CIA Recruits For Sexual Orientation, Not Skill Sets

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central intelligence agency

File this under “Style over substance”:

The cake-eaters running the Central Intelligence Agency are seeking new recruits…but not just anybody will do. CNS is reporting that the agency is actively seeking members of the homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered community. There was a time, when this behavior was heavily stigmatized, that being homosexual could lead to the danger of being blackmailed. It made you a security threat. I would submit, if you are “out”, this isn’t the case and shouldn’t be grounds against employment in the intelligence community. However, it’s also not something that should be considered a plus on your resume, either.

Maybe, instead of half-assed community outreach nonsense, the CIA should be recruiting those knuckledraggers with real skills — the linguists, the con men, the shooters and looters — that are necessary to dealing with modern day threats.

Here’s the Hundred Words Not To Use Online If You Don’t Want to Be Spied On

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data mining, department of homeland security, national security, national security administration, online monitoring

From The Daily Mail:

So don’t talk about the weather…or Tamiflu if you’re sick. Hopefully you didn’t have a “breech” baby or get samonella, or show initiative at work instead of looking at clouds.

Now if the spooks are having a look at this page: You need better data mining software.

Tales From Your Police State: Revenge of the TSA

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police state, transport security administration, tsa

In the wake of the latest blunderwear bombing threat, in which one of our own CIA informant/agents was involved, we have been, once again, saved from terroristic armageddon by the fine people of the Transport Security Administration. That might be overselling it; in actuality, the blueshirts have maintained their quality of service by forcing a Colorado teen with Type 1 diabetes to go through an airport scanner with ier $10,000 insulin pump, which the TSA then promptly destroyed.

UPDATE: At least finally someone’s calling for the resignation of the TSA director. A better idea is to disband the whole agency.

John McCain Is Back…and This Time He Wants Your Interwebz!

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cybersecurity bill, john mccain, police state

That’s right, John “Angry Gnome” McCain wasn’t finished with you when he wrote the National Defense Authorization Act that allowed the military to arrest people inside the United States and detain them indefinitely. (And even if you agree the wording doesn’t allow them to do it to American citizens, just want until they pass the HR3166, the Enemy Expatriation Act…then there’s nothing stopping them.) Now he’s got a new “cybersecurity” bill in the offing.

Under this bill, “data [given “voluntarily” would go to “cybersecurity centers” that specifically include the National Security Agency’s Threat Operations Center and the U.S. Cyber Command Joint Operations Center…” Which is slightly better than Harry Reid’s version, which would have regulators requiring disclosure. As usual, the wording of the bill is hazy enough to allow the government to abuse its authority with impunity.

This dangerous man has been in Congress long enough, Arizona.

Who’s Up For Another War in the Middle East?

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false flag, iran, terrorism

This administration seems to be. New intelligence from the people that brought us Iraq inform us that the Iranians are poised to carry out terrorist acts in the United States and elsewhere. The title of the article says it all — “perceiving a threat from the West.”

Why would that be? Increasingly strict sanctions, heightened rhetoric from the administration, and a series of assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists? (The latter’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not likely to gin up feelings of goodwill from the Iranians.) Meanwhile, pundits will start with the demagoguery over Iran — the “left” Progressives will want to look strong and probably pull a Bush and get us into another conflict to try and insure an Obama win; the “right” Progressives will tell us we have to end the theocratic regime for regional stability and to make the world safe for all.

But neither side (nor will the Iranians) will look to address the fundamental differences between Iran and the West. Let the false flagging begin!

DOD Contractor Ran Off-the-Books Spy Operation to Kill Taliban Militants

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afghanistan, michael furlong

The New York Times broke some of the story, and CNN has some more, which the Pentagon and CIA are both being cagey about.  The central points:  a strategic planner at the Joint Information Operations Warfare Command (Lackland AFB) and former Army officer Michael Furlong, diverted $24 million in funds from their original intended use:  to use open-source intelligence to gain a better understanding of the culture of Afghanistan and Pakistan — specifically to look into the success of development efforts.  An investigation was started because the CIA noted that there were a sudden jump in successful assassinations of Taliban militants on the battlefield (and which had me wondering if this was tied to “breaking of al-Qaida” that the CIA’s Leon Panetta is taking credit for..  The timing of the operations is similar…)

There are two quotes from the CNN story that caught my eye: “Concern within the Central Intelligence Agency about the contract prompted the investigation, officials said.”  “…the story first emerged because the CIA leaked a classified memo written by its station chief in Afghanistan to the Pentagon complaining about Furlong’s activities.”  This is code speak for “Wah!  The military is operating in clandestine operations…and they’re more successful than us…and it our mission to do this and look good!”

This is similar to the issues that surrounded Iran-Contra and a host of Reagan-era programs where black bag operations were funded off the books by diverting funds.  A few of the officers involved in these operations were cashiered and the former commander of SEAL Team 6 was tried for essentially embezzlement, since no receipts were kept for what the operators did with the money.  Is what Furlong did illegal?  Probably…  There are some rules, if I’m not mistaken, about the Pentagon sponsoring clandestine operations; while military personnel can be used, the funds and planning have to go through the Central Intelligence Agency of the new Directorate of national Intelligence.  Was he did wrong?  That remains to be seen.

Instead of hiring locals to collect intelligence on cultural, developmental, and other data for a “winning the hearts and minds” campaign, Furlong instead hired local agents to spy on the Taliban and al-Qaida operations in Afghanistan, to locate those militants, and put paid to them. One of the contractors used by Furlong complained to the NYT, ” We were providing information so they could better understand the situation in Afghanistan, and it was being used to kill people…”

We were killing the enemy on the battlefield in a time of war!  Oh, noes!

Now when I was in army intelligence, all intelligence gathered could be used for force-protection — you found out terrorist X was going to hit base Y…you sent it up the chain to have something down about it.  The issue here may be that Furlong dispatched mercenaries (allegedly) without Pentagon say-so or knowing about it.  Illegal?  Probably…  The wrong thing to do?  I’m coming down on the side of “no.”

The DOD, predictably, is covering their asses as the strategic communications commander, ADM Smith throws Furlong under the bus with the typical “I was immediately uncomfortable”, “I don’t know what they did with the money”, “It’s not my fault” mantra.  What’s likely to happen is that the Congress will turn this into some dog-and-pony show full of angsty anger toward illegal intelligence activities to take the heat off of themselves for their pathetic performance this year.  If they do, we’ll probably get another church Commission/Torrecelli Commission finding that further hampers intelligence operations.

Special Relationship in Jeopardy

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counterterrorism, intelligence community, special relationship

The “special relationship” between the United States and British intelligence is in real danger, some thing, thanks to revelations during the trial of a terrorism suspect in the United Kingdom.  The suspect has made claims that he was beaten and shackled in US custody during his trial (actually, if you have a look about the net for the transcripts, you see he was tortured in Pakistani custody, shackled and subjected to sleep deprivation techniques at Guantanamo.)

However, the exposure of American intelligence sources, and interrogation techniques has opened the question as to whether or not the British intelligence services can or will keep elements of the intelligence process secret.  (As if the massive security lapses of the Cambridge ring that infected SIS and MI5 from the late 1930s on was not enough proof…)  The White House said Wednesday the British court’s judgment to reveal classified information complicates “…our intelligence-sharing relationship.”

As well it should.

al-Qaida Diversifying Their Operations

Into protection and transport of drug smuggling.  Reuters is reporting a “rogue aviation network” including Boeing 727s (which can carry about 10 tons of cargo) is operating as an illicit bridge between drug producing countries in the Andies and the West Coast of Africa.  The Africa end of the operation appears to be Al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

This will continue to muddy the waters for government officials in the United States vis-a-vis response to terrorism; al-Qaida is increasingly involved in organized crime, and I suspect will tend to make law enforcement budget hawks like FBI and DEA see them as residing in their bailiwick, rather than as an intelligence or military matter.

Stanford Publication Mailing List Leads to Phishing Scam

Readers of Stanford’s Chinese Leadership Monitor received emails from a GMail account alleging to be the publisher that included a little surprise…a bot that took over their computers, and looks to be similar to the ghostnet attacks on Google.  The Washington Post has an article about how software manufacturers suspect it to be part of a massive Chinese espionage effort worldwide to improve their economic condition.