Tag: Wikileaks

Spies, lies and your lost privacy

~ Fred Donaldson ~ Leave a comment

Sharyl Attkisson – former CBS investigative reporter, and five-time Emmy winner – has been surveilled, her computer hacked, her career threatened, all because of her exposes of government and political corruption.

Last week she reported on a meeting with “a small group of reliable, formerly high-placed intelligence officials who have dropped a few interesting tidbits on me of late.”

This was her understanding of methods used by the government, based on the discussions:

  • SharylAtkisson_Top2It’s not true that wiretaps and/or electronic surveillance of U.S. citizens can “only” be done with a FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) court order.
  • Besides the FISA court, “wiretapping” or electronic surveillance can also be done under Title III authority. The government used this authority, for example, in the Justice Department’s secret Fast and Furious “gunwalking” case.
  • Additionally, U.S. Presidents have the power to issue secret presidential directives that can authorize otherwise illegal acts (theoretically in the country’s best interests). These directives may come with pre-planned cover stories to be used in the event the operation is exposed, and they come with indemnity for those involved, giving them permission to lie about the operation or their involvement without fear of prosecution.
  • The public will rarely know about such presidential directives since most who see them must sign agreements that promise nondisclosure and consent to polygraphs.

Attkisson said that “computer surveillance is a grey area in the intelligence community where many insiders argue the traditional privacy restrictions and surveillance rules don’t necessarily apply.” Continue reading “Spies, lies and your lost privacy” →

Complete Wikileaks “Vault 7” published here; how CIA is controlling your phone, tv, computer and car

~ Fred Donaldson ~ 1 Comment

The past week’s news cycle has included amateur analysis of how President Barack Obama’s administration might have wiretapped President Donald Trump’s personal calls and emails. Most pundits contend that all Mr. Trump has to do is call the Justice Department and they can reveal everything to him.

What a joke. The CIA does not fall under the Justice Department. Most reporters have no knowledge of of how government agencies can now track nearly every American’s current  location, movement, conversations, emails – even the contents of their phones and computer hard drives – all remotely, undetectable with privacy for none – even at Trump Tower and the White House.

This became very clear today with the Wikileaks expose of CIA methods, abilities and pervasive control of the airwaves, internet, even your “smart” television. We will probably never know if the government bugged Mr. Trump, or if Mr. Trump is now bugging us.

The following release from Wikileaks is directed at journalists, particularly those planning news stories on CIA activities, as revealed in “Vault 7.” The entire remainder of this post is devoted to this release, and the contents do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this blogger. Use any of the many embedded links to gain more insight into the subject matter.

Today, Tuesday 7 March 2017, WikiLeaks begins its new series of leaks on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Code-named “Vault 7” by WikiLeaks, it is the largest ever publication of confidential documents on the agency.

The first full part of the series, “Year Zero”, comprises 8,761 documents and files from an isolated, high-security network situated inside the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence in Langley, Virginia. It follows an introductory disclosure last month of CIA targeting French political parties and candidates in the lead up to the 2012 presidential election.

Recently, the CIA lost control of the majority of its hacking arsenal including malware, viruses, trojans, weaponized “zero day” exploits, malware remote control systems and associated documentation. This extraordinary collection, which amounts to more than several hundred million lines of code, gives its possessor the entire hacking capacity of the CIA. The archive appears to have been circulated among former U.S. government hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner, one of whom has provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive. Continue reading “Complete Wikileaks “Vault 7” published here; how CIA is controlling your phone, tv, computer and car” →

USS Mason jarred by Iranian missiles, despite our State Department approving $150 billion to Iran

~ Fred Donaldson ~ 1 Comment

A high ranking U.S. official, suggested on Sunday that the missiles fired by Houthis at the destroyer USS Mason on three attacks, while it was in the Gulf of Aden, were provided by Iran. Senator John McCain and others strongly agreed.

The failed missile attack from Iranian-backed rebel-held territory in Yemen came as news reports from Tehran revealed other Iranian-made ballistic missiles – “Zalzal 3” – were launched by the alliance of rebels and followers of ousted Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to hit various Saudi targets. Continue reading “USS Mason jarred by Iranian missiles, despite our State Department approving $150 billion to Iran” →