tagged w/ Counterterrorism
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Obama Rep. Schultz on The NDAA and Secret Kill List
This was the enemy, served up in the latest chart from the intelligence agencies: 15 Qaeda suspects in Yemen with Western ties. The mug shots and brief biographies resembled a high school yearbook layout. Several were Americans. Two were teenagers, including a girl who looked even younger than her 17 years.Obama Rep. Schultz on The NDAA and Secret Kill List
This was the enemy, served up in... more
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Wired:
The FBI is teaching its counterterrorism agents that “main stream” [sic] American Muslims are likely to be terrorist sympathizers; that the Prophet Mohammed was a “cult leader”; and that the Islamic practice of giving charity is no more than a “funding mechanism for combat.”
Read the whole story:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/09/fbi-muslims-radical/Wired:
The FBI is teaching its counterterrorism agents that “main... more
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Imzadi
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1 year ago
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Gareth Porter at FPIF:
In the commentary on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the news and infotainment media have predictably framed the discussion by the question of how successful the CIA and the military have been in destroying al Qaeda. Absent from the torrent of opinion and analysis was any mention of how the U.S. military occupation of Muslim lands and wars that continue to kill Muslim civilians fuel jihadist sentiment that will keep the threat of terrorism high for many years to come.
The failure to have that discussion is not an accident. In December 2007, at a conference in Washington, D.C. on al Qaeda, former State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism Daniel Benjamin offered a laundry list of things the United States could do to reduce the threat from al Qaeda. But he said nothing about the most important thing to be done: pledging to the Islamic world that the United States would pull its military forces out of Afghanistan and Iraq and end its warfare against those in Islamic countries resisting U.S. military presence.
During the coffee break, I asked him whether that item shouldn’t have been on his list. “You’re right,” he answered. And then he added, “But we can’t do that.”
“Why not,” I asked.
“Because,” he said, “we would have to tell the families of the soldiers who have died in those wars that their loved ones died in vain.”
His explanation was obviously bogus. But in agreeing that America’s continuing wars actually increase the risk of terrorism against the United States, Benjamin was merely reflecting the conclusions that the intelligence and counter-terrorism communities had already reached.
Please read the rest of the post at the link.Gareth Porter at FPIF:
In the commentary on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the news... more
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Cabal
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On Sunday, May 1, 2011 Barack H. Obama, the 44th President of the United States announced that Leader of al Qaeda & terrorist Osama bin Laden Killed by the United StatesOn Sunday, May 1, 2011 Barack H. Obama, the 44th President of the United States... more
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The war of terror continues. . .yeap, bush oughta be proud of Obama.
By Peter Finn and Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
"President Obama signed an executive order Monday that will create a formal system of indefinite detention for those held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who continue to pose a significant threat to national security. The administration also said it will start new military commission trials for detainees there.
The announcements, coming more than two years after Obama vowed in another executive order to close the detention center, all but cements Guantanamo Bay's continuing role in U.S. counterterrorism policy. "
Rest of the article here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/07/AR2011030704890.htmlThe war of terror continues. . .yeap, bush oughta be proud of Obama.
By Peter Finn... more
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Roldan
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2 years ago
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This is secret War going on in the media. With CIA Trickery and Deception the main tools used to intentionally hide the truth. By armies of psy-ops teams skilled in the science of manipulating public opinion are targeting and attacking Anonymous, Wikileaks and Bradley Manning... This is an operation to twist public perception by use of sociological warfare techniques (psy-ops) with disseminating untruths and disinformation to manipulate the public.... All Standard procedures and Techniques that have been used by CIA psy-ops in "Operation Mockingbird" in the media for many years ~ All without the public even catching on...
Recently the foundations of that corruption and their ~ business as usual has been shaken to its core... Finally their Status quo of on going manipulation of public opinion and day to day operations came into question by Wikileaks exposing US Diplomatic Cables.
Currently...The government is in damage control... still watching and preparing for what could come next. Since then, they have observing two CIA allies ( & dictators); Tunisia and Egypt's both face overwhelming public mass outrage as both of the governments Failed. Now, this same Tsunami Wave that Wikileaks started has hit in the USA ... Starting in Madison Wisconsin...and already spreading across the nation.
Why so much attention? To stop any more unraveling of the exposure to the public of even more damaging corruption acts... They should be scared! They know what they are hiding... Because Wikileaks exposed the truth....By pulling back the Curtain on the systematic disinformation campaign waged against the American public. What we see today...Like..."The Great OZ" when he goes into damage control saying... "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain over there!!!" The only thing we haven't seen "yet" is... The Flying Monkeys! Their cover has been blown... The corruption and hypocrisy exposed and noted... with a caveat of.... more to come.
It is more than just having confidence in We Are Anonymous.... It is knowing the core of what tricks... are to come as they fight their long practiced psy-ops attacks to confuse the public and to discredit and hide the truth. IT IS A DIRTY GAME THEY PLAY!
If the public really knew the depth of what really is going on... things would be much different for everyone on the planet... The Truth is "TOP PRIORITY" in any democracy... Without the truth we have Fascism. In a democracy we can't have the Government using sociological warfare techniques against out public as they do today!
=== WARNING: (PSY-OPS) DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN STARTS BELOW ===
BY OLD BRUTUS, ON MARCH 6TH, 2011
Washington, D.C.–Anonymous Internet users discovered Thursday that the United States Government plays a major role in the day-to-day operations of the most popular Internet news source used by internet activists, or “hacktivists.”
Anonnews.org claims to serve decentralized hacker group Anonymous as its central source of information, including targets and Anonymous press releases, which anyone can submit.
A number of Internet users frequenting both the chronicle.SU and anonnews.org websites discovered that the website selectively runs articles that only fall in line with the agenda of the U.S. Government, and brought this to the attention of chronicle.SU senior executives.
[Editor's note: Due to the close-hitting nature of this piece,
subjective articles such as "we," "us" and "I" will be foundin the following paragraphs.]
As perhaps only a handful of our readers know, anonnews.org, whose slogan is Everything Anonymous, actively deletes any and all content submissions originating from chronicle.SU. We have fought this for a long time, out of fairness to Anonymous and outside objectors, but we too have come to realize anonnews.org is either owned by, or in collusion with, various government agencies.
This clampdown on information is akin to what many of us learn in college courses, or from history itself, to expect from oppressive regimes, and compares in no small way to the aggressive reaction from the USG when news hit of daily-leaking diplomatic cables.
It is worth noting that anonnews.org no longer accepts press releases relating to Wikileaks.
Anonymous purports to expose and crush oppressive regimes, and even went on the record with Al Jazeera Saturday morning to take credit for the unprecedented attacks on websites owned by Mastercard, PayPal, Amazon, and outside governments. Anonymous’ spokesperson, which could literally be anyone in the world, compared their actions with those of protesters in the streets of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.
VIEW THE FULL PSY-OPS DISINFORMATION ON THE LINK BELOW:
http://www.chronicle.su/news/anonnews-org-run-by-united-states-government/
~This is secret War going on in the media. With CIA Trickery and Deception the main... more
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As I described on the Mike Malloy show on Friday and as Brad Friedman discusses in his post on being targeted by the Chamber of Commerce, the essence of the Chamber of Commerce/Bank of America/HBGary scandal is the use of intelligence techniques developed for use on terrorists deployed for use on citizens exercising their First Amendment rights.
ThinkProgress has a post making it clear that the Chamber of Commerce’s nondenial denials don’t hold up. In this post, I’ll begin to show the close ties between the tactics HBGary’s Aaron Barr proposed to use against Wikileaks and anti-Chamber activists and those already used in counterterrorism.
Barr Says He’s Done this with Terrorists
I will get into what we know of Barr’s past intelligence work in future posts, but for the moment I wanted to look just at his reference to analysis he did on FARC. Barr’s HBGary coder, who sounds like the smartest cookie of the bunch was balking at his analysis of Anonymous for several reasons–some of them ethical, some of them cautionary, and some of them technical. In the middle of an argument over whether what Barr was doing had any technical validity (the coder said it did not), Barr explained.
The math is already working out. Based on analysis I did on the FARC I was able to determine that Tanja (the dutch girl that converted to the FARC is likely managing a host of propoganda profiles for top leaders. I was able to associate key supporters technically to the FARC propoganda effort.
He’s referring to Tanja Anamary Nijmeijer, a Dutch woman who has been an active FARC member for a number of years. And while it’s not proof that Barr did his analysis on Nijmeijer for the government, she was indicted in the kidnapping of some American contractors last December and the primary overt act the indictment alleged her to have committed was in a propaganda function.
On or about July 25, 2003, JOSE IGNACIO GONZALEZ PERDOMO, LUIS ALBERTO JIMENEZ MARTINEZ, and TANJA ANAMARY NIJMEIJER, and other conspirators, participated in making a proof of life video of the three American hostages. On the video, the FARC announced that the “three North American prisoners” will only be released by the FARC once the Colombian government agrees to release all FARC guerrillas in Colombian jails in a “prisoner exchange” to take place “in a large demilitarized area.” The proof of life video was then disseminated to media outlets in the United States.
In any case, Barr is referring to an ongoing investigation conducted by the Miami and Counterterrorism Section of DOJ, with assistance from the DNI.
His “proof” that this stuff works is that it has worked in the past (he claims) in an investigation of Colombian (and Dutch) terrorists.
Now it’s not at all clear that it is valid (I’ll have more to say on this in the future, too). Barr’s coder argued that what he’s measuring is only guilt by association, not real association (see where this begins to sound familiar?). TechHerald, in a useful analysis of the paper he was going to give on Anonymous, judges,
His research has plenty of interesting aspects, but seems to have several flaws as well. He is right when he says social media can be used to target and exploit people and organizations, but wrong when he assumes the spider web links between people are proof positive of anything criminal or malicious.
In other words, what Barr has done has mapped out associations with no guarantee the associations mean anything, much less any involvement in a particular group.
Our Intelligence Agencies Talk to HBGary
The fact that Barr’s project is so dubious is all the more troubling, given that DOJ and our intelligence community seemed prepared to take his work seriously. Barr’s emails make it clear that he was in talks on February 4 with several branches of our intelligence community about sharing his analysis of Anonymous.
>> Interesting Day.
>>
>> So I have been contacted by OSD (Rosemary [Wenschel, head of Cyberops at DOD]), FBI, USG, and now DNI…all today.
>>
>> I have a meeting with FBI/OSD Monday @ 11am.
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>> Met with some folks at my old customer today (I should fill u in on that).
>>
>> And looks like a meeting to be set up with Dawn [Meyerriecks, head of DNI's Acquisition and Technology]…
>>
>> Let me know if you would like to get together.
>>
>> Aaron
The reference to USG or “my old customer” may mean the CIA, as someone signing an email MFM that was sent from CIA’s public domain name contacted Barr about “timely capabilities” on the 4th as well. (“My old customer” may also mean TASC and/or NSC, since Barr was in talks about being bought out to work in TASC’s Ft. Meade office.)
Barr’s contemplated work (and in some cases, ongoing discussions) with entities like DOD’s Cyberops, NSA, and CIA is all the more troubling given an exchange he had with his former colleague from Northrup Grumman. Barr described the meeting with his former client, emphasizing that that client was not capable of “doing the right activities” “because of authority and policy restrictions.”
The conversation was very interesting today. The admit they had no idea this was happening until it hit the streets. They have no idea how to manage things like this in the future. And the agree they are not capable of doing the right activities (like I did) to be better prepared in the future because of authority and policy restrictions.
That is, whoever the client was, they agreed that they couldn’t do the kind of spying domestically Barr could because of policy restrictions.
Barr’s former colleague asked “Do you suppose there might be a market for an offshore intel gathering organization that would sell results?” To which Barr responded, “absolutely needed. Government is not going to get out of their way anytime soon to be able to do this work.”
As I will show in the future, Barr had already done this kind of analysis within the intelligence community. He had pushed to apply it to citizen activism (as well as Anonymous, though some of the people he targeted may also have engaged solely in First Amendment protected activites), and the intelligence community was anxious to hear about his Anonymous work (though there’s no indication they knew how dubious it was).
GO TO STORY:
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/02/14/the-hbgary-scandal-using-counterterrorism-tactics-on-citizen-activism/As I described on the Mike Malloy show on Friday and as Brad Friedman discusses in his... more
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In the new emails released by Anonymous we discover that HBGary Inc. may have been working on the development of a new type of Windows rootkit that was undetectable and almost impossible to remove.
Crowdleaks.org cannot confirm how far into development this project went. However we do know by looking at the following email that the Magenta Rootkit proposal was forwarded from Greg Hoglund at HBGary to Ray Owen, President of Farallon Research LLC.
From: Greg Hoglund To: Ray.owen@farallon-research.com Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2011 14:29:25 -0800 Subject: Fwd: Magenta Rootkit (for Ray)
Full headers
—–
mime-version: 1.0
received: by 10.147.181.12 with HTTP; Fri, 7 Jan 2011 14:29:25 -0800 (PST)
in-reply-to:
references:
date: Fri, 7 Jan 2011 14:29:25 -0800
delivered-to: greg@hbgary.com
message-id:
subject: Fwd: Magenta Rootkit (for Ray)
from: Greg Hoglund
to: Ray.owen@farallon-research.com
content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary=000e0cd3ea788d10dc0499492677
Attachments: MAGENTA.docx (13878 bytes)
Farallon Research LLC is privately held government contractor based in Gatos, CA. Their website offers no insight into who they are or what they do other than an “About Us” page which simply states: “The mission of Farallon Research LLC is to connect advanced commercial technologies and the companies that develop them with the requirements of the U.S. government.”
In the following message we can see that Shawn Bracken, Principal Research Scientist at HBGary, attached and sent the initial Magenta Rootkit proposal to Greg Hoglund.
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Shawn Bracken
Date: Fri, Jan 7, 2011 at 11:07 AM
Subject: Magenta Rootkit (for Ray)
To: Greg Hoglund
G,
Attached is the requested rootkit proposal � let me know what you think.
Cheers,
-SB
Shawn Bracken
Principal Research Scientist
HBGary, Inc.
(916) 459-4727 x 106
shawn@hbgary.com
In the attached word document (MAGENTA.docx) we find:
Description: Magenta would be a new breed of windows based rootkit, which HBGary refers to as a multi-context rootkit. Magenta is a 100% pure assembly language implemented rootkit. The magenta rootkit body is injected into kernel memory via the DriverEntry() partial-load technique. Once loaded into kernel memory, Magenta would automatically identify an active process/thread context to inject itself into via an APC (Asynchronous Procedure Call). Once the APC fires in the new process context, the body of the rootkit will be executed. Finally, At the completion of each APC activation, magenta will move itself to a new location in memory and automatically identify one or more new activation PROCESS/THREAD combination’s to queue one or more additional activation APC’s into.
When Activated, the Magenta rootkit will be capable of searching for and executing imbedded command and control messages by finding them wherever they may exist in physical memory on the compromised host. This is ideal because it’s trivial to remotely seed C&C messages into any networked windows host – even if the host in question has full windows firewalling enabled. The Magenta payload will also contain imbedded capabilities for injecting these C&C payloads directly into user-mode processes. This will allow injectable C&C payloads to be written to perform user-mode tasks on the compromised host.
Key Features:
New breed of rootkit – There isn’t anything like this publicly
Extremely small memory footprint – (4k or less)
Almost impossible to remove from a live running system
o Once the injected Magenta rootkit body is loaded into kernel memory, it will be fire-and-forget. You can delete the original .sys file used to load it if you wish.
o Any physical memory based tools that would allow you to see the current location of Magenta body would only be of limited use since by the time the responder tried to verify his results Magenta will have already moved to a new location & context
Elegant/powerful C&C message system. There is a near endless amount of ways to get a small seeded C&C message into the physical memory of a networked computer even with zero credentials.
Invisible to kernel mode defense components that rely on the PsSetLoadImageNotifyRoutine() notification routine to detect/analyze/block drivers.
o HINT: PsSetLoadImageNotify() callbacks only get called for drivers who returned TRUE in their DriverEntry()
Project Development Phases:
HBGary recommends using at least a two phase project to build out Magenta. In Phase-1 HBGary would build a fully functional prototype for Windows XP – Service Pack 3 (X86). This would allow an end-to-end proof of concept prototype to be developed and demonstrated. Phase-2 would purely consist of porting the Magenta rootkit to all current flavors of Microsoft Windows (x86 & x64)
Crowdleaks.org cannot confirm that the Magenta Rootkit proposal was even accepted but given HBGary’s involvement in Stuxnet research, it’s a chilling proposal that was likely taken seriously by HBgary INC. and probably not the first of its kind.
GO TO STORY:
http://crowdleaks.org/hbgary-inc-working-on-secret-rootkit-project-codename-magenta/In the new emails released by Anonymous we discover that HBGary Inc. may have been... more
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General Dynamics has selected HBGary Inc to provide this proposal for development of a software application targeting the Windows XP Operating System that, when executed, loads and enables a covert kernel-mode implant that will exfiltrate a file from disk (or other remotely called commands) over a connected serial port to a remote device. The enabling kernel mode implant will cater to a command and control element via the serial port. The demonstration will utilize an exploit in Outlook as the delivery mechanism for said software application. The subsequently loaded implant will be stable and will not crash the demonstration system. A usermode component will be included as part of the exploitation package that exercises the kernel mode implant for demonstration purposes. The loaded implant will use the connected serial port to remotely enable functions which can be visible on the collection computer connected on the other end of the serial line. The purpose of the demonstration setup is to verify the functionality for the customer and validate that all work has been completed.
Primary Objectives:
• Development of a kernel-mode implant that is clearly able to exfiltrate an on-disk file, opening of the CD tray, blinking of the keyboard lights, opening and deleting a file, and a memory buffer exfiltration over a connected serial line to a collection station. For demonstration, a null modem cable will be used to connect the collection station
• The use of a standard Outlook Exploit as a delivery mechanism for the implant, with the intention being that any suitable exploit could be used for the same.
• As part of the exploit delivery package, a usermode trojan will assist in the loading of the implant, which will clearly demonstrate the full capability of the implant.
• Test set (which will consist of two computers networked together via a null modem cable using HyperTerminal) that can reliably and repeatedly demonstrate the exploit and subsequent implant capability of the system.
GO TO STORY:
http://publicintelligence.net/hbgary-general-dynamics-malware-development-project-c/General Dynamics has selected HBGary Inc to provide this proposal for development of a... more
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Hi,
join our young blog if your interests are related with security, protection, counterterrorism.
Thank you.Hi,
join our young blog if your interests are related with security, protection,... more
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Over the past several years, entities closely linked to the private security firm Blackwater have provided intelligence, training and security services to US and foreign governments as well as several multinational corporations, including Monsanto, Chevron, the Walt Disney Company, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and banking giants Deutsche Bank and Barclays, according to documents obtained by The Nation. Blackwater's work for corporations and government agencies was contracted using two companies owned by Blackwater's owner and founder, Erik Prince: Total Intelligence Solutions and the Terrorism Research Center (TRC). Prince is listed as the chairman of both companies in internal company documents, which show how the web of companies functions as a highly coordinated operation. Officials from Total Intelligence, TRC and Blackwater (which now calls itself Xe Services) did not respond to numerous requests for comment for this article.
One of the most incendiary details in the documents is that Blackwater, through Total Intelligence, sought to become the "intel arm" of Monsanto, offering to provide operatives to infiltrate activist groups organizing against the multinational biotech firm.
Governmental recipients of intelligence services and counterterrorism training from Prince's companies include the Kingdom of Jordan, the Canadian military and the Netherlands police, as well as several US military bases, including Fort Bragg, home of the elite Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), and Fort Huachuca, where military interrogators are trained, according to the documents. In addition, Blackwater worked through the companies for the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the US European Command.
On September 3 the New York Times reported that Blackwater had "created a web of more than 30 shell companies or subsidiaries in part to obtain millions of dollars in American government contracts after the security company came under intense criticism for reckless conduct in Iraq." The documents obtained by The Nation reveal previously unreported details of several such companies and open a rare window into the sensitive intelligence and security operations Blackwater performs for a range of powerful corporations and government agencies. The new evidence also sheds light on the key roles of several former top CIA officials who went on to work for Blackwater.
The coordinator of Blackwater's covert CIA business, former CIA paramilitary officer Enrique "Ric" Prado, set up a global network of foreign operatives, offering their "deniability" as a "big plus" for potential Blackwater customers, according to company documents. The CIA has long used proxy forces to carry out extralegal actions or to shield US government involvement in unsavory operations from scrutiny. In some cases, these "deniable" foreign forces don't even know who they are working for. Prado and Prince built up a network of such foreigners while Blackwater was at the center of the CIA's assassination program, beginning in 2004. They trained special missions units at one of Prince's properties in Virginia with the intent of hunting terrorism suspects globally, often working with foreign operatives. A former senior CIA official said the benefit of using Blackwater's foreign operatives in CIA operations was that "you wouldn't want to have American fingerprints on it."
While the network was originally established for use in CIA operations, documents show that Prado viewed it as potentially valuable to other government agencies. In an e-mail in October 2007 with the subject line "Possible Opportunity in DEA—Read and Delete," Prado wrote to a Total Intelligence executive with a pitch for the Drug Enforcement Administration. That executive was an eighteen-year DEA veteran with extensive government connections who had recently joined the firm. Prado explained that Blackwater had developed "a rapidly growing, worldwide network of folks that can do everything from surveillance to ground truth to disruption operations." He added, "These are all foreign nationals (except for a few cases where US persons are the conduit but no longer 'play' on the street), so deniability is built in and should be a big plus."
The executive wrote back and suggested there "may be an interest" in those services. The executive suggested that "one of the best places to start may be the Special Operations Division, (SOD) which is located in Chantilly, VA," telling Prado the name of the special agent in charge. The SOD is a secretive joint command within the Justice Department, run by the DEA. It serves as the command-and-control center for some of the most sensitive counternarcotics and law enforcement operations conducted by federal forces. The executive also told Prado that US attachés in Mexico; Bogotá, Colombia; and Bangkok, Thailand, would potentially be interested in Prado's network. Whether this network was activated, and for what customers, cannot be confirmed. A former Blackwater employee who worked on the company's CIA program declined to comment on Prado's work for the company, citing its classified status.
In November 2007 officials from Prince's companies developed a pricing structure for security and intelligence services for private companies and wealthy individuals. One official wrote that Prado had the capacity to "develop infrastructures" and "conduct ground-truth and security activities." According to the pricing chart, potential customers could hire Prado and other Blackwater officials to operate in the United States and globally: in Latin America, North Africa, francophone countries, the Middle East, Europe, China, Russia, Japan, and Central and Southeast Asia. A four-man team headed by Prado for countersurveillance in the United States cost $33,600 weekly, while "safehouses" could be established for $250,000, plus operational costs. Identical services were offered globally. For $5,000 a day, clients could hire Prado or former senior CIA officials Cofer Black and Robert Richer for "representation" to national "decision-makers." Before joining Blackwater, Black, a twenty-eight-year CIA veteran, ran the agency's counterterrorism center, while Richer was the agency's deputy director of operations. (Neither Black nor Richer currently works for the company.)
As Blackwater became embroiled in controversy following the Nisour Square massacre, Prado set up his own company, Constellation Consulting Group (CCG), apparently taking some of Blackwater's covert CIA work with him, though he maintained close ties to his former employer. In an e-mail to a Total Intelligence executive in February 2008, Prado wrote that he "recently had major success in developing capabilities in Mali [Africa] that are of extreme interest to our major sponsor and which will soon launch a substantial effort via my small shop." He requested Total Intelligence's help in analyzing the "North Mali/Niger terrorist problem."
ARTICLE CONTINUES AT LINK: http://www.thenation.com/article/154739/blackwaters-black-opsOver the past several years, entities closely linked to the private security firm... more
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AP Exclusive: Under desk, CIA found video of 9/11 plotter being interrogated in secret prison
ADAM GOLDMAN, MATT APUZZO Associated Press Writers
August 17, 2010|12:45 a.m.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The CIA has tapes of 9/11 plotter Ramzi Binalshibh being interrogated in a secret overseas prison. Discovered under a desk, the recordings could provide an unparalleled look at how foreign governments aided the U.S. in holding and questioning suspected terrorists.
The two videotapes and one audiotape are believed to be the only remaining recordings made within the clandestine prison system.
The tapes depict Binalshibh's interrogation sessions at a Moroccan-run facility the CIA used near Rabat in 2002, several current and former U.S. officials told The Associated Press. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the recordings remain a closely guarded secret.
When the CIA destroyed its cache of 92 videos of two other al-Qaida operatives, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Nashiri, being waterboarded in 2005, officials believed they had wiped away all of the agency's interrogation footage. But in 2007, a staffer discovered a box tucked under a desk in the CIA's Counterterrorism Center and pulled out the Binalshibh tapes.
A Justice Department prosecutor who is already investigating whether destroying the Zubaydah and al-Nashiri tapes was illegal is now also probing why the Binalshibh tapes were never disclosed. Twice, the government told a federal judge they did not exist.
The tapes could complicate U.S. efforts to prosecute Binalshibh, 38, who has been described as a "key facilitator" in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. If the tapes surfaced at trial, they could clearly reveal Morocco's role in the counterterrorism program known as Greystone, which authorized the CIA to hold terrorists in secret prisons and shuttle them to other countries.
More significantly to his defense, the tapes also could provide evidence of Binalshibh's mental state within the first months of his capture. In court documents, defense lawyers have been asking for medical records to see whether Binalshibh's years in CIA custody made him mentally unstable. He is being treated for schizophrenia with a potent cocktail of anti-psychotic medications.
With military commissions on hold while the Obama administration figures out what to do with suspected terrorists, Binalshibh has never had a hearing on whether he is mentally fit to stand trial.
"If those tapes exist, they would be extremely relevant," said Thomas A. Durkin, Binalshibh's civilian lawyer.
The CIA first publicly hinted at the existence of the Binalshibh tapes in 2007 in a letter to U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema in Virginia. The government twice denied having such tapes, and recanted once they were discovered. But the government blacked out Binalshibh's name from a public copy of the letter.
At the time, the CIA played down the significance, saying the videos were not taken as part of the CIA's detention program and did not show CIA interrogations.
That's true, but only because of the unusual nature of the Moroccan prison, which was largely financed by the CIA but run by Moroccans, the former officials said. The CIA could move detainees in and out, and oversee the interrogations, but officially, Morocco had control.
CIA spokesman George Little would not discuss the Moroccan facility except to say agency officials "continue to cooperate with inquiries into past counterterrorism practices."
Moroccan government officials did not respond to questions about Binalshibh and his time in Morocco. The country has never acknowledged the existence of the detention center.
Morocco has a troubled history of prison abuse and human rights violations. A government-created commission identified decades of torture, forced disappearances, poor prison conditions and sexual violence. And this year's State Department report on Morocco notes continued accusations of torture by security forces.
But current and former U.S. officials say no harsh interrogation methods, like the simulated drowning tactic called waterboarding, were used in Morocco. In the CIA's secret network of undisclosed "black prisons," Morocco was just way station of sorts, a place to hold detainees for a few months at a time.
"The tapes record a guy sitting in a room just answering questions," according to a U.S. official familiar with the program.
That would make them quite different from the 92 interrogation videos of Zubaydah and al-Nashiri being subjected to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics.
Binalshibh was captured Sept. 11, 2002, and interrogated for days at a CIA facility in Afghanistan. Almost immediately, two former CIA officials said, Binalshibh exhibited mental instability that would worsen over time.
When FBI agents finally had a chance to interview Binalshibh, they found him lethargic but unharmed.
"He had a certain toughness about him, like he didn't care," said Raymond Holcomb, a retired FBI agent who spent five days alongside the CIA with Binalshibh in Afghanistan and wrote about it in a forthcoming book, "Endless Enemies: Inside FBI Counterterrorism."
Though Binalshibh was uncooperative during his early interrogations, his interviews formed the foundation for parts of the 9/11 commission report. One official said he also provided intelligence about a plot to crash aircraft into London's Heathrow Airport.
Binalshibh spent five months in Morocco in late 2002 and early 2003, the first of three trips through the facility during his years in CIA custody.
Since his incarceration was established at Guantanamo Bay in 2006, Binalshibh has appeared increasingly erratic. Court records show him acting out, breaking cameras in his cell and smearing them with feces.
He has experienced delusions, believing the CIA was intentionally shaking his bed and cell, according to court records and interviews. He has imagined tingling sensations like things were crawling all over him and developed a nervous tic, obsessively scratching himself.
Nine years after his capture, there is no indication when Binalshibh and other admitted 9/11 terrorists will face military or civilian trials.
Binalshibh and other accused 9/11 conspirators have openly admitted their roles, praising the attacks. Binalshibh and the others have asked to plead guilty, a move that would head off any trial and almost certainly guarantee the videotapes never get played in any court.
http://www.gotgeoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/9-113.bmpAP Exclusive: Under desk, CIA found video of 9/11 plotter being interrogated in secret... more
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A hidden world, growing beyond control
The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.
These are some of the findings of a two-year investigation by The Washington Post that discovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight. After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.
The investigation's other findings include:
* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.
* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.
* In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings - about 17 million square feet of space.
* Many security and intelligence agencies do the same work, creating redundancy and waste. For example, 51 federal organizations and military commands, operating in 15 U.S. cities, track the flow of money to and from terrorist networks.
* Analysts who make sense of documents and conversations obtained by foreign and domestic spying share their judgment by publishing 50,000 intelligence reports each year - a volume so large that many are routinely ignored.
These are not academic issues; lack of focus, not lack of resources, was at the heart of the Fort Hood shooting that left 13 dead, as well as the Christmas Day bomb attempt thwarted not by the thousands of analysts employed to find lone terrorists but by an alert airline passenger who saw smoke coming from his seatmate.
They are also issues that greatly concern some of the people in charge of the nation's security.
"There has been so much growth since 9/11 that getting your arms around that - not just for the DNI [Director of National Intelligence], but for any individual, for the director of the CIA, for the secretary of defense - is a challenge," Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in an interview with The Post last week.
In the Department of Defense, where more than two-thirds of the intelligence programs reside, only a handful of senior officials - called Super Users - have the ability to even know about all the department's activities. But as two of the Super Users indicated in interviews, there is simply no way they can keep up with the nation's most sensitive work.
"I'm not going to live long enough to be briefed on everything" was how one Super User put it. The other recounted that for his initial briefing, he was escorted into a tiny, dark room, seated at a small table and told he couldn't take notes. Program after program began flashing on a screen, he said, until he yelled ''Stop!" in frustration.
"I wasn't remembering any of it," he said.
Underscoring the seriousness of these issues are the conclusions of retired Army Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, who was asked last year to review the method for tracking the Defense Department's most sensitive programs. Vines, who once commanded 145,000 troops in Iraq and is familiar with complex problems, was stunned by what he discovered.
picture: http://warisboring.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/top-secret.jpg
READ MORE AT LINK:
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/a-hidden-world-growing-beyond-control/?wpisrc=nl_politicsA hidden world, growing beyond control
The top-secret world the government created... more
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The government is to review key counter-terrorism and security powers including the 28-day limit on detaining terrorist suspects without charge.The government is to review key counter-terrorism and security powers including the... more
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[This is the original submission. To read hopefully accurate updates, please scroll down for additional contributions and comments.]
I'm watching CNN live, and it has just been confirmed that the suspicious car, parked in Times Square, was in fact turned into an "incendiary device."
UPDATE AS OF 5/2/10 at 1:15PM PT, BASED ON NYPD COMMISSIONER RAY KELLY'S PRESS CONFERENCE:
#
New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly is speaking live on CNN right now.
Quick notes while watching press conference.........
Surveillance tape: White male, 40s, dark shirt, looking back at car, removing dark shirt, revealing red shirt, stuffing white shirt into bag he was carrying.
Pennsylvania resident has footage taken in PA that includes potential driver. FBI headed to PA.
Gun locker (75-pound size) revealed "at least" eight bags of "unknown substance"; granular feel; "look" possibly fertilizer; could have created "significant fireball."
Two sources claiming responsibility: Pakistan Taliban and a "specific individual" who "claimed credit."
"More police officers are on patrol."
Not ready to reveal name of town in Pennsylvania where investigators have gone.
Pathfinder not reported stolen. Pathfinder with license plate from truck found in Connecticut junkyard.
"We will be doing an in-depth forensic investigation."
Not close to making any determinations.
"We're asking the public to help us."
"... would have caused casualties... vehicle would have been cut in half... We were lucky that it didn't detonate."
"Someone brought this vehicle... to terrorize... an individual can do it on their [sic] own."
"New Yorkers are pretty tough, resilient people."
"Two clocks were involved in this; they were wired together."
Surveillance camera caught dark green SUV going west on 45th St. at 6:28pm Saturday.
"In the car... everything was in the rear of the car... Two clocks connected to a 16-ounce can, in between two canisters..." "...Gun box inside cardboard box." "Running into that box were wires coming from, we believe, the explosives..."
"The detonation device... it's believed... the timers would ignite the cans, set them on fire, and then explode the propane tanks..."
Some video will be released "as soon as we can put it together." This is of "a person walking down Shubert Alley... 45th and Broadway... stops, takes dark shirt off... continues to walk south... looking sometimes in a furtive manner."
Fireworks are M-80's. The closest state where they are legal is Pennsylvania.
"Well, we certainly wouldn't rule it out," in regard to South Park Comedy Central.
"We're still examining the [yellow] alarms clocks, batteries... the detonator was the 16-ounce can..."
Alleged fertilizer "from a grocery store." "Had a pot... with additional M-88s, in the pot."
Eight bags were grocery store bags, not marked as fertilizer.
Not ruling out Viacom. Reveals picture of the alarm clock. Alarm "is set at Midnight... other clock was damaged..."
"I'm telling you this is what we found." "Okay, thank you very much."[This is the original submission. To read hopefully accurate updates, please scroll... more
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Right now everyone is watching the US assist the Yemeni effort to hammer the living crap out of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. "It's a new front in the war on terrorism!" crowed prominent news bloggers (me, last week). But this week, I want to look at another geographic clue that's come from two recent Al Qaeda-related attacks: Africa.
The Underpants Bomber (never gets old) was from Nigeria. Much has been made of his visit to Yemen and his contacts with Al Qaeda. But the chilling part of the story to me is that even after his own father ratted him out as a potential terrorist he was still able to fly into the US.
Sure, sure, one time incident. But just this last week a Somali man nearly assassinated one of the Danish cartoonists responsible for controversial depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. The assailant was also apparently connected to Al Qaeda. He was also apparently suspected of terrorist intentions. He was on a terrorism watch list in Kenya. And he too gained a visa that allowed him to attempt an act of terrorism in a Western country.
That's two pretty big slip-ups in as many weeks. Why? Is it possible counter-terrorism officials aren't paying attention to Africa?
Recently on the Current News Blog:
- The Burj Dubai opens - Photos
- 2010: Same sh*t, different year? - Real Recovery
- Get to know Yemen: The new hot front in the war on terror
- China executes British national, flexes its diplomatic muscle?
- Five years since the tsunamiRight now everyone is watching the US assist the Yemeni effort to hammer the living... more
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"Corporate Water-Boarding Services" >> http://ow.ly/18wV0
The Truth shall set us all Free
The act of "Water-Boarding" has been ruled on by Bush and Cheney's legal lap-dogs ** "John C. Yoo and Jay S. Bybee" as safe & humane technique for man woman & child.... So because of these legal lap dogs personal subversion of legal argument and the fabric of law, Now, Water-Boarding is 100% Legal in the USA.
This currently being the case... As entrepreneurs, we all need to take a good look at this new business model. As entrepreneurs, it is our responsibility to take this business model to the next level. Our objective is to bring water-boarding back home to the American People and make it a viable profitable business and most of all.... make it assessable to all citizens!
As I discovered first hand.... "The Judicial System is Corrupt to the Core. Today... we have the best justice money can buy. Because of corporate legal corruption, our right to justice is either... not administered equally or, with a wink and a nod... denied altogether. ( As it was in my case. http://ow.ly/13Hy8 )
By design... our right to justice was stolen from us. We have lost "equal justice under the law". Currently our legal system doesn't work for the little guy anymore, only for the corporate lawyers.
Because of that, I now am now open to try something new, something to balance the scales of justice. Something exciting and something ruled by the US Justice Department as safe and legal.
There is a saying where I come from. "Give people enough rope to hang themselves." So, in our case... with Water-Boarding... We can now legally give people enough water... to make them drink their own words!
At this point, I would like to welcome you to a new and exciting business model...
"Corporate Water-Boarding Services" >> http://ow.ly/18wV0
** http://current.com/18l8s4c
."Corporate Water-Boarding Services" >> http://ow.ly/18wV0
The... more
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Please note that in the article that follows, I am not claiming that the U.S. Government knew Mutallab had a bomb or intended to hurt anyone on Flight 253 when the U.S. Government let him board.
Since our flight landed on Christmas Day, Lori and I have been doing everything in our power to uncover the truth about why we were almost blown up in the air over Detroit. The truth is now finally out after the publication of the following Detroit News article:
For the full SHOCKING STORY and VIDEO of Witness....http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/americans-u-s-government-agent-aided-underwear-bomber-onto-flight-253-the-sharp-dressed-man/Please note that in the article that follows, I am not claiming that the U.S.... more
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THE INEVITABLE ABUSES.... Try to contain your surprise.
The FBI illegally collected more than 2,000 U.S. telephone call records between 2002 and 2006 by invoking terrorism emergencies that did not exist or simply persuading phone companies to provide records, according to internal bureau memos and interviews. FBI officials issued approvals after the fact to justify their actions.
E-mails obtained by The Washington Post detail how counterterrorism officials inside FBI headquarters did not follow their own procedures that were put in place to protect civil liberties. The stream of urgent requests for phone records also overwhelmed the FBI communications analysis unit with work that ultimately was not connected to imminent threats.
A Justice Department inspector general's report due out this month is expected to conclude that the FBI frequently violated the law with its emergency requests, bureau officials confirmed.
Bush administration officials used the cloak of counter-terrorism to abuse civil liberties, ignore the law, and violate Americans' privacy? Imagine that.
Remind me again, conservatives, about how the public is worried about President Obama increasing the size of government and infringing on the public's rights.
Post Script: The WaPo article was co-written by John Solomon, up until recently the editor of the far-right Washington Times. He's listed as a "freelance journalist," but I have to admit, I didn't expect to see him be welcomed back into the fold so quickly.THE INEVITABLE ABUSES.... Try to contain your surprise.
The FBI illegally... more
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Weather modification and warfare are a reality. Climate Change theorists that stand to gain off of Climate Change regulation are also connected with the CIA, military, and the White House. Since we know the technology is out there and being used, why don't we use it to reverse Global Warming?
I believe the reason we are not doing this is because exactly the opposite is being done. Yes, I believe that not only is the technology being used as a weapon but also to stoke the flames of fear over Climate Change in order to gain control and money. This may seem outrageous but it is entirely possible and admitted by at least China, Russia and the U.S.
It is illogical to believe that we have this technology and haven't brought that to the table as a possible solution or contribution. Unless, both the technology and the intent are that this is to be used to create crises and perpetuate Global Warming fears.
So, I ask you to watch the video and this one linked here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AutoActionCam#p/c/64B47E9DBD5B853A/2/WjNDstd1XHM
Then, tell me your opinion, are governments creating Global Warming with weather modification technology to take more of your money and your liberties?
I think the evidence and logic points to yes.
"Others [terrorists] are engaging even in an eco-type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves... So there are plenty of ingenious minds out there that are at work finding ways in which they can wreak terror upon other nations...It's real, and that's the reason why we have to intensify our [counterterrorism] efforts." Secretary of Defense William Cohen at an April 1997 counterterrorism conference sponsored by former Senator Sam Nunn.
See www.weatherwars.info for more information on this subject
Maybe it's time for us to re-think where the worst terrorism is coming from...?
Christopher Hignite
Monkey Press 2010Weather modification and warfare are a reality. Climate Change theorists that stand to... more
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