“The message that you sent to an @us.army.mil user with subject “Key references for you into the future” was not accepted for delivery since it contained URLs that Army Cyber Command has disallowed.”
Phi Beta Iota: The message was to a serving flag officer, a long-standing fan of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT). When the link was deleted, a second rejection was received because the two memoranda, one for NATO and one for SOCOM, contained Phi Beta Iota links and/or tinyurl links.
Assuming the best, that it is the tiny urls rather than Phi Beta Iota that are confounding Army cyber, we have to wonder why they still have a job if they cannot handle validation of tiny urls on the fly….lazy trumps smart once again.
Here is the link and the two attachments that the US Army Cyber Command, in the infinite wisdom of its weakest officer, has decided not to allow anyone to access using official capabilities.
Phi Beta Iota: Clicking the link leads to an article in Security Watch that contains a classified NSA slide on the NSA Query hierarchy, with substantive commentary. We are balancing our respect for contributing editor selections, with a commitment to not directly represent anything classified within this website.
A retiring Marine colonel who commanded a special operations unit in Africa during the deadly 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, told Congress on Wednesday that an elite four-man team under his command was kept in the Libyan capital that night to prevent attacks there.
Col. George Bristol’s statement corroborates previous testimony by his subordinate officer, Army Lt. Col. S.E. Gibson. Gibson told the House Armed Services Committee in June that, contrary to previous media reports, he was not ordered to “stand down” by higher headquarters in response to the Benghazi attacks. Rather, Gibson’s team was told to stay in the city of Tripoli to defend Americans there in the event of additional attacks and to help survivors being evacuated from Benghazi, Bristol said.
The US government has paid at least £100m to the UK spy agency GCHQ over the last three years to secure access to and influence over Britain's intelligence gathering programmes.
The top secret payments are set out in documents which make clear that the Americans expect a return on the investment, and that GCHQ has to work hard to meet their demands. “GCHQ must pull its weight and be seen to pull its weight,” a GCHQ strategy briefing said.
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon might have to cancel many modernization programs over a decade-long period should mandatory federal spending caps remain in place over the next decade, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday.
Hagel for the first time discussed end strength, hardware and missions that could be targeted as defense officials look for ways to reduce planned spending by $500 billion over that time frame.
While decisions on these and many other options laid out by Hagel during a Wednesday afternoon press conference at the Pentagon have not been finalized, the Strategic Choices and Management Review (SCMR)identified fundamental changes that DoD officials believe are necessary as the Pentagon prepares for a future with fewer funds.
Hagel launched the review in March. The Defense Department announced an overhauled military strategy in January 2012, but since that time, sequestration cuts have been put in place as Congress and the Obama administration have not been able to agree on a comprehensive plan to cut the US deficit.
The Pentagon has already been hit with a $37 billion budget cut in 2013, and faces a $52 billion cut to its 2014 budget proposal. The cuts have led to the curtailment of military training and the furloughing of hundreds of thousands of civilian employees.
The SCMR has looked at ways to modify DoD’s military strategy, which places an increased emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region, if sequestration remains in place over the decade.
Continued defense spending cuts would at best “bend” the strategy, Hagel said. Parts of the strategy would “break” under sequestration.
Does the US Intelligence Community have NSA-sourced leverage that allows it to avoid — to refuse — being sequestered? Is there a shadow government? These are questions asked on this program. Is Dick Cheney still in charge? What's different? “The Orwellian scale.” “Post office taking a photo of every envelope.”
