Tag: Intel Report

Closing Thought–10Feb17

I apologize for the spotty replies on my part but I have been dealing with a provider that is doing maintenance and the connection has been hit and miss for a couple of days….please bear with me.

In the words of Osama……

Recently the CIA released a massive amount of declassified documents gave an old researched something to do in his spare time…..and then another bonanza for researchers….the release of the works of Osama bin Laden.

After his death in Pakistan the SEALs collected many documents that were valuable intel source…..as a parting shot Obama has released the documents for all to see…..

From Thomas Joscelyn, The Weekly Standard: “The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released 98 additional items from Osama bin Laden’s compound Thursday. If the ODNI has its way, then these files will be the last the American people see for some time. The accompanying announcement is titled, “Closing the Book on bin Laden: Intelligence Community Releases Final Abbottabad Documents.” The ODNI says today’s release “marks the end of a two-and-a-half-year effort to declassify several hundred documents recovered” during the Abbottabad raid. But the total number of files released thus far, including today’s document dump, is just a drop in the bucket compared to what was found in the al Qaeda master’s compound.”

In its last day running the country, the Obama administration has released a final batch of documents once belonging to Osama bin Laden, the AP reports. The 49 documents made public Thursday were part of the hundreds taken during the 2011 raid that led to bin Laden’s death. Intelligence officials have been working for years to declassify them. Despite multiple releases over the past two years, there are believed to be between 100 and 200 documents still classified, according to CNN. It will be up to the Trump administration whether to release them.

The 49 documents released Thursday include letters to and from bin Laden, his mother, and his deputies. They include instructions to multiple sons about how to travel safely and without being detected by enemies, including the CIA, and a rare letter from one of his daughters, who discusses her multiple ailments. The documents show bin Laden arguing with an al-Qaeda splinter group that would become ISIS, whose methods he found “brutal and violent,” the Mirror reports. They also include memos about al-Qaeda “best practices,” complaint boxes, monthly revenues, and an “oversight committee.”

As a person who loves research this will be a valuable resource for me……for those interested in what Osama was thinking and how he was reacting…..

Source: Bin Laden’s Bookshelf

It is the researcher in me…..time to start the weekend…..please everyone thanx for all the visits and comments they are much appreciated….be well, be safe….chuq

In closing how about some classic rock?  5 Hours of sheer joy…..

A Researchers Dream!

Finally!  Something of interest in the news!

This news may not do anything for some people….but for me it is a welcome sight…..now I can spend my day doing what I do best….research!

MY regular readers know that I prefer to do research and not take someone’s word on subjects like international relations and intel gathering…..I spend many hours pouring over documents and such trying to get at the meat of a problem or situation……

Finally, the CIA has released a butt-load of previously classified documents giving me something to do for awhile……

Decades ago, the CIA declassified a 26-page secret document cryptically titled “clarifying statement to Fidel Castro concerning assassination.”

It was a step toward greater transparency for one of the most secretive of all federal agencies. But to find out what the document actually said, you had to trek to the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and hope that one of only four computers designated by the CIA to access its archives would be available.

But today the CIA posted the Castro record on its website along with more than 12 million pages of the agency’s other declassified documents that have eluded the public, journalists, and historians for nearly two decades. You can view the documents here.

Source: CREST | CIA FOIA (foia.cia.gov)

Of course all this is heavily redacted but yet there could be a wealth of information within the documents….late nights and lots of coffee…..

I have my new years present!  Thank you CIA

The Intel Briefing

I have been having a good laugh at all the back and forth over the report that Russia was involved in a hack…..I wish I could say that there was anything usable in all the chatter and noise….but that would be a lie…the only thing that was given the public by either the media or the rags was hearsay and out right stupidity….and a few morons that are stroking out…..

But Mr. Trump got his briefing last Friday…..

A report declassified Friday by the US intelligence community states Vladimir Putin ordered an “influence campaign” during the 2016 US election to hurt Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump, CNN reports. According to NBC News, the CIA and FBI have “high confidence” in that conclusion, and the NSA “has moderate confidence.” The New York Times calls the report “damning and surprisingly detailed.” The report says Russia’s campaign started out as an effort to undermine American democracy but mutated into a push to get Trump elected. “Putin and the Russian government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump,” the report states. At the same time, it sough to “undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency.”

To do that, the report says Russia’s military intelligence arm GRU leaked hacked information from the DNC, John Podesta, and others to WikiLeaks and other third-party websites. Russia also “obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple US state or local electoral boards,” according to the report. It used paid social media users and state-sponsored media for propaganda purposes, or “trolling” and “fake news.” The report says Russia even had a #DemocracyRIP hashtag ready to go on election night if it looked like Clinton was going to win. Intelligence officials briefed Trump on the contents of the report. The president-elect maintained that possible Russian actions had no effect on the election.

Contrary to the Tweets…..there is NOTHING in this unclassified report that indicates that Russia did this alleged hack to influence the election (there could be parts that remain classified and were not included)…..and most of the trolls in the blogosphere would know that if they had read the report or had gathered news from reliable sources ….(again I am speaking of the released unclassified report)

But do not take my word for it…read the goddamn report for yourself…..

Source: Russia Hacking report

But I am guessing that those trolls will not take the time to read the report…they prefer their brand of “truth”…..plus anything over four characters will confuse them into a stupor.

The Russian “Hack” Report

Okay we have a report issued by the Intel people and the FBI on the hacking of the DNC and Podesta’s email account…..

Do you believe or do you join with your new “messiah” in the story of the hack?

In case you have an open mind (this is for people other than a GOPer)……

The 13-page report provides technical details regarding tools and infrastructure used by Russian civilian and military intelligence services to “compromise and exploit networks and endpoints associated with the U.S. election, as well as a range of U.S. Government, political, and private sector entities.” (See the entire report below.)

Source: FBI, DHS release report on Russia hacking | TheHill

There is not much more in this released report that one could not have found on-line…..but in case you would like to read the report for yourself…..

Source: JAR-16-20296: GRIZZLY STEPPE – Russian Malicious Cyber Activity – JAR_16-20296A_GRIZZLY STEPPE-2016-1229.pdf

Personally, I would like to see the finished report when it comes out, probably next year….that is if it is not squashed by the new guy.

I cannot leave you guys without a little history……94 years ago, 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics, the USSR, was established…..

Closing Thought–13Dec16

The Russian Hack!

Okay by now you have heard about the Russian hack that is pouring out of the news these days….that is unless you have been in a coma or trapped in a public bathroom in Peoria…….

The news is that no less than 17 US intel agencies have conformed that it was the Russians that hacked into the DNC and started aiding the Trump camp (at least that is the scenario)….

Now everyone has an opinion on this attack…the Trump people, especially the Prez does not believe that it was the Russians…..

It’s time for everyone – especially President-Elect Trump – to get the facts right about Russian interference in the election. The conversation started months ago, when leading voices in the intelligence community began voicing concern that Russian government hackers were behind cyber-attacks at the DNC and other U.S. political organizations. In October, the U.S. government officially accused Russia of hacking and interfering in the U.S. election. And it gets worse: just this weekend, a new CIA report concluded that Russia acted with the specific intention of swinging the election to President Elect Donald Trump.
Russia’s interference with the U.S.’s presidential election is an attack on our sovereignty, our security, and the integrity of our democracy. But our president-elect doesn’t seem bothered. Over the weekend, Trump denied the CIA’s assessment, called the findings of the report “ridiculous”, and even refused to acknowledge the established fact that Russia was behind the hackings in the first place.

The fallout from Friday night’s “bombshell” report from the CIA that Russian hackers directly interfered with the US election in order to get Donald Trump elected continued Saturday. Here are seven things you need to know:

  • With Trump criticizing the CIA—rather than Russia—in the wake of the report, the New York Times reports he’s opening an “extraordinary breach” between himself and the national security establishment he’s bound to need during his presidency.
  • While mostly at a loss, Michael Tomasky at the Daily Beast has a few pieces of advice for what Democrats should do next: “Demand the release of the information. Demand a real investigation…The media needs to get the message that conservatives aren’t the only people who get pissed off.”
  • In a “no-win situation for the GOP,” some Republicans in Congress want to investigate Russia’s involvement in the election against Trump’s wishes. The Washington Post has four ways they could take on Russia, with or without the president-elect.
  • Harry Reid is calling for the resignation of FBI director James Comey, who he compares to J. Edgar Hoover and accuses of covering up information about Russia’s activities to get Trump elected, the Guardian reports.
  • Pamela Kruger at Fortune points out that Trump did Saturday what he normally does when faced with a major negative story: spend the morning tweeting about something completely unrelated; Celebrity Apprentice, in this case.
  • Worried Trump will ignore Russian threats to US democracy when he takes office, Quartz reports President Obama is “racing against the clock” to get a full report on Russia’s involvement in US affairs before he steps down in six weeks.

I am having fun with our new president’s reaction……

Donald Trump continued his extraordinary repudiation of U.S. intelligence agencies Wednesday night when he expressed “doubt” about their conclusion that Russia has been interfering in the U.S. election through a hacking campaign — even though intelligence officials briefed him on the Russia link in person months ago.

“Our country has no idea,” who is doing the hacking, the Republican nominee said during the final presidential debate, after Hillary Clinton challenged him to accept the conclusion of the CIA and other agencies that the Russian government was behind the leaks of internal Democratic emails.

When moderator Chris Wallace pressed Trump on whether he was disputing the assessment from U.S. intelligence officials, he replied, “Yeah, I doubt it. I doubt it.”

(NBC News)

“I don’t think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC,” Trump said. “I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, okay?”

But my fave thing that Mr. Trump said was…..”if we do not detect them while the hack is going on then we have NO way of telling who started it”…..

Apparently our new president has NO idea how cyber-security works…that should be comforting to all Americans.
I am still concerned that the American people just 10 years ago would have NEVER allowed a president to basically embrace Russia and yet these days NO one seems to care…..

US Foreign Policy, Not Religion, Sparked Rise of Terrorism

Before some old hater decides to go off on me for write such a post….may I suggest that one read the report before showing their ignorance…..

How many time have you heard the idiots tell us that the terrorists hate our freedoms and our way of life?  How many?

It seems that an FBI report does not agree with the standard bullshit offered up by the morons on the Right.

A newly-released 2011 FBI Intelligence Assessment shows the 11 percent uptick in terror plots against the US from 2006 was led by US persons, not foreigners. A “broadening US military presence overseas and outreach by Islamist ideologues” bolstered the increase.

The previously classified document was the result of analysis conducted by the Los Angeles Division of the FBI and the Joint Regional Intelligence Center (JRIC), covering terrorist plots against the US and its interests from 2001 to 2010. It was made public via a California Public Records request to the Los Angeles Police Department, according to Muck Rock.

Source: Declassified FBI Report: US Foreign Policy, Not Religion, Sparked Rise of Terrorism in US | Global Research – Centre for Research on Globalization

After years of fighting against stereotyping…..there is now an official FBI report that nails the real culprit in the rise and spread of terrorism.

ISIS, Who’s Your Daddy?

2016 has brought about many a debate….most is just words to elicit some sort of applause and yells……but one of the better accusations was the one made by Trump that ISIS was created by Obama and Clinton….

Trump was asked by host Hugh Hewitt about the comments Trump made Wednesday night in Florida, and Hewitt said he understood Trump to mean “that he (Obama) created the vacuum, he lost the peace.”
Trump objected.
“No, I meant he’s the founder of ISIS,” Trump said. “I do. He was the most valuable player. I give him the most valuable player award. I give her, too, by the way, Hillary Clinton.”
Hewitt pushed back again, saying that Obama is “not sympathetic” to ISIS and “hates” and is “trying to kill them.”
“I don’t care,” Trump said, according to a show transcript. “He was the founder. His, the way he got out of Iraq was that that was the founding of ISIS,
(cnn)
His words were a bit off topic…..I know that will not please those the drink from the Trump cup but nonetheless accurate…..

To understand why Trump’s claim that Obama “founded” ISIS is so off base, you need to understand the group’s actual origins.

ISIS has its origins in a Jordanian group called Jamaat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (JTWJ), founded in 1999 by a militant named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Zarqawi, himself from Jordan, was a kind of thuggish figure, known more for brutality than theological sophistication. Initially, his group was fairly marginal in the global jihadist movement, especially compared with al-Qaeda.

The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 changed everything. The American-led war, by destroying the Iraqi state, left much of the country in chaos. Foreign fighters and extremists began moving into Iraq, assisted by Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, which sought to bog down the United States. Zarqawi and his group were among those foreign fighters.

Maybe Trump is referring to an intel memo from 2012…….after a little research I found this info….I can see where the mistake could have occurred…..

US military intelligence warned the White House in 2012 that the West’s covert war in Syria would produce “an Islamic State” (precisely what Daesh (Isis/Isil) claimed to be creating two years later in 2014)

The following was revealed in a declassified Pentagon ‘Secret’ Intelligence Information Report (US Defense Intelligence Agency). Note that the ‘Salafists’ (aka Wahhabis) mentioned are followers of the ultra-conservative state sect of Saudi Arabia – which has inspired al-Qaida, Daesh, and other jihadi groups on the ground in Syria.

A. Internally, events are taking a clear sectarian direction.

B. The Salafist [sic], the Muslim Brotherhood, and AQI [al-Qaida in Iraq] are the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria.

C. The West, Gulf countries, and Turkey support the opposition; while Russia, China and Iran support the regime…

8.C. If the situation unravels there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in Eastern Syria (Hasaka and Der Zor), and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran).

8.D.1. …ISI [Islamic State in Iraq] could also declare an Islamic State through its union with other terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria…

I would like to be fair(I know a concept that is not really embraced these days)……..It is possible that this is where the confusion originated…..

I know that the accusation makes great news fodder…..and as long as the news is talking about the accusation he wins this round.

I Read The News Today

Made me think of a Beatles song……sorry got side-tracked…..

We are told daily about the plans to “degrade and destroy” the barbarians we call ISIS or ISIL or IS (you choose the one you prefer)……we have been told that we maimed their leader….then we blew up their cash stash….and I have been waiting for further proof that what we are doing is truly deliver the promises…..and waiting…….then while surfing the net I found an article on military.com…..

A new intelligence assessment shows the size of the Islamic State force is shrinking in Iraq and Syria — but growing in Libya, a defense official said.

The new estimate for the number of fighters for the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, is between 19,000 and 25,000 in Iraq and Syria, down from prior figures ranging from 20,000 to possibly more than 30,000, according to a defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The exact reasons for the declining force size are unclear but may include battlefield deaths, the impact of U.S. airstrikes, desertions and recruiting problems, the defense official said.

Deserters also played a role in trimming IS military manpower, according to the National Security Council. “The decrease reflects the combined effects of battlefield deaths, desertions, internal disciplinary actions, recruiting shortfalls, and difficulties that foreign fighters face travelling to Syria,” National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne told Reuters.

Now is this just another “bright” intel assessment or is this true?

I ask because we have been given many “bright” intel assessments in the last several years…..and yet the conflict continues……or maybe the numbers are declining in Syria because soldiers are being moved to areas like Libya and Afghanistan…..

I realize that the intel report will not give all the particulars…..but I, personally, want to know the status……

More research is needed…..

As long as we are talking about the news……I saw something today that John Kerry said…….

Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday accused Russia of bombing women and children “in large numbers” in Syria.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, he said the Russian bombing campaign was not precise and that the Russians were using “dumb bombs.”

“This has to stop,” Kerry declared.

(CNN)

Seriously?  After all the civilians the US has “accidentally” killed with bombs and drone strikes and you are going to call Russia out on this?

Coalition bombings on oil refineries held by ISIS in the northeast of Syria killed fourteen militants associated with the group, but also five civilians. In total, since the bombing of Syria began on Monday, SOHR estimates that of the 183 total killed by U.S. bombs, 36 were non-combatants, many of them women and children.  And that was just recently….what about in all the years we have been engaged in this conflict?

Civilian deaths are just that civilian deaths…..no matter who dropped what…..I think it is the height of hypocrisy to point a finger at anyone….or as my grandfather use to say….”when you point your finger at someone just remember there are 3 pointing at you”……

Welcome to a new Parker Bros. game……Geopolitics…..fun for all…… 8 to 80……

My Latest Intel Report

Most of my readers know that I am a bit of a international relations geek……I research and write a lot about the world’s situation and the dangers that we face now and in the future.  Because of my interests I get a lot of stuff that most Americans would have to pay to read….one of my sources is a group called IntelCenter…..these people track terrorists and such and analyze future problems as they are forming…..

Usually their reports are pretty much along the same lines as the local media outlet….but from time to time they report something that should be news but for some reason we seldom hear or read……

I got a report from 09 September 2015 that listed the top ten group in the world that need to be watched….and they are……
Most Dangerous Groups Over Past 30 Days
Group Threat Index (GTI)
1 – Islamic State (IS)
2 – al-Shabaab [Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (HSM)]
3 – Boko Haram
4 – Taliban
5 – Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)
6 – Jabhat al-Nusrah
7 – Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
8 – Ansar al-Sharia
9 – Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR)
10 – al-Huthi Rebels

Please take a moment to look over the list……(pause here for a little reflection from the reader)…..now…..is there anything unusual about the list?

Al-Qaeda main is NOT on the list…wassup wit dat?

But yet the government has started pushing the idea that AQ is more dangerous than ISIS….

A much-hyped new report for SOCOM is aiming to shift US focus away from ISIS and back toward al-Qaeda on the grounds that the later is a bigger “long-term” threat, and that ISIS is too aggressive to actually be successful in the long run.

The report comes out of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and attempts to compare al-Qaeda to Mao, with ISIS as Che Guevara, and drawing the conclusion that because Mao had a much bigger reign, that means al-Qaeda ultimately will too.

Underpinning all the claims of ISIS relying on a strategy that “already failed” is the conceit of a US victory in the occupation of Iraq, and the notion that al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), which became ISIS, was “defeated” by the US in that war. It then goes on to assume ISIS will inevitably be defeated the same way again.

AQ is more dangerous that ISIS?  Really?

Here are a few things to consider about al-Qaeda, nearly 30 years in, has little real territory, and that is mostly in the possession of its auxiliaries. ISIS, by contrast, has half of Syria and a good chunk of Iraq, and is recruiting at a much faster clip than al-Qaeda is. Whether they ultimately falter, it’s hard to deny that right now, ISIS is making more progress than al-Qaeda toward their respective goals.

What is our government up to with these newest revelations?

Do you watch the news, I mean real news not the pond scum from WND or Inforwars, if you do then when was the last time you heard AQ mentioned?  Take a minute and think it over……

I know the refugees are far more interesting and easy for those that have a very limited mental capacity…..but there is something going on here and few people are paying attention…..

That is why you have me, right?

Iraq Is Smoldering

A nearly completed high-level U.S. intelligence analysis warns that unresolved ethnic and sectarian tensions in Iraq could unleash a new wave of violence, potentially reversing the major security and political gains achieved over the last year.

The findings seem to cast doubts on McCain’s frequent assertions that the United States is “on a path to victory” in Iraq by underscoring the deep uncertainties of the situation despite the 30,000-strong U.S. troop surge for which he was the leading congressional advocate.

But McCain could also use the findings to try to strengthen his argument for keeping U.S. troops in Iraq until conditions stabilize.

For Obama, the report raises questions about whether he could fulfill his pledge to withdraw most of the remaining 152,000 U.S. troops _ he would leave some there to deal with al Qaida and to protect U.S. diplomats and civilians _ within 16 months of taking office so that more U.S. forces could be sent to battle the growing Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

The new NIE, which reflects the consensus of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, has significant implications for Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, whose differences over the Iraq war are a major issue in the presidential campaign.