A Liberal's View : Whistleblowers

Showing posts with label Whistleblowers. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

No Single Hour

I've been listening to NPR since 2005. No one hour so changed my life, as the segment about Covering the Manning Trial in the March 15, 2013 episode of the weekly Media show On The Media. The rest of the episode covered the 10th Anniversary of the Iraq War, and other issues related to Manning and Wikileaks.

Actually looking for the podcast, this turned out to be a 6 minute segment in a longer hour on the 10th anniversary on the Iraq War here is the full hour

Here is the full leaked audio from the trial, Manning's full statement explaining motivation and how the leaks were made to Wikileaks link

A Brief Diversion on Laura Poitras
Laura Poitras on Democracy Now! in 2012
I didn't really notice Laura Poitras until Snowden revelations, where she was the one who filmed Snowden in Hong Kong. I didnt notice her name on the short film on Manning and I completely missed her NYT OpDoc called "The Program", about her profile of NSA insider Bill Binney from August 2012 until after Snowden either. I call 2012 the "hidden year" of NSA warnings before Snowden, because of the election and Newtown, most of America was focused on other issues until Snowden----now I just say most still are ignoring it, or Media reports it with errors and focuses on wrong issues.

After this episode I learned more about Alexa O'Brien Archives, Kevin Gosztola website, and others reporting on the Trial, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Center for Constitutional Rights, learned more about Wikileaks, and other people and cases like Jeremy Hammond, PayPal14, Barrett Brown, Aaron Swartz, Obama's War on Whistleblowers, etc. No other hour I have listened to lead to so many other issues, people, leading me to look back at the other side of the Obama Administration.

From December 3 2012-----which I saw later in 2013
Must See Event for Manning with Mike Ratner and David Coombs

I paid more attention to drones, GITMO, deportations, and what Obama was actually doing, as opposed to solely what the Administration and media said.

The constant and outlandish attacks from the GOP and Fox News, and the constant praise from Democrats and MSNBC, only told part of the story. Obama was not as the GOP said a "Kenyan Muslim Socialist who wanted to destroy America" nor as the Democrats said a "liberal moderate who is constantly blocked by GOP opposition in Congress" to the effect that he can't get anything done.

It turns out Obama is really a moderate who has continued or expanded many of Bush's policies, isn't really doing to much domestically, or what he is doing is almost the least he can do, with or without GOP opposition. I have noticed and been critical of his double speak, hypocrisies and lies, all since looking into the Manning trial, and the people and issues surrounding it.

I joined Twitter in October 2011, shortly after Occupy Wall Street became famous in the media, and my first tweet was simply "I'm supporting Occupy Wall Street." It was only later that I began to see more clearly that Occupy was a critic of the Obama administration. I began blogging in December 2012, mostly as a way to write more, since Twitter limits you to 140 characters. Most of my tweets are comments or thoughts on issues, or often collections of articles on an issue, or I link issues together into a larger issue or comment.

Most of 2013 my blog posts and tweets were focused on the economy, guns after the Newtown shooting, how crazy the GOP is, and lately more issues on NSA, foreign policy.

TWITTER Libdem2 Twitter and Libdemwasjailed Twitter

TWITTER SEARCH

BLOGS LibdemTweets Blog and A Liberal's View Blog

some older examples show what I was focusing on before March 2013, and even after Snowden in some cases

an outlier----from January 2013, http://lib2view.blogspot.com/2013/01/mad-at-obama-happy-with-bush.html

http://lib2view.blogspot.com/2013/05/gop-admissions-and-my-comments.html

http://lib2view.blogspot.com/2013/07/romney-and-bain-versus-obama-and.html

http://lib2view.blogspot.com/2013/06/congress-is-one-on-welfare.html

Versus newer posts that criticize Obama more openly

http://libdemtweets.blogspot.com/2014/01/mlk-2014.html

http://lib2view.blogspot.com/2013/08/my-letter-to-president-obama.html

http://lib2view.blogspot.com/2014/02/comments.html

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Leakers are ignored whistleblowers

Those who leak are ignored whistleblowers, who have followed legal regulations for reporting illegal activity.

Edward Snowden leaked documents to Glenn Greenwald at the Guardian, who shared them with New York Times, Guardian, and Der Spiegal as well as Barton Gellman at the Washington Post.

The New York Times published a story in December 2005 that the Bush Administration was wiretapping Americans without warrants.

Chelsea Manning gave documents to Wikileaks, who shared them with New York Times, Guardian, and Der Spiegal.

Daniel Ellsberg gave the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times.

These are all famous leakers, people with inside access to national security secrets, who when they saw abuse, shared it with the public through the press.

But it is not that simple. There was a long process that lead to their decisions to go to the press in order to get the story out.

I have pointed out many times that those who leak to the press are ignored whistleblowers.

Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Daniel Ellsberg had worked in defense and at RAND for many years
consulting with Air Force generals during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis (Brothers, pg 172)

he was writing intelligence reports on Vietnam for the Department of Defense in the summer of 1965 (Young pg 168)

Ellsberg was knowledgable about the Vietnamese countryside, working with Robert Komer at CORDS in 1966 (Young pg 212)

Ellsberg was once an advisor to Henry Kissinger (Young 259)

Robert McNamara tasked Leslie Gelb with coordinating the Pentagon Papers report. (Young pg 211)

HERE.... In mid 1969 Ellsberg and 5 RAND colleagues wrote a letter to Nixon protesting the President's war policy. (Young 259)

Ellsberg first gave the Pentagon Papers to Senator Fullbright in November 1969, but Congress was unsure what to do with them, especially after the Secretary of Defense refused to declassify them. (Young 259)

In 1964 Ellsberg had served as government spokesman at the very first anti war teach-in. (Young, 259)

Ellsberg told Seymour Hersh that he had served 15 years, a system that lies automatically from top to bottom to protect a cover-up murder. (Young 259)

For the long story of how the Pentagon Papers made their way slowly to the New York Times, listen to the Democracy Now! program here. It was a long process to get the story out to the public in the New York Times.

And there is also the effort by the government to discredit whistleblowers:

Nixon called the Pentagon Papers the "Kennedy/Johnson Papers" as a way to link the war politically to Democrats (Young 260)

Ellsberg was to be prosecuted for releasing the actual documents, while E Howard Hunt, one of the Watergate Burglars, was tasked with forging cables that would tie President John F Kennedy to the murder of [South Vietnam prime minister] Diem. (Young pg 261) see more on Diem here

Erlichman said Ellsberg "was a fanatic, known to be a drug abuser" (quoted in Young, 261 but Brothers pg 370 corroborates Ellsberg's LSD use day RFK was killed)
but of course I will add that there was no problem with Ellsberg for 15 years, until he broke with govt policy, as is always the case with insiders who turn against wrong policies.

Ellsberg has done many interviews and debates since the Snowden revelations came out.

EDWARD SNOWDEN

Going through official channels achieved nothing Boing Boing quoting NYT interview

he discovered flaws in the software of the C.I.A.’s personnel Web applications that would make them vulnerable to hacking. He warned his supervisor, he said, but his boss advised him to drop the matter and not rock the boat. After a technical team also brushed him off, he said, his boss finally agreed to allow him to test the system to prove that it was flawed.

Daily Tech

Reportedly his supervisor found strong evidence that he had been trying to break into systems and files that he did not have access to (top-secret security access, after all, is relatively limited as at most agencies you only have access to the data you're working directly with). Combined with his increasingly standoffish behavior, his supervisor wrote a derogatory report in his personnel file (called a "derog" in federal government jargon) and convinced CIA officials to relieve him from his post and ship him back home to the U.S.

Former NSA top executive and Whistleblower Thomas Drake, who was prosecuted as a spy for his whistleblowing activies, agrees with Snowden, writing (bold is my emphasis)

The NSA programs that Snowden has revealed are nothing new: they date back to the days and weeks after 9/11. I had direct exposure to similar programs, such as Stellar Wind, in 2001. In the first week of October, I had an extraordinary conversation with NSA's lead attorney. When I pressed hard about the unconstitutionality of Stellar Wind, he said:

"The White House has approved the program; it's all legal. NSA is the executive agent."
It was made clear to me that the original intent of government was to gain access to all the information it could without regard for constitutional safeguards. "You don't understand," I was told. "We just need the data."

continued

Stellar Wind was a highly secret program that, without warrant or any approval from the Fisa court, gave the NSA access to all phone records from the major telephone companies, including US-to-US calls. It correlates precisely with the Verizon order revealed by Snowden; and based on what we know, you have to assume that there are standing orders for the other major telephone companies.

continued

I took my concerns up within the chain of command, to the very highest levels at the NSA, and then to Congress and the Department of Defense. I understand why Snowden has taken his course of action, because he's been following this for years: he's seen what's happened to other whistleblowers like me.By following protocol, you get flagged – just for raising issues. You're identified as someone they don't like, someone not to be trusted.

AND AFTER TRYING TO TELL NSA IG AND CONGRESS ABOUT ABUSE FOR YEARS, Thomas Drake was ignored for too long.

I reached a point in early 2006 when I decided I would contact a reporter.

NYT writes Edward Snowden is a WhistleBlower NYT

Chelsea Manning (formerly known as Bradley Manning)

Wikileaks source for Afghan War Logs, Iraq War Logs, Diplomatic Cables, Collateral Murder Video

For extensive coverage of Manning and Wikileaks and the Trial against them by the US Government, see Alexa O'brien at her Website

Here is the Manning Chat with convicted hacker Adrian Lamo, who turned Manning in after Manning admitted to leaking documents to Wikileaks published by WIRED

(12:15:11 PM) bradass87: hypothetical question: if you had free reign over classified networks for long periods of time… say, 8-9 months… and you saw incredible things, awful things… things that belonged in the public domain, and not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington DC… what would you do?
(12:16:38 PM) bradass87: or Guantanamo, Bagram, Bucca, Taji, VBC for that matter…
(12:17:47 PM) bradass87: things that would have an impact on 6.7 billion people
(12:21:24 PM) bradass87: say… a database of half a million events during the iraq war… from 2004 to 2009… with reports, date time groups, lat-lon locations, casualty figures… ? or 260,000 state department cables from embassies and consulates all over the world, explaining how the first world exploits the third, in detail, from an internal perspective?

Here are excerpts from Manning's statement to the court explaining her actions

I believed that if the general public, especially the American public, had access to the information contained within the [Iraq and Afghan War Logs] this could spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general as well as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Manning speaks about trying to give documents to several newspapers

At my aunt’s house I debated what I should do with the SigActs, in particular whether I should hold on to them or disclose them to a press agency. At this point I decided that it made sense to expose the SigAct tables to an American newspaper. I first called my local newspaper, The Washington Post, and spoke with a woman saying that she was a reporter. I asked her if the Washington Post would be interested in receiving information that would have enormous value to the American public. Although we spoke for about five minutes concerning the general nature of what I possessed, I do not believe she took me seriously. She informed me that the Washington Post would possibly be interested, but that such decisions were made only after seeing the information I was referring to and after consideration by the senior editors.
I then decided to contact the largest and most popular newspaper, The New York Times. I called the public editor number on the New York Times website. The phone rang and was answered by a machine. I went through the menu section for news tips. I was routed to an answering machine. I left a message stating I had access to information about Iraq and Afghanistan that I believed was very important. However, despite leaving my Skype phone number and personal email address, I never received a reply from The New York Times.
I also briefly considered dropping into the office for the political commentary blog Politico, however the weather conditions during my leave hampered my efforts to travel. After these failed efforts I ultimately decided to submit the materials to the WLO [WikiLeaks Organization]. I was not sure if the WLO would even actually publish the SigAct tables. I was concerned that they might not be noticed by the American media. However, based upon what I had read about the WLO through my research described above, this seemed to be the best medium for publishing this information to the world within my reach.

Chelsea Manning writes to TIME Magazine for Thanskgiving, what she is thankful for here

So those who go to the press, which is legally protected to publish government secrets under the 1st Amendment, and does so all the time, only do so after either going through the legal internal chains to report abuse, as Jeffrey Toobin and NSA defenders in Congress and the Intelligence Community say Snowden should have done, or after being ignored over a long period of time, usually several years, or waiting for policies to change.

Senator Ron Wyden considered for a long time leaking NSA abuse on the Senate Floor, and is legally allowed to do so under the Senate Rules

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/317319-wyden-considered-disclosing-nsa-secrets-on-senate-floor

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a longtime critic of the National Security Agency's (NSA) surveillance programs, told Rolling Stone that he considered disclosing classified information on the Senate floor prior to the leaks by former contractor Edward Snowden.
The Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution shields members of Congress from prosecution for statements that they enter into the Congressional Record.

And then there are "official leaks" by Administration officials, which makes the govt look good--I guess since no documents are released to the press, this is OK, as it happens all the time with no consequences WaPo story

“Shihata is among the few remaining members of al-Qaeda’s old guard,” said a U.S. counterterrorism official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of not having authorization to talk publicly about the movements of the al-Qaeda figures.

CSM story

A senior U.S. law enforcement official said Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was taken alive overnight in the beach resort town. The official was not authorized to discuss the arrest and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin is retiring now after 40 years in Congress. Before he was elected himself, he served another US Congressman. Harkin was fired when he saw abuse in Vietnam and went to Life Magazine with the pictures. He was told at the time that "he would never work in DC again."

Here he talks about "not always trusting what your government tells you about 'the enemy'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3GrKX1jATXA

https://www.harkin.senate.gov/issue/protection/

Senator Harkin's commitment to human rights came into focus in 1970, when he went to Vietnam as a young Congressional staffer on a "fact finding" mission. Unfortunately, when Harkin stumbled on some horrifying cases of abuse, many delegation members did not want to face the facts. Harkin went to Con Son Island, where the South Vietnamese government was keeping hundreds of political prisoners in "tiger cages" in the ground, shackled and living in unspeakable squalor. When he returned to the States, despite the objections of his superiors, Harkin spoke out. His photographs of the tiger cages were published in Life magazine, and for his courage, he was fired.

http://www.historiansagainstwar.org/resources/torture/luce.html

The Tiger Cages
In 1970, President Nixon sent a delegation of ten Congressmen to Viet Nam to investigate pacification. A part of their mandate included a visit to a prison in South Viet Nam as a way to be allowed to visit a prison where U.S. POWs were held in the North.
Tom Harkin, then an aide to the congressional group, convinced two of the Congressmen to investigate stories of torture in the Tiger Cages off the coast of Viet Nam (the French built them in 1939 to hold political opponents; similar ones in French Guinea became famous in the movie Papillion, starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman). The congressman requisitioned a plane for the 200-mile trip to Con Son Island. I was asked to go as an interpreter and specialist in Vietnamese prisons. At that time I was working for the World Council of Churches.
On the way out Frank Walton, the U.S. prison advisor, described Con Son as being like "a Boy Scout Recreational Camp." It was, he said, "the largest prison in the Free World."
We saw a very different scene when we got to the prison. Using maps drawn by a former Tiger Cage prisoner, we diverted from the planned tour and hurried down an alleyway between two prison buildings. We found the tiny door that led to the cages between the prison walls. A guard inside heard the commotion outside and opened the door. We walked in.
The faces of the prisoners in the cages below are still etched indelibly in my mind: the man with three fingers cut off; the man (soon to die) from Quang Tri province whose skull was split open; and the Buddhist monk form Hue who spoke intensely about the repression of the Buddhists. I remember clearly the terrible stench from diarrhea and the open sores where shackles cut into the prisoners' ankles. "Donnez-moi de l'eau" (Give me water), they begged. They sent us scurrying between cells to check on other prisoners' health and continued to ask for water.
The photos that Harkin, today a U.S. Senator from Iowa, took were printed in Life Magazine (July 17, 1970). The international protest which resulted brought about the transfer of the 180 men and 300 women from the Cages. Some were sent to other prisons. Some were sent to mental institutions.

Harkin we will miss you and your courage

He wrote about the experience in a cover story for The Progressive in October 1970 called “Vietnam Whitewash: The Congressional Jury That Convicted Itself.” He said he couldn’t ignore the voices of the prisoners in the tiger cages begging him to tell their stories. And he also said: “One man can stand up and make a difference.”

If only Snowden, Manning, were senators at the time they spoke out........

Friday, October 18, 2013

Chelsea (Bradley) Manning

Chelsea (Bradley) Manning has been senteced to 35 years in prison for being a source to Wikileaks, a charge Manning plead guilty to and admitted. Manning was motivated by conscience---seeing war crimes being committed and after trying to get the Washington Post and other papers to report the story, Manning went to Wikileaks---publishing the Collateral Murder video, Iraq and Afghan war logs, and State Department Diplomatic Cables.

The information helped start the Arab Spring, and showed the world the true story of the US government. The information that the government kept secret from the American people hid the true cost of the wars, and Manning and Wikileaks showed the American people and the world the truth about what the government was doing in our name. The release of the information caused no harm, and even the government admitted this during the 3 month trial---which was also kept from the public!!! (except for a few DEDICATED journalists and the Freedom of the Press Foundation link here)

Learn more about Manning and Wikileaks PDF here

What Wikileaks revealed PDF here

Manning was held in pretrial confinement for over 3 years, in conditions defined as torture by the UN, and was given 112 days credit during sentencing by Judge Colonel Lind---but that is not enough.

Major General Jeffery Buchanan has the power to reduce Manning's sentence and YOU can help by writing a letter for leniency.

PLEASE take a minute to write a letter. Write a letter for Chelsea Manning

The basics of the letter Sample Letter PDF

Your Name (can be Anonymous)

To
Major General Jeffrey S. Buchanan
Commanding General, US Army Military District of Washington

Today's Date

Dear Major General Buchanan

I write to urge you to use your authority as the Convening Authority in the case of US v. Bradley E. Manning to reduce Private Manning’s 35 year sentence to time served, and upgrade his “Dishonorable Discharge.”

Pvt. Manning has been punished enough for violating military regulations in the course of being true to his conscience. I urge you to use your authority as Convening Authority to reduce Pvt. Manning’s sentence to time served.

He was denied a speedy trial in violation of Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 10

Prosecutors changed the Charge Sheet to match the evidence presented, even after the prosecution and defense rested their cases.

Subjected to illegal pretrial confinement of approximately 9 months at Quantico Marine Base, Virginia, in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice Article 13, facts confirmed by both the United Nation’s lead investigator on torture and military judge Col. Lind, as evidenced by the 112 days credit Col. Lind gave Manning in his sentence.

You can sign the letter using Adobe PDF and can reate a PDF online here

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Journalism is NOT Terrorism

JOURNALISM IS NOT TERRORISM

DEFINITION OF JOURNALISM--link here

a : the collection and editing of news for presentation through the media

b : the public press

c : an academic study concerned with the collection and editing of news or the management of a news medium

a : writing designed for publication in a newspaper or magazine

b : writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation

c : writing designed to appeal to current popular taste or public interest

JOURNALISM Concise Encyclopedia

Collection, preparation, and distribution of news and related commentary and feature materials through media such as pamphlets, newsletters, newspapers, magazines, radio, film, television, and books. The term was originally applied to the reportage of current events in printed form, specifically newspapers, but in the late 20th century it came to include electronic media as well. It is sometimes used to refer to writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation. Colleges and universities confer degrees in journalism and sponsor research in related fields such as media studies and journalism ethics.

Principles of Journalism

DEFINITION OF TERRORISM-- link here
the use of violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal

What is the definition of terrorism? link here

There is no single, universally accepted definition of terrorism. There are many reasons for this (not the least of which is the cliche “one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter”). Even different agencies of the US government have different working definitions. Most definitions usually have common elements, though, oriented around terrorism as the systematic use of physical violence–actual or threatened–against non-combatants but with an audience broader than the immediate victims in mind, to create a general climate of fear in a target population, in order to effect some kind of political and/or social change.

Terrorism by nature is difficult to define. Acts of terrorism conjure emotional responses in the victims (those hurt by the violence and those affected by the fear) as well as in the practioners. Even the U.S. government cannot agree on one single definition. The old adage, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” is still alive and well. Listed below are several definitions of terrorism. For the purposes of the Terrorism Research Center, we have adopted the definition used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

FBI Definition

Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

Definitions of Terrorism differ by different US Govt Agencies

Louise Richardson Author of What Terrorists Want
PDF Summary of the Book: Terrorism---Who What and Why

Journalism IS NOT Terrorism

Roll Call link here
When the Justice Department admitted to gathering months of records from more than 20 Associated Press telephone lines, it startled average Americans and the established media alike. It was a dangerous overreach by the DOJ, whose powers are strictly limited under its own guidelines for issuing subpoenas to the news media for testimony and evidence.

Congress responded to this gross executive overreach by seeking to codify legal protections for journalists and their sources, but despite the best of intentions, they’re missing the mark in their attempt to create a tight definition of a “journalist.”

The Founding Fathers explicitly protected the press in the First Amendment because it is such a critical service to a free society, but they were smart enough not to define what “the press” was. Journalism is society’s greatest safeguard against government abuse, and Congress should seek to protect it in all its forms, and not define it to fit their own devices.

Rachel Maddow---Journalism is not terrorism VIDEO here

The Guardian----Is Glenn Greenwald's journalism now viewed as a 'terrorist' occupation?
David Miranda's detention shows that being the partner of the man who interviewed the NSA whistleblower is enough to see you treated like a terrorist. His "offense" under the 2000 Terrorism Act was apparently to be the partner of a journalist, Glenn Greenwald, who had reported for the Guardian on material released by the American whistleblower, Edward Snowden. link here

Freedom of the Press Foundation link here

United Nations link here
4 September 2013 – Two United Nations independent experts today called on the United Kingdom to ensure journalists can perform investigative work without fear of intimidation, and stressed that national security concerns do not justify curtailing press freedom.

“The protection of national security secrets must never be used as an excuse to intimidate the press into silence and backing off from its crucial work in the clarification of human rights violations,” the Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue, said. “The press plays a central role in the clarification of human rights abuses.”

Committee to Protect Journalists link here

CPJ research has tracked a significant rise in journalist imprisonments since 2000, a year before the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States fueled the expansion of anti-terrorism and national security laws worldwide. The number of journalists jailed worldwide hit 232 in 2012, 132 of whom were held on anti-terror or other national security charges.

Anderson Cooper with Glenn Greenwald and David Miranda VIDEO here

The Journalist and The Terrorist JM Berger vs Jihadis

JM Berger Biography

Journalist: JM Berger, Terrorist: Omar Hammami

NPR interview with JM Berger
counterterrorism expert J.M. Berger, author of Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam

Article by JM Berger
""I don't know exactly when I began to worry I had become friends with a terrorist. Believe it or not, this kind of thing happens to people relatively often.

JM Berger---""So you want to go hunting for jihadis on Twitter. You see an intriguing account. So you click follow and sit back to watch. Easy right? Think twice.""
http://news.intelwire.com/2013/09/ive-got-little-list.html

The Case of Barrett Brown
Journalist and Activist being prosecuted by US Government

Democracy Now! report from July 11, 2013 link here
Journalist Barrett Brown spent his 300th day behind bars this week on a range of charges filed after he used information obtained by the hacker group Anonymous to report on the operations of private intelligence firms. Brown faces 17 charges ranging from threatening an FBI agent to credit card fraud for posting a link online to a document that contained stolen credit card data.

On The Media interview about Barrett Brown

FAIR blog post

NYT article by David Carr on Barrett Brown Case

VICE interview with Barrett Brown from Prison

What in the Age of Wikileaks is Journalism??
https://www.eff.org/mention/who-wiki-age-journalist

Michael Hastings under investigation by FBI
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/9/9/fbi-releases-redacteddocumentonmichaelhastings.html

Denny Argall, the FBI'S public liaison officer, wrote that after the agency searched for responsive records it located one "cross reference" file pertaining to a pending criminal investigation. The FBI would not comment further about the nature of the probe.

One of the excerpts in the FBI document is completely redacted and marked "S" (for "secret") and "Per Army," under an exemption aimed at protecting national security. Additional redactions were used to protect techniques and procedures for law-enforcement investigations and prosecutions.

The documents revealed that on June 11, 2012, the FBI's Washington field office opened a file and submitted "unclassified media articles" to it in order "to memorialize controversial reporting by Rolling Stone magazine on June 7, 2012."

Jeff Light, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney who filed the FOIA lawsuit, suggested opening such files on reporters was not common. "It's interesting [that] the FBI memorializes controversial reporting," he said.

The FBI documents also stated that in addition to Hastings' report, the agency also submitted one copy of a "blog entry relative to the aforementioned articles" and "one copy of Emails Express Discontent," which is an article about Bergdahl published on June 7, 2012 by the Associated Press that was based on Hastings' Rolling Stone report.

The "blog entry," however, appeared to be lifted from the comments section of the Idaho Statesman newspaper. The comment was apparently written by Gary Farwell, the father of Matthew Farwell, who contributed reporting to the Rolling Stone story and is identified at the bottom of the story as "a former soldier who deployed to Afghanistan."

FBI FOIA DOCUMENT -----Thanks to Jason Leopold

FULL FBI FOIA RELEASE -----its missing the declaration, Jason Leopold has told me.

FBI FOIA DECLARATION

FBI uses informants, invents acts of terrorism arresting wrong people link here
The guy who convinced the plotters to blow up a big bridge, led them to the arms merchant, and drove the team to the bomb site was an FBI informant. The merchant was an FBI agent. The bomb, of course, was a dud.

PAID INFORMANTS are not whistleblowers NYPD and Muslims ACLU
Radio show on informants

Whistleblower
Thomas Drake NSA Whistleblower and American Hero C-SPAN

Peter Jouvenal (photographer, on the right) Peter Bergen (2nd from right) Peter Arnett (1st on left) of CNN interview Al Qaeda founder and leader Osama bin Laden in 1997 (video interview here)

Peter Bergen has reported on al-Qaeda, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and counterterrorism and homeland security for a variety of American newspapers and magazines Wikipedia

No one knows more about Osama bin Laden than Peter Bergen. In 1997, well before the West suddenly became aware of the world’s most sought-after terrorist, Bergen met with him and has followed his activities ever since. link here

Peter Bergen Photo Gallery

Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees have their phones wiretapped for ""talking to terrorists"" link

from the radio program This American Life, episode This Week (June 13, 2013) the week Edward Snowden's NSA leaks came out. Transcript, Act One

FBI listens to phone calls of Journalist Lawrence Wright
my blog post here

I [Wright] talk about two members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force who came to my office to ask about phone calls that I made to a number in London. It belonged to a solicitor who represented some of the jihadis I had been interviewing. During the course of the conversation, they asked who “Caroline Wright” was. That’s my daughter. She was a university student at the time, not living at home. None of our phones were registered in her name. The only way I could imagine that they got her name was by listening to my phone calls.
Before this episode, I had been told by a source at the Counter-Terrorism Center that my source had seen a summary of a telephone interview I had with Zawahiri’s cousin in Cairo. At the time, I figured that the Egyptians had covered the conversation and supplied it to the CIA. On December 16, 2005, when the New York Times revealed that the NSA was illegally wiretapping Americans, I thought otherwise.
I’m glad the JTTF came to my house to clear this matter up, but it’s an example of the danger of awarding government such extraordinary powers. A simple misunderstanding such as this could easily have led to having Caroline’s name placed on an FBI link chart, only two steps away from Al Qaeda.
One day, Al Qaeda will fade away, but we will still be left with the swollen security state that we’ve created to fight it. That’s another challenge we haven’t begun to face.

2005 Bush Illegal Wiretapping
link here

FIGHTING TO STOP THE 2012 NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) and Section 1021

NDAA Court Document link here

FBI Occupy Wall St Documents link here

NDAA 2nd Court Ruling link here

Letter about NDAA by Alexa O'Brien (select portions are copied here, this is most but not all of the letter)

""US Government was threatening to detain me indefinitely without charge for my work as a journalist and citizen.

Since January 2011, I have covered the WikiLeaks release of US State Department Cables, JTF memoranda known as the 'GTMO files', and revolutions across Egypt, Bahrain, Iran, and Yemen, as well as the legal proceedings against Manning and the US investigation into WikiLeaks. I have interviewed a preeminent US foreign policy expert on the Cambodia cables, and published hours of interviews with former GTMO guards, detainees, defense lawyers, and human rights activists, as well as WikiLeaks media partners: Andy Worthington, a GTMO historian and author, and Atanas Tchobanov, the Balkanleaks' spokesman and co-editor of Bivol.bg.

Why do I do this work? Because it moves me deeply. Because I am compelled to learn and to understand. The positive results of some of my work also grants me a sense of common purpose in service to my fellow man/woman.

When the US Government said in Federal Court that they would not guarantee that I would not be indefinitely detained without charge under Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act FY2012 for articles I had written on the 'War on Terror', you set aside partisanship. You realized that what is as stake is more than an election. What was at stake is the safety of your friend, your daughter, a fellow citizen or journalist, as well as this nation and people across the globe. The NDAA, after all, was passed with bi-partisan support, and signed into law by President Obama.

Court: These people have real things they are saying. These are not speculative or hypotheticals. These are people who have actually written articles that we have here. [The Court then held up the articles written by O'Brien and marked as Court Ex. 3.] We are trying to figure out, are these articles going to subject Ms. O'Brien to risk under § 1021? . . . .

Government: Again, I'm not authorized to make specific representations regarding specific people. I'm saying that 'associated forces' cannot extend to groups that are not armed groups at all.

Court: So we don't know about the articles, it depends?

Government: Maybe they are an armed group.

Judge Forrest wrote:

"O'Brien has written a series of articles already--some of which relate to al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or "associated forces" no matter how defined. The Government was unwilling to state at the hearing that O'Brien would not be detained under § 1021 for her expressive conduct in regard to those articles. Moreover, O'Brien testified that she has withheld at least two articles from publication because of her concerns regarding the potential for her expressive conduct in those articles to render her a "covered person" under §1021 and thereby subject her to military detention."
Section 1021 of the NDAA FY2012 allows for the indefinite detention without charges or trial of anyone, including American citizens, who are deemed by the US Government to be terrorists or terrorist sympathizers. The institutions of civil society - the press and civic square - are now what our military terms an information environment in a global theater of war. The 'War on Terror', our military says, is fought with intelligence and information. And, the US Government has already detained journalists at Guantanamo Bay under the AUMF seeking to gain intelligence on media organizations. The President has already played a personal role in the imprisonment of a journalistcovering the US 'War on Terror' in Yemen.

Government contractors falsely linked a group, which I helped found - whose only purpose is to support campaign finance reform in the United States - to Al Qaeda.

I was sent messages by a Government contractor saying that I was now associated with Al Qaeda and so called 'cyber-terrorists'

Citizenship is a public office, but who among us can risk engaging in the body politic authentically, when we have families to provide for? Who can risk publishing about the workings of Government, our alliances, and wars when you might end up in my position?

No matter what your party affiliation, Section 1021 of the NDAA FY 2012 violates the First and Fifth Amendments to the US constitution, the principles that safeguard the independence of our republic and any real freedom or lasting security for our citizens and all peoples.

From https://www.stopndaa.org/aboutndaa/

“For the first time in American history, we have a law authorizing the worldwide and indefinite military detention of people captured far from any battlefield. The NDAA has no temporal or geographic limitations. It is completely at odds with our values, violates the Constitution, and corrodes our Nation’s commitment to the rule of law.” – The ACLU

Section 1021 defines a “covered person” – one subject to detention – as “a person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or “associated forces” that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces.”

The law, however, does not define the terms “substantially supported,” “directly supported” or “associated forces.” As it stands, the law violates the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th Amendments of the US Constitution and most of the Bill of Rights.

The Lawsuit against NDAA https://www.stopndaa.org/aboutlawsuit/

The Plaintiffs fighting NDAA https://www.stopndaa.org/aboutus/

We are a group of individuals from a wide range of backgrounds who filed suit because we our First Amendment activities have been impinged under the NDAA. Each plaintiff has engaged in expressive activities in defense of civil liberties and human rights that, despite our clear and abiding commitment to these allegedly guaranteed liberties in the US, fall into a gray area under the vague and new sweeping powers granted by the 2012 NDAA.

Chris Hedges is an American journalist, author, and war correspondent, specializing in American and Middle Eastern politics and societies. Hedges is the bestselling author of nine books and is currently a senior fellow at The Nation Institute in New York City. Hedges spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than fifty countries, and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News, and The New York Times. In 2002, Hedges was part of the team of reporters at The New York Times awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism. He also received in 2002 the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism. He has taught at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University and The University of Toronto.

Alexa O’Brien has designed digital content strategy solutions for international governmental organizations and Fortune 500 companies. She founded usdayofrage.org, which endorsed and helped organize the September 17 action to Occupy Wall Street. She has covered WikiLeaks releases and revolutions across Egypt, Bahrain, Iran, and Yemen, as well as Bradley Manning. DHS memos sent to law enforcement across the country stated organizers of US Day of Rage were likely high level cyber terrorists. The media followed suit, publishing those allegations and others, including the groups alleged association with Al Qaeda, jeopardizing Ms. O’Brien’s career, her standing in her community, and her liberty under the 2012 NDAA.

Daniel Ellsberg is a former United States military analyst who, while employed by the RAND Corporation, precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War, to The New York Times and other newspapers. Mr. Ellsberg is publicly supporting PFC Bradley Manning, and has been subjected to arrest at protests. He is 81 years old. Mr. Ellsberg was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 2006. He is one of the most highly lauded government whistle-blowers in US history.

Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, and activist. He us currently a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has taught for fifty years. Dr. Chomsky has gained a worldwide following as a political dissident for his analyses of the pernicious influence of economic elites on U.S. domestic politics and foreign policy. He claims double standards in a foreign policy preaching democracy and freedom for all while allying itself with non-democratic and repressive organizations. According to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index in 1992, Chomsky was cited as a source more often than any other living scholar from 1980 to 1992.

AND MANY OTHERS!!!!

Representative Justin Amash on NDAA
Facebook
Amash NDAA Fact Check Sheet

Stop the NDAA, USA PATRIOT ACT, NSA spying, and any other threat to liberty, democracy and freedom of the press. Treat Journalism as Journalism and Terrorism as Terrorism---They are two very different issues with two very different goals.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Government Lobbying

Goldman Sachs, Oil, GE, Monsanto and everything else (but Israel)

http://fairwhistleblower.ca/content/revolving-door-between-us-government-big-business

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Manning, Snowden, Me

I support Private Manning and Edward Snowden, [as well as other Whistleblowers like Thomas Drake, Bill Binney, J. Kirk Wiebe, Russell Tice]. They went to serve our country after 9/11, interested in public service and protecting national security, working to protect Americans from another attack. Instead they found abuses of power, covering up attacks on civilians, journalists, rescuers and children. Massive data collection on American civilians not accused of any crime, officials lying to the media, American Citizens and our oversight branch of government, Congress.

Journalism is not terrorism and whistleblowers are not spies. I have not seen a case yet where a leaker didnt AT FIRST bring their claims of abuse to the proper channels, trying to make sure they followed the law in reporting abuse, becoming Whistleblowers within their agencies, until their concerns were ignored for too long, told not to worry, its all legal, then they leaked to the press, and now we have the debate that Obama ""welcomes us having.""

Snowden was working for the NSA as a contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton. Manning was in Army Intelligence in Iraq. They both joined to serve their country in the war on terror.

I was a senior in High School when 9/11 happened. I thought about joining the military or CIA and serving my country overseas. I could have been a Manning or a Snowden; a witness to abuse and atrocities and government classification and cover ups, and I would not be able to stay silent.

Open Source Analyst, CIA
https://www.cia.gov/careers/opportunities/analytical/open-source-officer-foreign-media-analyst.html

Are you a news junkie? Do the foreign affairs headlines pull you in? You should consider the CIA's Open Source Center (OSC) for your next career. Hiring Open Source Officers (OSOs) as foreign media analysts, OSC is the Intelligence Community's expert in collecting and analyzing foreign-based, publicly available information. It's about knowing what's going on and what it might mean down the road. To get there, OSOs apply foreign language, area knowledge, and subject matter expertise to review and assess foreign-based websites, social media, and traditional press sources--in short, the vast majority of information generated. Together with OSC's geospatial analysts, cyber specialists, librarians, and data scientists, the challenge is to identify trends, patterns, and relationships that provide unique insights into national security issues.

The candidates need to have a keen interest in foreign affairs demonstrated by formal education or previous life/work experience. They also need strong writing and analytic skills; foreign language proficiency; well developed Internet research skills; excellent communication and English language skills.

State Department
http://careers.state.gov/specialist/career-tracks#it
Information Management Specialist
Information Management Specialists (IMS) manage and operate worldwide information technology infrastructure, including PC local and wide area networks, telecommunications systems, telephone and UHF/VHF programs, and diplomatic pouch and mail services.

IT COULD HAVE BEEN ME, and so I support Manning and Snowden, knowing that they would have supported me.

#Manning #Snowden, #Whistleblowers

BLOW THE WHISTLE!!!

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Encryption Guides

Since Edward Snowden exposed NSA spying with documented proof of its ""collect everything"" mentality---people have been trying to fight back against collection of emails, phone calls and web browsing----below are some guides how to accomplish different forms of encryption, data security and internet security.

Privacy matters and is an important part of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights
The 1st Amendment protects free speech----and the 4th Amendment protects us against unreasonable search and seizure, and requires law enforcement and the government to get warrants from courts, proving they have probable cause to make the search, and it is not unreasonable, and limited---it cannot legally collect everything just in case a crime happens.

""When an Agent Knocks"" by Center for Constitutional Rights When Agent Knocks

a very quick guide to HTTPS, PGP and OTR is here link here

Add on for Browsers First Step VERY SIMPLE Basic Step everyone should do NOW!!!
Install HTTPS Everywhere (for Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox) https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere

Search Engines Also GREAT NEWS is that Google has started to ENCRYPT searches article here

Encrypted Google Search https://encrypted.google.com

Startpage search and proxy https://startpage.com

How StartPage protects Privacy

Also IxQuick search and proxy https://ixquick.com/

IP protection services UltraSurf http://ultrasurf.us/

How to use UltraSurf UltraSurf Video Tutorial

Hide My Ass Proxy service https://hidemyass.com/

PASSWORD security
Passwords are not strong enough---they are too short and most people use things easy to guess
use a Pass PHRASE instead of a pass WORD

Automatic pass phrase generator https://entima.net/diceware/

Or you can use the Diceware word list to create a random grouping of words

you will need a die, or 2 or 3 dice-----roll the dice and write the numbers in groups of 5

so for example you roll 12345 54321 78563 23786 84632

then look up the words that correspond to the numbers you rolled---from 11111 to 66666

Longer Guides Electronic Frontier Foundation here

Freedom of the Press Foundation here

Black Hat Guide https://www.cyberguerrilla.org/a/2012/?p=5905

some more tools here link here

And Here Guide to Tech Tools

Internet Security expert Bruce Shneir's advice link here

EFF 2013 Good tech companies link here

More tools available here Link here for more links

EMAIL security
Make sure only the person you SENT email to can read the email you sent them

5 apps to help you make email encryption easy link here

Encrypted Email using Mozilla Thunderbird and Enigmail add on
Mozilla Thunderbird Download

Enigmail Website

How to Use Thunderbird to Encrypt email

Email Privacy using PGP http://www.gnupg.org/

For Windows http://www.gpg4win.org/index.html

TOR (The Onion Router) NSA HATES TOR----because IT WORKS!!!

NSA document about TOR

NSA tries to attack TOR

History of TOR
State Deptartment helped develop TOR article here
A far-flung group of geeks, supported by the U.S. State Department, has built a tool for anonymous communication that's so secure that even the world's most sophisticated electronic spies haven't figured out how to crack it. That's the takeaway from the latest revelations from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden. The NSA has used aggressive computer attack techniques to monitor people using the Tor network, a service that's funded by the U.S. government and allows users to remain anonymous when they're connected to the Internet. But the agency has not been able to undermine the core of the Tor system, which was developed by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in 2002.

We see the NSA, an agency of the Defense Department, taking actions that are directly at odds with those of the State Department, which for the past few years has spent millions of dollars to develop Tor and other technologies and then distribute them overseas to political dissidents and democracy activists.

TOR the Anonymous web browser
link here Download the Bundle here see video here TOR install video

How to install Tor correctly Link here
http://www.torproject.org

Here is how to do so:
1. Click on “Download TOR”, or “Download”.
2. You will see text that says, “The Tor Browser Bundle contains everything you need … Just extract it and run. Learn more >> LINK HERE

3. Click on this “Learn more” link. for the “Tor Browser Bundle”

6. Run this file.
7. You will be prompted to extract this to a directory. By default, it will be set to C:UsersYouDownloads This is perfectly ok. You can also choose a different directory if you wish.
8. Click “Extract”
That’s it. TOR Browser is NOW installed. Time to test it out!

=== 2 : Using and Testing Tor Browser for the first time ===

Now, inside the “Downloads” folder, double click on the folder called “Tor Browser”.
Lastly, double click on the application: “Start Tor Browser”
When you do, you will see the Vidalia Control Panel appear, and you will observe as you connect to the TOR network.
When this is complete, your web browser will open up and will automatically connect to the web address:
check.torproject.org
This is to confirm that you are in fact using TOR. If you have followed this guide correctly, then you will see the following green text, or something similar:
“Congratulations. Your browser is configured to use Tor.”
Now you can use this web browser the same as any other. You can go to any website you wish, and neither your ISP or anyone else will be able to see where you are going, or what you are doing.

Disk Encryption Options for hiding files on your computer securely
EFF Guide
https://ssd.eff.org/tech/disk-encryption

TrueCrypt
http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads

How to create, test and use True Crypt
Section 4 of this guide https://www.cyberguerrilla.org/a/2012/?p=5905

TAILS (The Amnesiac Live System) an anonymous operating system that runs on Linux
I found it hard to install and set up at first---but this helped
How to install TAILS

Very easy to download, write image to DVD using a copying program, then put in DVD and start computer

Chat and Instant Messages Off the Record Chat with PIDGIN

Pidgin IM Chat https://pidgin.im/

Pidgin OTR link

Pidgin Encryption download here

Press and Internet Freedom Organizations
https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/

https://www.eff.org/

http://www.freedomhouse.org/issues/internet-freedom

http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/our-work/business-and-human-rights/internet-freedom-and-privacy/

I found this easy website to encrypt and decrypt emails
https://www.igolder.com/pgp/encryption/

it works well

First you generate a key to encrypt emails https://www.igolder.com/pgp/generate-key/

just remember to copy and paste ENTIRE KEY to use it

THIS is igolder.com PUBLIC KEY as an example of showing the entire key

If you wish to contact us using PGP-encrypted messages, feel free to use our public PGP key iGolder.asc. If you include your public PGP key, we will provide you an encrypted reply.

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Data Mining is the Issue

ENCRYPTION WORKS!!!!! say goodbye to NSA!!!
https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/encryption-works

https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/sites/default/files/encryption_works.pdf

HERE WE GO AGAIN----JULY FISA 3 MONTH METADATA RENEWAL

of course new info is that they just ask for passwords
http://m.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/07/are-the-feds-asking-tech-companies-for-user-passwords/278126/

DATA MINING IS THE ISSUE---NOT Snowden, Wikileaks, Greenwald, Bush versus Obama, etc.

Amendment 4

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

4th Amendment

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18637/18637-h/18637-h.htm#Page_823

4th Amendment and Electronic Surveillance

http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/electronic_surveillance

4th Amendment Caselaw on Eavesdropping

http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/amdt4frag4_user.html#amdt4_hd37

History of Understanding 4th Amendment and courts
https://ssd.eff.org/wire/govt/wiretapping-protections

FISA court secretly broadens NSA powers

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/us/in-secret-court-vastly-broadens-powers-of-nsa.html

“”All of the current 11 judges, who serve seven-year terms, were appointed to the special court by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., and 10 of them were nominated to the bench by Republican presidents. Most hail from districts outside the capital and come in rotating shifts to hear surveillance applications; a single judge signs most surveillance orders, which totaled nearly 1,800 last year. None of the requests from the intelligence agencies was denied, according to the court.””

COLLECTING THE DATA IS THE ISSUE----
http://jonathanturley.org/2013/07/13/what-arent-they-collecting/

WIRED PROFILE ON NSA DIRECTOR KEITH ALEXANDER---towards waging cyberwar
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/06/general-keith-alexander-cyberwar/all/

NSA says ""we only listen to potential terrorists and those they talk to"" (but actually that's everyone)
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/07/nsa-spokesman-accidentally-admits-that-the-government-is-spying-on-all-americans.html

Meet Judge Roger Vinson

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/06/06/judge-vinson-gets-second-turn-in-spotlight/

BUSH program

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/17/washington/18spycnd.html

FBI and Bush illegal wiretapping program

http://libdem2.blogspot.com/2013/06/fbi-bush-and-illegal-wiretaps.html

Supreme Court Rules GPS tracking is Unconstitutional

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/us/police-use-of-gps-is-ruled-unconstitutional.html?pagewanted=all

NSA General Alexander must correct Fact Sheet

http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/blog/post/wyden-and-udall-to-general-alexander-nsa-must-correct-inaccurate-statement-in-fact-sheet

NSA bulk email collection program