Corruption – Page 763 – Public Intelligence Blog

2011/08/01

Winslow Wheeler: Defense Cuts, Defense Flim-Flam

07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Blog Wisdom, Budgets & Funding, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, DoD, Government, IO Impotency, Military, Misinformation & Propaganda, Officers Call, Open Government, Peace Intelligence, Politics of Science & Science of Politics, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, Strategy, Technologies

WinslowWheeler Cropped — Winslow Wheeler

There are numerous misleading and misinformed assertions being made about the defense spending parts of the debt deal.

The White House's “fact sheet” asserts a $350 billion savings in the “base defense budget.” The $350 billion in defense savings that the White House declares apparently uses a different “baseline” (basis of comparison) and pretends that a two year cap the bill establishes on “security” spending will extend to ten years. Most misleading of all, it assumes that all savings in the “security” category (which includes DOD, DOE/nuclear weapons, all State Department related spending, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security) will occur only in DOD spending. In fact, the “security” category was designed to broaden the base for “defense” cuts and to lessen the impact on DOD. The undocumented $350 billion in “security” savings will actually translate into lesser reductions in DOD spending, but the amount is unknown. The actual amount will be decided by Congress in the future.

2011/08/012011/08/01

John Robb: US DoD Cuts Around $200 Billion a Year

03 Economy, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, IO Deeds of Peace

Sunday, 31 July 2011

JOURNAL: Rumored US DoD Cuts

Here's what is circulating (assuming this budget impasse can be resolved, it gets more severe if it isn't):

DoD to cut $800 billion over 4 years. $200 billion a year out of a $600 b budget.
3 government employees must retire/leave before any new hire is made.

About 3 years ago when I was a speaker at the Highlands Conference (they run a private conference for the Secretary of Defense), I was asked what the biggest unexpected challenge facing the US defense department was. My answer: The DoD will only have half the budget it has today in five years. The trick is going to be: how to get down to that number in an orderly way.

Phi Beta Iota: These are long overdue cuts and barely scratch the surface. Between out of control research, overseas bases, out of control contractors, and the Navy/Air Force obsession with big complex systems that are of little use 90% of the time, there is much more work to be done. It must be driven by intelligene with integrity. That is not something that is now available within the US Government. It is also time to end the early retirement of military employees that have not seen combat, and to end double-dipping by retirees who sign on with contractors. One paycheck per person should be the standard. Anyone working after retirement gets up to 80% of their retirement check suspended with thanks from a grateful public.

Dr. Russell Ackoff on IC and DoD + Design RECAP

Reference: No More Secrets – Open Source Intelligence/Intelligence Reform Fight Round II

2011/07/312011/08/01

Chuck Spinney: Jeff Madrick on The Age of Greed and Failure of Government to Check Private Sector Greed

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Articles & Chapters, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests

Here is a review of my friend Jeff Madrick's important new book, Age of Greed: The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970 to the Present

Book review: ‘Age of Greed’ by Jeff Madrick

By David Greenberg, Washington Post Outlook, 29 July 2011

David Greenberg is a professor of history and of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University. He is a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars for the 2010-11 academic year.

EXTRACTS

“Age of Greed” chronicles how Americans ended up with the highly unregulated financial system that produced the meltdown of 2008 and the fallout that lingers three years later. What’s most novel about the book, which relies heavily on other secondary accounts, is that unlike other recent treatments of the financial crisis, it traces the origins of the problem not to the Bush or Clinton or even Reagan years, but all the way to the late 1960s.

. . . . . .

The real scandal revealed by Madrick’s important book is not the well-known tales of dastards such as telecom analyst Jack Grubman or Internet stock promoter Frank Quattrone, but the more elusive — and more consequential — story of how the government came to abdicate this supreme responsibility.

Read full review….

2011/07/312011/07/31

Secrecy News: Court Slams Justice & NSA on Drake

07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, Blog Wisdom, Corruption, Government, IO Impotency, Law Enforcement

SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2011, Issue No. 72
July 29, 2011

Secrecy News Blog

** HANDLING OF DRAKE LEAK CASE WAS “UNCONSCIONABLE,” COURT SAID

The government’s treatment of former National Security Agency official Thomas Drake was abusive and akin to acts of British tyranny in pre-Revolutionary War days, said Judge Richard D. Bennett at the July 15 sentencing hearing which concluded the Drake case, one of the Obama Administration’s record number of anti-”leak” prosecutions. A transcript (pdf) of that hearing was prepared at the request of Secrecy News.

and in related public interest news….

** FORMER ISOO DIRECTOR SEEKS TO CHALLENGE SECRECY OF DRAKE DOCUMENT

Today, the Drake defense team filed a motion (pdf) to remove the court-imposed restrictions on one of the documents that Mr. Drake was accused of unlawfully possessing so that the purported classification of the document could be formally challenged by one of the defense’s expert witnesses — who is none other than the former head of the organization that oversees the entire classification system.

Phi Beta Iota: At multiple levels and in multiple forms, we consider the US Government abuse of secrecy–and its abuse of human beings behind the veil of secrecy, to fall into the “Other Atrocities” category among the ten high-level threats to humanity.

Review: No More Secrets – Open Source Information and the Reshaping of U.S. Intelligence

2011/07/312011/07/31

DefDog: Who Lent to America? America, Not China

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, Budgets & Funding, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, IO Impotency

Who owns America? Hint: It's not China

A close-up look at who holds America's debt.

Thomas Mucha, July 20, 2011 17:45

Truth is elusive. But it's a good thing we have math.

Our friends at Business Insider know this, and put those two principles to work today in this excellent and highly informative little slideshow, made even more timely by the ongoing talks in Washington, D.C. aimed at staving off a U.S. debt default.

. . . . . . .

America owes foreigners about $4.5 trillion in debt. But America owes America $9.8 trillion.

Phi Beta Iota: Details below. The lies and misrepresentation from all sides in Washington are reprehensible. The distance between the truth and those in power has never been greater. It turns out the US owes the largest chuck (30.3%) to the US Treasury and the Social Security fund; next up is 6.6% to US households, and then a plethora of banks and funds that could easily be stiffed for a year.

US holders of US debt:

Continue reading “DefDog: Who Lent to America? America, Not China”

2011/07/31

Chuck Spinney: Europe’s Far Right Connects to Israel

Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency, Law Enforcement

07/29/2011 04:20 PM

The Likud Connection

Europe's Right-Wing Populists Find Allies in Israel

By Charles Hawley, spiegel online

Islamophobic parties in Europe have established a tight network, stretching from Italy to Finland. But recently, they have extended their feelers to Israeli conservatives, enjoying a warm reception from members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition. Some in Israel believe that the populists are Europe's future.

Phi Beta Iota: Politicians and “leaders” have been grossly negligent about population policies including assimilation of legal immigrants, stopping illegal immigrants, educating the population, enforcing cultural expectations (e.g. not allowing women to be abused, part of assimilation). Both Europe and the USA have been mis-managed by lowest common denominator “leaders.”

2011/07/312011/07/31

Mario Profaca: FBI Idiot’s Guide to Islam

04 Education, 10 Security, 11 Society, Articles & Chapters, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency, Law Enforcement

What does this tell us about the intelligence and cultural literacy of the FBI training “leaders?”

The FBI was telling new bureau recruits as recently as Jan. 2009 that Islam “transforms [a] country's culture into 7th Century Arabian ways” and recommending a book written by one of Norwegian terrorism suspect Anders Behring Breivik's favorite authors as well as the Complete Idiot's Guide To Understanding Islam.

. . . . . . .

It's been well established that anti-Muslim self-proclaimed counterterrorism experts — often times funded by federal grants — have been giving advice to state and local law enforcement officers for years. But the fact that the nation's top law enforcement agency was pointing new federal agents to bigoted material as recently as 2009 came as a surprise to those who have seen this stuff before.

See full article and book covers….