Government – Page 688 – Public Intelligence Blog

2012/09/042012/09/04

David Issenberg: Toxic Contractor Activities DoD Turns Blind Eye – Who’s Accountable? Fast Forward to Fukushima Approaching on a Tsunami of Official Lies and Misdirection

Huffington Post, 4 Sep 2012

Remember when rioters in Watts, Calif., began shouting “Burn, Baby! BURN!” in the turmoil of 1965? I'm sure they didn't have the following future in mind.

That would be the various lawsuits against KBR for operating burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. But we should all be paying attention to this and not just for the human toll it has taken on soldiers and contractors. It also says something disturbing about the ability of the federal government to exercise proper control over its private contractors.

An article, “Military Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan: Considerations and Obstacles for Emerging Litigation” by Kate Donovan Kurera, in the Fall 2010 issue of the Pace Environmental Law Review provides the necessary insight.

EXTRACT:

Continue reading “David Issenberg: Toxic Contractor Activities DoD Turns Blind Eye – Who's Accountable? Fast Forward to Fukushima Approaching on a Tsunami of Official Lies and Misdirection”

2012/09/032012/09/04

David Isenberg: Intelligence On Demand in a Mobile Device – Hardy Har Har Choke Cough Gag with Comments by Robert Steele & RIchard Wright

Corruption, Government, Military

INTEL-ON-DEMAND IN A WEB 2.0 WORLD

IntelNews / by Timothy W Coleman

Aug 21 2012 ► Aug 11. In the United States, the President’s Daily Brief (PDB), “the highest-level intelligence analysis targeted at the key national security issues and concerns of the President”, is increasingly going digital. For that matter, so is much of the output produced by the US Intelligence Community at large. According to AOL Defense News, “The President and his top officials want and will get a single mobile device allowing them to access highly classified and unclassified data wherever they are”. The mobility feature is driven by a desire not to be tethered to a desk or a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF).

In addition to the obvious benefits of mobility, the digitized PDB allows for a more in-depth and interactive reading of intelligence matters. In the example of the PDB, as the President reviews the nation’s most sensitive intelligence information on a specialized tablet, he can jump back and forth, click on links to take a deeper dive, see follow-up briefings, review background materials for greater context, view videos, photographs, maps and other visual aids. In fact, the PDB has gone from a static page to an interactive assessment of top intelligence concerns, landing it squarely in a quasi Web 2.0 world for the Intelligence Community.

Continue reading “David Isenberg: Intelligence On Demand in a Mobile Device – Hardy Har Har Choke Cough Gag with Comments by Robert Steele & RIchard Wright”

2012/08/312012/08/31

Mini-Me: Marine Officer on 9/11 – The Anomalies Continue to Surface

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, Commerce, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Knowledge, Law Enforcement, Media, Military, Politics

Huh?

Phi Beta Iota: As President Barack Obama faces what David Gergen calls one of three “choice” or turning point elections in modern US history, one has to wonder where he stands on the subject of the truth. Below the line is a methodical review with many links from retired Marine Corps officer Jim Fetzer, who focuses on the Cheney-dominated US Government at the time. Equally troubling facts can be asserted on the New York end by focusing on Larry Silverstein and Rudy Guliani. If ever a sitting President had a ready-made opportunity for eradicating an opposing political party by enabling the truth to be told about a major event in modern US history, Barack Obama is that President. We do not favor a traditional justice approach here, but rather a Truth & Reconciliation Commission. If Barack Obama were to sponsor The Smart Nation Act, the Electoral Reform Act of 2012, a Truth & Reconciliation Commission on 9/11, and the immediate decriminalization of marijuana and then of all other drugs [with a jobs program equal to the challenge of existing unemployment and emptied prisons with restored voting rights], it would be game over. Then instead of having to fight for credibility and traction every day, he might actually be able to govern in 2013-2016. On the other hand, if President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party are intent on demonstrating there is no substantive difference between the two parties that control the electoral process and the disbursement of the public treasury, they should continue to do precisely what they are doing now.

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2012/08/302012/08/30

Chuck Spinney: James Fallows on Paul Ryan’s Lie-Filled Convention Speech

Civil Society, Corruption, Government, Media

Paul Ryan and the Post-Truth Convention Speech

By James Fallows

The Atlantic, Aug 30 2012, 11:43 AM ET

Paul Ryan's speech was well-written, well- delivered, and well-received. All of that was evident to anyone watching on TV. It had a number of nice smilingly vicious hit lines — starting with the masterful “staring up at the faded Obama posters” riff — plus a note of encouraging uplift at the end.

It was also profoundly dishonest in ways large and small.

Small: telling the sad story of the closing of the Janesville GM plant, and clearly implying that this was one more casualty of the Obama-unemployment era. Whereas of course the plant was shuttered before Obama even took office.

Medium: telling that story on the assumption that no one would say, “Wait a minute: wasn't Obama the guy who was pushing the big auto-industry bailout, which your nominee and your party opposed? So wouldn't there have been a lot more closed plants if you'd had your way?”

Large: blasting Obama for not enacting the outlook of the Simpson-Bowles commission, without noting that Ryan himself was on the commission and voted against its recommendations because they included tax increases as well as revenue cuts.

Large: blasting Obama for proposed cuts in Medicare without noting that Ryan has proposed those same cuts and much more.

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2012/08/302012/08/30

Steven Aftergood: 3,103 Classification Guides Now 2,234 – Volumn of Classification Continues

Government, Ineptitude, Military

FUNDAMENTAL REVIEW LEADS TO SOME REDUCTIONS IN SECRECY

The classification guides that function as the framework for national security secrecy underwent a substantial overhaul during the past two years. As a result of the Fundamental Classification Guidance Review, a large fraction of existing classification guidance has been eliminated, and at least some existing categories of classified information have been declassified.

Out of 3,103 classification guides, or compilations of classification instructions, that were reviewed by national security agencies, 869 were either cancelled or consolidated, the National Archives announced in a news release today.

The purpose of the Fundamental Classification Guidance Review, mandated by President Obama's executive order 13526 (section 1.9), was “to ensure the guidance reflects current circumstances and to identify classified information that no longer requires protection and can be declassified.”

The newly revised guidance should provide increased clarity and specificity about what is to be classified, along with greater traceability in identifying the justification for classification.

But it is less clear that the Review will result in a diminished volume of classified information.

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2012/08/28

David Isenberg: Private Military Contractors (PMC) – A Stake in the Heart of DoD and USG

Commerce, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Military

Negative Views of Civilian and Private Security Contractors

Concerns over their cost effectiveness and strategic value make the deployment of PMSCs a risky proposition. More worryingly, argues David Isenberg, is that they may permit governments to circumnavigate democratic debates over the necessity of sending armed forces into battle.

By David Isenberg for the ISN

From the outset, it needs to be established that the use of private military and security contractors (PMSC) – whether in wars or humanitarian and stabilization operations – is not necessarily a bad thing. Indeed, even if this was the case, the United States is unlikely to decrease its reliance on them in the future, if for no other reason than the fact that contractors are now essential to maintaining the U.S. military’s vast network of overseas bases and facilities. But it is also true that the deployment of PMSCs does not always make sense. Indeed, just because contractors are often unfairly vilified doesn’t mean that their claims should be taken at face value. Yet, like any other issue worthy of debate the devil is always in the details. Questions concerned with how PMSCs will be used, who monitors contracts for proper implementation – not to mention the challenge of developing transparency and accountability processes – are questions that have far too often been answered by trial and error.

A Checkered Past

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2012/08/262012/08/26