdrop, participating in and making the operation a success until the last minute

6 - All armed groups and elements surrounding the village of Barisha were Daesh (ISIS) terrorists, operating under various names. In the airdrop operation, all their military posts and positions were targeted.

7- Terrorist Abu al-Hassan was on a special mission to Jerablus to secure Al Baghdadi’s transfer to his new home. There was a plan B to target Al Baghdadi in his new home if he had moved before the planned strike in Barisha. Abu al-Hassan was closely monitored by SDF intelligence

TTG

"Artists versus Bureaucrats" republished 28 October 2019

Download Artists Versus Bureaucrats...

re-publishing this because new people on SST do not seem to understand what has been written  before on the blog.  The process by which self serving politicals rise to the surface in the IC is approximately the same in all the parts of the Executive Branch.  I wrote this piece   pl

Killing Baghdadi - TTG

The first indications that something unusual was going on in Idlib was a series of tweets from @WithinSyriaBlog late last night. I saw this before I saw Trump’s tweet of “Something very big has just happened!”

————

@WithinSyriaBlog

Breaking: Several attack helicopters coming from Turkey reportedly attacked several Jihadists' targets in southern Idlib.

2:41 PM - 26 Oct 2019
At first locals said that the helicopters were only flying, later several sources confirmed that they carried out attacks. Some said they responded to AA fire. However, this was also denied by locals.
Locals are saying that the helicopters are of the Turkish military. However, there is a good chance the alleged attack was carried out by US-led coalition helicopters.
Now locals are saying that the helicopters were chasing a convoy of cars, claiming at least two actually landed ... Sounds like a well-planned raid.

@WithinSyriaBlog

Summary of what is going on west the town of Barisha in northern Idlib, this thread will be updated:

2:58 PM - 26 Oct 2019
1- Eight helicopters came from the direction of Turkish border, began conducting strikes on targets west of the town of Barisha. Warplanes and UAVs are covering the helicopters.
2-Local sources denied that the helicopters carried out the strikes in response to AA fire. The attack was apparently planned, well planned.
3-At least two of the eight helicopters landed west of Barisha. However, it is unclear if a some special operation is being carried out there now.
4-Additional 4 helicopters joined the force around 15 min into the attack. At least 12 helicopters are now operating west of Barisha.
5-Local sources are talking about an operation to capture or kill a senior Jihadi figure. Unconfirmed reports says that at least one TIP militants has been killed, so far.

————

This morning President Trump addressed the nation and announced the killing of Abu Bakr al—Baghdadi by US Special Operations Forces. I’m sure most of us either watched this or heard of it by now. More details will surely come out over the next few days. Hopefully not a lot more. Here’s a few details that I find interesting.

1 - A Squadron, SFOD Delta was the primary assault force. A Delta squadron consists of two assault troops and one reconnaissance troop. This may sound like a lot but in my experience a special operations squadron often consists of less than fifty troops. The operation was probably supported by some number of Rangers. That’s a common method of operation. 

2 - Photos of 30mm HEDP shells from the raid area are now online. That indicates MH-60L helicopters from the 160th Special Operations Wing were providing support with their M230 chain guns.

3 - Time line for the operation was givens as one hour, ten minutes in, two hours on the ground and one hour, ten minutes out. They could have flown from Incirlik Air Force Base, but I think they flew from the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Battle Group in the Mediterranean. It would have been more secure and would account for more “nap-of-the-earth” flying time across the hills and mountains of Hatay Province.

4 - Barisha is located in Idlib Governorate north of Idlib and west of Aleppo very close to the the major crossing point into Turkey. What was Baghdadi doing there? Barisha is the headquarters of Huras Din. Huras Din was created last February, mainly from senior Non-Syrian members of Hayet Tahrir Sham, HTS (created from Al-Qaida in 2016). It was HTS that provided security for Turkey while setting up its twelve observation posts. This area is critical to both Turkey’s and the jihadi’s goal of retaining control of Idlib. Again, what was Baghdadi doing there?

5 - Vice President Pence said this morning that we had intelligence of Baghdadi’s location earlier last week and more a specific location only Saturday morning.   Did Turkey provide this information? I doubt it. Russia and the SAA have been running reconnaissance and spying missions throughout Idlib for quite a while. Between those missions and R+6 SIGINT, I think Russia provided critical information to USI in the lead up to this raid. The coordination between the US and Russia was probably a lot more that just informing them that we were coming in as Trump said in his address this morning.

This is a good day for America, a good day for President Trump and a good day for the R+6. I also think it's a bad day for the jihadis and Turkey. As I said, a lot more will come out in the coming days. Actually, a lot more is already out there. But this is enough for now. 

TTG  

What just happened in Paris? Observations and Questions, by Fred

School isn't going to be the same for these kids for some time to come. A few short months ago the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris "caught fire" in what was immediately - like while the fire was still burning - labeled an industrial accident. Those premature pronouncements reminded me of nothing more than the ongoing "Russia" did it pronouncements here in the US. 

No Smoking - you can't smoke in a restaurant but behind a closed door on a jobsite is apparently ok.

Fire update 2

Yesterday five individuals were attacked with a ceramic knife that was smuggled through the security screening at the Préfecture de police de Paris Headquarters building. Four are dead and one critically injured. That did not strike me as an act of rage over a management dispute but rather as a premeditated act of murder. Is it terrorism?

Letters by the complainant and inspector general about the president's phone call to Ukraine

By Robert Willmann

The letter of 12 August 2019 and possibly the entire appendix from the complainant to Congressional Committee chairs about the president's 25 July 2019 telephone call to Ukraine was released, with a few redactions (9 pages)--

https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20190812_-_whistleblower_complaint_unclass.pdf

The letter of 26 August 2019 from the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community to Joseph Maguire, the Acting Director of National Intelligence, about the complainant's letter and appendix, was also released (7 pages)--

https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20190826_-_icig_letter_to_acting_dni_unclass.pdf

Joseph Maguire (Vice Adm., ret.) is testifying before the House Intelligence Committee.

Update, 1:52 p.m.   The complaint was most likely written by a lawyer, or a lawyer helped the person write it.  The main clues are the use of the term "inter alia" on pages 2 and 4, and the wording of footnote 1 on page 2.

Robert C. O'Brien is appointed to be the new National Security Advisor

By Robert Willmann

President Trump appointed Robert C. O'Brien to be the new National Security Advisor.  He is presently the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the U.S. Department of State--

https://www.state.gov/biographies/robert-c-obrien/

Here is some initial material about him.  He has been associated with Mitt Romney and John Bolton for quite a while, and is a Mormon.  He is a lawyer operating primarily out of California in a firm called Larson O'Brien--

https://www.larsonobrienlaw.com/attorney-detail/robert-c-o-brien

Apparently he and Hugh Hewitt, who appears some on television and radio, moved from one law firm to the present one.  Hewitt seems to no longer be in that firm.  But their association has led to interviews of O'Brien by Hewitt. 

O'Brien was a foreign policy advisor to Mitt Romney both times he ran for president.  Other people such as Michael Hayden and Michael Chertoff were also unfortunately advising Romney in 2012.  O'Brien was said to be a foreign policy advisor to Scott Walker and Senator Ted Cruz during the 2016 presidential campaign.  This transcript is from 23 August 2012--

https://www.hughhewitt.com/romney-senior-foreign-policy-advisor-robert-c-obrien/

In 2016 O'Brien wrote a book entitled "While America Slept, Restoring American Leadership to a World in Crisis", published by Encounter Books.  He did around a 12-minute interview on 15 September 2016 with Hewitt about the book, making general comments about policy--

https://www.hughhewitt.com/wp-content/uploads/09-15hhs-obrien.mp3

A 28 March 2018 interview with O'Brien is about John Bolton being made National Security Advisor--

https://www.hughhewitt.com/robert-c-obrien-long-time-colleague-of-ambassador-john-bolton-on-president-trumps-selection-of-bolton-for-the-nsa/

From the type of legal cases he has been involved in, he should have a smoother and more palatable demeanor than John Bolton, but his philosophies are what matter.  We will see how they play out.

 

The Michael Flynn case heats up: security clearances and a hearing to be set on exculpatory material

By Robert Willmann

The term "ex parte" appears in different contexts in the court system, and is heaviest when one side in a legal dispute meets with the judge behind closed doors without the other side being present.  On 5 September 2019, this uncommon event happened when Gen. Michael Flynn (ret.) and his new lawyers met privately with Judge Emmet Sullivan about the refusal of the federal government, through its prosecutors, to grant them security clearances to look at some existing information and exculpatory material in his criminal case, and any new material that might be disclosed. Three documents filed in Flynn's case on 30 August led to the ex parte meeting and a change in scheduling:  a joint status report which was not very joint; a Motion to Compel Production of Brady Material and for an Order to Show Cause, filed under seal; and a brief in support of the motion to compel and for a show cause order that is not sealed.

What was set as a routine status conference in federal court in Washington D.C. for Tuesday, 10 September, has now changed to one with a very significant shift:  the judge will establish a briefing schedule and a hearing date for the request (usually called a "motion") to compel the government to produce Brady material and for an order to show cause why the prosecutors involved should not be held in contempt of court.  A "brief" is a written argument filed for consideration by a court on a particular issue or issues.  It is part of a post-trial appeal to a court of appeals or to the Supreme Court, but can be unilaterally filed or ordered to be filed in a trial court.

The court's description appearing in the clerk's docket sheet says, in part--

"09/05/2019 Hearing (Ex Parte) for proceedings before Judge Emmet G. Sullivan held on 9/5/2019 as to Michael T. Flynn. The Court held an ex parte and sealed hearing with Mr. Flynn and defense counsel to consider Mr. Flynn's request for the Court's intervention on counsels request for security clearances. See Joint Status Report, ECF No. 107 at 2-3 (stating 'the government continues to deny [Mr. Flynn's] request for security clearances. [Mr. Flynn's] attempts to resolve that issue with the government have come to a dead end, thus requiring the intervention of this Court.')....  The Court advised counsel that it intends to resolve 109 Motion to Compel Production of Brady Material before addressing any Court intervention regarding security clearances for Mr. Flynns counsel."

The case and prosecution of Gen. Flynn have seemed peculiar from the start, as was his sudden resignation as National Security Advisor on 13 February 2017 after a protest against him by vice president Mike Pence.

"US extracted top spy from inside Russia in 2017" - TTG

Washington (CNN) In a previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017, the United States successfully extracted from Russia one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Russian government, multiple Trump administration officials with direct knowledge told CNN. A person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the Russian was driven, in part, by concerns that President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy.

The decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a May 2017 meeting in the Oval Office in which Trump discussed highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The intelligence, concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel. The disclosure to the Russians by the President, though not about the Russian spy specifically, prompted intelligence officials to renew earlier discussions about the potential risk of exposure, according to the source directly involved in the matter.  (CNN)

—————

In a CNN interview, Mike Rodgers stated it was a fear of Trump’s lack of discipline about intelligence matters after his meeting with Kislyak and Lavrov in the Oval Office spurred the decision to extract the source. It was not out of fear that Trump would ever wittingly out the source. I'm glad the extraction was done before Trump's one on one meeting with Putin in Helsinki. We have no idea what he might have blurted out in that meeting.

I’m sure this is not the only concern the IC had about the security and safety of their source. When the IC assessment about Russian activities during the 2016 election came out, I was astonished with the specificity in the key findings about Putin’s plans and intentions. I thought that was putting a key source, collection capability or both in jeopardy. When the NSA only expressed moderate confidence in one of the findings about Putin’s plans and intentions, I was more convinced that it was a human asset who provided that intelligence information rather than a technical capability. That had to weigh heavily in the decision to extract the source in 2017. I was just as shocked with the specificity of the information revealed in the indictments of the IRA and especially the GRU 12. That may also have cost us some collection capabilities.

Some intelligence officers talk rather cavalierly about the dangers their sources sometimes face. They are more concerned about what the loss of a source would do to their reputation. I despise that attitude. A source’s life and liberty is in the case officer’s hands. Such trust cannot be taken lightly and should weigh heavily in the training and tasking decisions made by the case officer. Your actions could lead to the imprisonment, torture and execution of a man or woman who willingly placed their lives in your hands. It better be damned well worth it and the take better be given the care and respect it deserves.

TTG

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/09/politics/russia-us-spy-extracted/index.html

The IC and the Civil Service laws.

There have been a number of comments on SST on the subject of  a general purge of people from the national agencies.  From the comments I understand that the commenters know nothing of the Civil Service laws of the US.  The permanent staff of CIA, DIA, State INR and NSA (the main agencies) are overwhelmingly civilian civil servants protected against arbitrary dismissal and protected in their employment by due process.  Their bosses are a handful of generals (DIA and NSA) and careerist civilian SESs (look it up) who want nothing more than to serve their political masters in the administration of the day.  Considering the obstacles the civil servants do a remarkable job and have not the ability to jump the chain of comment to publish material that their toady bosses will not allow to go forth.  Try reading my old essay "Artists and Bureaucrats."  or "Bureaucrats and Artists."  It is around somewhere.  Exert yourselves.  pl

Interview transripts from Congress on former AG Loretta Lynch, T. Anderson, W. Sweeney, J. Rybicki, A. McCabe, G. Toscas, J. Moffa, J. Giacalone, and S. Moyer

By Robert Willmann

Congressman Doug Collins (Repub. Georgia) has released more transcripts of committee interviews of people about the attempt to de-legitimize the election and inauguration of an elected president, and to create conditions for his removal. They can be viewed and downloaded for reading [1].

19 December 2018 interview of former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, 191 pages--

https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/Lynch%20Interview%2012-19-18.pdf

31 August 2018 interview of former FBI Principal Deputy General Counsel Trisha Anderson, 227 pages--

https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/083118%20Anderson%20Interview_Redacted.pdf

28 September 2018 interview of William Sweeney, FBI Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office, 114 pages--

https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/092818%20Sweeney%20Interview_Redacted.pdf

18 January 2018 interview of James Rybicki, former chief of staff to FBI Directors, 240 pages--

https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/Rybicki%20011818%20Interveiw_Redacted.pdf

"James Clapper admits FBI's actions 'meet the dictionary definition' of 'spying'" Wash Examiner

""I was amazed at that and rather disappointed that the attorney general would say such a thing,” Clapper said. “The term 'spying' has all kinds of negative connotations and I have to believe he chose that term deliberately.”

But in a widely-overlooked interview on CNN on May 3, Clapper admitted that spying had occurred. When asked by Wolf Blitzer whether spying had occurred, Clapper said that “it’s not a term of art used by intelligence people“ but admitted that “I guess it meets the dictionary definition of surveillance or spying, a term I don't particularly like.”

Clapper conceded this point following a May 2 story in the New York Times that revealed that a woman who had been posing as the assistant of Stefan Halper, a Cambridge University professor who himself had worked as a Trump campaign informant on behalf of the FBI, was herself working undercover for the FBI. Going by the alias Azra Turk, this yet-unknown woman was reportedly sent to meet with Papadopoulos by one of the FBI agents who had previously spoken at Halper’s Cambridge Intelligence Seminars."  Washington Examiner

------------

I have suggested before that Clapper and the FISA court judges are the weakest spots in the array of Russiagate conspirators.

The FISA judges are suggested to the Chief Justice by the DoJ for appointment.  This occurs after close vetting for probable compliance with anything communicated by DoJ as desired outcomes in cases brought to them.  After all, who knows them better than the DoJ lawyers who argue in the courts they come from?

Clapper is a weakling filled boundless ambition and handicapped by limited intelligence.  He has no particular allegiance to anything or anyone except himself and will seek forgiveness for his misdeeds if pressed hard. 

If Lindsay Graham needs initial targets for his very own "witchhunt," he should start with these people.  pl

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/james-clapper-admits-fbis-actions-meet-the-dictionary-definition-of-spying

Interview transcripts from Congress on FBI officials Bill Priestap and James Baker

By Robert Willmann

Update, 10 April 2019, 4:25 p.m. central time:  The second day of the interview of former FBI general counsel James A. Baker has been released.  The interview was on 18 October 2018, and the transcript is 152 pages--

https://dougcollins.house.gov/jamesbaker

https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/Baker%20Day%202%20Redacted.pdf

-----

Congressman Doug Collins (Repub. Georgia) has released two more transcripts of committee interviews of people about the attempt to de-legitimize the election and inauguration of an elected president, and to create conditions for his removal. They can be viewed and downloaded for reading. 

The transcript of James Baker is the first day of at least a two-day session. 

Interview on 5 June 2018 of Bill Priestap, the assistant director in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Counterintelligence Division, 219 pages--

https://dougcollins.house.gov/Priestap

https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/Priestap%206.5.18%20Interview%20Transcript_Redacted.pdf

Interview on 3 October 2018 of James A. Baker, the former chief counsel of the FBI, 152 pages, day one--

https://dougcollins.house.gov/baker

https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/BakerRedacted.pdf

James Baker was the main in-house lawyer for the FBI, and as he says at the beginning of his testimony, he supervised around 200 FBI lawyers plus 100 additional "professionals".  This means that he was also the supervisor of the socially versatile former FBI attorney, Lisa Page.

Interview transcripts from Congress on Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, G. Papadopoulos, and B. and N. Ohr

By Robert Willmann

Courtesy of U.S. Representative Doug Collins (Repub. Georgia), transcripts have been released of committee interviews of five people about the attempt to de-legitimize the election and inauguration of an elected president, and to create conditions for his removal.  They can be viewed and downloaded for reading.

Interview on 27 June 2018 of Peter Strzok, former Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division, 312 pages--

https://dougcollins.house.gov/strzok

https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/06.27.18%20Interview%20Of%20Peter%20Strzok.pdf

Interview on 13 and 16 July 2018 of former FBI in-house attorney Lisa Page, 165 pages on day one and 205 pages on day two--

https://dougcollins.house.gov/page

https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/Lisa%20Page%20interview%20Day%201.pdf

https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/Lisa%20Page%20interview%20Day%202.pdf

Interview on 28 August 2018 of Justice Department attorney Bruce Ohr, 268 pages--

https://dougcollins.house.gov/ohr

https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/Ohr%20Interview%20Transcript%208.28.18.pdf

Interview on 19 October 2018 of Nellie Ohr (wife of Bruce Ohr), 137 pages--

https://dougcollins.house.gov/nellieohr

https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/10.19.18%20Nellie%20Ohr%20Interview.pdf

Interview on 25 October 2018 of George Papadopoulos, 239 pages--

https://dougcollins.house.gov/Papadopoulos

https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/Papadopoulos%20l10.25.18%20Interview%20Transcript_Redacted.pdf

 

AG Barr's Letter to Judiciary Committees, March 24, 2019

 

Decameron

“The Special Counsel’s investigation did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. As the report states: `[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.' |”

                                From page one of the Barr letter to the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.

https://www.scribd.com/document/402973432/AG-March-24-2019-Letter-to-House-and-Senate-Judiciary-Committees#from_embed

 

Some call this merely the "end of the beginning."  Further revelations will be emerging, including from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz. "Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz confirmed Thursday his office is still investigating possible abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by the DOJ and FBI in their investigation into President Trump and associates of his 2016 campaign," reported the Washington Examiner this week. 

 

“Watch the film the Israeli lobby didn’t want you to see” - TTG

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has caught intense flak over her comments questioning the influence of the Israeli lobby in US foreign policy and the split allegiances of some Jewish-Americans. The vociferous attacks on the Congresswoman coalesce around one theme, criticism of Israel equals antisemitism. This is a consistent theme. Walt and Mearsheimer endured the same accusations when they wrote their essay, “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy” in 2006. The attacks did not let up with the publication of their book of the same name in 2007. At that time, Mearsheimer and Walt described the Israel lobby as a loose coalition. Perhaps at that time it largely was a loose coalition brought together as a counter against the ugliness of antisemitism. I think it was more than that back then and it is certainly more than that now. It is a far reaching and powerful phenomena largely consisting of a coordinated information operation run out of the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs to further Israeli government policies.

Al Jazeera has put together an excellent series on this phenomena. The first piece of in depth investigative reporting examined the activities of the Israel lobby in Britain entitled “The Lobby.” They followed this series up with “The Lobby - USA” covering the lobby’s actions in the US in 2016. So far I watched the first part of this four part series focusing on the campaign to derail the BDS movement on the UC Davis campus and in Washington DC. This is how modern information operations are conducted. The series was released by the Electronic Intifada rather than Al Jazeera because Qatar censored the series after being pressured by Washington, Tel Aviv and probably Riyadh. 

———————

"The Electronic Intifada has obtained a complete copy of The Lobby – USA, a four-part undercover investigation by Al Jazeera into Israel’s covert influence campaign in the United States. We are releasing the leaked film simultaneously with France’s Orient XXI and Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar, which have respectively subtitled the episodes in French and Arabic. The film was made by Al Jazeera during 2016 and was completed in October 2017. But it was censored after Qatar, the gas-rich Gulf emirate that funds Al Jazeera, came under intense Israel lobby pressure not to air the film. Although Al Jazeera’s director-general claimed last month that there were outstanding legal issues with the film, his assertions have been flatly contradicted by his own journalists."

"In March, The Electronic Intifada was the first to report on any of the film’s specific content. We followed this in August by publishing the first extract of the film, and shortly after Max Blumenthal at the Grayzone Project released others. Since then, The Electronic Intifada has released three other extracts, and several other journalists have watched the entire film and written about it – including Alain Gresh and Antony Loewenstein. Now The Electronic Intifada can reveal for the first time that it has obtained all four parts of the film."  (Electronic Intifada)

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The first episode of the series offers a graphic portrayal of a a modern information operation. It largely centers on the activities of one Julia Reifkind, an American employed first by AIPAC and then by the Israeli Embassy. She reported to the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs (MSA) with its office in the same building as the Israeli PM. On a daily basis she monitored BDS social media communications and activity using pseudonyms. She gave the collected info to her Embassy boss who transmitted the info back to the MSA. The MSA would pass instructions back to Rifkind through the DC Embassy. She also conducted activities including direct IO action on the UC Davis campus at the direction of the MSA. Dual allegiance my ass! She’s an American citizen employed as an Israeli intelligence and action agent. Her only allegiance is to Israel.

In all of Reifkind’s pro-Israeli activities, she probably didn’t break any US laws, just Facebook TOS in using her pseudonyms. What Al Jazeera did is what we should do. Expose this activity to the light of day. At a minimum, we could be aggressively publicizing this Al Jazeera documentary. I don’t blame the Israeli government for conducting these intelligence and IO activities any more than I blame Russia, China and others for undertaking these activities in their own interests. It’s not war, but we shouldn’t sit back and let this stuff go on unchallenged. We should officially encourage more of this kind of investigative reporting and commence a vigorous public awareness campaign concerning this threat. Expose the vampire to sunlight and holy water. Beyond that, LEA, IC and CYBERCOM elements should be tearing into foreign country’s activities and capabilities in this area without mercy. After all, it’s not war.

In the case of Israeli IO, we must work to break the idea that opposition to Israeli governmental policies and actions is equivalent to antisemitism. Given the persistence of that idea and the lengths the Israeli government goes to reinforce that persistence, this is a tall order. However, it must be confronted. In this vein, I welcome those voices in the Democratic Party who are speaking out in defense of Ilhan Omar. If it causes strife within the Democratic Party, so be it. Some fights are worth the price.

TTG

https://electronicintifada.net/content/watch-film-israel-lobby-didnt-want-you-see/25876

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lSjXhMUVKE  (The Lobby - USA, episode 1 - The Covert War) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XytkI7afHcQ  (The Lobby - USA, episode 2 - Managing Elites)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm-Dm4pO0xY  (The Lobby - USA, episode 3 - The Witch Hunt)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1OgxfCT044  (The Lobby - USA, episode 4 - Marketing Occupation)

WHY THE DNC WAS NOT HACKED BY THE RUSSIANS by Binney and Johnson

By

William Binney, former Technical Director NSA

Larry Johnson, former State CT and CIA

 

The FBI, CIA and NSA claim that the DNC emails published by WIKILEAKS on July 22, 2016 were obtained via a Russian hack, but more than three years after the alleged “hack” no forensic evidence has been produced to support that claim. In fact, the available forensic evidence contradicts the official account that blames the leak of the DNC emails on a Russian internet “intrusion”.  The existing evidence supports an alternative explanation--the files taken from the DNC between 23 and 25May 2016 and were copied onto a file storage device, such as a thumb drive.

If the Russians actually had conducted an internet based hack of the DNC computer network then the evidence of such an attack would have been collected and stored by the National Security Agency. The technical systems to accomplish this task have been in place since 2002. The NSA had an opportunity to make it clear that there was irrefutable proof of Russian meddling, particularly with regard to the DNC hack, when it signed on to the January 2017 “Intelligence Community Assessment,” regarding Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election:

Trump and the Spookery.

"Trump and his top aides have taken a hard line on Iran, implying that the Islamist-led country still poses a nuclear threat despite its adherence to a 2015 accord that put curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump withdrew the U.S. from that nuclear deal, and has reimposed sanctions, although other international allies have stayed committed to the pact.

During the hearing, Coats said Iran isn't taking any steps to make a nuclear weapon. “We do not believe Iran is currently undertaking the key activities we judge necessary to produce a nuclear device," he said.

CIA Director Gina Haspel, who also spoke at the hearing, said Tehran, "at the moment, technically they're in compliance" with the deal.

But Coats also noted that Iranian officials have “publicly threatened to push the boundaries” of the nuclear deal if it did not see any benefits from it."  politico

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Well, pilgrims, I have resolutely maintained on SST that Iran has not had a nuclear WEAPONS program since 2003, having cancelled their research program then with the disappearance of the Iraqi threat.  The 2007 NIE on Iran stated that explicitly but the Zionist lobby has blocked publication of an unclassified summary of subsequent judgments on this subject.  Why?  It is Israel's policy that Iran must be prevented from becoming strong enough to become the major hegemonic power in the ME. Trump's ignorance of realities in the region has enabled The Lobby to distort US policy to serve its purposes.  To my surprise the IC chiefs had the guts to tell the world what is true about Iran and to point out other areas in which their agencies differ in judgment from the administration, but the Iran judgement is IMO the most important.  Neocons like Pompeo, Bolton and E. Abrams do not reason from evidence.  They reason from ideology and their shared hostility to anyone who does not bow down to the US.  They and The Lobby currently control Trump's foreign policy especially in the ME.

At the same time we must remember that these agencies are "mature bureaucracies."  That means they have existed long enough to have become "self licking ice cream cones."  These are organizations for which institutional survival and the welfare of the all important leader of each agency are primary interests.  You don't think so?  Just remember that the grandees at the top of these agencies are totally dependent on their directors for success in the their careers.

That is what makes the performance of Coats and Haspel so impressive.  Bravo!  pl

See my essay linked below on "Artists and Bureaucrats."

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/29/dan-coats-north-korea-nuclear-weapons-1133969

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/artists-versus-bureaucrats...-1.pdf