Retired US Intelligence Agent Lobbying for USG Protections from Foreign Courts for US Intel Agents

SOURCE http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/aug/31/edward-roche-hackers-expose-the-intelligence-commu/ When the intelligence community is exposed The U.S. must protect its employees from foreign lawsuits Illustration on the threats of foreign legal prosecution of exposed U.S. intelligence personnel by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times By Edward M. Roche - - Monday, August 31, 2015 Hacking is today’s growth industry. The numbers are staggering. Thirty-two million users of the Ashley Madison sex-sharing website were exposed. Home Depot lost 56 million accounts; Anthem, 80 million; JP Morgan Chase, 76 million; eBay, 145 million; Sony PlayStation Network, 77 million; and TJ Maxx, 94 million records. All of these hacks have caused massive disruption to the targeted organization, legal liability for cyber-negligence, and anguish to consumers. The U.S. government also is under siege, and along with it the intelligence community (IC), which is a priority target. The recent hacking of the Office of Personnel Management likely exposed the identities of some current and former IC employees. That data breach alone is unlikely to have compromised all IC employees. But when face recognition methods, sophisticated big-data techniques and cross-indexing of multiple data bases such as consumer, insurance or state records, are woven together, it is reasonable to expect most former and even current IC employees eventually will be identified. And when that happens, their identities undoubtedly will be published on the Internet for everyone in the world to see. Then what? As the information leaks out, the standing army of hostile intelligence community watchers overseas and in the United States will be ready to file lawsuits against individual IC employees or retirees for every type of criminal act and tort they can dream up, no matter how misguided. At the individual level, principles of national jurisdiction guarantee that practically all espionage activities are a violation of the national law where they take place. Generally, there is no immunity for secret agents, although on occasion the acts of an agent have been equated with the national acts of his sovereign and considered sufficient grounds for quietly dropping the suit. But the Internet is making espionage more visible. Counter-espionage, in a sense, has been crowd-sourced to a self-organizing network of watchers worldwide. Indictment of intelligence officials is not new. Once espionage is uncovered, it is difficult for a prosecutor to resist public outrage by refusing to take action. Prosecution of U.S. intelligence community members is rising in foreign courts. In June, 13 CIA officers were indicted in Italy, and convicted in absentia in July. After all, extraordinary rendition is a casus belli and violation by a nation-state of international law. Now these IC officers no longer can travel to any country that has an extradition treaty with Italy. In February 2007, Italy indicted another 25 supposed CIA agents. In January 2007, Germany issued arrest warrants for 13 CIA operatives. A German citizen, Khaled el-Masri, attempted to sue the United States and Spain over his arrest by American intelligence, but in 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the case on national security grounds. What about suing individual U.S. intelligence agents, not in a U.S. court, but in a foreign court? Using standard investigative procedures, in 2005 the Spanish police identified the three American pilots who handled Mr. el-Masri’s flight, and were even able to peel away their false names. For some reason, the German prosecutor held back, and the potential case quickly was escalated up to a matter of diplomacy between the United States and Germany. Nothing happened. This time. But what about the future? As thousands of intelligence community employee identities are revealed, as they will be, it is reasonable to expect the number of cases against individual IC members will proliferate. Not all can be the subject of bilateral nation-state negotiations. Not all will be in jurisdictions that are close allies with the United States. IC retirees will be faced with mounting headaches, legal bills and seizure of overseas assets. When intelligence community employees put their lives on the line to serve their country, they knowingly take great personal risks. Their anonymity or false names might help them. But when the curtain is thrown back, and they are exposed, then does the U.S. government owe them protection? Or does the U.S. have a de facto policy that leaves retirees hanging out to dry? This would be neither honorable or just, and undoubtedly is not intended. Time is short. Sources confirm China’s Ministry of State Security likely has been cross-indexing insurance, airlines and Office of Personnel Management security clearance files. One support network for the IC already has been compromised, and there are more to come. This problem needs to be studied in greater detail. A legal fund must be established to support the litigation needed to protect exposed agents. U.S. extradition laws might be reviewed. Within the intelligence community, the legal departments that manage accountability need to be funded so they can expand and take on these new challenges. It is bad enough that IC employees no longer can assume their identities will be securely protected by the government, but they should be able to count on robust support if they are attacked in foreign courts. • Edward M. Roche is a member of the American Society of International Law and the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- EXTRACT European court of human rights finds against CIA abuse of Khaled el-Masri America must now apologise to the German citizen, a victim of mistaken identity who was kidnapped and beaten by the CIA The much-maligned European court of human rights has this week shown itself at its very best: standing up for the rights of an individual who has been denied justice for almost nine years since he was abducted, secretly detained, and tortured under the CIA's rendition program. Khaled El-Masri, a German national, was seized by Macedonian security officers on 31 December 2003, at a border crossing, because he had been mistaken for an al-Qaida suspect. He was held incommunicado and abused in Macedonian custody for 23 days, after which he was handcuffed, blindfolded, and driven to Skopje airport, where he was handed over to the CIA and severely beaten. The CIA stripped, hooded, shackled, and sodomized el-Masri with a suppository – in CIA parlance, subjected him to "capture shock" – as Macedonian officials stood by. The CIA drugged him and flew him to Kabul to be locked up in a secret prison known as the "Salt Pit", where he was slammed into walls, kicked, beaten, and subjected to other forms of abuse. Held at the Salt Pit for four months, el-Masri was never charged, brought before a judge, or given access to his family or German government representatives. The CIA ultimately realised that it had mistaken el-Masri for an al-Qaida suspect with a similar name. But  it held on to him for weeks after that. It was not until 24 May 2004, that he was flown, blindfolded, earmuffed, and chained to his seat, to Albania, where he was dumped on the side of the road without explanation. This is the first court to comprehensively and specifically find that the CIA's rendition techniques amounted to torture. The decision stands in sharp contrast to the abject failure of US courts to deliver justice to victims of US torture and rendition. Both the United States and Macedonia must now issue el-Masri a full-scale public apology and appropriate compensation. [...]  The European court's decision in the el-Masri case is a clarion call for accountability for the flagrantly illegal CIA rendition program. [ ... ] FULL STORY AT SOURCE http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/13/european-court-human-rights-cia-abuse-khaled-elmasri ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Now Can Torture Survivor Khaled El-Masri Have His Apology? By Steven M. Watt, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU Human Rights Program December 15, 2014 | 2:33 PM EXTRACTS [ ... ] It took the intervention of the National Security Council to settle the dispute and secure Khaled's repatriation to [Albania, where he was dumped on the side of the road] Germany in May 2005. That would confirm that, despite her claim to the contrary, Condoleezza Rice, a member of the council then and later secretary of state, would have known that mistakes had been made resulting in Khaled's wrongful rendition and detention when she visited Germany in December 2005. [...] Despite all this, the Obama administration has so far declined to acknowledge Khaled's wrongful detention and abuse, and State Department lawyers have yet to respond to his petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, filed over six years ago. Protecting legitimate state secrets wasn't the CIA's primary interest. It invoked secrecy to cover up its embarrassing mistakes – which included egregious human rights violations – and to avoid accountability. Now that the CIA's mistakes and atrocities are a matter of public record, the government should take responsibility for them and make amends. As an important first step, the United States should provide Khaled – and other victims of CIA torture – with a full, official, and public accounting of what the CIA did to him, and grant him an apology, compensation, and counseling for rehabilitation. FULL AT SOURCE https://www.aclu.org/blog/speakeasy/now-can-torture-survivor-khaled-el-masri-have-his-apology ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Added following above, because it is an important detail: [Albania, where he was dumped on the side of the road] If the National Security Council settled a dispute regarding el-Masri's 'repatriation to Germany', why was he subsequently dumped, mafia style, by the side of the road in Albania? The CIA's El-Masri Abduction: Cables Show Germany Caved to Pressure from Washington By Matthias Gebauer and John Goetz December 09, 2010 – 07:49 PM  The American diplomatic cables provide new details about the case of Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen abducted by the CIA in 2003. The reports confirm just how much pressure the US put on Germany to not pursue 13 agents believed to have been involved. But they also reveal how cooperative and responsive German officials were in light of American worries. [ ... ] Just a few days ago, WikiLeaks published a cable recounting the details of a meeting that then-Deputy US Ambassador John M. Koenig had in the German Chancellery, the official office of Chancellor Angela Merkel. During the conversation, Koenig asked the Germans to "weigh carefully at every step of the way the implications for relations with the US" that investigations into the CIA-organized abduction would have. In another embassy cable, the Americans reported that Berlin had been informed of the "potential negative implications for our bilateral relationship" in the longer term. A previously unknown cable from the US Embassy in Berlin, dated Feb. 1, 2007, throws light on how the Germans behaved during this back-room horse-trading. A day earlier, German prosecutors in Munich had issued arrest warrants for 13 suspected CIA operatives believed to have been involved in the abduction of el-Masri in Macedonia in late 2003 as well as in his being taken via Baghdad to a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan on Jan. 23, 2004. There, el-Masri was detained and interrogated until finally being released without charges and brought back to Germany at the end of May that year. [ ...] The details that have recently emerged illustrate that Germany was engaged in a bit of double-dealing when it came to the el-Masri case. In public, the German government continued to call for an investigation. But neither the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel nor the Justice Ministry would have touched the hot issue of illegal CIA kidnappings if it hadn't have been for the pressure exerted upon them by the media. Behind closed doors, German officials agreed that el-Masri was apparently merely the unfortunate victim of mistaken identity because of his name. But nobody wanted to have investigations into the CIA, which would surely cause even more damage to already tattered German-American relations. [ ...] ...  In 2007, then-Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries decided not to further pursue the 13 CIA agents. Though their names were still on an Interpol wanted persons list, the United States stated that it would not recognize its validity. Zypries explained that the Americans had made clear to her that they would neither arrest nor hand over the 13 CIA agents. In the end, she concluded that, given the slim chances of success, it made no sense to even try to get them extradited. FULL AT SOURCE http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/the-cia-s-el-masri-abduction-cables-show-germany-caved-to-pressure-from-washington-a-733860.html ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- ꕤ

Julian Assange | Statement 20 December, 2012 | Christmas

Julian Assange December 20th, 2012 Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_Gy3UaHBXo&feature=youtu.be ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Statement https://wikileaks.org/Statement-by-Julian-Assange-after.html Statement by Julian Assange after Six Months in Ecuadorian Embassy Thursday December 20th, 19:00 GMT (updated 21:00 GMT) (Checked to delivery - published at 21:00 GMT) Good evening London. What a sight for sore eyes. People ask what gives me hope. Well, the answer is right here. Six months ago – 185 days ago – I entered this building. It has become my home, my office and my refuge. Thanks to the principled stance of the Ecuadorian government and the support of its people, I am safe in this embassy to speak to you. And every single day outside, for 185 days, people like you have watched over this embassy – come rain, hail and shine. Every single day. I came here in summer. It is winter now. I have been sustained by your solidarity and I’m grateful for the efforts of people all around the world supporting the work of WikiLeaks, supporting freedom of speech, freedom of the press, essential elements in any democracy. While my freedom is limited, at least I am still able to communicate this Christmas, unlike the 232 journalists who are in jail tonight. Unlike Gottfrid Svartholm in Sweden tonight. Unlike Jeremy Hammond in New York tonight. Unlike Nabeel Rajab in Bahrain tonight. And unlike Bradley Manning, who turned 25 this week, a young man who has maintained his dignity after spending more than 10 per cent of his life in jail, without trial, some of that time in a cage, naked and without his glasses. And unlike so many others whose plights are linked to my own. I salute these brave men and women. And I salute journalists and publications that have covered what continues to happen to these people, and to journalists who continue publishing the truth in face of persecution, prosecution and threat – who take journalism and publishing seriously. Because it is from the revelation of truth that all else follows. Our buildings can only be as tall as their bricks are strong. Our civilization is only as strong as its ideas are true. When our buildings are erected by the corrupt, when their cement is cut with dirt, when pristine steel is replaced by scrap – our buildings are not safe to live in. And when our media is corrupt, when our academics are timid, when our history is filled with half- truths and lies – our civilization will never be just. It will never reach to the sky. Our societies are intellectual shanty towns. Our beliefs about the world and each other have been created by the same system that has lied us into repeated wars that have killed millions. You can’t build a skyscraper out of plasticine. And you can’t build a just civilization out of ignorance and lies. We have to educate each other. We have to celebrate those who reveal the truth and denounce those who poison our ability to comprehend the world that we live in. The quality of our discourse is the limit of our civilization. But this generation has come to its feet and is revolutionizing the way we see the world. For the first time in history the people who are affected by history are its creators. And for other journalists and publications – your work speaks for itself, and so do your war crimes. I salute those who recognize the freedom of the press and the public’s right to know – recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, recognized in the First Amendment of the United States – we must recognize that these are in danger and need protection like never before. WikiLeaks is under a continuing Department of Justice investigation, and this fact has been recognized rightly by Ecuador and the governments of Latin America as one that materially endangers my life and my work. Asylum is not granted on a whim, but granted on facts. The U.S. investigation is referred to in testimony – under oath – in the U.S. courts, is admitted by the Department of Justice, and in the Washington Post just four days ago by the District Attorney of Virginia, as a fact. Its subpoenas are being litigated by our people in the U.S. courts. The Pentagon reissued its threats against me in September and claimed the very existence of WikiLeaks is an ongoing crime. My work will not be cowed. But while this immoral investigation continues, and while the Australian government will not defend the journalism and publishing of WikiLeaks, I must remain here. However, the door is open – and the door has always been open – for anyone who wishes to speak to me. Like you, I have not been charged with a crime. If you ever see spin that suggests otherwise, note this corruption of journalism and then go to justice4assange.com for the full facts. Tell the world the truth, and tell the world who lied to you. Despite the limitations, despite the extra-judicial banking blockade, which circles WikiLeaks like the Cuban embargo, despite an unprecedented criminal investigation and a campaign to damage and destroy my organization, 2012 has been a huge year. We have released nearly one million documents: Documents relating to the unfolding war in Syria. We have exposed the mass surveillance state in hundreds of documents from private intelligence companies. We have released information about the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere – the symbol of the corruption of the rule of law in the West, and beyond. We’ve won against the immoral blockade in the courts and in the European Parliament. After a two-year fight, contributions to WikiLeaks have gone from being blockaded and tax-deductible nowhere to being tax-deductible across the entirety of the European Union and the United States. And last week information revealed by WikiLeaks was vital – and cited in the judgment – in determining what really happened to El-Masri, an innocent European kidnapped and tortured by the CIA. Next year will be equally busy. WikiLeaks has already over a million documents being prepared to be released, documents that affect every country in the world. Every country in this world. And in Australia an unelected Senator will be replaced by one that is elected.  [Bob Carr, Labor Party Foreign Minister & Senate fill-in for Senator Mark Arbib (2008-2012), US Embassy secret informant - see below.  Note also:  "2007 bureaucrat spin doctors in Canberra were "outed" for editing Wikipedia entries critical of their bosses." lol] In 2013, we continue to stand up to bullies. The Ecuadorian government and the governments of Latin America have shown how co-operating through shared values can embolden governments to stand up to coercion and support self-determination. Their governments threaten no one, attack no one, send drones at no one. But together they stand strong and independent. The tired calls of Washington powerbrokers for economic sanctions against Ecuador, simply for defending my rights, are misguided and wrong. President Correa rightly said, "Ecuador’s principles are not for sale." We must unite together to defend the courageous people of Ecuador, to defend them against intervention in their economy and interference in their elections next year. The power of people speaking up and resisting together terrifies corrupt and undemocratic power. So much so that ordinary people here in the West are now the enemy of governments, an enemy to be watched, an enemy to be controlled and to be impoverished. True democracy is not the White House. True democracy is not Canberra. True democracy is the resistance of people, armed with the truth, against lies, from Tahrir to right here in London. Every day, ordinary people teach us that democracy is free speech and dissent. For once we, the people, stop speaking out and stop dissenting, once we are distracted or pacified, once we turn away from each other, we are no longer free. For true democracy is the sum – is the sum – of our resistance. If you don’t speak up – if you give up what is uniquely yours as a human being: if you surrender your consciousness, your independence, your sense of what is right and what is wrong, in other words – perhaps without knowing it, you become passive and controlled, unable to defend yourselves and those you love. People often ask, "What can I do?" The answer is not so difficult. Learn how the world works. Challenge the statements and intentions of those who seek to control us behind a facade of democracy and monarchy. Unite in common purpose and common principle to design, build, document, finance and defend. Learn. Challenge. Act. Now. SOURCE https://wikileaks.org/Statement-by-Julian-Assange-after.html ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Bob Carr Labor Party Australia Govt Minister for Foreign Affairs 2012 (Mar) - 2013 (Sep) Also Australian Senate Senator NSW (unelected) "In April 2013, Fairfax journalist Philip Dorling identified Carr from a searchable database of declassified US State Department diplomatic cables as having criticised the Whitlam Government and provided information on internal Labor Party politics during discussions with the American consul-general in Sydney during the early 1970s."  [Wikipedia] Bob Carr: Washington's man in Australia April 8, 2013 Philip Dorling http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bob-carr-washingtons-man-in-australia-20130408-2hgut.html Mark Arbib, aka CIA Agent 007 December 9, 2010    http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/mark-arbib-aka-cia-agent-007-20101208-18q50.html Arbib revealed as secret US source December 9, 2010 Philip Dorling http://www.smh.com.au/national/arbib-revealed-as-secret-us-source-20101208-18prg.html

ꕤ

Transcript - Assange on Humour & Politics

TRANSCRIPT [for quotation purposes, confirm audio] Julian Assange, Editor WikiLeaks & Carlos Latuff, political cartoonist Embassy of Ecuador, London August 26, 2015 VIDEO [6:46] https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=372&v=ZWru83kwu6A Julian Assange I'm here with Carlos, and he's asked me to talk about what I think about humour and social media. Well, for a long time I've had a theory about humour, and the power of humour: and humour is all about fear and the relief from fear. And most people are not politically engaged because of fear. Politics is all around us. It affects everything you do. You have to really try hard to avoid politics and, so, why do most people avoid it? It's because they're scared of it; they don't understand it; they look at the images on the TV, or from Hollywood movies, and they see CIA agents coming down in Blackhawk helicopters and they think as soon as they get involved that's what's going to happen to them. So how does this connect with humour? Well, humour is all about fear and the relief from fear. And I'll give you a very simple illustration of that, that is a classic joke in English. What's brown & sticky? A stick. And, why does that work? I mean, it's a silly joke. Why on earth does that work? And it's really easy. Well, you were thinking, what is brown and sticky. Well, there's several possibilities and none of them are good. There's nasty mud; there's a suppurating wound; and the obvious one is: sh*t. Sh*t is brown and sticky and sh*t is horrible, and we all have instincts to avoid sh*t; to not want to think about sh*t; to not want to smell sh*t; to not want to talk, even, to others about sh*t; because they won't like this idea in their heads, either. And, so, when we say, 'Oh, it's a stick,' we have this relief; and we feel flooded with the relief from the fear that we were really talking about sh*t. And that's something very basic to human beings. Basic in our physiology, that all the time we, in our natural environment, we are exposed to things that make us scared: a possible snake; sh*t; the potential anger of other people against us. And that creates a fear state in our bodies where we become tense and we draw in breath to scream, or to fight, or to run. And when we become scared we have to become scared fast, because we may have to act really fast. In fact, we often become scared faster than our brains can understand the true nature of the situation we're in. And, so, in a joke, we erect the state of fear in someone and then give relief to that fear and, so, this feeling of relief means that we're not scared anymore. And when we look at political cartoons, that's what they do, and that's why we laugh at them. So, we take someone who has power and we are scared of their power - some, you know, powerful government figure - such as Barak Obama, who has at his control drones and assassins, and so on - and then we show that he doesn't understand; or that he doesn't get it; or that he's a hypocrite; or, in some way, that he doesn't have the power that we all perceive him previously to have, or the power is illegitimate, or hypocritical, in some way. And, so, that strips a powerful figure of their fear and the ability to instill fear in others; and as a result people feel more courageous. And that's why political authorities, and powerful commercial authorities, are so scared of politician cartoonists. Because the cartoon strips them of their power to instil fear into others, and most authority is not gained through legitimate actions of being accurate, or just, or competent, but, rather, in installing fear into others. Now, what's happened with the internet in the - well, really, the past four or five years - is that we have gone from a text-based world to a world that is combined text and images. And that's why if WikiLeaks does a tweet and we have an image, or a cartoon from Carlos, and some text, it does really well. It spreads around. Whereas just tweeting text doesn't. And that's not just something that's done by political cartoonists; it's done by most people, now - creating images with text overlays. And the dominant social medium is now moving to one of images combined with text, and this is the traditional form of political cartooning. Now, to a degree, everyone is starting to head towards being a political cartoonist, and they should see the power in that; because it can remove fear that people have and, once people's fear is removed and they can, you know, knock down the false images that have been constructed by organisations like the US military, or by the police who want to project themselves as being tough and unconquerable - then, yeah, people can address the world as it truly is and not the world that is constructed by illusions that install fear in others. --- end audio --- ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT lol ... I probably thought sh*t at first, followed by chocolate pudding, followed by sticky date pudding. Don't know that sh*t is particularly fear inducing in me.  Disgust maybe.  But it's a remote sense of disgust.  The mention of sh*t doesn't bother me.  Images of sh*t are more unappealing. Dealing with other people's anger or hostility is anxiety inducing, for me.  And I think I live in a state of permanent breath-holding ... for no reason at all.  I'm always in a hurry, I guess.  lol Politics can be avoided for heaps of reasons other than fear.  Genuine disinterest.  Boredom.  Apathy.  Apathy borne of conviction that nothing can change and that one's vote does not count. But I guess there's elements of fear in politics for those even on the outermost periphery of politics.  Fear of having unorthodox views.  Fear of becoming a target of those with opposing views.  Fear of drawing unwanted attention etc. Don't know about fear of CIA and Blackhawk choppers (unless maybe you're in Latin America or the Middle East), but, yeah, challenging the political status quo in any way (even if it is merely expressing opposing views) is fear inducing for an individual because all power rests with the state, rather than the individual. Or is that just my illusion? lol That was good.  I enjoyed that. PS   I just thought of a barrier to participation in politics (apart from motivation or desire).  Politics isn't for individuals; it's for groups. But there's no 'group fit' for an individual, unless the individual holds orthodox views or some kind or other, which neatly slot into the belief system of the group (which itself would aim to neatly slot into a formally endorsed or accepted societal ideological position, in order to have as wide a support base as possible).  Maybe participation politics beyond observation, isn't for everyone. Oops ... inexplicable typos. Must have gremlins.  lol ꕤ

Australia - Digital Privacy Ends 13 Oct

Data retention and the end of Australians' digital privacy August 29, 2015 Quentin Dempster Contributing editor The digital privacy of Australians ends from Tuesday, October 13. http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/data-retention-and-the-end-of-australians-digital-privacy-20150827-gj96kq.html Authorised agencies to view metadata > ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) > Australian Federal Police > All state and territory police forces > The Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity > Australian Crime Commission > Australian Customs and Border Protection Service > Australian Securities and Investments Commission > Australian Competition and Consumer Commission > NSW Crime Commission > NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption > NSW Police Integrity Commission > Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission > West Australian Corruption and Crime Commission > South Australian Independent Commission Against Corruption > Any other agency the Attorney General publicly declares ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- ꕤ

Intel, Surveillance & Cybersec- Random News Items

#Algeria - Gen Hassan retired Algerian intel chief (counter-terrorism) / held in military prison Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika reforming intel services relieving them of missions >> control transfer to Military July 2015 Algeria Pres. Bouteflika replaced heads of DSI counter-espionage unit residential security + Republican Guard http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Algeria-detains-former-counter-terror-chief-report-20150830-4 #SouthAfrica allegations of SA intel spying on journalists Democratic Alliance asked intel Inspector General to investigate allegations SSA is spying on SABC journalists http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/da-seeks-sabc-spying-probe-1.1907758 #SouthAfrica Cops in 'super-spy' machine probe The Grabber / dirtbox / cigarette smuggling http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/cops-in-super-spy-machine-probe-1.1907719 MacDonald, Dettwiler & Associates Ltd. = Canada-based communications & info co commercial & govt customers, globally MacDonald, Dettwiler & Associates Ltd. 2 segments: Communications +  Surveillance & Intelligence MacDonald, Dettwiler & Associates Ltd. Communications: = TV, satellite, radio, broadband, mobile Surveillance & Intel: = Geospatial + [think encountered MDA the other day] http://www.lulegacy.com/2015/08/30/macdonald-dettwiler-associates-pt-lowered-to-c89-00-mda/594668/ #UK MI6 agent Gareth Williams hacked Clinton’s agenda / diplomatic nightmare - Sir John Sawers / mysterious death http://nypost.com/2015/08/31/british-agent-hacked-bill-clintons-agenda-before-his-mysterious-death/ #Surveillance  advertising co's profile user, based on internet usage history “super-cookies aka pass ID = unique token injected into every HTTP request / user helpless: no choice / persists after clearing cookies Culprits: Verizon AT&T Bell Canada Bharti Airtel Cricket Telefonica de España Viettel Peru S.A.C. Vodafone NL Vodafone Spain Solution: 1) limit web browsing to sites that offer SSL or TLS 2) switch to provider that does not use super-cookies. http://www.techworm.net/2015/08/supercookies-are-back-in-force-giving-rise-to-privacy-threats.html PricewaterhouseCoopers Insurance Banana Skins 2015 #cybersecurity = one of biggest fears of insurers in world Report http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/insurance/banana-skins/2015-survey-report.jhtml #cybersecurity Ashley Madison hack UK intel checked files for security breaches & info / counterparts doing same http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/ashley-madison-hack-british-intelligence-checked-leaked-files-for-security-breaches-and-information-10479238.html Ashley Madison hack Noel Biderman steps down as CEO of parent co Canadian Internet entrepreneur Self-proclaimed "King of Infidelity" former CEO of Avid Life Media  [wikipedia] #cybersecurity Indian financial outfits facing numerous cyber attacks from Pakistan / no mandatory reporting of hacks http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/48737054.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst #cybersecurity 3 broad hacker type: 1. financial motive cyber criminal 2. hacktivists or politically motivated 3. nation state attackers most serious type, said to be (3) nation state hackers >> steal business strategy + intellectual property /indiatimes #cybersecurity #OPM US federal agencies to pay at least $132 million re OPM hack Carter said his desire to increase the military’s computer defenses is one reason he was heading to Silicon Valley on Friday to recruit outside help. Federal agencies will pay at least $132 million to begin cleaning up the mess caused by the computer hack of at least 22 million current and former federal employees and military personnel. About 40 percent of the total, or nearly $53 million, will be paid by the Army. A little more than a quarter will be paid by the Air Force and 17 percent, or about $23 million, will come from the Navy, according to National Journal. Last month, OPM notified agencies it would charge them for their share of the protection services being offered to at least 22 million hack victims, proportional to the number of affected former and current employees, contractors, and applicants connected to each agency. The OPM has notified each agency what they owe for fiscal 2015, agencies must shift funds around to make the required payments. The Defense Department submitted its reprogramming request to Congress, where it has already received approval from at least the Senate Appropriations Committee’s panel on Defense spending. The plan set aside $132 million to pay for hack victims’ credit and identity monitoring, identity restoration and protection services for dependent children. https://thetelegraph.com/news/70496/report-says-va-way-short-of-psychiatrists ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Just news items that caught my eye. That US$130 million eventually goes to cybersecurity companies? They must be ecstatic whenever there's a big hack.  lol Algeria sounds interesting.  Something big's going on. South Africa sounds corrupt. CEO stepping down is a pointless, symbolic act. ꕤ

Britian - MI6 - ' Spy found dead in bag hacked Clinton'

Spy found dead in bag hacked Clinton Monday, 31 August 2015 Gareth Williams, left and Bill Clinton. Williams had infuriated his spy bosses with his behaviour. The British spy whose body was found padlocked inside a bag in his flat had illegally hacked into secret data on former U.S. president Bill Clinton, it has been revealed. Gareth Williams, 31, was discovered in a holdall in the bath at his London home five years ago this month, but the mystery surrounding his death has never been solved. Today, it has been revealed the spy had dug out a guest list for an event Clinton was due to attend as a favour for a friend. A police officer stands guard outside of the entrance to a flat where the body of Gareth Williams was discovered. Photo / Getty Images The hack breached Mr Williams' security clearance and this sparked anger among MI6 bosses as tensions rose with U.S. security services over the spy's transatlantic work, The Sun on Sunday has reported. A source said: "The Clinton diary hack came at a time when Williams' work with America was of the most sensitive nature. "It was a diplomatic nightmare for Sir John Sawers, the new director of MI6 at the time." The paper has also reported that voicemail messages Mr Williams, a maths genius and expert cryptographer, left for family and friends were deleted shortly after his death. Earlier this month, it was revealed that detectives who investigated the mysterious death believe he was murdered and that his killers then broke back in through a skylight to cover their tracks. The claim centres on the revelation that part of the forensic equipment placed in the flat after the body was found was moved - despite the fact the building was under armed police guard. The theory supports his family's suspicions he was murdered by "agents specialising in the dark arts of the secret services". Mr Williams had been working with the American National Security Agency in Washington before returning to London, where he underwent training and was sent on active operations. The exact nature of his work remains a closely guarded secret, but sources claim he dealt with equipment that tracked the flow of cash from Russia to Europe. The technology enabled MI6 to follow money trails from bank accounts in Russia to criminal European gangs. One theory is that Mr Williams had disrupted a mafia ring closely linked to the Russian state. Cars registered to the Russian Embassy were spotted near his Pimlico flat just days before his body was discovered on August 23, 2010. Mr Williams was last seen alive on August 15 - a Kremlin car was seen near his property that day. Other lines of inquiry, also dismissed by the Metropolitan Police at the time, were that he was killed by MI6 or American agents after stumbling on sensitive data, or because he threatened to make secret intelligence public. There were also claims Mr Williams may have been killed by a lover during a bizarre sex game. Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox, who heard the 2012 inquest into his death, criticised MI6 for failing to report that the spy had been missing for a week, saying this caused extra suffering for his family and led to the loss of forensic evidence. The delay, for which MI6 apologised, also meant a Home Office pathologist was unable to find a cause of death. Dr Wilcox concluded that Mr Williams's death was "unnatural and likely to have been criminally mediated". She said she was satisfied "on the balance of probabilities that Gareth was killed unlawfully", as it was likely someone else had put his body in the bag and locked it. But a year later, Scotland Yard ended a review of the investigation, saying it was more likely Williams had locked himself in the bag and that no one else was involved. This is despite there being no traces of Mr Williams' own DNA on the padlock of the bag he was found in. His palm prints were not found on the bathtub which held the bag. Another theory was that Mr William's was poisoned. Former Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton was the most senior officer on the scene when he arrived at Mr Williams' flat in Pimlico on August 23, 2010. He thought the flat was unusually warm when he arrived, claiming the heating was turned up to its maximum setting, possibly to assist with decomposition. He said: "If he had been poisoned, then the chemical compounds might have vanished by the time toxicology results were conducted." - Daily Mail http://m.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11505559 ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Winner of headline of the day.   lol Love stories like this.   I reckon British intelligence bumped him off: did not report he'd been 'missing' for a week; delay results in degraded / no forensic evidence; Scotland Yard saying he'd locked himself in bag, despite: no DNA padlock no palm prints bathtub forensic equipment moved, while police guard (as if the 'Russian' culprits would be back to move equipment via a skylight ... lol) attention misdirected to Russians, European mafia & to Russian diplomatic cars ꕤ

Thierry Meyssan - Mass Migration & Terrorism - Result of US Strategic Doctrine: Chaos Theory - Pillage of Middle Eastern & African Resources by Destruction of State

SOURCE http://www.voltairenet.org/article187588.html ARTICLE | THIERRY MEYSSAN The European Union is blind to the military strategy of the United States by Thierry Meyssan The political leaders of the European Union are entirely wrong about the Islamic terrorist attacks in Europe and the migration to the Union of people fleeing the war zones. Thierry Meyssan demonstrates here that these are not simply the accidental consequences of conflict in the wider Middle East and Africa, but a strategic objective of the United States. Voltaire Network | Damascus (Syria) | 14 May 2015 23rd April 2015 – the European Council observes a minute of silence in commemoration of the refugees who lost their lives in the Mediterranean. The leaders of the European Union are suddenly being confronted with unexpected situations. On the one hand, terrorist attacks or attempted attacks perpetrated or prepared by individuals who do not belong to any identified political groups; and on the other, an influx of refugees who cross the Mediterranean, several thousands of whom die along their coasts. In the absence of any strategic analysis, these two events are considered a priori as being unconnected, and are treated by different administrations. The former are handled by the Intelligence services and the police, the latter by Customs and Defence. However, they both share the same common origin – the political instability that reigns in the Levant and in Africa. The European Union has deprived itself of the means to understand If the military academies of the European Union had done their job, they would have been studying the doctrine of its « big brother », the United States, for the last fifteen years. Indeed, for many long years, the Pentagon has been publishing all sorts of documents on the « Chaos Theory» borrowed from the philosopher Leo Strauss. Only a few moths ago, an official who should have retired more than 25 years ago, Andrew Marshall, disposed of a budget of 10 million dollars annually to research this subject [1]. But no military academy of the Union has seriously studied this doctrine and its consequences. Partly because this is a barbaric form of warfare, and partly because it was conceived by one of the intellectual gurus of the US Jewish elite. And as everybody knows,the United-States-who-saved-us-all from-Nazism can not advocate such atrocities [2]. If the political personnel of the European Union had travelled a little, not only to Iraq, Syria, Libya, the horn of Africa, to Nigeria and Mali, but also to Ukraine, they would have seen with their own eyes the application of this strategic doctrine. Instead, the contented themselves with speeches delivered from a building in the Green Zone of Bagdhad, from a podium in Tripoli or on Maïdan Square in Kiev. They have no idea what these populations are really experiencing, and at the request of their « big brother », have often closed their embassies, thereby depriving themselves of eyes and ears on the ground. Even better, still at the request of their « big brother », they have participated in embargos, thus ensuring that no European businessmen will travel to these areas and see what is happening there. An undetermined number of refugees have died in the Mediterranean. Sometimes, the waves wash their bodies onto the beaches of Italy, where the Customs take charge of boats filled with corpses. Chaos is not an accident, it’s the goal Contrary to what President François Hollande has declared, the Libyan migration is not the consequence of a « lack of follow-through » of operation « Unified Protector », but the desired result of this operation, in which his country has played a leading role. Chaos did not evolve because the « Libyan revolutionaries » were unable to agree after the « fall » of Mouammar el-Kadhafi, it was the strategic goal of the United States, and they succeeded. There never was a « democratic revolution » in Libya, but a secession of Cyrenaïca. There never was an application of the UNO mandate aimed at « protecting the population »,  but the massacre of 160,000 Libyans, three quarters of whom were civilians, under the bombardments of the Alliance (numbers from the International Red Cross). Before I joined the government of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, I remember having been solicited to act as a witness during a meeting in Tripoli between a US delegation and the Libyan representatives. During our long conversation, the head of the US delegation explained that the Pentagon was ready to save us from certain death, but demanded that the Guide [Leader? Gaddafi] be handed over to them. He added that once el-Kadhafi was dead, Libya’s tribal society would be unable to name a new leader for at least a generation, and that the country would be plunged into chaos such as it had never experienced. I spoke of this interview on a number of occasions, and since the lynching of the Guide [Leader? Gaddafi] in October 2011, I have never stopped predicting what is now happening. Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was a specialist in political philosophy. He gathered a small group of students, most of whom later worked for the Secretary of Defence. They formed a sort of cult, and inspired Pentagon strategy. « Chaos Theory » When, in 2003, the US Press began to speak of « Chaos Theory », the White House answered by using the term « constructive chaos », suggesting that the structures of oppression must be destroyed in order that life might evolve without constraint. But neither Leo Strauss nor the Pentagon had ever used the expression until then. On the contrary, according to them, chaos had to attain such a level that no structure could be built without the will of the Creator of the new Order, in other words, the United States [3]. The principle of this strategic doctrine may be resumed as follows - the simplest way to pillage the natural resources of a country over a long period is not to occupy the target, but destroy the state. Without a state, there can be no army. With no enemy army, there is no risk of defeat. Thus, the strategic goal of the US army and the alliance that it controls, the UNO, is exclusively the destruction of states. What then happens to the populations concerned is not Washington’s problem. Such a project is inconceivable for Europeans who, since the British civil war, have been convinced by Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan that it is necessary to give up certain freedoms, even accept a tyrannical state, to avoid being plunged into chaos. The European Union denies its complicity in US crimes The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have already cost the lives of 4 million people [4]. These wars were presented to the Security Council as necessary counter-attacks undertaken in « legitimate defence », but it is accepted today that the wars were planned long before the 11th September, in the much wider context of « the remodeling of a greater Middle East », and that the reasons given for launching them were in fact propaganda fabrications. It is common wisdom today to recognise the genocides committed by European colonialism, but rare are those who will accept the figure of 4 million dead, despite scientific studies which attest to its accuracy. It’s because our parents were « bad », but we are « good » and we can not be complicit in these horrors. It is common practice to mock the poor Germans who maintained their trust in their Nazi leaders right to the end, and only learned of the crimes committed in their name after their country’s defeat. But we are doing exactly the same thing. We maintain our confidence in our « big brother », and do not want to know about the crimes in which he has implicated us. Our children will certainly mock us in turn … The errors of interpretation by the European Union - No West European leader, absolutely none, has dared to publicly express the idea that the refugees from Iraq, Syria, Libya, the Horn of Africa, Nigeria and Mali are not fleeing dictatorships, but the chaos into which we have deliberately, though unconsciously, plunged their countries. - No West European leader, absolutely none, has dared to publicly express the idea that the « Islamist » attacks which are affecting Europe are not the extension of the wars in the « greater Middle East », but are directed by those who have also directed the chaos in this region. We prefer to continue believing that the « Islamists » are attacking Jews and Christians, although the great majority of their victims are neither Jews nor Christians, but Muslims. We calmly accuse them of promoting the « war of civilisations », although this concept was developed by the National Security Council of the United States, and remains alien to their culture [5]. - No West European leader, absolutely none, has dared to publicly express the idea that the next stage will be the « Islamisation » of the drug market, on the model of the Contras of Nicaragua, who sold drugs to the black community of California with the aid, and under the orders, of the CIA [6]. We have decided to ignore the fact that the Karzaï family has taken the distribution of Afghani heroin from the Kosovar mafia and handed it to Daesh [7]. The Under-Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, and the US ambassador in Kiev, Geoffrey R. Pyatt. In a telephone wire-tap revealed by the partisans of legality, she told him that she wanted to « fuck the European Union » (sic). The United States never wanted Ukraine to join the Union The military academies of the European Union have never studied the « Chaos Theory » because they were prevented from doing so. The few teachers and researchers who risked exploring this territory were heavily sanctioned, while the Press qualifies the civilian authors who show interest in the subject as « conspirationists ». The politicians of the European Union thought that the events of Maïdan Square were spontaneous, and that the demonstrators wanted to leave the orbit of authoritarian Russia and enter into the heavenly bosom of the Union. They were stupified when Under-Secretary of State Victoria Nuland’s comments were published, when they discovered that she spoke of her secret control of the events, and expressed her desire to « fuck the Union » (sic) [8]. VIDEO INSERT [ does not appear in article]  ꕤ COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- From that moment on, they were unable to comprehend what was going on. If they had allowed free research in their own countries, they would have understood that by intervening in Ukraine and organising « régime change », the United States ensured that the European Union would remain at their service. Washington’s great fear, since the speech given by Vladimir Putin at the Munich Security Conference in 2007, is that Germany will realise where its true interests lie – not with Washington, but with Moscow [9]. By progressively destroying the Ukrainian state, the United States has cut the main communication route between the European Union and Russia. You may look at the succession of events from any angle, but you will find no other logical explanation. Washington does not want Ukraine to join the Union, as Madame Nuland’s comments demonstrate. Its only aim is to transform this territory into a zone which is dangerous to cross. The 8th May 2007 (the anniversary of the fall of the German Nazi régime), in Ternopol (West Ukraine), Nazi and Islamist groupuscules created a so-called Anti-Imperialist Front in order to fight against Russia. Organisations from Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Russia also participated, including Islamist separatists from Crimea, Adyguea, Dagestan, Ingouchia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karatchaïevo-Tcherkessia, Ossetia, and Tchetchenia. Blocked by international sanctions, Dokka Umarov asked for his contribution to be read. The Front is presided by Dmytro Yarosh, who is now an advisor to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence. US military planning So now we are faced with two problems which are developing very rapidly - the « Islamist » attacks have only just begun. Migrations across the Mediterranean have tripled in a single year. If my analysis is correct, over the next decade we will see more « Islamist » attacks linked to the greater Middle East and Africa, doubled with « Nazi » attacks linked to Ukraine. We will then discover that al-Qaïda and the Ukrainian Nazis have been connected since their common inception, in 2007 at Ternopol (Ukraine). In reality, the grand-parents of both have known each other since the Second World War. The Nazis had at that time recruited Soviet Muslims for the fight against Moscow (that was Gerhard von Mende’s plan at the Ostministerium, or Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories). At the end of the war, both organisations were recuperated by the CIA (Frank Wisner’s programme with the AmComLib, or the American Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia) in order to carry out sabotage operations in the USSR. The migrations across the Mediterranean, which for the moment remain a humanitarian problem (200,000 people in 2014), continue to increase to the point of becoming a serious economic problem. The recent decisions by the Union to go and sink the boats of Libyan drug traffickers will not serve to diminish the migrations, but to justify new military operations intended to maintain a state of chaos in Libya rather than solving the problem. All this will cause serious trouble in the European Union, which today seems like a haven of peace. It is out of the question for Washington to destroy this market which it still considers indispensable, but to ensure that Europe will never enter into competition with it, hence the desire to limit its development. In 1991, President Bush the elder asked one of Leo Strauss’ disciples, Paul Wolfowitz (as yet unknown to the general public), to elaborate a strategy for the post-Soviet era. The «Wolfowitz Doctrine » explained that the guarantee of US supremacy over the rest of the world demanded the curbing of the European Union [10]. In 2008, during the financial crisis in the United States, the President of the Economic Council of the White House, historian Christina Rohmer, explained that that the only way to refloat the banks was by closing the fiscal paradises in the third countries, and then to provoke trouble in Europe so that capital would flow back to the United States. Finally, today Washington is proposing to merge the NAFTA and the EU, the dollar and the Euro, dragging the member states of the Union down to the level of Mexico [11]. Unfortunately for them, neither the citizens of the European Union or their leaders have any idea what President Barack Obama is preparing for them. Thierry Meyssan Translation Pete Kimberley ------- Thierry Meyssan French intellectual, founder and chairman of Voltaire Network and the Axis for Peace Conference. His columns specializing in international relations feature in daily newspapers and weekly magazines in Arabic, Spanish and Russian. His last two books published in English : 9/11 the Big Lie and Pentagate. SOURCE http://www.voltairenet.org/article187588.html ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT I like this guy a lot.  His articles are always good. Had no idea he was in the Libyan government. Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977–2011) Gaddafi was designated the "Leader" (Qā’id) of the Libyan state and was accorded the honorifics "Brotherly Leader and Guide to the First of September Great Revolution of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya". Libyan government stated that the Libyan Jamahiriya was a direct democracy without any political parties, governed by its populace through local popular councils and communes (named Basic People's Congresses). Official rhetoric disdained the idea of a nation state, tribal bonds remaining primary, even within the ranks of the military of Libya. source | wikipedia | here ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- This stood out for me: al-Qaïda and the Ukrainian Nazis have been connected since their common inception, in 2007 at Ternopol (Ukraine) Not sure what to make of it. The original article has a bunch of citations.  So it might be worthwhile checking out the author's citations, to get more of a handle on this stuff.  Not sure I'm up to it.  I'm already way behind on the various information I'd hoped to check out, as I'm best at re-tweeting cats.  lol Lots to digest and lots of look-ups to do. Think Meyssan might be being too kind to the European politicians.  Nobody could be as stupid as these politicians make out to be.  The European politicians are US and corporate puppets who know exactly what the score is.  These people would readily sell out their own nations in the service of a triple-headed god:  their corporate backers, USA, and profits. ------- "In the absence of any strategic analysis, these two events are considered a priori as being unconnected ..." a priori  Inference by reasoning from general to specific - here Relating to or denoting reasoning or knowledge that proceeds from theoretical deduction rather than from observation or experience  | here So the EU just assume the events are unconnected, but the events (terrorists & immigrants) share the same origin (political instability), is what the author is saying? Isn't it easier just to say it's an assumption?  Would have saved me a heap of look ups.  lol ꕤ