Government – Page 528 – Public Intelligence Blog

2013/11/022013/11/02

Marcus Aurelius: Gala for CINCSOC Brings Out Many Failures

07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency, Officers Call

Without comment. PBI should assign appropriate headline.

Washington’s Intelligence Community Comes Out For a Gala “Spy” Prom

The annual OSS Society Donovan Award dinner honored Adm. William H. McRaven

By Carol Ross Joynt

Washingtonian “Capital Comment,” 28 October 2013

No one in the ballroom came right out and shouted, “William McRaven for elected office!” but the idea hovered like a thought bubble over the OSS Society’s William J. Donovan Award Dinner Saturday night, where the commander of US Special Operations was honored—including by President Obama—and even sounded himself a bit like a candidate.

US special operations commander, Adm. William H. McRaven, greets guests at the annual OSS Society dinner, where he was honored with the William J. Donovan Award. Photograph by Carol Ross Joynt.

The annual celebration commemorating the World War II spy agency and predecessor of the CIA—for the intelligence and special operations communities, it’s the prom and the Oscars wrapped in one—is a time for reminiscing and gossiping for both the smooth-skinned, ramrod-spined young operatives and the retired spies and warriors with more medals than hair or teeth. But McRaven, the Navy admiral who oversaw the 2011 Navy SEAL mission that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden and who received the Donovan award, gave this year’s gathering a political edge.

President Obama addressed the audience and the honoree via taped video, his image filling three ceiling-high screens. He called McRaven “one of the finest special operators our nation has ever produced. Few Americans will ever see what you do, but every American is safer because of your service.” Also lauding him in taped messages were two other individuals who were directly involved in the bin Laden mission, former CIA director Leon Panetta and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

A third official who was a player in that historic episode, John Brennan, now director of Central Intelligence, relived the experience in his remarks. He said the deliberations to undertake the mission were “difficult and fraught with uncertainty.” He said there was “a key moment in those deliberations when President Obama seemed to move a step closer to his final decision. It was when Adm. McRaven looked at the President and said, ‘Sir, we can get this job done.’ You could hear a pin drop. It was at that time that everyone in that room knew the decision was made and we were going forward.”

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Gala for CINCSOC Brings Out Many Failures”

2013/11/012013/11/01

Penguin: Our Oath to the Constitution — and Our Failure to Honor that Oath…

Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Military, Peace Intelligence

The old guard, with a touch of guilt and and what remains of integrity, is trying to call a halt to the rape of the Army. The neo-con dead-enders and Obamites feel their wings getting clipped and are enlisting the Barnos to sharpen their beaks.

U.S. war decisions rightfully belong to elected civilian leaders, not the military

By David W. Barno,September 12, 2013

David W. Barno, a retired Army lieutenant general, is a senior adviser and senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. He commanded U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005.

A war the Pentagon doesn’t want

By Robert H. Scales,September 05, 2013

Robert H. Scales, a retired Army major general, is a former commandant of the U.S. Army War College.

Continue reading “Penguin: Our Oath to the Constitution — and Our Failure to Honor that Oath…”

2013/11/01

NIGHTWATCH: Pakistan is NOT Talking to the Taliban (Yet) — Misleading the International Community

08 Wild Cards, Government, Peace Intelligence

Pakistan: Update. Prime Minister Sharif said Thursday that talks with the Pakistani Taliban have started. He provided no details, however, on participants, venues or agendas. Sharif's comments came during a meeting in London with the British deputy prime minister and were released in a statement by the Pakistani High Commission.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, briefing Pakistani lawmakers Thursday, said details of the agenda and the location of government-Taliban talks are being finalized.

Comment: Sharif's assurances to his foreign audiences seem ahead of the facts told his domestic audiences. Talks are not yet taking place, mainly because the Pakistani Taliban have not agreed to them. That is the message of the Interior Minister.

2013/10/31

Owl: Sovietizing the Internet and TV

07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, IO Impotency

Sovietizing the Internet and TV

In connecting the dots, it is evident this remarkable development can only be be a direct consequence of the Powers that Be nervously noticing a significant and on-going abandonment by the populace of corporate controlled, that is, “mainstream” media, in favor of alternative media. Outside of an especially bad false flag attack, it will be in this particular arena – of controlling Internet media – where the bloody fangs of US fascism will first become evident to everyone, even the most sleepy, uninformed and ignorant Americans, which there are very many.

“The Federal Communications Commission will facilitate the government’s prospective sovietization of private sector media with its “Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs,” a survey planned for a field test roll-out in 2014, according to a story posted on The Daily Caller today. The FCC will “collect a remarkably wide range of information on demographics, point of view, news topic selection, management style and other factors in news organizations both in and out of the FCC’s traditional purview,” writes Tim Cavanaugh. “The airwaves regulator would also subject news producers in all media to invasive questioning about their work and content,” a move on a collision course with the First Amendment.

A document prepared by Social Solutions International enumerates the highly intrusive nature of the proposed questioning, including grilling station owners on their political philosophies and asking reporters if proposed stories were rejected by management. “In this study, the FCC will delve into the editorial discretion of newspapers, web sites and radio and TV stations,” Hudson Institute Fellow Robert McDowell, who served as an FCC commissioner from 2009 to 2013, told The Daily Caller. “This starts sticking the government’s nose into what has traditionally been privileged and protected ground. Regardless of one’s political stripes, one should be concerned.”

More:
FCC Prepares Fairness Doctrine for the Internet

2013/10/31

Rickard Falkvinge: NSA on Merkle – Terrorist or Pedophile?

04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Military, Officers Call

So Was Angela Merkel A Terrorist Or A Pedophile?

Posted: 30 Oct 2013 04:10 AM PDT

Civil Liberties: The news that Angela Merkel’s phone has been wiretapped by the USA exposes the biggest wiretapping lie ever – that mass surveillance is targeted at catching terrorists and pedophiles. The German Chancellor is rightfully furious, and she should be furious on behalf of her citizens, too. Mass surveillance was never about terrorists or pedophiles: it is a tool of pure and raw domination.

With the exposure of German Chancellor Merkel’s phone being wiretapped by the US surveillance agencies, the mass surveillance has received yet another spotlight. This is welcome as it intensifies the discussion on civil liberties and the freedoms of speech, assembly, opinion, and the press – and how these freedoms need to carry over into the online environment.

To some extent, it is sad that it takes a personal insult against a leading politicians for something as grave as a threat to democracy itself to come to light, but still, here we are. The mass surveillance has been rolled out en masse without much protest, due to leading politicians smoothing over any worries by using worse scarewords, a common tactic.

We have frequently and repeatably been told that mass surveillance and wiretapping is necessary to “catch terrorists”. Pedophiles are also mentioned from time to time. This is a complete and utter lie.

Continue reading “Rickard Falkvinge: NSA on Merkle – Terrorist or Pedophile?”

2013/10/292013/10/29

SchwartzReport: Fukushima Fries the West Coast 28 Ways — US Map & Links — Deeply Frightening, Pity There Is No One Attending to the Public Interest….

03 Economy, 03 Environmental Degradation, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Academia, Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Earth Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Lessons, Media, Officers Call

This is the latest on Fukushima and the impact it is making on the U.S. West Coast. This directly affects me, as well as tens of millions of other Americans, and there doesn't seem to be a thing we can do about it.

28 Signs That The West Coast Is Being Absolutely Fried With Nuclear Radiation From Fukushima
MICHAEL SNYDER – Global Research – Centre for Research and Globilization

The map below comes from the Nuclear Emergency Tracking Center. It shows that radiation levels at radiation monitoring stations all over the country are elevated. As you will notice, this is particularly true along the west coast of the United States.

Every single day, 300 tons of radioactive water from Fukushima enters the Pacific Ocean. That means that the total amouont of radioactive material released from Fukushima is constantly increasing, and it is steadily building up in our food chain. Ultimately, all of this nuclear radiation will outlive all of us by a very wide margin. They are saying that it could take up to 40 years to clean up the Fukushima disaster, and meanwhile countless innocent people will develop cancer and other health problems as a result of exposure to high levels of nuclear radiation. We are talking about a nuclear disaster that is absolutely unprecedented, and it is constantly getting worse. The following are 28 signs that the west coast of North America is being absolutely fried with nuclear radiation from Fukushima.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Fukushima Fries the West Coast 28 Ways — US Map & Links — Deeply Frightening, Pity There Is No One Attending to the Public Interest….”

2013/10/282013/10/28

4th Media: America’s Threat-Centric [Lie-Based] Education System: Out of Date and Out of Time

04 Education, Academia, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, IO Deeds of Peace, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

America’s Threat-Centric [Lie-Based] Education System: Out of Date and Out of Time

“History is a story. That’s why we fight over history. We make sense of ourselves, the world and ourselves in the world through the struggle to tell the truth through stories. Facts have to be contextualised to become the truth. And that truth is a struggle that is constantly fought over. It is not given. And telling stories helps to create debate about that truth. That is why working people should tell their stories. Truth is a class issue. I would appeal to all your readers, especially to young ones, to make their own political films; shoot interviews, especially with older comrades, and dare to express themselves on the screen. Film making is for everybody. I would be looking at the new technologies. They are disruptive and a problem in capitalist society…That’s why they want to close down the Internet if they can. Politicians don’t like allowing people to communicate anonymously with each other. They want to restrain freedom … But still for a while there is a window of opportunity and freedom. They monitor you, but don’t yet stop you. That will come, of course…[But] it’s where people ought to be, where creative people and political people ought to be.” Tony Garnett interviewed by the editors of WSWS

How can young people be encouraged and coached to narrate a “true” history of their lives and times in the world—and the events, people and geography that influence them—for the bulk of their literate existence (i.e., 21st Century literate to include visual and technological literacy)?

Continue reading “4th Media: America’s Threat-Centric [Lie-Based] Education System: Out of Date and Out of Time”