IO Impotency – Page 255 – Public Intelligence Blog

2011/08/032011/08/03

Joe Mazzafro: Deficit Deal and Impact on the US IC

03 Economy, 10 Security, 11 Society, Blog Wisdom, Budgets & Funding, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Intelligence (government), IO Impotency, Military

The MAZZ-INT Blog

DEFICIT DEAL AND ITS IMPACT ON THE IC

At the time of the July edition of Mazz-INT Blog, the government was tied in a knot over coming to grips with how to get long term spending under control so there would be the political conditions to raise the debt ceiling on August 2^nd; NATO forces were engaged in a seeming stalemate in Libya to remove Gadhafi from power; there was rising concern about corruption in the Karzai “government” in Afghanistan; near open confrontation between Islamabad and the Washington over continuing US unilateral drone attacks against Al Qaeda and Taliban leadership inside of Pakistan; and the US Intelligence Community (IC) was finishing a quiet but well deserved victory lap for taking out Osama bin Laden. As August begins I am happy to report that Bin Laden remains dead —– with increasingly negative impacts for Al Qaeda, but little else as changed.

So what to discuss with you that is worth your time? As Eddie Layton, Nimitz’s N2 throughout WWII, was famous for saying “the biggest alligator is the one closest to you” which means to me the debt crisis and its impact on the on the IC. As I write this on 31 July, the Executive and Legislative branches are struggling to figure out how to raise the debt ceiling so the US government will not be in default on August 3^rd when you are likely to be seeing these ramblings. So let’s focus on how debt crisis will likely impact the IC.

Continue reading “Joe Mazzafro: Deficit Deal and Impact on the US IC”

2011/08/032011/08/03

Marcus Aurelius: “Deal” Cuts 1.5T Adds 10T Net 8.5T+

03 Economy, 11 Society, Corruption, Government, IO Impotency

Marcus-Aurelius-150x150 — Marcus Aurelius

The government is certain we are stupid. This deal cuts $1.5 trillion over ten years while continuing the practice of borrowing $1 trillion a year. The net increase in debt is roughly $8.5 trillion.

The deal, point by point

By Katy O'Donnell National Journal August 1, 2011

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: “Deal” Cuts 1.5T Adds 10T Net 8.5T+”

2011/08/022011/08/02

Chuck Spinney: Libya, Rebels, & the West–A Debacle

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, Articles & Chapters, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Military

Note: the author of this important report is one of best journalists covering the wars of Western intervention in the Islamic world. CS

August 1, 2011

Follow the Oil and the Money

Why the West is Committed to the Murderous Rebels in Libya

By PATRICK COCKBURN, Counterpunch

In keeping with the British Government's well-established record of comical ineptitude in dealing with Libya, foreign secretary William Hague chose to recognize the rebel leaders in Benghazi as the legitimate government of the country at the very moment some of them may have been shooting or torturing to death their chief military commander.

Read full article….

See Also:

Cynthia McKinney Reports from Libya

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.

2011/07/312011/08/01

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”