Journal ISSN 1078-1935 – Page 2072 – Public Intelligence Blog

Sen Hagel, if confirmed as SECDEF, may start firing Service Secretaries. Keeping Acquisition and Intelligence will be a sure sign that nothing is actually going to change.

Sources: Carter, Others Expected To Stay

By Zachary Fryer-Biggs and Marcus Weisgerber

Washington Post, 21 January 2013

Although the transition between presidential terms is usually marked by large-scale personnel turnover at politically appointed government posts, sources said that this time, many of the most important leaders at the Pentagon are likely to stay, creating continuity in a time of fiscal uncertainty.

Among them, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is expected to stay on for at least one year following confirmation of the top Defense Department job, according to Pentagon sources.

While it appears more and more likely that former Sen. Chuck Hagel will be confirmed to replace Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Hagel will likely inherit much of his predecessor’s team. Besides Carter, Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, and Robert Hale, Defense Department comptroller, are likely to remain, sources said.

According to a Pentagon official, the president asked Carter to stay in his current DoD post, a decision, sources added, was made easier because of the good relationship he has with Hagel.

Carter had been rumored as a candidate for Cabinet-level positions, but that possibility appears to have passed for the moment. Michael Vickers, who was considered for the job of CIA director, is thought likely to remain at DoD as well.

None of the decisions has been finalized, as Hagel will be given the option to push for his own people, but sources don’t expect Hagel to rock the boat. Change is more likely to occur at the service head level, said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute think tank. But those decisions are likely to wait until a new secretary is settled, Thompson said. And while the staffs may remain similar, there will be a distinction in mandate and ideology between the current and likely defense chiefs.

Read full article.

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Hagel as Theater or Change Agent?”

2013/01/202013/01/20

SchwartzReport: Genetically Modified Food = Dead Bees No Pollination & Human Cancers in Throat, Kidneys, and Liver — Oh, We Almost Forgot — Infertility by the Third Generation of Eaters

Commerce, Corruption, Government

Common Pesticides Threaten Bees, E.U. Watchdog Warns
TANIA RABESANDRATANA – Science

In spite of all the money being spent by Monsanto, Syngenta, and Bayer Crop Science and others to buy off governments the truth about the connection between neonicotinoids and the collapse of the bees is finally breaking through.

Read full article.

The Great Experiment: Genetically Modified Organisms, Scientific Integrity, and National Wellness
STEPHAN A. SCHWARTZ, Columnist – Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing

EXTRACT:

As time went on, however, Surov and his team ‘noticed quite a serious effect when we selected new pairs’ from the previous generation's cubs. They ‘continued to feed them as before. These pairs' growth rate was slower and reached their sexual maturity slowly.' By the third generation, the hamsters were infertile.”

. . . . . . . . . .

But infertility was almost the least of the strange pathologies observed. The GM diet hamsters developed hair growing in recessed pouches inside their mouths.

. . . . . . . . . .

Jeffrey M. Smith of the Center for Global Research, describes what happened: ‘Within just 10 days, the animals developed potentially pre-cancerous cell growth, smaller brains, livers and testicles, partially atrophied livers, and damaged immune systems. Moreover, the cause was almost certainly side effects from the process of genetic engineering itself. In other words, the GM foods on the market, which are created from the same process, might have similar affects on humans.”

Read full article with active endnotes.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Genetically Modified Food = Dead Bees No Pollination & Human Cancers in Throat, Kidneys, and Liver — Oh, We Almost Forgot — Infertility by the Third Generation of Eaters”

2013/01/192013/01/20

Marcus Aurelius: Letter from Joint Chiefs to Senate Armed Service Committee — Comment by Robert Steele + DoD Transformation RECAP

Corruption, Government, Military

The letter appears only on the Association of the US Navy website, it does not appear at the Joint Chiefs website.

Letter from Joint Chiefs

Following Armed Forces Press Service item ((DOES)) appear as of 2042 EST, 19Jan13:

Sequestration Will Hollow Out Force Fast, Dempsey Says

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT, Jan. 17, 2013 – The across-the-board spending cuts that would result if a “sequestration” mechanism in budget law kicks in March 1 will hollow out U.S. military forces faster than most Americans imagine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today.

Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said during a recent news briefing that if sequestration happens, the American military “will be less prepared in months and unprepared in a year.”

During an interview today on his return trip from NATO meetings in Brussels, the general said the cuts would quickly bring about a new type of hollow force.

Read full story.

ROBERT STEELE: Below is an extracted paragraph from the alleged letter, the one paragraph that makes sense:

To avert this crisis, we urge you to take immediate action to provide adequate and stable funding for readiness. We need a legislative solution that provides the time and flexibility to properly shape the best military force in the world. This means prioritizing warfighting readiness, appropriately sizing our military and civilian workforce and force structure, and reducing overhead costs. We must also be given the latitude to enact cost-saving reforms we need while eliminating the weapons and facilities we do not need.

My initial reaction is “wow!” HOWEVER, the Joint Chiefs of Staff have not met Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA) basic guidance as issued when he was Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC):

I am constantly being asked for a bottom-line defense number. I don’t know of any logical way to arrive at such a figure without analyzing the threat,; without determining what changes in our strategy should be made in light of the changes in the threat; and then determining what force structure and weapons programs we need to carry out this revised strategy. Senator Sam Nunn, then Chairman, SASC Source (p. 3)

The Joint Chiefs of Staff have been dishonest and unprofessional up to this point, as have been their predecessors going all the way back to the end of World War II. They have administered to budget share driven by the Military Industrial Congressional Complex (MICC) while accepting extremely dishonest appraisals of the global threat, producing an incoherent strategy, and perpetuating an acquisition system that is so dysfunctional it could reasonably be found to be treasonous,the United States being at war at this time (whether legitimately declared or not).

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Letter from Joint Chiefs to Senate Armed Service Committee — Comment by Robert Steele + DoD Transformation RECAP”

2013/01/192013/01/19

Mini-Me: State Nullification — Canary in the Coal Mine

Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government

Huh?

Fear of Feds Leads to Nullification Fever in SC

EXTRACT

Nullification is a loaded word in South Carolina. While various states considered it in this country's first few decades, the state was the first to push the federal government to the brink. In the 1830s, President Andrew Jackson threatened to send the entire U.S. Army to South Carolina if the state nullified a tariff that many residents felt protected Northern industry at the expense of Southern farmers.

Jackson said if one drop of blood was shed, he would hang the first supporter of nullification he found in the first tree he passed. The issue split Jackson and Calhoun, who was his vice president in his first term, but things simmered down after a compromise tariff was reached.

Read full article.

Rand Paul Nullification Proposal Emerges in Gun Debate

Getting much of what he wanted with the fiscal cliff, the president has proposed twenty-three executive orders, a practice he criticized while a U.S. Senator, to address gun policy in the event Congress does not pass adequate legislation.

On the other side, Kentucky U.S. Senator Rand Paul declared on TV that the president does not have the authority to write laws – an authority not granted to the executive branch. As a solution to the overreach, Paul advocates for nullification of any gun law deemed unconstitutional with forthcoming legislation:

Read full article.

Continue reading “Mini-Me: State Nullification — Canary in the Coal Mine”

2013/01/192016/03/26

Reflections on the Inability of Washington to Think with Integrity

All Reflections & Story Boards, Commerce, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Military, Non-Governmental

Power corrupts, no doubt about it. What most people miss is that it is not just about financial corruption that explicitly mis-directs scarce resources to benefit the few over the many (with Congress taking its standard 5% kick-back for delivering earmarks). Power also corrupts intellect. People forget how to think. They begin talking among themselves, shutting out external views, creating an incestuous cycle of circular citation. Col Mike Pheneger, then J-2 at the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) discovered this with respect to the Cuban Order of Battle (OOB), and I have found this myself on many occasions over the years.

Recently I have observed two deeply dysfunctional conversations in Washington. The first deals with intelligence and information overload, the second with the force structure requirements for the U.S. military beyond 2014.

Blithering Blobs of Blogdom

The intelligence discussion is best represented by SASA/INSA and The New America Foundation. The first fronts for the intelligence-industrial complex and the second for a mix of benefactors, none of whom appear actually interested in creating a government that works for all. Indeed, it can be said that the secret intelligence world and the “non-profit” think tank world share the same motivation: do whatever it takes to keep the money (inputs) moving, never mind the outputs or the outcomes.

Continue reading “Reflections on the Inability of Washington to Think with Integrity”

2013/01/192013/01/19

Marcus Aurelius: Military Seeks to Disarm Unstable Soldiers — But Only When They Are At Home

Corruption, Government, Law Enforcement, Military

As much as I admire GEN(R) Chiarelli, I disagree profoundly with his position. It ((IS)) about Second Amendment. Admission of possession can be a form of registration. And registration can lead to confiscation. It is also about personal privacy. Except for cases where privately owned weapons are stored on military installations in either married quarters or unit arms rooms, DoD has zero need to know whether or not a Service member owns firearms. Suicide prevention concerns, while heartwrenching, must absolutely yield to personal privacy and Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms.

U.S. military worries about guns, too

Stephanie Gaskell

Politico, 17 January 2013

One provision in President Barack Obama’s gun-control plan already has played well in Congress and with the National Rifle Association: being able to ask people with mental health issues if they have access to guns.

Last month, Congress passed a little-noticed provision in the National Defense Authorization Act that allows commanders and ranking officers to ask troops who are struggling with mental health issues if they have access to firearms.

The NRA, a big supporter of the military, did not try to block the provision. But it was not immediately available for comment Thursday.

Read full article.

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Military Seeks to Disarm Unstable Soldiers — But Only When They Are At Home”

2013/01/19

SchwartzReport: Criminal Insanity in America – TSA, Monsanto, Scientologists

Commerce, Corruption, Government, Law Enforcement

TSA to Remove Controversial X-ray Scanners
JOSHUA FREED , Business Writer – The Associated Press

We spent several billion dollars on this this ill-conceived program, and it has come to this.

Monsanto Versus the People
CHARLOTTE SILVER – Aljazeera (Qatar)

Prop 37 went down in California thanks to a million dollar a day ad campaign funded by the pro-GMO corporate interests. But the fight against GMOs has not ended. Here is the latest on this trend.

15 Scientology Revelations From Lawrence Wright’s ‘Going Clear’
The Daily Beast

Scientology is such a bizarre organization, and so obviously the creation of a man with serious mental health issues, that it has always been hard to understand how some very competent people get involved — I had several scientist friends who got completely embroiled in it, much to my consternation. Lawrence Wright who is a meticulous journalist has searched out the truth about Scientology ! and produced an extraordinary non-fiction work of investigative reporting, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief.