Mike Flynn Invokes OUR Anthrax and Calls Them the Terrorists
In an interview to mark his departure from the Defense Intelligence Agency, General Mike Flynn talks about the increased threats facing the United States.
Here's one:
For instance, we’re doing all we can to understand the outflow of…
All the Torture's that Fit to Call Torture Now Includes US Torture
On Monday in Salon, I said (in part),
[T]he recent history of America’s torture also damns the conventions of journalism that strive so hard for some kind of fake balance that still prefers a term that obscures the truth over one that…
Will Greene's Death Become Symbolic Image for End of US Training Effort in Afghanistan?
Major General Harold J. Greene's death Tuesday in Afghanistan is noted in the press primarily for him being the highest ranking officer killed in Afghanistan or Iraq. It has been pointed out in a few stories that Greene was deputy commander…
A Better Reform than USA Freedom: Get Rid of the FISA Court
As he did once before, John Bates has written a letter in the guise of raising concerns about the resources of the FISA Court (though in this case, not actually raising any such concerns) to provide his -- or someone else's -- policy views on…
The Pearl-Clutchers Normalizing Inflammatory Dog Whistles
As expected, last night Justin Amash held off a challenge from a corporatist Republican, Brian Ellis (though the margin was closer than polls predicted). What has the local punditry surprised, however, is Amash's victory speech, where he attacked…
Government Continues to Freak Out about the Intercept, Raise Its Profile
The Intercept had a story on the content of the government's terrorist watchlist yesterday -- I'll have more to say about the content later. But the government -- largely National Counterterrorism Center -- response to it shows the government…
Keith Alexander's Cyber Circle Jerk Gets Worse
As I noted earlier today, last year Keith Alexander's CyberCommand forces got their asses handed to them by civilians in a cyber war game.
“They were pretty much obliterated,” said one Capitol Hill staffer who attended the exercise. “The…
The President Who Demanded Stanley McChrystal's Resignation Is Not Sheltering the NatSec Bureaucracy
As I have repeatedly noted, I think President Obama will protect John Brennan -- and the CIA more generally -- because of the mutual complicity built in between CIA and the White House over covert ops.
It's not just that CIA knows the full…
If CyberCom Can't Beat Reservists, Why Not Split NSA?
ArmyTimes has a story about how CyberCommand service members took on a team of civilian reservists in a cyber war game last year, the civilians handed the active duty team their ass.
When the military’s top cyberwarriors gathered last…
Breaking: Green on Blue Attack at Afghan Officer Training School, High Ranking Casualties
After there had been a lull in Green on Blue attacks in Afghanistan, I noted in describing an attack late last month that an extra layer of security has been added at training facilities for Afghan National Security Forces, so that foreign…
The Most Transparent Admin Evah™ Boasts of Declassifying 6.2% of Torture Report
As you likely know, when the White House delivered the torture report back to the Senate Intelligence Committee, they discovered that the Intelligence Community had redacted big chunks of the summary. McClatchy's latest report reveals the CIA…
Under Clapper's Continuous Monitoring CIA Could Continuously Monitor SSCI on CIA Network
As I pointed out the other day, the CIA IG Report on spying on the Senate Intelligence Committee appears to say the egregious spying happened after John Brennan told Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss on January 15 CIA had been spying on SSCI.
Agency…
Say, Why Should Mikey Hayden Get a Say on Torture that Purportedly Preceded Him?
My favorite call for John Brennan's head thus far comes from Fred Fleitz, who helped John Bolton sex up WMD claims leading into the Iraq War. He says John Brennan has to resign not just to shore up CIA's relations with Congress, but also NSA's.
I…
US Endangers Public Health Efforts with Spying, Again
Jim and I have both written a bunch about the dangers of using public health campaigns as cover for spying, as CIA did when it asked Dr. Shakeel Afridi to try to collect DNA from those on Osama bin Laden's compound under cover of a hepatitis…
USA Freedom Does Not Rein in the Spies
Honest. I started writing about this David Cole column asking, "Can Congress rein in the spies?" before John Brennan admitted that, contrary to his earlier assurances, his spooks actually had been spying on their Congressional overseers and…
But Brennan Didn't Fuck His Biographer!
President Obama made a bunch of news today with the following.
On Brennan and the CIA, the RDI report has been transmitted, the declassified version that will be released at the pleasure of the Senate committee.
I have full confidence in…
Did ACLU and EFF Just Help the NSA Get Inside Your Smart Phone?
The ACLU and EFF normally do great work defending the Fourth Amendment. Both have fought the government's expansive spying for years. Both have fought hard to require the government obtain a warrant before accessing your computer, cell phone,…
No, We Aren't All Going to Die Because Ebola Patients Are Coming to US for Treatment
With the death toll now over 700 in an Ebola outbreak that has been building since February, Americans are suddenly up in arms about the virus, but only because it was announced yesterday that up to two Americans infected with the virus…
Is CIA's Admission of Spying an Effort to Undercut Whistleblowers?
The CIA spied on Congress! The headlines yesterday read.
By the end of the day, the CIA shared the unclassified summary of Inspector General David Buckley's conclusions.
But the conclusions are a muddle:
Agency Access to Files on the…
Having Been Absolved by DOJ, CIA Now Admits They Illegally Spied on SSCI
When Ron Wyden first asked John Brennan whether CIA had to comply with the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Brennan suggested they didn't have to if they were conducting investigations.
The statute does apply. The Act, however, expressly “does…