Hill Letters & Testimony – Page 3 – Public Intelligence Blog

2011/07/312011/08/02

Reference: Open Source Agency (OSA) II

About the Idea, Articles & Chapters, Book Lists, Briefings (Core), Defense Science Board, DoD, Hill Letters & Testimony, Legislation, Memoranda, Monographs, Office of Management and Budget

This book remains the single definitive reference on the Smart Nation Act as developed by Robert Steele in support of Congressman Rob Simmons (R-CT-02). As pointed out in Hamilton Bean's recently published book, No More Secrets: Open Source Information and the Reshaping of US Intelligence the Open Source Agency (OSA) has become the subject of competing visions–on one side, those who favor accountability, effectiveness, transparency, and respect for the public…..on the other, those who favor corruption, profitable waste, secrecy, and the exclusion of the public.

The simplified public articles are three: 1995 GIQ 13/2 Creating a Smart Nation: Strategy, Policy, Intelligence, and Information; 2002 TIME Magazine The New Craft of Intelligence and 2006 Forbes Blank Slate On Intelligence.

The back-up book, the one intended to help the Department of Defense transform itself, INFORMATION OPERATIONS: All Information, All Languages, All the Time has since been supplemented by two briefings, 2009 DoD OSINT Leadership and Staff Briefings.

Most recently, INTELLIGENCE for EARTH: Clarity, Diversity, Integrity, & Sustainability provides the strategic, operational, tactical, and technical contexts for leveraging both Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and Multinational, Multiagency, Multidisciplinary, Multidomain Information-Sharing and Sense-Making (M4IS2) in order to create a prosperous world at peace–and at one third the cost of what the USA spends on war today.

This book had two pre-cursors, 2002 THE NEW CRAFT OF INTELLIGENCE: Personal, Public, & Political and 2010 COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace.

That book has since been supplemented by a chapter, 2010 The Ultimate Hack Re-Inventing Intelligence to Re-Engineer Earth, in the just-published book, Counterterrorism and Open Source Intelligence; and by two articles and a monograph from the U.S. Army Strategic Studies Institute, all three found at 2010: Human Intelligence (HUMINT) Trilogy Updated.

If an OSA is created–it can only be a success under diplomatic auspices as OMB has twice agreed (provided the Secretary of State asks for it as a sister agency to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), it could–it should–host the Multinational Decision Support Centre (MDSC) as proposed to DoD and implicitly called for in several Defense Science Board (DSB) reports. The MDSC could be located in Tampa, Florida, as the Coalition Coordination Centre has been, but staffed by intelligence professionals instead of logistics professionals.

Put most simply, an OSA restores intelligence and integrity to the entirety of the US Government, and changes everything about how we do policy, acquisitions, and operations. It restores the Republic.

2011/03/102011/03/10

Correction to the Record: Aspin-Brown Day on OSINT

Hill Letters & Testimony

Aspin-Brown Commission OSINT TestimonyAugust 3, 1995 Washington, D.C.

Larry Cox, Vice President, Washington Operations, David Sarnoff Research Center

“We're not sure what OSINT is, but high-definition TV will make it better.”

Dr. Richard O. Hundley, Senior Physical Scientist, RAND Corporation

“Everything you want in OSINT is on the Internet, and we know how to get it.”

Anthony Lake, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs

“I call my friends.” (Summary of testimony behind closed doors.)

Robert D. Steele, President, Open Source Solutions Group

”OSINT is all information in all languages that can be gotten legally and ethically. No one in Washington knows how to do this…or wants to.” And then the Burundi Exercise as proposed by General Lew Allen, USAF (Ret).

Continue reading “Correction to the Record: Aspin-Brown Day on OSINT”

2011/02/042011/02/04

Barbara McNamara–Subversion from Within

Commissions, Corruption, Hill Letters & Testimony

Behind Closed Doors

On 31 January 2011 Secrecy News returned to a subject that had been discussed earlier: the federal investigations of former NSA employee Thomas Drake for revealing classified information and of a former congressional intelligence committee staffer, Diane Roark, for assisting him. This latest article essentially quotes former NSA Deputy Director Barbara McNamara as saying Roark fell into the category of staffers that were, “overly intrusive and vindictive” and employed NSA employees as her personal informants. Since I personally know something of this business, I would like to add my own observations on the subject.

Continue reading “Barbara McNamara–Subversion from Within”

2010/12/112010/12/11

Reference: Lying is Not Patriotic–Ron Paul

02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Government, Hill Letters & Testimony, Journalism/Free-Press/Censorship, Media, Military, Misinformation & Propaganda, Movies, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, Videos/Movies/Documentaries, YouTube

editor spinney time — Chuck Spinney Recommends....

Several truths, nine questions.

Phi Beta Iota: Here are the questions as asked:

01 Do the American people deserve to know the truth regarding the on-going war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen?

02 Could a larger questions be how can an Army private gain access to so much secret information?

03 Why is the hostility mostly directed at Assange the publisher and not our government's failure to protect classified information?

04 Are we getting our money's worth from the $80 billion dollars per year we are spending on intelligence gathering?

05 Which has resulted in the greatest number of deaths? Lying us into war, or WikiLeaks revelations or the release of the Pentagon Papers?

06 If Assange can be convicted of a crime for information that he did not steal, what does this say about the future of the First Amendment and the independence of the Internet?

07 Could it be that the real reason for the near universal attacks on Wikileaks is more about secretly maintaining a seriously flawed foreign policy of empire than it is about national security?

08 Is there not a huge difference between releasing secret information to help the enemy in a time of declared war, which is treason, and the releasing of information to expose our government lies that promote secret wars, death, and corruption?

09 Was it not once considered patriotic to stand up to our government when it is wrong?

2010/11/192010/11/19

Reference: Saving Defense from Itself

10 Security, Commissions, DoD, Hill Letters & Testimony

Weekend Edition

November 19 – 21, 2010

Open Letter to Erskine Bowles

How to Cut the Defense Budget

By THOMAS CHRISTIE, PIERRE SPREY, FRANKLIN SPINNEY et al.

Counterpunchhttp://www.counterpunch.org/christie11192010.html

The Honorable Erskine Bowles
National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
1650 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20504

Dear Mr. Bowles:

We are writing to you and other members of the President's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform as individuals who have worked in national security affairs for decades for the Department of Defense, in the Armed Forces and for Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Our concern is the defense budget.

Similar to what your “Co-Chairs' Proposal” said last week regarding Social Security and other issues, we do not believe that defense spending should be reduced to a bargaining chip in budget negotiations at the Deficit Commission. On the other hand, we do believe that the defense budget is dangerously bloated, giving rise to serious decay in our armed forces.

Weaker forces at higher costs (discussed below) are the result of many years of exploitation of defense spending for political purposes, dereliction of oversight duties, and gross mismanagement by the Pentagon, the White House and the Congress. There has been a fundamental absence of accountability, both that required by the Constitution and that which accompanies sound management.

Read entire very detailed letter of testimony…

Phi Beta Iota: What our distinguished colleagues have not included in this letter is the fact that the US does not have a coherent reality-based strategy within which to evaluate ALL threats and provide a force structure suitable to ALL threats, nor does the US have an intelligence community able to provide any more than 4% (“at best” according to General Tony Zinni) of what we need in the way of intelligence support to policy, acquisition, and operations. At the same time, the Pentagon is committing a major crime against its own humanity by spending less than 1% of its budget on the 4% of the force that takes 80% of the casualties: the infanty, this from General Robert Scales. With all due respect, both Gates and Clapper have presided over the maintenance of the status quo; they have not changed the game for the better; and they have failed to do what needed to be done.

2010/10/092010/10/09

Reference: “True Cost” of Private Military Contractors

Blog Wisdom, Hill Letters & Testimony

David Isenberg
Author, Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq

Posted: October 9, 2010 12:20 AM

PMSC and the Quest for Perfect Information

Phi Beta Iota: Click on the PMSC title to read the entire post at Huffington Post. Below is the quoted testimony followed by a link to our review of the officer's book.

Back on June 22 there was a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs Hearing; “Investigation of Protection Payments for Safe Passage along the Afghan Supply Chain?” Let's look at the written testimony of Colonel Hammes, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University.

Col Hammes is not an opponent of PMSC. His statement opens by detailing the benefits of their use. But he goes on to detail their costs:

The Bad
When serving within the combat zone, particularly during a counterinsurgency, contractors create a number of significant problems from the tactical to the strategic level. Three primary characteristics of contractors, particularly armed contractors, create problems for the government. First, the government does not control the quality of the personnel the contractor hires. Second, unless it provides a government officer or NCO for each convoy, personal security detail or facilities protection unit, it does not control their daily interactions with the local population. Finally, the population holds the government responsible for everything the contractors do or fail to do. Since insurgency is essentially a competition for legitimacy between the government and insurgents, this factor elevates the issue of quality and tactical control to the strategic level.

Continue reading “Reference: “True Cost” of Private Military Contractors”

2010/07/212011/10/22

Reference: Debt, Deficits, & Defense–Sub-Text Bloomberg and Nunn Round Two, 52 Q&A

DoD, Hill Letters & Testimony

cover debt defense light — Report Online

A new report from the Sustainable Defense Task Force, formed by House Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) identifies reductions in Pentagon spending while maintaining strong defense capabilities as the best response to the nation’s mounting fiscal restraints. These options cover the full range of Pentagon expenditures including procurement, R&D, personnel, operations and maintenance, and infrastructure. They apply to strategic and conventional forces, as well as command, support, and infrastructure.

“Leaders from the left, right and center agree on two major policy changes: the U.S. deficit must be reduced and the Pentagon budget can reverse its exponential growth while keeping Americans safe,” claimed Paul Kawika Martin, policy and political director of Peace Action (the nation’s largest grassroots peace organization) and a member of the task force.

The task force was formed in response to a request from Representative Barney Frank (D-MA), working in cooperation with Representative Walter B. Jones (R-NC), Representative Ron Paul (R-TX), and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), to explore possible defense budget contributions to deficit reduction efforts that would not compromise the essential security of the United States. The report will be released at a briefing on Capitol Hill on June 11th.

The Sustainable Defense Task Force
Benjamin Friedman – Cato Institute
William Hartung – New America Foundation
Christopher Hellman – National Priorities Project
Heather Hurlburt – National Security Network
Charles Knight – Project on Defense Alternatives
Paul Kawika Martin – Peace Action
Laicie Olson – Center for Arms Control & Non-Proliferation
Miriam Pemberton – Institute for Policy Studies
Prasannan Parthasarathi – Boston College
Winslow Wheeler – Center for Defense Information
Christopher Preble – Cato Institute
Carl Conetta – Project on Defense Alternatives
Lawrence Korb – Center for American Progress
Laura Peterson – Taxpayers for Common Sense

Phi Beta Iota: Released 11 June 2010, the report is taking on momentum as it is embraced by a variety of activist organizations. It is obvious that neither defense nor intelligence, both over-funded and under-managed by 75%, will be reformed between now and the end of the Obama Administration. However, if Ron Paul, Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, and Jackie Salit were to come together with Michael Bloomberg to launch a nation-wide campaign demanding Electoral Reform in time to clean out both the Senate and the House, replacing the old dogs (“less turnover than the Politburo” was Ronald Reagan/Nancy Noonan line), then a Transpartisan/Postpartisan independent candidate, such as the older and wiser Michael Bloomberg, could field a coalition sunshine cabinet, a balanced budget, and specific policy reforms such as we have been suggesting since Al Gore took the fall in 2000.