BlackBAG - News

US Contractor Pays $5 Million to Iraqis Over Abu Ghraib Lawsuit

L-3 Services Sued for Involvement in Detainee Abuse [THX US/5]

by Jason Ditz,

AntiWAR.com - January 08, 2013

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New financial statements from Engility Holdings of Chantilly, VA, reveal that the company’s subsidiary, L-3 services, has paid out $5 million related to its role in the abuse of Iraqi detainees at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison.

L-3 was one of two contractors sued for their roles in the torture of detainees. The other company, CACI, still has a case pending that is expected to go to trial over the summer.

“Private military contractors played a serious but often under-reported role in the worst abuses at Abu Ghraib,” noted Baher Azmy, the legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights, who served as a lawyer for the 71 detainees. He confirmed the payout.

The federal appeals court essentially saved the two lawsuits last year in May, throwing out arguments that the cases should be dismissed in deference to the executive branch’s decisions to torture detainees during a war.
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Global Security Newswire

Obama, Panetta Laud Special Operator Killed in Rescue Mission

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2012 – President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta today paid tribute to the special operations service member killed in the rescue of an American in eastern Afghanistan yesterday.

The Taliban abducted the man Dec. 5 near the Sarobi district of Afghanistan's Kabul province. His name is being withheld.
Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, the NATO and U.S. commander in Afghanistan, ordered the rescue when intelligence indicated the man was in imminent danger of injury or death. ISAF officials said it was a joint U.S.-Afghan rescue.
An American special operator was killed during the rescue mission.

Obama said the rescue was characteristic of the extraordinary courage, skill and patriotism that U.S. troops show every day. "Tragically, we lost one of our special operators in this effort," the president said in a written statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, just as we must always honor our troops and military families. He gave his life for his fellow Americans, and he and his teammates remind us once more of the selfless service that allows our nation to stay strong, safe and free."

Panetta also issued a statement commending the U.S special operations team for the rescue and extending his condolences to the family, teammates and friends of the fallen warrior.

"The special operators who conducted this raid knew they were putting their lives on the line to free a fellow American from the enemy's grip," Panetta said. "They put the safety of another American ahead of their own, as so many of our brave warriors do every day and every night.

"In this fallen hero, and all of our special operators," he continued, "Americans see the highest ideals of citizenship, sacrifice and service upheld. The torch of freedom burns brighter because of them."
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2012/12/mil-121209-afps01.htm?_m=3n.002a.677.ky0ao00y71.m5e

HSToday.us; US/1; ATTN:

NNSA, FBI Conclude Radiological Security Exercise in N. Carolina

By: Homeland Security Today Staff

05/11/2012 ( 9:06am)

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently announced the completion of a table-top counterterrorism exercise at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in Research Triangle Park, NC. The exercise, called Environmental Thunder, was the latest in NNSA’s series of nationwide exercises aimed at giving federal, state and local first response teams and law enforcement hands-on experience in responding to a terrorist attack involving radioactive materials.

Environmental Thunder played out a fictitious scenario with terrorists infiltrating a research facility and attempting to seize control of high-activity radiological material that could be used in radiological dispersal devices (RDDs), commonly referred to as “dirty bombs.” The participating officials worked cooperatively to assess and respond to simulated facility alarms and then manage the crisis as if it were actually happening.

The goal of these exercises is to provide first-hand crisis management experience, facilitate coordination among multiple agencies, and improve both alarm response and emergency response methods. Exercises take place in select locations across the country with facilities that house nuclear or high-activity radioactive materials.

The exercise series is jointly organized and funded by NNSA’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative, NNSA’s Office of Counterterrorism Policy and Cooperation and the FBI. The participating federal agencies included NNSA, FBI, the Environmental Protection Agency and NIEHS. They were joined for the exercise by the Durham County Sheriff's Office, the local health department and other first responders. State officials from the North Carolina emergency management agency, public health agencies and the highway patrol also participated, as did the North Carolina National Guard, and Raleigh and Durham city officials.

Source: NNSA

http://www.hstoday.us/single-article/nnsa-fbi-conclude-radiological-security-exercise-in-north-carolina/8fe5cbfb59dde531044c5e4cb8f88e01.html

[Information contained in BKNT E-mail is considered Attorney-Client and Attorney Work Product privileged, copyrighted and confidential. Views that may be expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of any government, agency, or news organization.]

- OPEN SOURCE

SpyTALKblog; US/1; ATTN: all former & future teenagers Member CONTRIBUTION

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Dick Clark and the CIA

Oh, I wish.

But there is a dark side to the Dick Clark story that's been buried for decades and is not likely to turn up again anytime soon.

Today, of course, many Americans are reacting with a flood of heartfelt tears over the death of the onetime disk jockey, TV icon and New Year’s Eve fixture.

And keening as one, cable hosts, TV correspondents and newspaper obit writers are gearing up to celebrate the life of the winsome 82-year-old, who turned a local Philadelphia after-school TV dance show into a national phenomenon and a fortune many times over.

Clark’s boyish charm and unflagging enthusiasm for pop music endeared him to at least three generations of teenyboppers and their parents. Nothing could touch him -- even a congressional committee looking into "payola," Top 40 radio's pay-for-air play culture.

It’s hard to imagine Clark surviving such a scandal today.

At the height of his popularity in May 1960, Clark admitted he was, well, a crook.

He told the House Committee on Legislative Oversight that he held “an ownership stake in a total of 33 different record labels, distributors and manufacturers that all profited handsomely from the rise of Clark-anointed stars like Danny and the Juniors and Frankie Avalon,” according to the History Channel.

“One of the companies in which Clark had a financial interest was Jamie Records, the label that made Duane Eddy famous and returned a tidy profit of $31,700 to Clark on an initial $125 investment,” according to the HC web site.

"Believe me this is not as unusual as it may seem," Clark told the Payola committee. "I think the crime I have committed, if any, is that I made a great deal of money in a short time on little investment. But that is the record business."

The panel members were apparently blown away by Clark’s charm and candor.

"Smooth, slim and youthful on the witness stand," according to one account, Clark got a pass, while “the uncooperative Alan Freed, " an Ohio and later New York disk jockey who championed black artists’ rhythm and blues, was run out of town.

“Obviously you're a fine young man," the committee chairman, Rep. Oren Harris (D-Arkansas), crooned to Clark. "I don't think you're the inventor of the system, I think you're the product."

Rock on, Dick, and he did.

Alan Freed, largely ruined, died of alcoholism at age 43.

And that’s ... the rest of the story.

Labels: Dick Clark, payola, rock and roll

http://spytalkblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/cia-and-dick-clark.html

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US/1

Tiny Qatar Flexed Big Muscles in Libya

By Spencer Ackerman

August 25, 2011 | 2:00 pm

The (still unfinished!) Libya war is waged by a patchwork quilt of established military giants: the United States and Britain, for instance. Less heralded — but no less important to the Libyan revolutionaries — was a new entrant in Mideast security: teeny, tiny Qatar.

If the Persian Gulf nation has any defense profile at all, it’s mostly for hosting the giant al-Udeid air base, a major transit point for U.S. troops and material heading to Iraq and Afghanistan. But despite having very few men under arms, Qatar not only helped keep Moammar Gadhafi’s planes grounded, it helped turn the ragtag Libyan rebels into a real fighting force — and even, according to one well-placed source, played a key role in getting them into Tripoli.

“The principle source of support for the rebels came from ‘Q-SOC,’” the Qatari special forces, says this source, who would only be identified as a former U.S. intelligence contractor with direct knowledge of operations in Libya. With the advance on Tripoli impending, the “Q-SOC” teams went to work getting rebels ready to finish the war,

teaching them how to use the shoulder-fired missiles they looted from Gadhafi’s weapons stocks and even the basics of shooting straight.

“They went west into the Nafusa mountains and provided minimal basic shooting and tactics training to individual rebel brigades. That’s why those rebels are generally in three-color desert uniforms,” the source tells Danger Room. The Los Angeles Times described those Nafusa-based rebels as “gritty, and gave them a large share of credit for turning the tide of the war. “They also selected 100-plus western-region Libyans for small-unit leadership training, and flew them to Qatar and then back to Nafusa for the big push.”

That was just one aspect of the Qatari aid to the rebels. The Qataris, however improbably, were the first foreign military on the ground providing military training. “They have been more effective than any other nation,” a rebel military representative told the Washington Post in May. “They just haven’t boasted about it.”

Qatar provided air support, too. And while the Qataris couldn’t match the contributions of major NATO air forces, they made a massive commitment, relatively speaking.

“The Air Force didn’t just send some planes, they sent what probably amounts to the majority of their operational air force,” says the director of Qatar’s Royal United Services Institute, David Roberts. “They have 12 [Mirage] jets, and they sent six or eight for the no-fly zone.”

The Libya war amounts to a “coming out party” for the Qatari military, which may have been trained by British and French forces, but boasts only 8,500 soldiers and hasn’t ever attempted an operation far from home. “For all intents and purposes, it’s the first time they’d done anything quite this autonomous and real,” Roberts says. “It’s a genuine surprise to everyone here.”

But don’t expect a repeat performance. Qatar’s involvement in Libya was the result of something of a perfect storm, from Roberts’ perspective: the opportunity for a hated strongman’s downfall with the desire on the part of an unconstrained royal elite to demonstrate that “Arabs should solve Arab problems,” not the birth of Qatari bellicosity.

Plus, while the cash-flush nation might not need Libyan business, it’s now in a prime position to reap reconstruction contracts from a grateful post-Gadhafi government. Not bad for a country that’s better known for its hugely influential satellite news channel than for its martial prowess.

See Also:

Spencer Ackerman is Danger Room's senior reporter, based out of Washington, D.C., covering weapons of doom and the strategies they're used to implement.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/08/tiny-qatar-flexed-big-muscles-in-libya/#more-55020

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ProPublica.org; VS/2; US/1; ATTN: HST/2;

SEE Also: The FBI vs. Antiwar.com

Secret documents reveal government spy-and-smear campaign

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2011/08/21/antiwar-com-vs-the-fbi/

The Informants

The FBI has built a massive network of spies to prevent another domestic attack. But are they busting terrorist plots—or leading them?

By Trevor Aaronson | September/October 2011 Issue

James Cromitie [7] was a man of bluster and bigotry. He made up wild stories about his supposed exploits, like the one about firing gas bombs into police precincts using a flare gun, and he ranted about Jews. "The worst brother in the whole Islamic world is better than 10 billion Yahudi," he once said [8].

A 45-year-old Walmart stocker who'd adopted the name Abdul Rahman after converting to Islam during a prison stint for selling cocaine, Cromitie had lots of worries—convincing his wife he wasn't sleeping around, keeping up with the rent, finding a decent job despite his felony record. But he dreamed of making his mark. He confided as much in a middle-aged Pakistani he knew as Maqsood.

"I'm gonna run into something real big [9]," he'd say. "I just feel it, I'm telling you. I feel it."

Maqsood and Cromitie had met at a mosque in Newburgh, a struggling former Air Force town about an hour north of New York City. They struck up a friendship, talking for hours about the world's problems and how the Jews were to blame.

It was all talk until November 2008, when Maqsood pressed his new friend.

"Do you think you are a better recruiter or a better action man?" Maqsood asked [10].

"I'm both," Cromitie bragged.

"My people would be very happy to know that, brother. Honestly."

"Who's your people?" Cromitie asked.

"Jaish-e-Mohammad."

Maqsood said he was an agent for the Pakistani terror group, tasked with assembling a team to wage jihad in the United States. He asked Cromitie what he would attack if he had the means. A bridge, Cromitie said.

"But bridges are too hard to be hit," Maqsood pleaded, "because they're made of steel."

"Of course they're made of steel," Cromitie replied. "But the same way they can be put up, they can be brought down."

Maqsood coaxed Cromitie toward a more realistic plan. The Mumbai attacks were all over the news, and he pointed out how those gunmen targeted hotels, cafés, and a Jewish community center.

"With your intelligence, I know you can manipulate someone," Cromitie told his friend. "But not me, because I'm intelligent." The pair settled on a plot to bomb synagogues in the Bronx, and then fire Stinger missiles at airplanes taking off from Stewart International Airport in the southern Hudson Valley. Maqsood would provide all the explosives and weapons, even the vehicles. "We have two missiles, okay?" he offered [11]. "Two Stingers, rocket missiles."

Maqsood was an undercover operative; that much was true. But not for Jaish-e-Mohammad. His real name was Shahed Hussain [12], and he was a paid informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Ever since 9/11, counterterrorism has been the FBI's No. 1 priority, consuming the lion's share of its budget—$3.3 billion, compared to $2.6 billion for organized crime—and much of the attention of field agents and a massive, nationwide network of informants. After years of emphasizing informant recruiting as a key task for its agents, the bureau now maintains a roster of 15,000 spies—many of them tasked, as Hussain was, with infiltrating Muslim communities in the United States. In addition, for every informant officially listed in the bureau's records, there are as many as three unofficial ones, according to one former high-level FBI official, known in bureau parlance as "hip pockets."

The bureau now maintains a roster of 15,000 spies, some paid as much as $100,000 per case, many of them tasked with infiltrating Muslim communities in the United States.

The informants could be doctors, clerks, imams. Some might not even consider themselves informants. But the FBI regularly taps all of them as part of a domestic intelligence apparatus whose only historical peer might be COINTELPRO [13], the program the bureau ran from the '50s to the '70s to discredit and marginalize organizations ranging from the Ku Klux Klan to civil-rights and protest groups.

Throughout the FBI’s history, informant numbers have been closely guarded secrets. Periodically, however, the bureau has released those figures. A Senate oversight committee in 1975 found the FBI had 1,500 informant [14]s [14]. In 1980, officials disclosed there were 2,800 [15]. Six years later, following the FBI’s push into drugs and organized crime, the number of bureau informants ballooned to 6,000, the Los Angeles Times reported [15] in 1986. And according to the FBI, the number grew significantly after 9/11. In its fiscal year 2008 budget authorization request [16], the FBI disclosed that it it had been been working under a November 2004 presidential directive demanding an increase [17] in "human source development and management," and that it needed $12.7 million [18] for a program to keep tabs on its spy network and create software to track and manage informants.

The bureau's strategy has changed significantly from the days when officials feared another coordinated, internationally financed attack from an Al Qaeda sleeper cell.

Today, counterterrorism experts believe groups like Al Qaeda, battered by the war in Afghanistan and the efforts of the global intelligence community, have shifted to a franchise model, using the internet to encourage sympathizers to carry out attacks in their name. The main domestic threat, as the FBI sees it, is a lone wolf.

The bureau's answer has been a strategy known variously as "preemption," "prevention," and "disruption"—identifying and neutralizing potential lone wolves before they move toward action. To that end, FBI agents and informants target not just active jihadists, but tens of thousands of law-abiding people, seeking to identify those disgruntled few who might participate in a plot given the means and the opportunity. And then, in case after case, the government provides the plot, the means, and the opportunity.

Here's how it works: Informants report to their handlers on people who have, say, made statements sympathizing with terrorists. Those names are then cross-referenced with existing intelligence data, such as immigration and criminal records.

FBI agents may then assign an undercover operative to approach the target by posing as a radical. Sometimes the operative will propose a plot, provide explosives, even lead the target in a fake oath to Al Qaeda. Once enough incriminating information has been gathered, there's an arrest—and a press conference [19] announcing another foiled plot.

If this sounds vaguely familiar, it's because such sting operations are a fixture in the headlines. Remember the Washington Metro [20] bombing plot? The New York subway [21] plot? The guys who planned to blow up the Sears Tower [22]? The teenager seeking to bomb a Portland Christmas tree [23] lighting? Each of those plots, and dozens more across the nation, was led by an FBI asset.

Over the past year, Mother Jones and the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California-Berkeley have examined prosecutions of 508 defendants in terrorism-related cases, as defined by the Department of Justice. Our investigation found:

Nearly half the prosecutions involved the use of informants, many of them incentivized by money (operatives can be paid as much as $100,000 per assignment) or the need to work off criminal or immigration violations. (For more on the details of those 508 cases, see our charts page [5] and searchable database [24].)
Sting operations resulted in prosecutions against 158 defendants. Of that total, 49 defendants participated in plots led by an agent provocateur—an FBI operative instigating terrorist action.
With three exceptions, all of the high-profile domestic terror plots of the last decade were actually FBI stings. (The exceptions are Najibullah Zazi, who came close to bombing [25] the New York City subway system in September 2009; Hesham Mohamed Hadayet [26], an Egyptian who opened fire on the El-Al ticket counter at the Los Angeles airport; and failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad [27].)
In many sting cases, key encounters between the informant and the target were not recorded—making it hard for defendants claiming entrapment to prove their case.
Terrorism-related charges are so difficult to beat in court, even when the evidence is thin, that defendants often don't risk a trial.

"The problem with the cases we're talking about is that defendants would not have done anything if not kicked in the ass by government agents," says Martin Stolar, a lawyer who represented a man caught in a 2004 sting involving New York's Herald Square [21] subway station. "They're creating crimes to solve crimes so they can claim a victory in the war on terror." In the FBI's defense, supporters argue that the bureau will only pursue a case when the target clearly is willing to participate in violent action. "If you're doing a sting right, you're offering the target multiple chances to back out," says Peter Ahearn, a retired FBI special agent who directed the Western New York Joint Terrorism Task Force and oversaw the investigation of the Lackawanna Six [28], an alleged terror cell near Buffalo, New York. "Real people don't say, 'Yeah, let's go bomb that place.' Real people call the cops."

CONTINUE READING Full Story HERE...

http://motherjones.com/print/125137

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- OPEN SOURCE
US/1; ATTN: HST/2

John Giacalone Named Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office Counterterrorism Division

Washington, D.C. August 15, 2011

FBI National Press Office (202) 324-3691

Director Robert S. Mueller, III named John Giacalone special agent in charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office Counterterrorism Division. Mr. Giacalone most recently served as the section chief of the Counterterrorism Division’s Domestic Terrorism Strategic Operations Section at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

In 1991, Mr. Giacalone was assigned case agent of an investigation into organized crime’s control of the airfreight industry at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The case resulted in the indictment and conviction of seven members and associates of the Luchese crime family. In 1994, Mr. Giacalone formed a task force consisting of FBI, Department of Labor, and New York Police Department investigators for the Garment Center investigation. The investigation culminated in 1998 with the arrests and convictions of 15 members and associates of organized crime.

In 1999, Mr. Giacalone received the National Award from the Director of the Executive Office of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for his work in removing the influence of organized crime in New York’s Garment Center. In 2003, Mr. Giacalone created the Field Intelligence Group in Philadelphia, where he established the mission, formulated an operational plan, and directed 30 special agents, task force officers, analysts, and professional support employees.

In 2005, as the deputy on-scene-commander in the Iraqi theater of operations, Mr. Giacalone coordinated the efforts of the FBI, the intelligence community, and the U.S. military, which resulted in the rescue of kidnapping victim Roy Hallums. Mr. Giacalone worked as a member of the Attorney General Guidelines Task Force in 2008 and, with the assistance of 10 supervisory special agents, drafted the FBI’s new domestic investigative policy.

Mr. Giacalone received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in management and finance from Adelphi University. He also earned a Master of Arts degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College.

http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2011/john-giacalone-named-special-agent-in-charge-of-the-new-york-field-office-counterterrorism-division?utm_campaign=email-Immediate&utm_medium=email&utm_source=fbi-in-the-news&utm_content=20777

JudicialWATCH; US/1; ATTN: JAG/1; QUEST/1

SEC Rewards Investigator Who Botched Madoff Probe

Last Updated: Fri, 08/05/2011 - 11:31am

In a remarkable development, the beleaguered Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) actually awarded the employee who botched the investigation of the largest Ponzi scheme in history with a cash bonus for a great job performance.

It marks the latest of many scandals for the famously inept federal agency charged with policing the nation’s financial industry. An SEC Inspector General probe discovered that the agency rewarded an incompetent investigator who missed Bernie Madoff’s illegal, $50 billion Ponzi scheme with a cash bonus for good work.

Released this week, the IG report doesn’t name the SEC investigator but confirms that he (or she) was one of the “key participants” looking into Madoff’s corrupt operation. It gets better. SEC supervisors nominated the unnamed employee for the award shortly after the agency’s IG issued a scathing report detailing how the agency failed miserably to catch Madoff. In fact, in that 2009 report the IG singles out the employee and assistant regional director for “numerous performance issues” and possible disciplinary action.

Once a prominent investment manager, Madoff for years operated a massive scheme that defrauded thousands of investors out of billions of dollars and in 2009 he pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies. The SEC got blasted for failing to do its job, ignoring or missing repeated warnings about Madoff’s operation. In fact, the SEC’s watchdog determined that it had received “more than ample information in the form of detailed and substantive complaints over the years” but failed to act.

That could be because a big chunk of the SEC workforce was preoccupied gawking at pornography websites during work hours. While the economy slowly crumbled and Madoff defrauded investors, high-ranking SEC officials—including senior officers with lucrative six-figure salaries—and lower-level workers spent a large portion of their day viewing porn on government computers.

About a month ago the SEC came under fire for dropping nearly $557 million on luxurious office space it will never use and lying to cover up the wrongdoing. The agency used a rather innovative system to determine how big its new fancy headquarters should be, according to an official at the agency. It’s called WAG, which stands for “wild-ass guess.” A federal audit blasted the deal, determining that a “deeply flawed and unsound process” that likely violated federal law was used to award the lease.

A few years ago the Department of Justice investigated two high-ranking SEC enforcement officials—both of them attorneys—for illegal insider trading. In the course of that probe, authorities discovered that the SEC has no compliance system in place to ensure that employees with tremendous amount of nonpublic information don’t engage in insider trading.

LIMITED DISSEMINATION

US/8; US/1; ATTN: US/121; TSP/2; US/12

SEE Also: EMP Devastation VIDEO in the BlackBOX Intel-CENTER's CyBER-BlackSEC

BKNT--Electromagnetic Pulse WEAPONS: Total Infrastructure THREAT--LD

July 22nd, 2011

SHTFplan.com

Reports from organizations like the Center for Security Policy have
confirmed that Electromagnetic Pulse, or EMP, weapons could
potentially wipe out the entire infrastructure of the United States in
a matter of seconds, the consequences of which may be the death of 9
out of 10 Americans within a period of one year after the blast. Many
Senators, Congressman, and terrorism experts have said that EMP is the
single biggest security threat the United States faces from foreign
powers and terrorist organizations. Research by EMPact America
indicates that a properly deployed EM pulse weapon, or weapons, has
the capability of wiping out and disabling the power grid across the
lower 48 states.

The threat is serious, and it just got a whole lot worse.

According to a declassified report obtained by The Washington Times
the Chinese have been building and testing EMP weapons in an effort to
offset their inferior technological capabilities, and are prepared to
use those weapons in the event of conflict over the island of Taiwan
(and likely other potential theaters of war):

China's military is developing electromagnetic pulse weapons that
Beijing plans to use against U.S. aircraft carriers in any future
conflict over Taiwan, according to an intelligence report made public
on Thursday.

Portions of a National Ground Intelligence Center study on the lethal
effects of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and high-powered microwave
(HPM) weapons revealed that the arms are part of China's so-called
"assassin's mace" arsenal - weapons that allow a technologically
inferior China to defeat U.S. military forces.
...

The declassified intelligence report, obtained by the private National
Security Archive, provides details on China's EMP weapons and plans
for their use. Annual Pentagon reports on China's military in the past
made only passing references to the arms.

"For use against Taiwan, China could detonate at a much lower altitude
(30 to 40 kilometers) ... to confine the EMP effects to Taiwan and its
immediate vicinity and minimize damage to electronics on the
mainland," the report said.

The report, produced in 2005 and once labeled "secret," stated that
Chinese military writings have discussed building low-yield EMP
warheads, but "it is not known whether [the Chinese] have actually
done so."

The report said that in addition to EMP weapons, "any low-yield
strategic nuclear warhead (or tactical nuclear warheads) could be used
with similar effects."
...

"China's [high-altitude] EMP capability could be used in two different
ways: as a surprise measure after China's initial strike against
Taiwan and other U.S. [aircraft carrier strike group] assets have
moved into a vulnerable position, and as a bluff intended to dissuade
the United States from defending Taiwan with a CVBG," the Pentagon
acronym for carrier strike groups.
...

Peter Pry, a former congressional aide who helped direct a commission
on EMP several years ago, said the commission found that China plans
for nuclear EMP strikes against the United States, as well as Taiwan
and carrier forces, are part of its military doctrine and exercises.

"There is also evidence that China is developing, or has already
developed, super-EMP nuclear weapons that generate extraordinarily
powerful EMP fields, based partly on design information stolen from
the United States," Mr. Pry, president of the group EMPact America,
said in an email.

If the United States is ever embroiled in a military conflict with
another large nation - say Russia or China - we can fully expect that
the first strike would be EMP-based weapons.

Taking down the power grid would lead to almost immediate chaos on the
streets of America, affecting everything from food transportation
systems and gas pumps to phone communication and essential utility
services like water.

Author: Mac Slavo
Date: July 22nd, 2011
Website: www.SHTFplan.com

LIMITED DISSEMINATION

BKNT-IntePAGE Feed; NatSECarchive.org; US/1;

ATTN: HST/2; NSW/1; US/121; OSINT/2;CID/2;TSP/2

Member CONTRIBUTIONS

Subject: BKNT--Taipei Times: NGIC report says China developing EMP--LD

[ed.note: Our old friends at NGIC. NGIC support for the SOCOM-SAP (special access program) ABLE DANGER was instrumental in several of it successful AQ data-mining projects, if temporary, successes. It was NGIC data which allowed the FBI to ID 18 of the 9/11 hijackers within 24-hours. NO DISSEMINATION, [lifted] above. OPEN SOURCE, below:]

TAIPEI - TIMES

US report says China developing EMP

‘TRUMP CARD’:

The report says China could be planning to use electromagnetic bursts to incapacitate Taiwan electronically, but limit casualties and avoid a US nuclear response

By William Lowther / Staff Reporter in Washington

A newly declassified US intelligence report claims that China is developing electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons for use in a future conflict with Taiwan.

EMP weapons can be used to emit a huge pulse of electromagnetic radiation that can knock out all electronics — particularly computers — over a widespread area.

The privately run National Security Archive in Washington has released the report, which was produced in 2005 by the US National Ground Intelligence Center.

The report speculates that Beijing might be trying to develop a capability to incapacitate Taiwan electronically without triggering a US nuclear retaliation.

Analysts believe that China could be planning to cause a massive low-altitude EMP burst over Taiwan in such a way that it would severely damage electronics in Taiwan — disabling weapons systems — but kill few people and not impact China.

The archive has gained access to a total of 2,300 US declassified intelligence papers, which it is making available under the title US Intelligence and China: Collection, Analysis and Covert Action.

The papers cover the period from 1945 until last year and include covert action operations by the US and Taiwan in the 1950s and 1960s aimed at weakening the Chinese Communist Party’s hold in China.

“For use against Taiwan, China could detonate at a much lower altitude — 30 to 40 kilometers — to confine the EMP effects to Taiwan and its immediate vicinity and minimize damage to electronics on the mainland,” the EMP report says.

Chinese military scientists are known to have discussed building low-yield EMP warheads, but the report says that “it is not known whether the Chinese have actually done so.”

It says that in addition to a specially built warhead, any low-yield strategic or tactical nuclear warhead could be used to create an EMP explosion.

“The DF-21 [Dong-Feng 21] medium-range ballistic missile has been mentioned as a platform for the EMP attack against Taiwan,” the report adds.

DF-21 missiles are two-stage, solid-propellant*, single-warhead medium-range ballistic missiles that have been deployed since the early 1990s. [*-much less telltale warning intelligence indicators]

The US Department of Defense estimates that China has 60 to 80 DF-21s in service.

These missiles can carry nuclear or non-nuclear high-explosive warheads and when equipped for use as electronic weapons are part of China’s “trump card” or “assassin’s mace” arsenal and “are based on new technology that has been developed in high secrecy,” it says.

According to the declassified intelligence report, China has conducted animal experiments to ensure that EMP weapons used against Taiwan and “any vulnerable US aircraft carrier” that might be in the region would not push the US across the nuclear-response threshold by killing large numbers of people.

The report says that China’s EMP capability could be used as a surprise measure after an initial strike against Taiwan and also as a bluff to dissuade the US from defending Taiwan with a carrier strike group.

“The minimization of casualties on Taiwan is calculated to lessen the animosity among Taiwan’s population over forced reunification,” it adds.

CONTINUE READING Full Story HERE...

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/07/24/2003508988

Vs.2; JAG/2; US/1; ATTN: JAG/1; JAG/5; TSP/2; RT/66

BKNT--FOX News Douchebag: Valerie Plame 'Inadvertently Outed"

[ed.note: “Inadvertently outed?” A two-year $30+Million independent counsel investigation, two federal grand juries, a major federal trial, one felony conviction, and a Presidential Cemency were inadertent? Yikes.

Although, ‘technically,’ it was Colin POWELL butt-boy, ASECSTATE Richard ARMITAGE, claimed unoath, apparently, that his LEAK to the late columnist Robert NOVAK was indeed ‘inadvertent.’

US/1 prays nothing ‘inadvertent’ like that every happens to him. The Corporate Counsel for MindBENDER, Inc., publisher of the BlackNET Intelligence Channel, the Hon. Stanley Sporkin, (U.S. Dist., Ret.), was one of the principle authors the Foreign Intelligence Identiies Protection Act (1982) under which Lewis ‘Scooter’ LIBBY was originally investigated, and predicted at that time that LIBBY would not down on a FIIPA count, but an Obstruction of Justice charge. He was prescient, as usual.]

DOUCHBAG: LET’S GO BACK A COUPLE OF YEARS MICHAEL, DURING THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION, VALERIE PLAME WAS INADVERTENTLY OUTED AS A CIA OPERATIVE. THERE WAS ER, AN INVESTIGATION, THERE WAS A LOT OF TROUBLE FOR PEOPLE…WHY IS THERE NO OUTRAGE HERE? SAME THING HAPPENED, DIDN’T IT?

- flash- LIMITED DISSEMINATION

FROM: Scott Malone, Editor

FLASH--Dr. Terry Jones of Famed KORANIC Exploits is Victim of Hit-and-Run Attack

[NO DISSEMINATION (Lifted) ed.note: Dr. Terry Jones is famous the world over for not only inflammatory rhetoric, but for being just plain inflammatory, particularly when it comes to the holy Koran.

What is NOT publicly known is that he has prominent place the Al Qaeda CyBER-JIHAD ‘Hit-List,’ according to the U/FOUO Terror Alert Bulletins put out by the FBI, DHS, DoD and CFIX in early JUNE. He and his flock were first to learn of this serious Al Qaeda death threat from BlackNET Investigators.

Only then did the FBI call him, more than TWO weeks post THREAT Bulletin issuance. Our joint article for BlackNET Intelligence Channel and Homeland Security Today, W. Scott Malone and Anthony L. Kimery: NEW DETAILS - Al Qaeda HIT LIST Names NAMED, specifically did NOT mention Dr. Jones by name. And the actual documents, though appropriately sanitized as regards Dr. Jones, were taken down from the BlackNET site in response to early morning phone calls from several Members on behalf of the SECDEF and OSD.

We have been planning for several weeks to do an EXCLUSIVE Interview on this very subject with Dr. Jones via Skype (as soon as US/1 learns how—apologies to certain Florida Members).

Dr. Jones was the only “civilian” on the 58-name assassination list, in that he was neither a Pentagon official, military commander, Member of Congress or defense contractor.

The INTERVIEW will NOW be posted on Tuesday PM, 26 July, if at all possible.

We pray for his speedy recovery and implore him to ALWAYS travel safely…

NO DISSEMINATION, (Lifted) ABOVE. OPEN SOURCE below.]

July 23, 2011

Dr. Terry Jones, Founder and President of Stand Up America Now was the victim of a hit-and-run attack Saturday afternoon, July 23, around 1:45pm ET.

Dr. Jones suffered minor injuries in the attack.

A black SUV sped around him hitting his leg and running over his foot as he was stopped at an intersection while on his motorcycle. The SUV, with Georgia plates, then sped away quickly. Dr. Jones, noticed the SUV following him for a few miles before the attack.

Dr. Terry Jones' account of the hit-and-run incident:

“As we left the church, we turned right and came straight down as we went through the wooded area and came to the stop sign where you must turn left or right. I noticed that there was a black SUV behind us. Of course because of our situation, we always are aware of things and people who are following us.

“As we turned left, they turned left. They were a little bit suspicious as they kept speeding up and backing off, speeding up and backing off. We continued on down the road a few miles. As we approached the next intersection, the next stop light, and as I was slowing down, they passed me slowly on the right hand side literally only inches away from my motorcycle. I kept it straight and yelled at them. This was done on purpose as there was absolutely no need for this.

"It was a black SUV with a Georgia license plate. As I stopped, they ran over my leg, my foot. I yelled out at them. They gave it no absolutely no attention. Although no window was down, they knew very well that they had hit me. They proceeded to turn to the right and to speed up very, very fast. It was a definite attempt of some form on my life, either to give us a warning, a scare, or to actually do bodily harm which they did by running over my leg.

"We [have] reported this to the Florida Highway Patrol and to the FBI."

Please financially support us as we continue our stand against radical Islam:

www.standupamericanow.org

You can also PARTNER with Stand Up America Now by making a monthly donation. DONATE HERE

Or donations may be mailed to:

5200 NW 43rd St
Ste. 102 #188
Gainesville , FL 32606-4486
United States

operation avennge assange - arrests

- OPEN SOURCE

US/1; ATTN:

http://blacknetintel.blogspot.com/p/blacksub_09.html

Sixteen Individuals Arrested in the United States for Alleged Roles in Cyber Attacks
More Than 35 Search Warrants Executed in United States, Five Arrests in Europe as Part of Ongoing Cyber Investigations

U.S. Department of Justice

July 19, 2011

Office of Public Affairs (202) 514-2007/TDD (202)514-1888

WASHINGTON—Fourteen individuals were arrested today by FBI agents on charges related to their alleged involvement in a cyber attack on PayPal’s website as part of an action claimed by the group “Anonymous,” announced the Department of Justice and the FBI. Two additional defendants were arrested today on cyber-related charges.

The 14 individuals were arrested in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, and Ohio on charges contained in an indictment unsealed today in the Northern District of California in San Jose. In addition, two individuals were arrested on similar charges in two separate complaints filed in the Middle District of Florida and the District of New Jersey. Also today, FBI agents executed more than 35 search warrants throughout the United States as part of an ongoing investigation into coordinated cyber attacks against major companies and organizations. Finally, the United Kingdom’s Metropolitan Police Service arrested one person and the Dutch National Police Agency arrested four individuals today for alleged related cyber crimes.

According to the San Jose indictment, in late November 2010, WikiLeaks released a large amount of classified U.S. State Department cables on its website. Citing violations of the PayPal terms of service, and in response to WikiLeaks’ release of the classified cables, PayPal suspended WikiLeaks’ accounts so that WikiLeaks could no longer receive donations via PayPal. WikiLeaks’ website declared that PayPal’s action “tried to economically strangle WikiLeaks.”

The San Jose indictment alleges that in retribution for PayPal’s termination of WikiLeaks’ donation account, a group calling itself Anonymous coordinated and executed distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against PayPal’s computer servers using an open source computer program the group makes available for free download on the Internet. DDoS attacks are attempts to render computers unavailable to users through a variety of means, including saturating the target computers or networks with external communications requests, thereby denying service to legitimate users. According to the indictment, Anonymous referred to the DDoS attacks on PayPal as “Operation Avenge Assange.”

The defendants charged in the San Jose indictment allegedly conspired with others to intentionally damage protected computers at PayPal from Dec. 6, 2010, to Dec. 10, 2010.

The individuals named in the San Jose indictment are: Christopher Wayne Cooper, 23, aka “Anthrophobic;” Joshua John Covelli, 26, aka “Absolem” and “Toxic;” Keith Wilson Downey, 26; Mercedes Renee Haefer, 20, aka “No” and “MMMM;” Donald Husband, 29, aka “Ananon;” Vincent Charles Kershaw, 27, aka “Trivette,” “Triv” and “Reaper;” Ethan Miles, 33; James C. Murphy, 36; Drew Alan Phillips, 26, aka “Drew010;” Jeffrey Puglisi, 28, aka “Jeffer,” “Jefferp” and “Ji;” Daniel Sullivan, 22; Tracy Ann Valenzuela, 42; and Christopher Quang Vo, 22. One individual’s name has been withheld by the court.

The defendants are charged with various counts of conspiracy and intentional damage to a protected computer. They will make initial appearances throughout the day in the districts in which they were arrested.

In addition to the activities in San Jose, Scott Matthew Arciszewski, 21, was arrested today by FBI agents on charges of intentional damage to a protected computer. Arciszewski is charged in a complaint filed in the Middle District of Florida and made his initial appearance this afternoon in federal court in Orlando, Fla.

According to the complaint, on June 21, 2011, Arciszewski allegedly accessed without authorization the Tampa Bay InfraGard website and uploaded three files. The complaint alleges that Arciszewski then tweeted about the intrusion and directed visitors to a separate website containing links with instructions on how to exploit the Tampa InfraGard website. InfraGard is a public-private partnership for critical infrastructure protection sponsored by the FBI with chapters in all 50 states.

Also today, a related complaint unsealed in the District of New Jersey charges Lance Moore, 21, of Las Cruces, N.M., with allegedly stealing confidential business information stored on AT&T’s servers and posting it on a public file sharing site. Moore was arrested this morning at his residence by FBI agents and is expected to make an initial appearance this afternoon in Las Cruces federal court. Moore is charged in with one count of accessing a protected computer without authorization.

According to the New Jersey complaint, Moore, a customer support contractor, exceeded his authorized access to AT&T’s servers and downloaded thousands of documents, applications and other files that, on the same day, he allegedly posted on a public file-hosting site that promises user anonymity. According to the complaint, on June 25, 2011, the computer hacking group LulzSec publicized that they had obtained confidential AT&T documents and made them publicly available on the Internet. The documents were the ones Moore had previously uploaded.

The charge of intentional damage to a protected computer carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Each count of conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

An indictment and a complaint merely contain allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

To date, more than 75 searches have taken place in the United States as part of the ongoing investigations into these attacks.

These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Northern District of California, Middle District of Florida, and the District of New Jersey. The Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section also has provided assistance.

Today’s operational activities were done in coordination with the Metropolitan Police Service in the United Kingdom and the Dutch National Police Agency. The FBI thanks the multiple international, federal, and domestic law enforcement agencies who continue to support these operations.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/sixteen-individuals-arrested-in-the-united-states-for-alleged-roles-in-cyber-attacks

Former AT&T Contractor Arrested, Charged with Unauthorized Access of Servers

U.S. Attorney’s Office July 19, 2011

District of New Jersey (973) 645-2700

NEWARK, NJ—A New Mexico man is charged for allegedly stealing confidential business information stored on AT&T’s servers and posting it on a public file-sharing site, New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Lance Moore, 21, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, was arrested this morning at his residence by special agents of the FBI. Moore is charged in a complaint with one count of accessing a protected computer without authorization. He is expected to make an initial appearance this afternoon in Las Cruces federal court.

“Publicizing a company’s confidential plans can have consequences in a competitive environment,” said U.S. Attorney Fishman. “Those trusted with access to secure systems are bound to respect that secrecy—not just by corporate policy, but also by federal law. This case shows how effective we can be when corporations work closely with law enforcement to thwart cyber criminals.”

According to the complaint unsealed today:

Moore was a customer support contractor at Convergys Corporation, a company that provided call center services to AT&T from its Las Cruces office. Moore was responsible for answering calls from AT&T’s mobile customers and troubleshooting their problems.

On April 10, 2011, Moore exceeded his authorized access to AT&T’s servers, downloading, among other things, thousands of spreadsheets, Microsoft Word documents, Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, applications, and image, PDF, and other files concerning AT&T’s plans for its 4G data network and Long Term Evolution mobile broadband network. That same day, Moore posted the illegally downloaded files on Fileape.com, a public file-hosting site that promises user anonymity. Once uploaded to the site, the AT&T documents were available for public download.

On June 25, 2011, the computer hacking group LulzSec publicized that they had obtained confidential AT&T documents and made them publicly available on the Internet. The documents were the ones Moore had previously uploaded to Fileape.com.

The count with which Moore is charged carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

U.S. Attorney Fishman thanked special agents of the FBI’s Cyber Crimes Task Force in Newark and Las Cruces with the continuing investigation leading to the arrest. He also thanked AT&T and Convergys for their close cooperation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gurbir S. Grewal of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Section in the Office’s Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.

The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

http://www.fbi.gov/newark/press-releases/2011/former-at-t-contractor-arrested-charged-with-unauthorized-access-of-servers

[Information contained in BKNT E-mail is considered Attorney-Client and Attorney Work Product privileged, copyrighted and confidential. Views that may be expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of any government, agency, or news organization.]

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Channel

Intelligence – OPEN SOURCE

JAG/5; JAG/[redacted]; US/1; ATTN: NSNS/1; JAG/1; HST/2 – MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS

The Legal Times Blog - May 26, 2011

In National Security Case, Lawyer Fights to Present Client's Side

The lawyers for a former American official convicted in Italy for participating in the kidnapping of an alleged terror suspect are trying to keep alive a suit in Washington that asserts the official was immune from prosecution in the foreign proceeding.

Sabrina De Sousa, who served as a foreign service officer for the State Department, denies any role in the rendition of Egyptian cleric Abu Omar. Omar was reportedly grabbed on a street in Milan in 2003 and flown to Egypt, where he alleged he was interrogated and tortured. De Sousa was tried in absentia in Italy, convicted and ultimately sentenced to seven years in prison. She is challenging the case on appeal through counsel in Italy.

The United States did not assert diplomatic immunity on behalf of De Sousa. In her suit (PDF), filed in May 2009 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, De Sousa said the State Department should have intervened in the Italian prosecution to invoke immunity.

But De Sousa’s case in Washington has stalled over a dispute about whether her attorneys can present classified information to U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, a new addition to the bench who took over the case in January from Judge Ricardo Urbina.

Mark Zaid, a Washington solo practitioner who specializes in national security law, argued in court today he should be allowed to use classified information in response to the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the suit. The department, he said, wants to control the flow of information to secure a litigation advantage.

De Sousa’s case, Zaid said, highlights broad and unresolved systemic issues about whether plaintiffs, judges or government lawyers should get to decide who has a need to know classified information. The Justice Department, he said, is increasingly pushing for a rule that would deny civil litigants the right at all to convey classified information to the court.

Justice Department lawyer Brigham Bowen of the Civil Division’s federal program branch told Howell that Zaid has no right to include classified information in responsive papers. Bowen said in court today that Zaid should be required to file an unclassified brief. He urged the presiding judge to rule on the government's motion to dismiss without an assessment of classified information.

If the government asserts the state secrets privilege, Bowen said none of the classified information would be presented to the judge. Bowen said Howell could revisit the issue of inclusion of classified information only after Zaid has filed a response to the government’s motion to dismiss.

Howell questioned whether the Justice Department was acting as a “super lawyer” in the litigation in its attempt to control how information is presented to the court. The interests of the department, the judge noted, are not the same as the interests of the plaintiff.

Zaid had asked Howell to hold a closed door court session to discuss procedural issues that will necessarily require the disclosure of classified information. The Justice Department opposed the proposed hearing...Continue Reading FULL Article here...
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Intelligence – FLASH - OPEN SOURCE

US/1; ATTN: HST/2; HD/23; JAG/1; RT/66; JAG/5; NSNS/1

May 24, 2011

Writer Is Served With Subpoena in C.I.A. Leak Case

By CHARLIE SAVAGE

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors, with the approval of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., are trying to force the author of a book on the C.I.A. to testify at a criminal trial about who leaked information to him about an effort by the agency to sabotage the Iranian nuclear program at the end of the Clinton administration.

The writer, James Risen, a reporter at The New York Times, was served with a subpoena late on Monday, ordering him to testify at the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, a former Central Intelligence Agency operations officer. Mr. Sterling was charged this year as part of a wider crackdown by the Obama administration on officials accused of disclosing restricted information to journalists.

The subpoena tells Mr. Risen that “you are commanded” to appear at a federal district court in Alexandria, Va., on Sept. 12 to testify in the case. A federal district court judge, Leonie M. Brinkema, quashed a similar subpoena to Mr. Risen late last year, when prosecutors were trying to convince a grand jury to indict Mr. Sterling.

Mr. Risen said he would ask the judge to quash the new subpoena, too.

“I am going to fight this subpoena,” Mr. Risen said. “I will always protect my sources, and I think this is a fight about the First Amendment and the freedom of the press.”

In a 30-page motion that prosecutors filed on Monday, they argued that the First Amendment did not give Mr. Risen the right to avoid testifying about his confidential sources in a criminal proceeding. The Justice Department argued that Mr. Risen was a witness and should be compelled to provide information to a jury “like any other citizen,” contending that there was no basis to conclude “that the reporter is being harassed in order to disrupt his relationship with confidential news sources.”

The motion also said that prosecutors anticipated a motion by Mr. Risen to quash the subpoena. If the court does not agree to do so and Mr. Risen still refuses to testify, he would risk being held in contempt. In 2005, a Times reporter, Judith Miller, was jailed for 85 days for refusing to testify in connection with the Valerie Plame Wilson leak case.

Prosecutors believe that Mr. Sterling provided classified information to Mr. Risen that served as the basis for a chapter in the writer’s 2006 book, “State of War: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration.”

The chapter details an effort by the C.I.A. in 2000 to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program by sending a former Russian scientist to give it blueprints for a nuclear triggering device with a hidden design flaw. Mr. Risen portrayed the operation as botched, saying that the agency may have helped Iranian scientists gain valuable and accurate information.

The material in that chapter did not appear in The New York Times. Mr. Sterling’s indictment said that Mr. Risen had worked on an article about the program in 2003, but the newspaper decided not to publish it after government officials told editors that such a disclosure would jeopardize national security..

Continue Reading FULL Story here...http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/us/25subpoena.html?hp.

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Intelligence - OPEN SOURCE

CID/2; US/1; ATTN: HD/23; JAG/1; HST/2

NSA Case: WHISTLE-BLOWER OR ESPIONAGE AGENT?

The New Yorker - 23 May 2011

A Reporter at Large

The Secret Sharer

Is Thomas Drake an enemy of the state?

by Jane MAYER

On June 13th, a fifty-four-year-old former government employee named Thomas Drake is scheduled to appear in a courtroom in Baltimore, where he will face some of the gravest charges that can be brought against an American citizen. A former senior executive at the National Security Agency, the government’s electronic-espionage service, he is accused, in essence, of being an enemy of the state. According to a ten-count indictment delivered against him in April, 2010, Drake violated the Espionage Act—the 1917 statute that was used to convict Aldrich Ames, the C.I.A. officer who, in the eighties and nineties, sold U.S. intelligence to the K.G.B., enabling the Kremlin to assassinate informants. In 2007, the indictment says, Drake willfully retained top-secret defense documents that he had sworn an oath to protect, sneaking them out of the intelligence agency’s headquarters, at Fort Meade, Maryland, and taking them home, for the purpose of “unauthorized disclosure.” The aim of this scheme, the indictment says, was to leak government secrets to an unnamed newspaper reporter, who is identifiable as Siobhan Gorman, of the Baltimore Sun. Gorman wrote a prize-winning series of articles for the Sun about financial waste, bureaucratic dysfunction, and dubious legal practices in N.S.A. counterterrorism programs. Drake is also charged with obstructing justice and lying to federal law-enforcement agents. If he is convicted on all counts, he could receive a prison term of thirty-five years.

The government argues that Drake recklessly endangered the lives of American servicemen. “This is not an issue of benign documents,” William M. Welch II, the senior litigation counsel who is prosecuting the case, argued at a hearing in March, 2010. The N.S.A., he went on, collects “intelligence for the soldier in the field. So when individuals go out and they harm that ability, our intelligence goes dark and our soldier in the field gets harmed.”

Top officials at the Justice Department describe such leak prosecutions as almost obligatory. Lanny Breuer, the Assistant Attorney General who supervises the department’s criminal division, told me, “You don’t get to break the law and disclose classified information just because you want to.” He added, “Politics should play no role in it whatsoever.”

When President Barack Obama took office, in 2009, he championed the cause of government transparency, and spoke admiringly of whistle-blowers, whom he described as “often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government.” But the Obama Administration has pursued leak prosecutions with a surprising relentlessness. Including the Drake case, it has been using the Espionage Act to press criminal charges in five alleged instances of national-security leaks—more such prosecutions than have occurred in all previous Administrations combined. The Drake case is one of two that Obama’s Justice Department has carried over from the Bush years.

Gabriel Schoenfeld, a conservative political scientist at the Hudson Institute, who, in his book “Necessary Secrets” (2010), argues for more stringent protection of classified information, says, “Ironically, Obama has presided over the most draconian crackdown on leaks in our history—even more so than Nixon.”

One afternoon in January, Drake met with me, giving his first public interview about this case. He is tall, with thinning sandy hair framing a domed forehead, and he has the erect bearing of a member of the Air Force, where he served before joining the N.S.A., in 2001. Obsessive, dramatic, and emotional, he has an unwavering belief in his own rectitude. Sitting at a Formica table at the Tastee Diner, in Bethesda, Drake—who is a registered Republican—groaned and thrust his head into his hands. “I actually had hopes for Obama,” he said. He had not only expected the President to roll back the prosecutions launched by the Bush Administration; he had thought that Bush Administration officials would be investigated for overstepping the law in the “war on terror.”

“But power is incredibly destructive,” Drake said. “It’s a weird, pathological thing. I also think the intelligence community coöpted Obama, because he’s rather naïve about national security. He’s accepted the fear and secrecy. We’re in a scary space in this country.”

The Justice Department’s indictment narrows the frame around Drake’s actions, focussing almost exclusively on his handling of what it claims are five classified documents. But Drake sees his story as a larger tale of political reprisal, one that he fears the government will never allow him to air fully in court. “I’m a target,” he said. “I’ve got a bull’s-eye on my back.” He continued, “I did not tell secrets. I am facing prison for having raised an alarm, period. I went to a reporter with a few key things: fraud, waste, and abuse, and the fact that there were legal alternatives to the Bush Administration’s ‘dark side’ ”—in particular, warrantless domestic spying by the N.S.A.

The indictment portrays him not as a hero but as a treacherous man who violated “the government trust.” Drake said of the prosecutors, “They can say what they want. But the F.B.I. can find something on anyone.”
Steven Aftergood, the director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, says of the Drake case, “The government wants this to be about unlawfully retained information. The defense, meanwhile, is painting a picture of a public-interested whistle-blower who struggled to bring attention to what he saw as multibillion-dollar mismanagement.” Because Drake is not a spy, Aftergood says, the case will “test whether intelligence officers can be convicted of violating the Espionage Act even if their intent is pure.” He believes that the trial may also test whether the nation’s expanding secret intelligence bureaucracy is beyond meaningful accountability. “It’s a much larger debate than whether a piece of paper was at a certain place at a certain time,” he says.

Jack Balkin, a liberal law professor at Yale, agrees that the increase in leak prosecutions is part of a larger transformation. “We are witnessing the bipartisan normalization and legitimization of a national-surveillance state,” he says. In his view, zealous leak prosecutions are consonant with other political shifts since 9/11: the emergence of a vast new security bureaucracy, in which at least two and a half million people hold confidential, secret, or top-secret clearances; huge expenditures on electronic monitoring, along with a reinterpretation of the law in order to sanction it; and corporate partnerships with the government that have transformed the counterterrorism industry into a powerful lobbying force. Obama, Balkin says, has “systematically adopted policies consistent with the second term of the Bush Administration.”

On March 28th, Obama held a meeting in the White House with five advocates for greater transparency in government. During the discussion, the President drew a sharp distinction between whistle-blowers who exclusively reveal wrongdoing and those who jeopardize national security. The importance of maintaining secrecy about the impending raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound was likely on Obama’s mind. The White House has been particularly bedevilled by the ongoing release of classified documents by WikiLeaks, the group led by Julian Assange. Last year, WikiLeaks began releasing a vast trove of sensitive government documents allegedly leaked by a U.S. soldier, Bradley Manning; the documents included references to a courier for bin Laden who had moved his family to Abbottabad—the town where bin Laden was hiding out. Manning has been charged with “aiding the enemy.”

Danielle Brian, the executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, attended the meeting, and said that Obama’s tone was generally supportive of transparency. But when the subject of national-security leaks came up, Brian said, “the President shifted in his seat and leaned forward. He said this may be where we have some differences. He said he doesn’t want to protect the people who leak to the media war plans that could impact the troops.” Though Brian was impressed with Obama’s over-all stance on transparency, she felt that he might be misinformed about some of the current leak cases. She warned Obama that prosecuting whistle-blowers would undermine his legacy. Brian had been told by the White House to avoid any “ask”s on specific issues, but she told the President that, according to his own logic, Drake was exactly the kind of whistle-blower who deserved protection.

As Drake tells it, his problems began on September 11, 2001. “The next seven weeks were crucial,” he said. “It’s foundational to why I am a criminal defendant today.”

CONTINUE Reading Full Story HERE...

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

AL QAEDA - FUKUSHIMA STORY 'NETWORKED'

Channel

http://blacknetintel.blogspot.com/

Intelligence – flash — LIMITED DISSEMINATION

HST/2; US/1; ATTN: EA/1; YQ/G-1; US/121; US/8; NSNS/1; TSP/2

Ref: PREVIOUS: BKNT—FLASH—Recreating Fukushima-Possible AQ Retaliation PLOT—FOUO-ND – 10 May 2011 :1330 ET.

[ed.note: Members Malone and Tony Kimery are currently investigating the above listed and again attached FOUO DHS/CPB Security Bulletin on possible AQ Fukushima-style attack on power sources for US or European nuclear reactors of similar design. Media outlet is Homeland Security Today (HSToday.us)

We humbly request any assistance of above listed addressee Members, (as well as all other Members), in this endeavor. On-the-Record comments from specialists above are preferred, but background only or OTR comments are certainly acceptable and gratefully acknowledged.

As noted in the below 2008 G’ITMO al-Libi Detainee Assessment, several immediate and worrisome indicators have emerged:

[KSM] also is said to have claimed that the teams were not necessarily Arab or Middle Eastern in appearance.

It is more likely that Salafist supporters, inspired by the death of Bin Laden, will attempt to carry out attacks on their own. As this report was written, five young Bangladeshi men were arrested outside of Britain ’s largest nuclear facility, only hours after the death of Bin Laden was announced…The young men in question have since been released, but a satisfactory explanation of their intent and actions has not.

While KSM mentions possible attacks on nuclear power plants, Abu al-Libi seems to offer slightly more specificity as regards his close contacts in the UK and his various recruiting efforts, including US-resident Somalis, Muslim Indians and at least one Jamaican operative.

The possible deployment of EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) weapons and/or radiological ‘dirty bombs,’ are other possible avenues worthy of investigation.

LIMITED DISSEMINATION of ATTACHED PAC Intelligence Briefing is hereby proffered for perusal with discretion as said Members may deem fit. Below and attached JTF-GTMO Detainee Assessments are all OPEN SOURCE.

SECRET // NOFORN // 2O3II2O8

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

HEADQUARTERS, JOINT TASK FORCE GUANTANAMO

U.S. NAVAL STATION, GUANTANAMO BAY , CUBA

APO AE 09360

JTF-GTMO-CDR 8 December 2006

MEMORANDUM FOR Commander, United States Southern Command, 3511 NW lst Avenue.

Miami, FL33172

SUBJECT: Combatant Status Review Tribunal Input and Recommendation for Continued Detention Under DoD Control (CD) for Guantanamo Detainee, ISN: US9KU-010024DP( S)

JTF-GTMO Detainee Assessment

1. (S/NF) Personal Information:

o JDIMSA{DRC Reference Name: Khalid Shaykh Muhammad

<snip>

(U) Detainee told his interrogators that al-Qaida had planned to create a "nuclear hell storm" in America.69

69 Al-qaida warning- WorldnetDaily.coml7 -Sep-06, l-Qaida warns Muslims: Time to get out of U.S. Afghan terror commander hints at big attack on N.Y. and Washington.

(U) CIA and FBI headquarters and nuclear power plants: Other potential targets Detainee consideredw ere CIA and FBI headquartersn, uclear power plants in the US , and the tallest buildings in the state of Washington .''72 [72 -The 9-l I Commission Report 24-Jul-2003,p. 154.]

http://wikileaks.ch/gitmo/pdf/ku/us9ku-010024dp.pdf

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

S E C R E T / / NOFORN / / 20330910

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

HEADQUARTERS, JOINT TASK FORCE GUANTANAMO

U.S. NAVAL STATION, GUANTANAMO BAY , CUBA

APO AE 09360

JTF-GTMO-CDR 10 September 2008

MEMORANDUM FOR Commander, United States Southern Command, 3511 NW 9lst Avenue, Miami, FL 33172

SUBJECT: Recommendation for Continued Detention Under DoD Control (CD) for Guantanamo Detainee, ISN US9LY-010017DP (S)

JTF-GTMO Detainee Assessment

1. (S) Personal Information:

JDIMS/NDRC Reference Name: Abu al-Libi

Place of Birth: Tripoli , Libya (LY)

Date of Birth: 1970

Citizenship: Libya

Internment Serial Number (ISN): US9LY-010017DP

2. (U//FOUO) Health: Detainee is in overall good health.

3. (U) JTF-GTMO Assessment:

a. (S) Recommendation: JTF-GTMO recommends this detainee for Continued Detention

Under DoD Control (CD). JTF-GTMO previously assessed detainee as CD on 8 December

2006.

b. (S//NF) Executive Summary: Detainee was the operational chief of al-Qaida and had long-term associations with Usama Bin Laden (UBL) and Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri. Detainee managed al-Qaida operations, including al-Qaida operations in Iraq , after Khalid Shaykh Muhammad’s, aka (KSM), aka (Mukhtar), US9KU-010024DP (KU-10024) capture.

CLASSIFIED BY: MULTIPLE SOURCES

REASON: E.O. 12958, AS AMENDED, SECTION 1.4(C)

DECLASSIFY ON: 20330910

S E C R E T / / NOFORN / / 20330910

JTF-GTMO-CDR

SUBJECT: Recommendation for Continued Detention Under DoD Control (CD) for Guantanamo Detainee, ISN US9LY-010017DP (S)

(S//NF) In October 2002, Nashwan Abd al-Razzaq Abd al-Baqi, aka (Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi),

ISN US9IZ-010026DP (IZ-10026), contacted and asked detainee to work with him in Peshawar. Detainee accepted the offer and spent the next five to six months working under IZ-10026 organizing the purchase of supplies for fighters including medicine, lights, batteries, food, and clothing. In July 2003, detainee received a letter from UBL’s designated courier, Maulawi Abd al-Khaliq Jan, requesting detainee take on the responsibility of collecting donations, organizing travel, and distributing funds to families in Pakistan . UBL stated detainee would be the official messenger between UBL and others in Pakistan.12 In mid-2003, detainee moved his family to Abbottabad, PK and worked between Abbottabad

and Peshawar.13

12 TD-314/12435-06, TD-314/46042-05, TD-314/40102-05, Analyst Note: In TD-314/37025-05, detainee stated of early May 2005, he was responsible for facilitation within the settled areas of Pakistan , communication with UBL and external links. He was responsible for communicating with al-Qaida members abroad and obtaining funds and personnel from those al-Qaida members. In TD-314/54704-04, TD-314/54644-04, detainee met with Taliban Defense Minister Mullah Obaidallah to establish a formal chain for passing financial support to the Taliban.

13 TD-314/12435-06, TD-314/46042-05

14 TD-314/12435-06, TD-314/46042-05,

On 2 May 2005, while he was waiting to meet with Abd al-Khaliq in Mardan, Pakistani Special Forces arrested detainee.17 Pakistan 's foreign office confirmed that the detainee was transferred to US custody on 6 June 2005.19

17 TD-314/44727-05, TD-314/46810-05, IIR 2 243 0010 06, Analyst Note: There are 119 pages of scanned

information recovered from the detainee's computer pertaining to circuitry.

18 IIR 2 243 0010 06, Analyst Note: Abu Layth al-Libi was killed on 29 January 2008 at his house in Pakistan .

19 010017 Abu Faraj al-Libi 01-DEC-2005, 010017 Captured al-Qaeda Kingpin is case of Mistaken Identity 08-

May-2005

(S//NF) Detainee has knowledge of al-Qaida possibly possessing a nuclear bomb. Al-Qaida associate Sharif al-Masri stated in June or July 2004, upon encountering

difficulties in moving the nuclear bomb, detainee commented if al-Qaida was able to

move the bomb, al-Qaida would find operatives to use it. However, detainee told

Sharif al-Masri that al-Qaida currently had no operatives in the US. The operatives

would be Europeans of Arab or Asian descent. The device was reportedly located in

Europe.40 Sharif al-Masri reported detainee would know about the bomb and its

exact location.41 Sharif al-Masri believes if UBL were to be captured or killed, the

bomb would be detonated in the US , detainee would be one of those able to give the

order.42

40 TD-314/09972-05, TD-314/51288-0

41 TD-314/11016-05

42 TD-314/69521-04

(S//NF) Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, aka (Abu Zubaydah), ISN US9GZ-010016DP (GZ-10016) recalled that detainee was in charge of a secret guesthouse in Kabul at which UBL and Zawahiri stayed in October 2001.48TD-314/69521-04��

(S//NF) TZ-10012, while in Shkai mid 2003, heard reporting of detainee

communicating with operatives in the UK.53

(S//NF) GZ-10016 reported detainee, as of March 2002, was in hiding with IZ-10026 and other senior al-Qaida officials in the Shawal area of Birmal, AF near Waziristan, PK.54 GZ-10016 stated in a separate debriefing that a Jamaican who was previously located with the detainee and IZ-10026 wanted his help in facilitating travel to the US, UK, or Morocco in order to conduct terrorist attacks.55

(U) Open source reporting identified detainee as the main contact between UBL and Islamic extremist operating inside Pakistan . Detainee communicated with al-Qaida operatives outside Pakistan , particularly in the UK.56

(S//NF) In March 2005, detainee was in communication with the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi regarding moving an al-Qaida operative to Iraq.60

63 TD-314/37096-06, Analyst Note: In TD-314/63664-04, Abdirashid Aidid Samatar, aka (Abdirashid Aidid Ahmad), stated Somalis living in the US were attractive to al-Qaida because they could easily travel to Pakistan tomeet with al-Qaida members and easily carry messages to al-Qaida members worldwide given their US travel documents.

��

(S//NF) Detainee also met with Hamza Rabia in Shkai circa November 2003

and discussed the issue of buried uranium in Kandahar.43 IZ-10026 claimed that

Hamza Rabia along with two other al-Qaida operatives, were killed in an attack in December 2005.44

In support of this, detainee admitted recruiting terrorist operatives who could travel to the US or Europe.45

(S//NF) IZ-10026 stated that after the capture of KU-10024 in March 2003, Ayman al-Zawahiri fled the house in which he was located and moved to Shkai, South Waziristan , PK, with the assistance of detainee. 46

��

(S//NF) IZ-10026 said Zawahiri fled the house in which he was located in late February 2003, after KU-10024’s, arrest in March 2003. Zawahiri left alone and sought out an Afghan named Farid al-Afghani. Farid delivered Zawahiri to detainee, who then coordinated Zawahiri's relocation to Shkai within a few weeks of KU-10024’s arrest. After the capture of detainee in May 2005, Zawahiri’s residence was changed to a good place owned by a simple, old man. 47

(S//NF) Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, aka (Abu Zubaydah), ISN US9GZ-010016DP (GZ-10016) recalled that detainee was in charge of a secret guesthouse in Kabul at which UBL and Zawahiri stayed in October 2001.48

(S//NF) Detainee admitted he had considered using India as a platform to send operatives to the US or UK because of the large Muslim population there and the low level of scrutiny given to travelers of Indian nationality.49

43 TD-314/42005-05

44 TD-314/85366-06

45 TD-314/42005-05, TD-314/40277-05

46TD-314/21484-07

47TD-314/21484-07

48 TD-314/24083-04

49 TD-314/57269-05

(S//NF) Detainee admittedly attempted to bring a group of Somalis led by Salah

al-Din under al-Qaida to support an attack against the US.61 61 TD-314/36650-05, TD-314/26731-05

63 TD-314/37096-06, Analyst Note: In TD-314/63664-04, Abdirashid Aidid Samatar, aka (Abdirashid Aidid

Ahmad), stated Somalis living in the US were attractive to al-Qaida because they could easily travel to Pakistan to

meet with al-Qaida members and easily carry messages to al-Qaida members worldwide given their US travel

documents.

(C//REL US , GCTF) Tariq Mahmud Ahmad al-Sawah, ISN US9EG-000535DP (EG-535), met detainee once in the August 2001 at detainee’s guesthouse in Kabul . Detainee maintained communications equipment that kept in contact with the commander of the fighters at Tora Bora, Ali Muhammad Abd al-Aziz al-Fakhri, ISN US9LY-000212DP (LY-212).71_ 71 -IIR 6 034 0195 07

8. (U) Detainee Intelligence Value Assessment:

a. (S) Assessment: Detainee is assessed to be of HIGH intelligence value. Detainee has

not been interrogated by the JTF-GTMO Interrogation Control Element.

b. (S//NF) Placement and Access: Detainee has served as a senior al-Qaida leader,

replacing KU-10024 upon his capture. Detainee’s position as the “communications gateway”to UBL provided him with knowledge of operations and associations not normally within detainee’s area of operations. Detainee has traveled with and facilitated other senior al-Qaida members’ travel. Detainee further planned and participated in several terrorist operations. Detainee was a trainer at al-Qaida’s al-Faruq Militant Training Camp and operated two al-Qaida guesthouses. Detainee reportedly has knowledge of an al-Qaida nuclear device, which detainee currently has neither confirmed nor denied.

/s/

D. M. THOMAS, Jr.

Rear Admiral, US Navy

Commanding

Definitionsf or intelligencet erms usedi n the assessmencta n be found in the Joint Military IntelligenceC ollege

October 2001 guide Intelligence l4/arning Terminologt.

1 5

S E C RE T // NOFORN I I 2O33O9IO

http://wikileaks.ch/gitmo/pdf/ly/us9ly-010017dp.pdf

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

Feds take unusual step of subpoenaing Sterling's Lawyer

BlackNET Intelligence Channel - LIMITED DISSEMINATION

JAG/5; US/1; ATTN: JAG/1; HST/2 – MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS

[ed.note: Please deplore Member Mark Zaid’s predicament--to the benefit of Member Jeff Stein’s smiley-face logo…such enjoyment apparent therein upon…

Mark supplied BKNT Intelligence Channel HQ partizons a 0350 ET ‘non-confirmation confirmation’ by sleight of hyperlink mis-direction, accompanied by a generous dose of rank omissionism. Go figure.

US/1 suspects a ‘non-denial denial’ would be about as forthcoming as LedeWriter Jeff would get, but he too lazy to call Jeff in any event...

US/1 comments above are LIMITED DISSEMINATION, which in this instance means simply, ask first (LD-Lifted). Two articles below are OPEN SOUCE.]

St. Louis BEACON

By William H. Freivogel, Special to the Beacon

Posted 2:23 pm, Fri., 1.21.11

Federal prosecutors took the unusual and controversial step of subpoenaing Jeffrey Sterling's lawyer to appear before a grand jury investigating the St. Louis man who has been charged with espionage for leaking secrets to the press, the Beacon has learned.

Mark Zaid, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who handles national security cases, was subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury to discuss events surrounding his representation of Sterling in a race discrimination case he filed against the CIA, say sources with knowledge of the case.

Prosecutors questioned Zaid about Sterling's motive in allegedly leaking classified information about an intelligence operation in Iran to James Risen of The New York Times, a source said. The indictment alleges that Sterling leaked the information to retaliate against the CIA for its refusal to settle his race discrimination claim and to approve a memoir he was writing.

The prosecutors' questions focused on motive and dealt with the circumstances of Sterling's case and contacts Zaid had with third parties, a source said. Zaid had tried to negotiate a settlement of Sterling's issues with the CIA. In addition, prosecutors questioned Zaid about actions he had taken on Sterling's behalf that led to testimony to a congressional committee and that promoted his racial discrimination case through the media, a source said.

Zaid's testimony was entirely about his contacts with third parties on Sterling's behalf and was outside of the attorney-client privilege, a source said.

Jesselyn Radack, a lawyer with the Government Accountability Project, strongly criticized the prosecutors and questioned whether the prosecutors' line of questioning was entirely outside of attorney-client privilege. "This is just another example of government overkill," she said in a telephone interview. "As a legal ethicist, I am quite troubled by this."

FULL Story continues @

http://www.stlbeacon.org/issues-politics/nation/107662-sterling-lawyers-subpoena

WashingtonPost.com - Posted at 11:25 AM ET, 01/23/2011

Lawyer in CIA leak case questioned by grand jury

By Jeff Stein

A former lawyer for Jeffrey Sterling, a onetime CIA officer who has been charged with leaking secrets to New York Times reporter James Risen, was questioned about his client before a grand jury last September, he says.

Washington, D.C. attorney Mark Zaid had represented Sterling, an African American operative for the CIA from 1993 to 2002, in a discrimination suit against the agency a decade ago. The CIA rejected Sterling’s final offer to settle the case, which was eventually dismissed by a court.

Zaid says he was subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury in Virginia investigating the leak case on Sept. 22 and was questioned ”for a couple of hours” by Justice Department prosecutor William M. Welch II.

Zaid would not discuss his testimony, which was first reported in the St. Louis (Mo.) Beacon, a nonprofit online publication staffed by veteran former editors and reporters from the longtime daily St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

But the Beacon, citing an unidentified source, said that “prosecutors questioned Zaid about Sterling's motive in allegedly leaking classified information about an intelligence operation in Iran to James Risen of The New York Times.”

Another source with knowledge of the case, who requested anonymity because grand jury proceedings are secret, confirmed to SpyTalk that “the gist” of Welch’s questions “always seemed to be about motive,” but Zaid would not answer any questions protected by attorney-client privilege.

The Beacon reported that “the indictment alleges that Sterling leaked the information to retaliate against the CIA for its refusal to settle his race discrimination claim and to approve a memoir he was writing,” the paper added.

The CIA says that Sterling leaked information to Risen about a sensitive CIA operation to sabotage Iran's nuclear program, which backfired, according a chapter in a 2006 book Risen wrote about the agency.

The author of the Beacon piece, William H. Freivogel, a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter who is director of the School of Journalism at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, also wrote that, according to his source, “Zaid's testimony was entirely about his contacts with third parties on Sterling's behalf and was outside of the attorney-client privilege.”

FULL Story continues @

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2011/01/lawyer_in_cia_leak_case_questi.html

------------------------------------------------------
WikiLeaki DOS Cable on OTHER 9/11 Plotters

Intelligence Channel

LIMITED DISSEMINATION

HD/23; US/1

[ed.note: Several Members are interested in other Members take on the leaked SD cable revealing that there may have been other 9/11 plotters that federal authorities have been aware of?

Any Member scuttlebutt welcomed…]

Viewing cable 10DOHA60, QATAR JANUARY 2010 VISAS VIPER MEETING AND

 VZCZCXYZ0005

PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDO #0060/01 0420503

ZNY SSSSS ZZH

P 110503Z FEB 10

FM AMEMBASSY DOHA

TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9686

INFO RHEFHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC

RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC

RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC//CTC//

S E C R E T DOHA 000060

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR INR/TIPOFF AND CA/VO/L/C

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2020

TAGS: PINR ASEC CVIS KVPR PGOV PTER QA SIPRS

SUBJECT: QATAR JANUARY 2010 VISAS VIPER MEETING AND

SUBMISSION

Classified By: DCM Mirembe Nantongo, reasons 1.4 (b),(d)

¶1. (U) VISAS VIPER

¶2. (U) POST: DOHA MEETING DATE: 08-FEB-2010 CHAIR: DCM NANTONGO COORIDINATOR: GRANT GUTHRIE ATTENDEES: DCM, CONOFF, POL/ECON, RAO, DAO, LEGATT, OSC, RSO MEETING NOTES: DCM CHAIRED AND OPENDED THE MEETING.

¶3. (SBU) THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS PROVIDED FOR WATCHLISTING PURPOSES AS THE DEPARTMENT AND THE NATIONAL COUNTERTERORISM CENTER (NCTC) DEEM APPROPRIATE. WE RECOMMEND THAT MOHAMED ALI MOHAMED AL DAHHAM AL MANSOORI (MOHAMED ALI MOHAMED AL MANSOORI) BE INCLUDED IN THE TSA SELECTEE SECURITY DIRECTIVE FOR RELEASE TO U.S. AND FOREIGN CARRIERS AS AN INDIVIDUAL WHO MAY POSE A THREAT TO CIVIL AVIATION IN THE U.S. AND ABROAD. A REVIEW OF CLASS INDICATED NO HITS FOR AL MANSOORI. POST WILL ENTER AL MANSOORI IN CLASS AFTER TRANSMITTING THIS CABLE.

¶4. (SBU) NAME: MOHAMED ALI MOHAMED AL DAHHAM AL MANSOORI ALIAS: MOHAMED ALI MOHAMED AL MANSOORI DOB: xxxxxxxxxxxx POB: UAE GENDER: M NATIONALITY: UAE LOCATION: UNK PPT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx A0122037 (UAE)

¶5. (S) MR. AL MANSOORI IS CURRENTLY UNDER INVESTIGATION BY THE FBI FOR HIS POSSIBLE INVOLVEMENT IN THE 11 SEPTEMBER 2001 ATTACKS. HE IS SUSPECTED OF AIDING PEOPLE WHO ENTERED THE U.S. BEFORE THE ATTACKS TO CONDUCT SURVEILLANCE OF POSSIBLE TARGETS AND PROVIDING OTHER SUPPORT TO THE HIJACKERS.

¶6. (S) THE THREE INDIVIDUALS BELOW ENTERED THE U.S. ON 15 AUGUST 2001 ABOARD BRITISH AIRWAYS (BA) FLIGHT #185 FROM LONDON, ENGLAND: NAME: MESHAL ALHAJRI ALIAS: MESHAL AL HAJRI, MESCAL ABDULLA AL HAJRI DOB: xxxxxxxxxxxx POB: QATAR GENDER: M NATIONALITY: QATAR LOCATION: UNK PPT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxxxxx (QATAR) NAME: FAHAD ABDULLA ALIAS: FAHAD MUBARAK R ABDULLA DOB: xxxxxxxxxxxx POB: QATAR GENDER: M NATIONALITY: QATAR LOCATION: UNK PPT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxxxxx (QATAR) NAME: ALI ALFEHAID ALIAS: ALI HAMAD S M AL FEHAID DOB: xxxxxxxxxxxx POB: QATAR GENDER: M NATIONALITY: QATAR LOCATION: UNK PPT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxxxxx (QATAR)

¶7. (S) THE MEN FIRST VISITED NEW YORK, NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON, D.C. THEY VISITED THE WORLD TRADE CENTER, THE STATUE OF LIBERTY, THE WHITE HOUSE, AND VARIOUS AREAS IN VIRGINA.

¶8. (S) THE MEN THEN FLEW TO LOS ANGELES, CA ON 24 AUGUST 2001 ABOARD AMERICAN AIRLINES (AA) FLIGHT #143. THEY CHECKED INTO ONE ROOM IN A HOTEL NEAR THE LOS ANGELES AIRPORT WITH A CHECKOUT DATE OF 10 SEPTEMBER 2001. THEY PAID FOR THE ROOM USING CASH AND, DURING THE LAST FEW DAYS OF THEIR STAY, REQUESTED THAT THEIR ROOM NOT BE CLEANED. HOTEL CLEANING STAFF GREW SUSPICIOUS OF THE MEN BECAUSE THEY NOTICED PILOT TYPE UNIFORMS, SEVERAL LAPTOPS, AND SEVERAL CARDBOARD BOXES ADDRESSED TO SYRIA, JERUSALEM, AFGHANISTAN, AND JORDAN IN THE ROOM ON PREVIOUS CLEANING VISITS. THE MEN HAD A SMASHED CELLULAR PHONE IN THE ROOM AND A CELLULAR PHONE ATTACHED BY WIRE TO A COMPUTER. THE ROOM ALSO CONTAINED PIN FEED COMPUTER PAPER PRINT OUTS WITH HEADERS LISTING PILOT NAMES, AIRLINES, FLIGHT NUMBERS, AND FLIGHT TIMES.

¶9. (S) ACCORDING TO AA RECORDS, THE MEN SCHEDULED RETURN FLIGHTS FOR 10 SEPTEMBER 2001 ABOARD AA FLIGHT #144 FROM LOS ANGELES, CA TO WASHINGTON, D.C., BUT FAILED TO BOARD. THE SAME PLANE USED FOR AA FLIGHT #144 ON 10 SEPTEMBER 2001 WAS USED FOR AA FLIGHT #77 ON 11 SEPTEMBER 2001. AA FLIGHT #77 WAS HIJACKED ON ROUTE THE NEXT DAY AND CRASHED IN TO THE PENTAGON.

¶10. (S) BA RECORDS INDICATE THAT THE MEN BOARDED BA FLIGHT #268 ON 10 SEPTEMBER 2001 FROM LOS ANGELES, CA TO LONDON, ENGLAND. THE MEN RETURNED TO QATAR ON BA FLIGHT #125 FROM LONDON, ENGLAND TO DOHA, QATAR ON 13 SEPTEMBER 2001.

¶12. (S) A SUBSEQUENT FBI INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE MEN,S PLANE TICKETS WERE PAID FOR AND THEIR HOTEL RESERVATIONS IN LOS ANGELES, CA WERE MADE BY A CONVICTED TERRORIST. THE INVESTIGATION ALSO REVEALED THAT THE MEN SPENT A WEEK WITH MR. AL MANSOORI TRAVELING TO DIFFERENT DESTINATIONS IN CALIFORNIA.

¶13. (SBU) MR. AL MANSOORI,S VISA WAS REVOKED AFTER THIS INFORMATION CAME TO LIGHT, BUT HIS NAME WAS NOT WATCHLISTED IN THE CLASS SYSTEM. POST RECOMMENDS THAT MR. AL MANSOORI,S INFORMATION BE ENTERED INTO THE CLASS SYSTEM ON THE BASIS OF THE ONGOING FBI INVESTIGATION AND HIS POSSIBLE TIES TO TERRORISM.

¶14. (SBU) DOHA,S VISAS VIPER COORDINATOR IS CONSULAR OFFICER GRANT GUTHRIE.
Lebaron

http://213.251.145.96/cable/2010/02/10DOHA60.html

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

WikiLeaks has ‘insurance files’ on News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch, Assange claims...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/assange-claims-rupert-murdoch-insurance-files/

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/01/china-wikileaks-assange

still under construction...

TWITTER FLASH- BlackNET Intell fails at first original Tweet @BlackHoleNET:

UpDATE: Judy Miller Tells Scott Malone About The White House-NSA AQ Intercept she had before 9/11

""And I always wondered how the person who sent that [intercept] warning must have felt." - - - - - - -- Judith Miller, 27 APR 2006 * ................................................. *- WSM, 2011: The very military intelligence official who in fact made sure that that intercept-intelligence was passed to the CIA and the WHITE HOUSE's Scooter LIBBY in the first place was the source who pointed Scott Malone to interview Member Judy Miller on this precise question in the first place also. ........................................... MUCH MORE on this still untold CRIMINAL 9/11 OBSTRUCTION of JUSTICE SCANDAL COMING Back to the BlackNET in September......... Names NAMED

History: UPI showed some love to BlackNET

[Ed Note: Digging up some old info; even back in the day UPI had discovered the BlackNET; and what we do...]

Original UPI Article Here

Feature: BlackNET abuzz over Iraq showdown

Published: Tuesday, March. 19, 2003 at 3:59 PM
By HIL ANDERSON

LOS ANGELES, March 19 (UPI) -- Ensconced at an undisclosed location in the lonely wooded mountains of West Virginia, the BlackNET has been abuzz in recent weeks as the United States prepares for the moment of truth in the Persian Gulf.

The pending invasion of Iraq and the possibility that it will bring new terrorist attacks to the United States has stoked the level of chatter on the Internet mailing list that has become a "must-have" for government officials, investigative reporters and world affairs scholars in the netherworld of international spooks.

"The consensus is that (Iraqi leader) Saddam (Hussein) is an eternal optimist," said Scott Malone, moderator and founder of the Web site dubbed "BlackNET," which was originally launched in Arlington, Va., in the immediate wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide attack on the nearby Pentagon. "And (President) Bush is going to do exactly what he says."

Saddam's optimism is likely fading with American and British troops expected to be moving in on his dug-in military at any moment, but the imminent showdown has been the primary topic of discussion for months among the members of BlackNET who share a professional interest in the shadowy world of international terrorism.

"We picked up some Israeli chatter last week," Malone told United Press International on Monday in a telephone interview.

"It was some amateur radio buffs who were monitoring some U.S. fighter pilots who said the invasion was going to be on Tuesday."

The chatter appeared to have been off by a day, [not so--the invasion DID BEGIN that Tuesday,’ EST, just five hours after this article went out.] but it's the kind of fodder that makes BlackNET a font of tidbits and a plethora of analyses that go out to the membership list of roughly 100 in real time and uncensored and unfiltered by officials, editors and spokesmen.

And they seem to have found some of our members (from the article):

"It's an interesting group," said Morgan Clements, a member of the list and publisher of the Web site TerroristWarning.com.

"They have a curious and uncanny awareness of things which are not always publicly available and are clearly a group of knowledgeable individuals working toward a common goal behind the scenes without getting or expecting credit for the information they provide..."

"It's witty and sometimes even funny," observed member Roger Twinning. "It's a strange, overly informed and timely mutant (newswire)."

Being described as a "mutant" might not seem like high praise, but the White House said after Sept. 11 that the war on terrorism would sometimes be carried on outside the view of the mainstream media, and that might give the myriad BlackNET members a leg up on everyone else.

If you go directly to the UPI Pro; you'd find that there is more depth to the BlackNET then appears to the naked eye....

Malone, a multiple Emmy and Peabody award-winning investigative reporter who chronicled Middle East intrigue and the Branch Davidian siege at Waco, Texas, for the Public Broadcasting Corp. series "Frontline," says he limited BlackNET's membership to others who work in the field of intelligence gathering or homeland security, or those in ancillary fields such as public healthcare and cyber-security...

The members are all assigned a code number that keeps them both anonymous and protected against both repercussions from their bosses and static from Web surfers who have little to offer to the discussion other than a political ax to grind.

"It's like belonging to a secret club," he joked.

"The cachet of BlackNET is that you are part of a team; it's a cooperative of online investigations," Malone said. "I began this site to sell it to security firms, but then changed my mind. If it were to go public, we wouldn't be the same thing."

While BlackNET's MemberSHIP , as noted by UPI, is limited to people that work in the field of security and intelligence, you can read here some of our latest OPEN SOURCE intelligence, that is for unlimited public dissemination.

As always; keep your eyes here, as there will be more to come....
.

Posted by W. Scott Malone at 6/19/2008 05:50:00 PM

BlackPAGES

BlackBAG - News

US Contractor Pays $5 Million to Iraqis Over Abu Ghraib Lawsuit

L-3 Services Sued for Involvement in Detainee Abuse [THX US/5]

Obama, Panetta Laud Special Operator Killed in Rescue Mission

American Forces Press Service

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Dick Clark and the CIA

Tiny Qatar Flexed Big Muscles in Libya

John Giacalone Named Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office Counterterrorism Division

TAIPEI - TIMES

US report says China developing EMP

‘TRUMP CARD’:

The report says China could be planning to use electromagnetic bursts to incapacitate Taiwan electronically, but limit casualties and avoid a US nuclear response

We have been planning for several weeks to do an EXCLUSIVE Interview on this very subject with Dr. Jones via Skype (as soon as US/1 learns how—apologies to certain Florida Members).

Sixteen Individuals Arrested in the United States for Alleged Roles in Cyber Attacks More Than 35 Search Warrants Executed in United States, Five Arrests in Europe as Part of Ongoing Cyber Investigations

Former AT&T Contractor Arrested, Charged with Unauthorized Access of Servers

The Legal Times Blog - May 26, 2011

In National Security Case, Lawyer Fights to Present Client's Side

Writer Is Served With Subpoena in C.I.A. Leak Case

By CHARLIE SAVAGE

NSA Case: WHISTLE-BLOWER OR ESPIONAGE AGENT?

The New Yorker - 23 May 2011

A Reporter at Large

The Secret Sharer

Is Thomas Drake an enemy of the state?

by Jane MAYER

Lawyer in CIA leak case questioned by grand jury

WikiLeaks has ‘insurance files’ on News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch, Assange claims...

CyBER-BlackSEC Debate

BlackNIGHT Target Practice

SEAL Team SIX - Iron Will from CBS News

The Devil's Advocate?

Lee Oswald, David Ferrie and the CIA

CyBER-BlackSEC Page UP ^...or is it DOWN - \/~\\-//~\/

Say WHAT?

SPIKED by the White House?

It's all in the BlackVAULT...

Check the latest in BlackHELICOPTERS...

Lipstick, Hell--The MALONES Went NUCLEAR...

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Sixteen Individuals Arrested in the United States for Alleged Roles in Cyber Attacks
More Than 35 Search Warrants Executed in United States, Five Arrests in Europe as Part of Ongoing Cyber Investigations