Military – Page 270 – Public Intelligence Blog

Air Force Rescinds New Guidance on WikiLeaks

Secrecy News reported Monday on strange new guidance from the Air Force Materiel Command declaring that Air Force employees and even their family members could be prosecuted under the Espionage Act for accessing the WikiLeaks web site. On Monday night that new guidance was abruptly withdrawn.

Lt. Col. Richard L. Johnson of Air Force Headquarters released this statement: read statement….

Airmen, It’s Illegal for Your Kids to Read WikiLeaks [Updated]

Spencer Ackerman, WIRED Magazine Danger Room, Feburary 7, 2011

“[I]f a family member of an Air Force employee accesses WikiLeaks on a home computer, the family member may be subject to prosecution for espionage under U.S. Code Title 18 Section 793,” the legal guidance reads. “The Air Force member would have an obligation to safeguard the information under the general guidance to safeguard classified information.”

Read the sordid story….

Phi Beta Iota: We do not make this stuff up. If SecDef wants an excuse to dismiss Air Force leadership down to the one-star level, this is it. This is utterly insane, and a clear demonstration of moral and intellectual and leadership vacuum that exists in the US Air Force.

See Also:

Journal: Chuck Spinney on Gallipoli

Censorship & Denial of Access (35)

Power (Pathologies & Utilization) (154)

Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy (63)

2011/02/082011/02/08

Why Boeing is Imploding–Spinney, Sprey, & Reality vs Political Engineering & Government Spec Cost Plus

10 Security, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Military

editor spinney time — Chuck Spinney Sounds Off...

Below are three separate contributions: Spinney on Sprey; Sprey on Boeing; and Seattle Times on Boeing.

CHUCK SPINNEY SOUNDS OFF

President Obama says that restoring America’s competitiveness is one of his top priorities. Yet under his watch, deindustrialization, financialization, and globalization continue without interruption. Many advocates of defense spending argue that spinoffs from the Pentagon's R&D and high tech engineering practices are keys to reinvigorating America’s manufacturing economy. For whatever reasons, Mr. Obama shows no intention of reining in defense spending by anything more than a cosmetic amount, even though the defense budget is higher now that at any time since the end of WWII (after removing the cumulative effect of 60 years of inflation), and despite the fact that the United States is spending about as much on defense as the rest of the world combined.

Continue reading “Why Boeing is Imploding–Spinney, Sprey, & Reality vs Political Engineering & Government Spec Cost Plus”

2011/02/062011/02/06

Terror at Fort Hood? Or Terror from America?

07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Military

Marcus-Aurelius-150x150 — Marcus Aurelius Recommends

We Could Have Stopped The Terror At Fort Hood

Washington Post February 6, 2011 Pg. B1

By Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman and Susan M. Collins

Maj. Nidal Hasan, accused in the murders of 13 people and the attempted murders of 32 others in the shooting spree at Fort Hood, Tex., in November 2009, appears to be the toughest kind of terrorist to spot: a lone wolf who plots without the overt support of domestic cells or foreign sponsors.

Still, the attack did not come as a complete surprise to some in the Army and the FBI, and that makes this incident all the more tragic. Our Senate committee's 14-month investigation of the Fort Hood killings has concluded that the Department of Defense and the FBI “collectively had sufficient information to have detected Hasan's radicalization to violent Islamist extremism but failed both to understand and to act on it.”

The deaths at Fort Hood could and should have been prevented. The Defense Department's failure to acknowledge the threat of violent Islamist extremism within its ranks, coupled with organizational and communication flaws in the FBI's counterterrorism operations, contributed to the tragedy.

Full Op-Ed….

Continue reading “Terror at Fort Hood? Or Terror from America?”

2011/02/03

James Madison: US Security Budget a Nightmare

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Budgets & Funding, Corruption, Military

Madison's Nightmare: How Much Should We Spend for National Insecurity?

Chuck Spinney, FEB 3, 2011

The Atlantic (for James Fallows)

Read entire reference piece….

Brother Chuck makes three key points:

1. He quotes Madison, as we have, on the importance of public knowledge as the basis for the Republic keeping the government accountable and in check.

2. He points out that the defense budget has never been audited, cannot be audited, and is both totally “out of control” and irresponsibly chaotic and grotesquely excessive.

3. He proposes regular persistent cuts in the defense budget until such time as it can actually pass an audit.

Continue reading “James Madison: US Security Budget a Nightmare”

2011/02/012011/02/01

Monthly CrisisWatch Report N°90, 1 February 2011

01 Poverty, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Immigration, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Civil Society, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, CrisisWatch reports, Government, Law Enforcement, Military

CrisisWatch N°90, 1 February 2011

Historic events in the Arab world gripped the world's attention in January. In Tunisia weeks of escalating riots and demonstrations over dire economic conditions, corruption and government repression culminated in the ouster of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali on 14 January. He was replaced by an interim government which announced the country's first free elections since independence.

Download the full issue of CrisisWatch N°90

The direction of Tunisia's transition, and its significance for the region, are not yet clear. But, assuming a successful transition, this could mark the first genuine popular revolt leading to a democratic government in the Arab world.

Inspired by the Tunisian uprising yet fuelled by their own long-standing grievances, hundreds of thousands took to the streets across Egypt towards the end of the month, protesting against authoritarian rule and poor living standards, and calling for President Hosni Mubarak to step down. Over 135 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured during the initial police response. The army was deployed at the end of the month to curb increasing chaos and looting, but vowed not to use force against the protesters.

Continue reading “Monthly CrisisWatch Report N°90, 1 February 2011”

2011/02/012011/02/01

Americans Admire Military Personnel While Being Unaware & Uninterested in What They Do “In Our Name”

02 Diplomacy, 04 Education, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 06 Family, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, Civil Society, Corruption, Ethics, Government, Media, Military, Policy, Waste (materials, food, etc)

Troops Die Because of Their Country, Not For It

US admiration for its soldiers may be deep and widespread, but interest in what they are doing is shallow and fleeting

by Gary Younge
Published on Monday, January 31, 2011 by The Guardian

Most of the stories told about Benjamin Moore, 23, at his funeral started in a bar and ended in a laugh. Invited to testify about his life from the pews, friend, relative, colleague and neighbour alike described a boisterous, gregarious, energetic young man they'd known in the small New Jersey town of Bordentown since he was born. “I'll love him 'til I go,” his granny said. “If I could go today and bring him back, I would.”

Grown men choked on their memories, under the gaze of swollen, reddened eyes, as they remembered a “snot-nosed kid” and a fidget who'd become a volunteer firefighter before enlisting in the military. Shortly before Benjamin left for Afghanistan, he sent a message to his cousin that began: “I'm about to go into another country where they hate me for everything I stand for.” Now he was back in a flag-draped box, killed by roadside bomb with two other soldiers in Ghazni province.

Continue reading “Americans Admire Military Personnel While Being Unaware & Uninterested in What They Do “In Our Name””

2011/01/302011/02/13

Women of Washington–The Lunacy Continues

Government, Military

(1) This **could** be DoD's near-term future; (2) honestly have not heard anything bad about her; (3) my principal concern is that she has no personal military experience, which I personally think should be mandatory for any SECDEF.

Chuck Spinney Sends: Truely nuts. The article is a puff piece about an incompetent fraud who happens to be a woman … not the part lauding flournoy about the 97 QDR … that is a joke … see my critique of that QDR here. She also was the leader of the most recent QDR was equally flawed … here … so we must conclude she is incapable of learning as well.

Washingtonian
February 2011
Pg. 36

The Making Of Michele Flournoy

By Spencer Ackerman

UPDATED to add links for smart people interested in doing the right thing.

Continue reading “Women of Washington–The Lunacy Continues”

Category: Military

USAF Backs Off on Threat to Air Family Members….