Concepts & opinions

Jimmy Carter: The U.S. is an 'oligarchy with unlimited political bribery'

HARTMANN: Our Supreme Court has now said, "unlimited money in politics." It seems like a violation of principles of democracy. ... Your thoughts on that?

CARTER: It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it's just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president. And the same thing applies to governors and U.S. senators and congress members. So now we've just seen a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors, who want and expect and sometimes get favors for themselves after the election's over. ... The incumbents, Democrats and Republicans, look upon this unlimited money as a great benefit to themselves. Somebody's who's already in Congress has a lot more to sell to an avid contributor than somebody who's just a challenger.

Intel revenge

Breaking: Turkey Arrests Generals for Stopping Syria-Bound Trucks ‘Filled With Arms’

The recent developments are taking place in the wake of a major government crackdown on two Turkish journalists of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, Can Dunbar and Erdem Gul, who we arrested for covering a story and releasing pictures, claiming that Turkish trucks provided weapons to Syrian opposition rebels.

The reason why the Turkish government arrested the journalists is because Erdogan and his ruling party don’t want reporters to write about certain things, such as the government’s support of Syrian rebels, corruption and other important things that people should actually know about, human rights activist Arzu Geybulla said.

Gun control

'Enough Is Enough,' Obama Says After Shooting at Colorado Planned Parenthood

"Enough is enough," President Barack Obama said in a statement on Saturday morning, hours after suspect Robert Lewis Dear was taken into custody for opening fire at a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs, killing three people.

Dear, 57, is suspected of killing police officer Garrett Swasey along with two unidentified civilians.

Just before noon on Friday, gunfire erupted at the health care provider's clinic with patrons inside. A standoff ensued that lasted for about five hours, as authorities worked to rescue those trapped inside. Dear surrendered after officers made verbal contact. His motive for the shooting remains unknown.

Biometrics

German Hacker Replicates German Defense Minister's Fingerprints from Photo!

A short while ago, I posted an article titled "The Biometric Authentication Conumdrum". In that article, I pointed out that biometrics may have problems that were unanticipated by the security professionals advocating for them. Generally, most security engineers have been pressing forward for biometrics as THE solution to our authentication problems. They hold the belief that biometrics are unique to the individual and therefore can not be broken or guessed by hackers. I refute that argument and point out that biometrics may have some very serious security flaws and that the implications could be very dangerous for information security in general.

Climate security

Another danger of climate change: Giant flying boulders?

Standing atop a 60-foot cliff overlooking the Atlantic, James Hansen — the retired NASA scientist sometimes dubbed the “father of global warming” — examines two small rocks through a magnifying glass. Towering above him is the source of one of the shards: a huge boulder from a pair locals call “the Cow and the Bull,” the largest of which is estimated to weigh more than 1,000 tons.

The two giants have long been tourist attractions along this rocky coast. Perched not far from the edge of a steep cliff that plunges down into blue water, they raise an obvious question: How did they get up here?

Compounding the mystery, these two are among a series of giant boulders arranged in an almost perfect line across a narrow part of this 110-mile-long, wishbone-shaped island.

Remote viewing & national security

Military use of Remote Viewing & the CIA FOIA documents

Project Star gate is the collective name for advanced psychic functioning or Remote viewing experiments and programs that were undertaken for over twenty years to create a trainable, repeatable, operational and if at all possible, accurate method of psychic spying or information gathering for the U.S. Military and intelligence agencies (CIA, NSA, DIA).

To view a visual Remote Viewing History map - click here

The actual projects involved in this 23+ year mammoth operational and scientific endeavor were...

Communications security

The Smartphone Wars are Coming

We are living today in the midst of the greatest democratization of information since the invention of the printing press. Smartphones transform any person into a citizen reporter, the leader of a digitally-enabled smart mob, or the spark of a new viral movement. Information technology connects people and empowers. This technology (literally) in the hands of everyday people is changing the operating environment in profound ways for U.S. military forces, creating a world of radical transparency, connectivity, and atomization of conflict.

National security strategy

UK Beefs Up Its Defenses for a More Secure World

On Monday, the British Government set out the Strategic Defense and Security Review and National Security Strategy, a comprehensive look at how we plan to counter today’s threats by investing more in our armed forces and intelligence agencies in a way that’s smart and strategic.

What will this mean? It will mean increasing security and intelligence staff by 1,900 and establishing a highly capable deployable joint military force of up to 50,000 personnel. It will mean investing over $270 billion in our capabilities over the next decade—including doubling our investment in equipment to support our Special Forces. It will mean buying new nuclear deterrent submarines and maritime patrol aircraft.

Mass surveillance

NSA bulk phone snooping program shuts down

The National Security Agency will no longer be able to collect phone records in bulk starting Nov. 29, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a statement Friday.

The program's closure was required by the USA Freedom Act, signed by President Barack Obama in early June. The program was allowed to continue since then as part of a six-month wind-down period, in which intelligence officials could create and test a new phone records program where the government can only obtain records connected to a specific entity like a person or device that is associated with a foreign power or terrorist group.

Intel history

Give Thanks for the OSS

As we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II this year - and increasingly rely on our intelligence and special operations communities to defend the United States - we should remember that they were born in the crucible of World War II.

In June 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt created the OSS. Roosevelt appointed as its director the legendary General William “Wild Bill” Donovan, the only American to receive our nation’s four highest decorations, including the Medal of Honor. Donovan dedicated his entire life to serving the United States, starting in World War I as part of the “Fighting 69th” Infantry Regiment. One of our nation’s leading attorneys, he served as an assistant United States attorney general and as the U.S.attorney for the Western District of New York. President Roosevelt sent him to Great Britain in 1940 as one of his personal emissaries. Following World War II, he served as ambassador to Thailand during the height of the Cold War.

Drills

Soldiers seize simulated WMD site during exercise

During Exercise Gryphon Longsword, the 110th Chemical Battalion (Technical Escort) trained with the 4-23rd Infantry and 502nd Military Intelligence Battalion at the Satsop Nuclear Power Plant, an unfinished nuclear power plant near Elma, Washington.

After fighting through an underground maze where mock enemy ambushes and improvised explosive devices awaited them, the troops secured a VX laboratory.

The 110th Chemical Battalion is part of the 48th Chemical Brigade, 20th CBRNE Command (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives), the U.S. Department of Defense's only multifunctional formation that combats CBRNE threats.

Based on 19 posts in 16 states, 20th CBRNE Command Soldiers and civilians counter Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), eliminate CBRNE threats and defeat improvised explosive devices (IEDs) around the world.

Terror supply chain

Paris attacks guns 'traced to German arms dealer'

German prosecutors said Friday they were investigating whether an illegal arms dealer had sold four assault rifles to a person in the French capital and whether there were "possible links to the attacks in Paris".

Police had found several handguns during a search of his home, said prosecutors in the nearby city of Stuttgart.

"Investigations so far suggest that the accused could have sold four assault rifles to a buyer in Paris in November," said the prosecutors' statement.

"Possible links to the attacks in Paris are being checked," it added, referring to the series of gun and explosive assaults that claimed 130 lives on November 13.

Communications security

China To Build Spy-proof Smartphones

For years digital security experts have worried over possible backdoors implemented into equipment manufactured at Chinese factories. Over the years there have been several reports of backdoor being found in CPUs in use in the DoD’s computers. Code implemented at this level could allow an attacker to spy or even take control of the affected system. It now emerges that the Chinese have been having the same sort of fears all along.

China is planning to manufacture its very own secure smartphone in an attempt to lock down any possible avenue for US surveillance. This move should come as no surprise in the current, post-Edward Snowden climate. Now that the extent of NSA surveillance has been revealed, it is clear that we should all be worried about who is listening in to what conversations.

Terror support

Turkish weapons ‘heading to end in ISIS hands’: RT speaks to Cumhuriyet journalists

...In May, the outlet which is considered to be the opponent of the government, published photos of weapons it said were then transferred to Syria by Turkey's intelligence agency.

Those who sent the convoy from Turkey knew that the weapons were "heading to end [up] in ISIS hands," one of the Cumhuriyet bosses told RT's Ilya Petrenko. "There was that flag that belongs to ISIS... [it could be seen] very clearly [from] Turkish border line," the journalist said.

Turkish officials made contradictory statements after the paper blew the whistle, first saying that the arms "were going to the Free Syrian Army," then denying the delivery altogether, and then saying the "aid was destined for the Turkmen."

Putin approves economic sanctions against Turkey following downing of Russian warplane

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree imposing a package of economic sanctions against Turkey following its downing of a Russian Su-24 bomber in Syria. The measures include banning several Turkish organizations and the import of certain goods.

A decree on "measures providing the national security of the Russian Federation and the protection of its citizens against criminal and other unlawful acts, and on imposing special economic measures in relation to Turkish Republic" was signed on Saturday, the Kremlin press service said.

Under the decree, the import of certain products originating from Turkey will be temporarily banned or restricted.

A number of Turkish organizations operating in Russia will also be restricted.

Follow the money

Erodgan Owes Syria 100Bn for Stolen Oil, Iraq Owed $1.5Tn

Over the last two weeks, Russia has been destroying the “living pipeline” that has allowed Turkey to steal tens of millions of barrels of Syrian crude oil, much of it at peak market prices, while only paying their ISIS allies a pittance.

This process isn’t new.  Turkey did this all during the Bush era, having cut a deal with US “manager” Paul Bremmer, a deal VT insiders helped manage for Bremmer and that I was witness to personally.

The game involved playing Baghdad against Erbil and bleeding off oil revenues from the Kirkuk Oil Fields, largest oil reserves in the world, as they moved by pipeline through Kurdistan and into Turkey.  There they were offloaded onto American tankers in the Mediterranean where these huge ships, largest in the world, were filled with oil but it was never recorded and the oil never paid for.

Border security

DHS: More than 500 cited daily for ‘security concerns’

Hundreds of travelers passing through airports, seaports and both borders are flagged for “suspected national security concerns” by customs police on a typical day, according to Homeland Security data.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers identified 548 individuals nationwide with suspected national security concerns on average each day in fiscal 2014, according to the most recent agency figures.

CBP officials wouldn’t say how many known or suspected terrorists are among those identified for security concerns. Nor would they reveal how many of those flagged travelers have been identified at Logan International Airport. An agency spokesman did say that some with national security concerns are stopped before they even board planes headed to the U.S.

Middle East

Turkey: Wrong Partner to Fight Terror

Racism is bad, no doubt. But it cannot be the reason why jihadists kill "infidels," including fellow Muslims in Muslim lands. Sadly, the free world feels compelled to partner with the wrong country in its fight against Islamic terror.

The host of this year's G-20 summit, which came right after the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, was Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In his usual Sunni supremacist language, he accused the victims of jihad rather than the jihadists. "New tragedies will be inevitable," he said, "if the rising racism in Europe and other countries is not stopped. Racism, coupled with enmity against Islam, is the greatest disaster, the greatest threat."

Yet Erdogan willingly ignores the rising racism, xenophobia, and anti-western, jihadist sentiments that increasingly command the hearts and minds of his fellow Turks. A quick look at a few sports games and fan behavior in recent weeks would reveal much about the Turkish mind and heart.

Health security

6 Ways To Kick Added Sugar Out, According To A Sugar Scientist

The Food and Drug Administration’s new recommendation that Americans eat no more than 10 percent of calories from added sugar is a giant leap in the right direction, according to sugar scientist Laura Schmidt of the University of California, San Francisco. But confusion about the difference between added sugar and naturally-occurring sugar, as well as the way foods are marketed and labeled, have created a food environment in which people aren’t quite sure how much added sugar they’re actually eating -- much less how to strategize ways to lower those numbers.

Sport security

Russia accepts full, indefinite ban from world athletics over doping scandal

The Russian athletics federation has accepted its ban from international competition and has promised to cooperate with inspectors who will oversee changes to its drug-testing system.

...Russia became the first country to be banned from international competition because of doping offences after a meeting of IAAF council members earlier this month. Officials voted 22-1 in favour of the provisional sanction, which came in the wake of damning revelations by the World Anti-Doping Agency of systematic doping and cover-ups in Russia.