Idiocy – Page 95 – Public Intelligence Blog

2013/07/11

Chuck Spinney: Has the US Lost Its Grand Strategic Mind?

02 Diplomacy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, Military, Misinformation & Propaganda, Officers Call, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy

As Esam Al-Amin explained here, Mohamad Morsi made some colossal blunders during his one year rule of Egypt, as its democratically elected president. He was elected in what most observers regard as a reasonably fair election.

But the exclusive report by Al Jazeera (also attached below) reveals that the United States — which claims to support democracy in the Middle East and elsewhere — has been actively involved in bankrolling Morsi's opposition, and in so doing has continued its long policy of subverting Islamist democratic victories when they win fair elections (Hamas in 2006) or threaten to win fair elections (Algeria 1991).

Al Jazeera reveals how stark contradictions continue to rip through the three legs of the moral triangle that is US foreign policy — i.e., the contradictions between (1) the values we profess to to the world that we uphold, (2) the values we actually hold as demonstrated by our actions abroad as well as at home (don't forget the neo-fascist, non-accountable, hidden hand the emerging American deep state exemplified by the NSA scandal) and (3) the world we have to deal with deal with (in this case epitomized by the changing conditions of the Arab Spring).

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Has the US Lost Its Grand Strategic Mind?”

2013/07/102013/07/10

Owl: US Gestapoization News: “Insider Threat” – Name of American Internal Security Program to Spy and Report on Government Employees

Government, Idiocy

US Gestapoization News: “Insider Threat” – Name of American Internal Security Program to Spy and Report on Government Employees

The ever-expanding US police state is not being extended only to the civilian or private population. It's quietly being extended to the government and military population, too, as proven by the implementation of “Insider Threat.” This new amateur spy program will fail and cause untold misery. Lots of careers of innocent people are destined to be ruined, lots of false accusations and hysterical finger-pointing will create a morbidly paranoid culture in government due to this program, which will fail in it's stated objective to root out “leakers.” Of course, does anyone really believe the officially stated objective of this program is only to find leakers? Maybe it's really about control: extending it, deepening it and widening it by fear, by intimidation and by paranoia. A Stalinist paradise! Welcome to the the “United Stasi of America.”

Continue reading “Owl: US Gestapoization News: “Insider Threat” – Name of American Internal Security Program to Spy and Report on Government Employees”

2013/07/10

Paul Craig Roberts: Putin Chews Out G8, Merkel Supports Him — A Must Read!

06 Russia, 08 Wild Cards, Corruption, Ethics, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Military, Peace Intelligence

Below is a translation from As-Safir, a Lebanese newspaper, July 6, 2013, by Arabic-English translator Eric Mueller. As the translator was not present at the Group of Eight meeting, he cannot vouch for the accuracy of the report, only for the accuracy of the translation. The report by Dawud Rimal does reflect Putin's no-nonsense manner of speaking. The report from As-Safir contrasts with the US coverage.

Diplomatic sources: Putin tells G8 “You want Asad to resign. Look at the leaders you've made in the Middle East.”

MUST READ — Full text below the line.

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2013/07/10

Winslow Wheeler: DoD Financial Mis-Management Destroys Lives — Many of Them Wounded Warriors

Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Military

Long time financial management reporter Scot Paltrow and his colleague Kelly Carr have written a series, now beginning to appear at Reuters, on the incredible, continuing story of the Pentagon's gross incompetence in managing its own books. The first two pieces of the series follows. The first article is long, but I urge you to read every word. If you think financial management is a green eyeshade-only subject or if you think the Pentagon is making a meaningful, or even good faith, effort at fixing the problem, read on. The anecdotes and the callous DOD incompetence are truly magnetic.

In the story, the Pentagon's CFO (Comptroller Robert Hale) is quoted saying, “We’re not out to screw our own people. The military pay system is just very complex.” He should have added: “But we do sit around and let it happen. We think we have more important things to do”

Indeed, it has been happening since the early 1990s when Congress passed legislation to require DOD to fix all this–legislation that DOD purposefully circumvents.

Today, DOD asserts it has a plan to fix all this: in 2014 it will produce an “audit ready” statement of budgetary resources and by 2017 (close to three decades after the original legislative direction) it will produce an audit of assets. However, it has already been made pretty clear DOD will blow, yet again, the first deadline, and in fact neither of those all too modest goals would fix the horrendous problems that Paltrow and Carr describe below.

After decades of banal rhetoric from Capitol Hill and cynical excuses from DOD, what could possibly fix this? Perhaps these people need some incentives. I would recommend putting all of Capitol Hill and the White House on the DFAS payroll system that this fascinating Reuters series describes below.

Unaccountable: The high cost of the Pentagon's bad bookkeeping

SPECIAL REPORT-How the Pentagon's payroll quagmire traps America's soldiers

Pentagon's paymasters hound a master sergeant

2013/07/10

Berto Jongman: As the World Turns

Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Military

Byte-sized graphic guide to data storage

Can Security Be Achieved Through Surveillance And Spying?

Even Le Carré's latest fiction can't do justice to Snowden

The New York Times pointed out that the Fisa court had become a “parallel supreme court“. It catered to a mirror universe beyond the reach of Congress or normal courts, servicing a new and burgeoning realm of government and private securocrats. When asked about this world, NSA bosses merely said they could not “jeopardise American security“.

How likely is the NSA PRISM program to catch a terrorist?

Pirate Bay Co-Founder Wants to Build NSA-Proof Messaging App

The State Department’s Arabic outreach team spoofed an al-Qaeda video

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2013/07/082013/07/08

Owl: Is DHS A Police State? Or Just Moving Money?

05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude

Other Pieces of the US Police State are Moving Into Place on Schedule

“Documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation from the Homeland Security Department's Customs and Border Protection indicate that the agency is close to finalizing payload standards for its drone aircraft. Among the things the CBP might want to use in its unmanned aircraft: “non-lethal weapons designed to immobilize” targets. In 2009, the agency announced that it had acquired its sixth Predator drone, stationed at an Army Airfield in Arizona.”

As pointed out by a commenter to the article, “For one thing, there are no “non-lethal weapons”. DoD long ago renamed them “less than lethal”, because of the legal liability (rubber bullets can kill, just as a hard hit baseball to the chest can stop the heart) But more significant, DHS is paving the road for internal use of armed drones, against Americans! Or did you for one minute think that these birds are glued to the border, and can only face South?”

More:

Customs and Border Protection Wants to Arm Drones

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2013/07/072013/07/07

Berto Jongman: 20 Years Late, Council on Foreign Relations Has a Stab at Thinking About Cyber + Cyber Meta-RECAP

Commerce, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Impotency

Defending an Open, Global, Secure, and Resilient Internet

Overview

This CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force warns that “escalating attacks on countries, companies, and individuals, as well as pervasive criminal activity, threaten the security and safety of the Internet.” The number of “state-backed operations continues to rise, and future attacks will become more sophisticated and disruptive,” argues the Task Force report, Defending an Open, Global, Secure, and Resilient Internet.

With the ideal vision of an open and secure Internet increasingly at risk, the Task Force urges the United States, with its friends and allies, “to act quickly to encourage a global cyberspace that reflects shared values of free expression and free markets.”

The Task Force concludes that “the most pressing current threat is not likely to be a single, sudden attack that cripples the United States,” but rather “a proliferation of attacks that steal strategically important or valuable data and destroy confidence in the safety and trustworthiness of the Internet.” The U.S. administration has named China as a major source of cyber espionage, and the Task Force also finds China to be a serious cause of concern.

Learn more.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: 20 Years Late, Council on Foreign Relations Has a Stab at Thinking About Cyber + Cyber Meta-RECAP”