Corruption – Page 550 – Public Intelligence Blog

Some months ago I had the great pleasure of adding OSINT godfather Robert David Steele as a LinkedIn contact. We’ve progressed from that to occasional phone calls and regular emails, pointing out interesting technology and events to each other.

NATO 4.0: Key Challenges AND Solutions was published with this short note, asking for broad consideration of the future of an OSINT agency, with NATO [and SOCOM] being a better home for it than the U.S. intelligence community.

Dear old friend or colleague,

I turn 61 this month — what an interesting 20 years it has been. Below is a post that I have thought about for some time.

I am quite certain that if General Breedlove and Admiral McRaven were to be properly briefed, that we could get the Open Source Agency and with it, funding for two Multinational Decision Support Centres as mentioned in the article.

As we all know I have no money, no power, and no influence — so I leave it to those of you who might wish to stir the pot, to make something of this little post of mine. I have in mind the southern tip of Italy, so we can sail up either coast.

Semper Fidelis,
Robert

I agree with Robert in that I think there will be an OSINT agency functionality as he described, but I disagree that such an animal will be monolithic, funded, or even sanctioned. Here is my reasoning.

Continue reading “Neal Rauhauser: Steele on NATO, AIPAC Replaces US IC — Steele Comments”

2013/07/122013/07/12

DefDog: When Is a Coup Not a Coup?

Corruption, Government

When is a coup not a coup? With $1.5bn on the line

Mark Mitchell

BBC, 8 July 2013

Here are a couple of riddles for you: When is a coup not a coup? And why is the White House not like Humpty Dumpty?

In Through the Looking Glass, Humpty tells Alice: “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”

The White House press secretary, Jay Carney, doesn't have that luxury. If he called the Egyptian military's intervention in the democratic process a “coup”, it would clearly mean the huge amount of aid the US gives to Egypt would have to be cut off.

Because that's what it says, in black and white, in the US Code:

Read full article.

Continue reading “DefDog: When Is a Coup Not a Coup?”

2013/07/12

SchwartzReport: University of California Betrays Public

Academia, Corruption

I have done numerous articles in SR, and written my own essays (See: An Appraisal of The Illness Profit System. http://www.explorejournal.com/article/S1550-8307%2810%2900291-0/fulltext) on the corruption of science in the service of corporate interests. Here is the latest.

Public Research for Private Gain
DARWIN BOND GRAHAM – East Bay Express

EXTRACT:

In a unanimous vote last month, the Regents of the University of California created a corporate entity that, if spread to all UC campuses as some regents envision, promises to further privatize scientific research produced by taxpayer-funded laboratories. The entity, named Newco for the time being, also would block a substantial amount of UC research from being accessible to the public, and could reap big profits for corporations and investors that have ties to the well-connected businesspeople who will manage it.

2013/07/112013/07/11

Robert Young Pelton: Suing Eric Prince — and Publishing “His” Ghost-Written Book Online Free If He Does Not Pay His Ghost-Writer(s)

07 Other Atrocities, Commerce, Corruption, Offbeat Fun, Officers Call

“I will be suing Erik and the publisher and putting the entire pre-CIA vetted book online.”

Blackwater Book Flap

Former Navy SEAL Eric Prince faces ghost writer's lawsuit

Jeff Stein

AND Magazine, 11 July 2013

The author of The World's Most Dangerous Places is threatening to take Eric Prince, founder of the notorious Blackwater private security firm, to court.

Continue reading “Robert Young Pelton: Suing Eric Prince — and Publishing “His” Ghost-Written Book Online Free If He Does Not Pay His Ghost-Writer(s)”

2013/07/11

Graphic: Transparency International Defense Corruption Elements

Corruption, Corruption, Government, Graphics, Military

Source

Phi Beta Iota: A good first effort but spectacularly off on the USA and completely lacking in total life cycle costs and in operational test & evaluation — most systems cost far more than they should, do not work as advertised, have huge logistics tails and intelligence needs that are rarely met, and so on. A good start, a long way to go.

Owl: GOVERNMENT DEFENCE ANTI- CORRUPTION INDEX 2013

2013/07/11

Mini-Me: Fracking Causes Earthquakes. Any Questions?

03 Environmental Degradation, 07 Other Atrocities, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Earth Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, Law Enforcement

Huh?

U.S. earthquake increase tied to disposal well boom

Wastewater, increasingly injected into deep disposal wells amid the energy boom, appears to be the culprit in an increase in U.S. quakes.

EXTRACT:

In a study out today that provides the strongest link to date between wastewater wells and quakes, seismologists and geologists say U.S. earthquakes have become roughly five times more common in the past three years. They warn about inadequate monitoring of deep wastewater disposal wells that are setting off these small quakes nationwide.

There are more than 30,000 such deep disposal wells nationwide. They're increasingly used as mile-deep dumping grounds for fluids left over from the more shallow hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” wells responsible for surging U.S. natural gas production. The earthquakes have been linked to the wastewater wells but not the fracking drilling wells themselves.

Read article with large graphic.

2013/07/11

Owl: Microsoft Lied — Sold All Customers Out to NSA Years Ago

Commerce, Corruption

Microsoft has collaborated closely with US intelligence services to allow users' communications to be intercepted, including helping the National Security Agency to circumvent the company's own encryption, according to top-secret documents obtained by the Guardian.

The files provided by Edward Snowden illustrate the scale of co-operation between Silicon Valley and the intelligence agencies over the last three years. They also shed new light on the workings of the top-secret Prism program, which was disclosed by the Guardian and the Washington Post last month.

The documents show that:

• Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal;

• The agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.com, including Hotmail;

• The company worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide;

• Microsoft also worked with the FBI's Data Intercept Unit to “understand” potential issues with a feature in Outlook.com that allows users to create email aliases;

• Skype, which was bought by Microsoft in October 2011, worked with intelligence agencies last year to allow Prism to collect video of conversations as well as audio;

• Material collected through Prism is routinely shared with the FBI and CIA, with one NSA document describing the program as a “team sport”.

More:

Revealed: how Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages