DID YOU KNOW?: Two Secretive Israeli Companies Reportedly Bugged The US Telecommunications Grid For The NSA -- Business Insider
The newest information regarding the NSA domestic spying scandal raises an important question: If America's tech giants didn't 'participate knowingly' in the dragnet of electronic communication, how does the NSA get all of their data?
One theory: the NSA hired two secretive Israeli companies to wiretap the U.S. telecommunications network.
In April 2012 Wired's James Bamford — author of the book "The Shadow Factory: The NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America" — reported that two companies with extensive links to Israel's intelligence service provided hardware and software to wiretap the U.S. telecommunications network for the National Security Agency (NSA).
My Comment: An intriguing (and if true it is disturbing) intelligence relationship .... the Israeli are being used to spy and collect data on Americans so that U.S. agencies cannot be accused of breaking U.S. laws. I know that no one is going to confirm this publicly .... but it is a question that needs to be answered. More coverage and discussion of Israeli capabilities to penetrate U.S. communication networks can be read here.
A paratrooper peers through his scope to observe a target during his brigade's fire support coordination exercise on Fort Bragg, N.C., June 6, 2013. The paratrooper, a sniper, is assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division's 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Army photo Sgt. Adonis Williams
Gallup, Fox News Polls: Public Opposes Broad NSA Collection Of Records -- Hot Air
I’m not going to blog every poll on this topic but some commenters were grumpy about the results of the Pew and CBS polls and I wanted to throw them a bone. If you’re waiting for a backlash, your wait might be over. First, Gallup:
How Yahoo Fought PRISM — and Lost -- Atlantic Wire
Yahoo, one of the companies named as part of the NSA's PRISM data collection program, didn't go quietly, according to a New York Times scoop posted late Thursday. The company was behind a 2008 court challenge to fight a court order requiring the company to give them data without a warrant, which they lost. That, according to the Times, ushered the company into PRISM.
The court, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court or FISC, has been in the news a lot recently for, among other things, authorizing the phone data tracking of millions of Americans. The Yahoo case was previously known as an unsuccessful challenge to the NSA's surveillance powers, but until now, no one knew the name of the company behind it. Here's how that argument went down, according to the Times:
CBS News Confirms Sharyl Attkisson's Computer Hacked -- CBS
CBS News announced Friday that correspondent Sharyl Attkisson's computer was hacked by "an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions," confirming Attkisson's previous revelation of the hacking.
CBS News spokeswoman Sonya McNair said that a cybersecurity firm hired by CBS News "has determined through forensic analysis" that "Attkisson's computer was accessed by an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions in late 2012."
"Evidence suggests this party performed all access remotely using Attkisson's accounts. While no malicious code was found, forensic analysis revealed an intruder had executed commands that appeared to involve search and exfiltration of data. This party also used sophisticated methods to remove all possible indications of unauthorized activity, and alter system times to cause further confusion. CBS News is taking steps to identify the responsible party and their method of access."
Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham, England. The British intelligence organization's close ties to the US National Security Agency have come under scrutiny amid the controversy over the NSA's PRISM surveillance program revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden. Reuters/Handout
Another US-UK 'Special Relationship' - Between Intelligence Services --Christian Science Monitor
Edward Snowden's leaks about the NSA's PRISM program have drawn attention to the extraordinarily tight partnership between the US agency and GCHQ, its British counterpart.
A week on from revelations about the secret US eavesdropping program called PRISM, the British government has warned international airlines not to allow former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden to board flights to Britain.
The effective labeling of Mr. Snowden as a “persona non grata” over his leaks about PRISM underline how they have struck a nerve with authorities here due to the long, close historical partnership between the American NSA and the British equivalent, known as Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).
Edward Snowden told the South China Morning Post that he had no intention of hiding from justice. Photograph: Bobby Yip/Reuters
John Miller: Edward Snowden Extradition Could Take Months, Years -- CBS
(CBS News) American officials are working to bring Edward Snowden, the man responsible for leaking information on U.S. government surveillance programs, to the United States to face charges.
The British government has warned airlines not to allow Snowden to fly to the United Kingdom, because he will not be permitted into the country.
CBS News senior correspondent John Miller, a former deputy director at the FBI, says getting Snowden back to the U.S. and issuing charges against him is "complicated on a number of levels."
In order to extradite Snowden from Hong Kong, where he is believed to be, the charge against him for leaking National Security Agency (NSA) documents to the press has to "fit with U.S. law but also with statutes in Hong Kong," Miller explained Friday on "CBS This Morning."
Heathrow Airport in west London Credit: Press Association
Prism Revelations: Home Office Warns Airlines Not To Fly NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden To Britain -- The Independent
Carriers who fly him to the UK are told they face fines and the costs of his detention.
Airlines have been warned by the Home Office not to fly the CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden to Britain as he would be turned away on arrival.
The move signals the Government’s determination to avoid a repeat of the controversy over the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who has been living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for nearly a year, after being granted asylum by the South American nation.
Snowden didn't seem to have to work very hard to grab top secret classified government info. REUTERS/Bobby Yip
How Edward Snowden Stole His Cache Of NSA Secrets -- The Week
The NSA leaker reportedly just walked out of work with some of America's big secrets on a thumb drive in his pocket.
A week after Edward Snowden's leaks about National Security Agency surveillance and data-gathering were first reported, and four days after he revealed himself as the leaker, the news media is figuring out how the 29-year-old IT systems administrator managed his potentially huge data heist.
If you're concerned about national security, the new revelations will probably dismay you; if you appreciate leaking of government secrets, Snowden's technique is likely encouraging: Theft by thumb drive.
The NSA and other spy and military agencies have long known the dangers of the innocent-seeming portable USB flash drive. In October 2008, the NSA discovered that a thumb drive loaded with malware had infected the military's secure internal network. The Pentagon then (at least temporarily) banned the use of thumb drives — NSA commanders even reportedly ordered USB ports filled in with liquid cement.
My Comment: Someone was asleep on the job .... permitting an active USB port was just an open invitation for someone like Edward Snowden to grab what he wanted. Then again .... Edward Snoeden does not strike me as a stupid guy .... he probably knew what he had to do in order to obtain the information that he wanted.How Did NSA Leaker Snowden Steal All Of Those NSA Secrets
Syrian Civil War: Israel and U.S. Coordinating How to Target Assad’s Arsenal -- Time
52 days after an Israeli general publicly declared that Syria has used chemical weapons against rebels, the Obama administration reached the same conclusion, and used the finding to justify announcing it would send small arms to the side of the victims. “I will not say ‘We told you so,’ only, okay, the proof is there, so there’s no more question about it,” says Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor, taking with a smile the easy part of the equation now laid before Israel. As for the hard part: “Now, what should be done? It’s not for Israel to say, because the international involvement in this should not include Israel. Israel follows very closely developments there. It’s very concerned about activity on its borders. But we’re not aspiring to be involved in any action about what’s happening in Syria.”
White House: Obama To Speak On Syria In Coming Days -- Politico
President Obama hasn't spoken publicly about his administration's evidence that Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime has crossed his "red line" with its use of chemical weapons, but the White House indicated Friday that he will soon speak out.
"I'm certain he's going to have opportunities to speak to it, for instance, over the course of the several days that he'll be traveling to Europe. He himself is the one who laid out the red line publicly," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters Friday.
He later added: "You can fully expect that the president will be heard on these issues repeatedly in the coming days, and the announcement we made yesterday very much reflected his guidance because he was the one who directed the intelligence community to pull together this assessment and directed us to make it public." But Rhodes didn't indicate that Obama has any plans to address the nation in domestic remarks before he heads to Europe.
My Comment: Before reading this article from the Politico, I was just about to write a post on "Where is President Obama?". President Obama will also need to address the NSA surveillance scandal, and explain why has he expanded this policy when he vowed as candidate Obama in 2007 that he was going to abolish it.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, center, Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, left, and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meet with senior Defense Department and combatant commanders at the Pentagon, June 14, 2013. DOD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo
A Hollow Military Again? -- James Kitfield, National Journal
The looming postwar drawdown of the U.S. armed forces will prove the most challenging of modern times.
Even in the best of times, U.S. leaders have stumbled trying to manage the tricky transition between war and what comes after. Following every “war to end all wars,” the American people demand a “peace dividend” that often cuts defense spending too deep for too long, eroding military preparedness. Congress resists shuttering unneeded bases, stopping unnecessary weapons production, or decommissioning excess reserve units that represent jobs in home districts. The result is military forces that are unbalanced and inefficient. The Pentagon plans to fight the last war, only with a smaller force, rather than adjusting adequately to new limitations and threats on the horizon.
My Comment: A depressing read .... because hollowing out the U.S. military is happening .... compounded further by the huge debts and obligations that the U.S. government is now faced with but not willing to confront.
A general view shows damaged buildings and debris in Deir al-Zor, June 13, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Analysis: Transforming Syria's War Could Take More Than Arming Rebels -- Reuters
(Reuters) - - If the United States and allies genuinely want to change the course of the war in Syria, it may take considerably more than simply supplying the faltering opposition with weaponry.
Western officials say they still believe the ultimate endgame - and possibly the exit of Bashar al-Assad - will be through a negotiated settlement.
In the meantime, however, they say the war is increasingly tilting in what they see as the wrong direction, with Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters entering the fray on Assad's side. With government forces advancing on Aleppo, time may also be running out.
That, some analysts and officials believe, may now push Washington and others towards much more direct military action, perhaps targeted airstrikes or a limited "no-fly zone" over rebel held areas near the Jordanian border.
What happens next may come down to a personal decision for President Barack Obama.
My Comment: I do not see or understand the vision, goals, objectives, end game, strategy, purpose .... well you get the point .... from what the White House hopes to accomplish with this intervention. But what I do see is the U.S. getting directly involved in another Middle Eastern conflict which will only exacerbate the bloodshed and involve an even greater intervention of outside powers i.e. Hezbollah, Iran, and (of course) Russia. Bottom line .... the entire region is unstable with religion and sectarianism being the main driving force for this conflict .... and the U.S. wants to get involved in this mess with no end game sketched out?!?!?!
And where is the President of the United States? For crying out loud .... he is getting the U.S. involved in another war .... and he has disappeared???? No speech. No address to the nation. No comment. No press conference. Nothing. Just a promise that he will say something next week ?!?!?!?
Trust me on this one .... this is not going to end well.
Syria’s Civil War: The Regime Digs In -- The Economist
President Bashar Assad and his forces have won a new lease of life.
“YA GHALI,” says a driver greeting the soldier manning a checkpoint of concrete blocks painted with the Syrian flag and plastered with pictures of Bashar Assad in regime-controlled central Damascus. This salutation was never in use in the capital before the war but is now standard at checkpoints. “Ghali”, or precious, is used in the coastal homeland of the Alawites, the sect from which Mr Assad hails. It is a sign both that the president is in control here and that, for all its talk of a state for all of Syria’s communities, his regime has been largely reduced to a sectarian militia, though the most powerful in the country.
Voting Closes in Iran Presidential Election -- Voice of America
Polling stations have closed across most of Iran, where officials extended voting by several hours to accommodate what they described as a large turnout in the country's presidential election. State-run news agencies say the vote count is underway, with results expected to be announced in several hours.
Millions of Iranians voted Friday to choose a successor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Western news agencies reported long lines at some polling stations even as the vote was scheduled to end.
The UN Prepares To Go To War For The First Time, With A 3,000-Strong Task Force Sent To Fight Rebels In The Congo -- Daily Mail
* 3,000 UN troops are being deployed to the central African nation * It is the first time that the UN will be in direct control of a fighting force * Even normally-reluctant Russia and China voted in favour of the action * Mineral-rich Congo has been wracked by years of civil war * Conflict was originally sparked by the genocide in neighbouring Rwanda
The UN is about to go to war for the first time in its history after the Security Council voted unanimously to intervene to fight rebels in the Congo.
Around 3,000 UN troops wearing the blue insignia, are being deployed to the central African nation which has been wracked by years of civil war and lawlessness.
The UN has led a 14-year-long peacekeeping in a bid to end the ethic conflict which was sparked by the genocide in neighbouring Rwanda when thousands of Hutus fled into the Congo to evade justice.
My Comment: Considering the size of the area and the scope of the problem .... this is just a drop in the bucket. But it is the first time that the UN is directly commanding a fighting force, and that is what observers are looking at.
Iran Extends Presidential Voting Hours Citing Big Turnout -- Voice of America
Millions of Iranians are voting Friday to choose a new president and officials have extended voting hours twice in response to what they describe as a large turnout.
Iran's state run news agencies said the polls would stay open an additional three hours with the possibility of additional extensions.
Analysts say the high interest in the carefully orchestrated campaign may be due to the candidacy of moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani. Iran's former nuclear negotiator picked up the endorsements of leading reformists.
Former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, another reformist leader, has also urged his supporters not to boycott the election.
Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah speaks on a TV screen during a ceremony in Beirut's southern suburbs, Friday, June 14, 2013. (The Daily Star/Hasan Shaaban)
Hezbollah Will Keep Fighting In Syria: Nasrallah -- Daily Star
BEIRUT: Hezbollah will continue fighting alongside forces loyal to President Bashar Assad against Syrian rebels, the head of the resistance group said Friday, adding that his party’s decision to intervene in Lebanon’s neighbor had been a calculated one.
Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah also said recent steps taken by Gulf Cooperation Countries targeting Hezbollah loyalists in the Gulf would not deter his group from its objectives in Syria.
“If anyone thinks that through lies, killings, and threats we will change our stances, they are wrong. Wherever we need to be, we will be. What we started taking responsibility for, we will continue to be responsible for, and there is no need to give details," Nasrallah said in an event commemorating wounded members of Hezbollah.
The conflict in Syria has already claimed 93,000 lives and left 1.6million people refugees
Could Syria Ignite World War 3? That's The Terrifying Question As The Hatred Between Two Muslim Ideologies Sucks In The World's Superpowers -- Daily Mail
* Syrian conflict could engulf region in struggle between Sunni and Shia * Already claimed 93,000 lives and made 1.6million people refugees * UK, France and U.S. taken different side to China and Russia
The crisis in Syria may appear to be no more or less than a civil war in a country many people would struggle to place on a map.
But it’s much more than that: it is rapidly becoming a sectarian struggle for power that is bleeding across the Middle East, with the potential to engulf the entire region in a deadly power struggle between two bitterly opposed Muslim ideologies, Sunni and Shia.
Already, the war inside Syria has resulted in 93,000 dead and 1.6 million refugees, with millions more displaced internally. And those figures are escalating rapidly amid reports of appalling atrocities on both sides.
My Comment: Another must read post on this centuries old conflict of Sunni versus Shiite is here. As to what is my take .... no one is the Middle East is interested in peace right now. The centuries old animosities and hatreds are now on full display, and unlike 2007-2008 when US forces were deployed to stop the sectarian bloodshed that broke out in Iraq, there is no such military force in the Middle East today. What we now have is the opposite .... major powers supplying weapons to their allies that are only further fueling this conflict.
I expect Syria's civil war to continue, and I also expect it to spread into neighboring states. And as the body count continues skyward in Syria, ethnic cleansing and sectarian enclaves will be the result. The only thing that I do not know for sure is if this sectarian and religious conflict will spread with the same intensity into Lebanon and Iraq. Iraq is certainly suffering a sectarian terrorism campaign that they are unable to stop, and Lebanon has a very long history of Christian-Sunni-Shiite battles. It will not take much to have these countries pushed into an implosion that will make the Syrian civil war a "walk in the park" in comparison .... and if that should happen .... all eyes will then be on Iran and on what it will then do. And if they (Iran) should become involved with boots on the ground .... expect Israel/U.S./Europe/and the Gulf states to jump in ... and jump in quickly. As to counties like Russia and China .... I do not expect them to get involved (aside from supplying weapons).
US Decision To Arm Syria Rebels 'Will Be Greeted With Horror In Russia' -- The Telegraph
President Barack Obama's open-ended commitment to provide weapons to Syrian rebels will place the US and Russia on opposite sides of a Middle Eastern regional war, says Damien McElroy, the Telegraph's Foreign Affairs Correspondent.
President Barack Obama has authorised sending weapons to Syrian rebels for the first time.
The announcement comes after the White House disclosed that the US has conclusive evidence President Bashar Assad's government used chemical weapons against opposition forces trying to overthrow him.
Mr Obama has repeatedly said the use of chemical weapons would cross a "red line," suggesting it would trigger greater US intervention in the two-year crisis that has killed 93,000 people.
US Offers Syrian Rebels 'Military Support,' Alleges Assad Used Chemical Weapons -- NBC
The United States and its allies have concluded that the government of Bashar Assad has used chemical weapons in Syria's protracted civil war, leading President Barack Obama to broaden aid — including military support — to opposition groups.
The intelligence community concluded with "high confidence" that the Assad regime had used chemical weapons — including the nerve agent sarin — "on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year."
"The intelligence community estimates that 100 to 150 people have died from detected chemical weapons attacks in Syria to date; however, casualty data is likely incomplete," said Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes.
Syria, Russia Push Back Over U.S. Chemical Weapons Claims -- CNN
(CNN) -- Claims and counterclaims came thick and fast Friday in response to the White House's declaration hours earlier that it believes the Syrian government has crossed a "red line" in using chemical weapons against rebels.
That conclusion -- declared for the first time Thursday -- is prompting the United States to increase the "scale and scope" of its support for the opposition, the White House said, although officials stopped short of saying it will put weapons in the hands of rebels.
The U.S. report won backing from the UK government Friday -- but Syria and its allies in Moscow quickly sought to cast its integrity into doubt.
NSA Revelations Only 'The Tip Of The Iceberg,' Says Dem lawmaker -- The Hill
The federal surveillance programs revealed in media reports are just "the tip of the iceberg," a House Democrat said Wednesday. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) said lawmakers learned "significantly more" about the spy programs at the National Security Agency (NSA) during a briefing on Tuesday with counterterrorism officials.
"What we learned in there," Sanchez said, "is significantly more than what is out in the media today." Lawmakers are barred from revealing the classified information they receive in intelligence briefings, and Sanchez was careful not to specify what members might have learned about the NSA's work.
My Comment: I agree with Rep. Loretta Sanchez .... the more we learn the more we realize how deep and extensive this NSA surveillance program actually is.
The Surveillance Matrix: Which Terror Plots Could The NSA Have Stopped? -- Atlantic Wire
What FBI head Robert Mueller and the NSA really need this week is simple. They need a terror attack they can point to and say: "Our surveillance tools, the ones everyone is complaining about, stopped that."
Otherwise, they're in an uncomfortable position. They argue that the surveillance tools they're using (or, depending on your point of view, abusing) get the job done but (given that at least one major attack wasn't prevented and a number of others failed due to ineptitude) are having trouble coming up with a time that happened. (With an exception, that we'll get to.) The usual fall-back position ("Trust us, we can't tell you about when this stuff works because it's classified") won't get the messaging job done when the whole question is can we trust the NSA. The conundrum leads to verbal gymnastics like Mueller telling the House Judiciary Committee this afternoon that national security tools aided the Boston investigation — it helped them find Ibragim Todashev, the man FBI agents shot to death in Florida under questionable circumstances.
U.S. Agencies Said to Swap Data With Thousands of Firms -- Bloomberg
Thousands of technology, finance and manufacturing companies are working closely with U.S. national security agencies, providing sensitive information and in return receiving benefits that include access to classified intelligence, four people familiar with the process said.
These programs, whose participants are known as trusted partners, extend far beyond what was revealed by Edward Snowden, a computer technician who did work for the National Security Agency. The role of private companies has come under intense scrutiny since his disclosure this month that the NSA is collecting millions of U.S. residents’ telephone records and the computer communications of foreigners from Google Inc (GOOG). and other Internet companies under court order.
Many of these same Internet and telecommunications companies voluntarily provide U.S. intelligence organizations with additional data, such as equipment specifications, that don’t involve private communications of their customers, the four people said.
U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers patrol during Operation Nightmare in Nowzad in Afghanistan's Helmand province, June 6, 2013. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Kowshon Ye
Afghan National Army Counts Cost Of War -- BBC
Kabul's 400-bed hospital has treated the wounded from Afghanistan's wars for 30 years since it was built during the Soviet occupation.
Its sunlit wards, overlooking a small park, are now filled with men wounded in fighting against the Taliban.
Nasir Ahmed had both his legs amputated high in the thigh. He received these appalling injuries in Kandahar, stepping on a mine after he followed other soldiers jumping over a wall.
He has not been able to walk with the only prosthetic limbs available here, so will be flown to Turkey for further treatment. His morale remains high. He was engaged before he was wounded, and said his fiancee still wants to get married.
Voting Begins In Iran Presidential Election -- Al Jazeera
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei one of the first to cast his ballot at a Tehran mosque, urging a large turnout.
Millions of voters across Iran have begun to cast their ballots in the country's presidential elections, four years after the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Polling stations opened at 8:00am local time (03:30 GMT) on Friday and close 10 hours later, although if there is a particularly large turnout the interior ministry can extend voting until midnight.
At the same time as choosing a new president from six candidates, voters will also pick municipal councillors.
There are more than 50 million eligible voters, with 130,000 ballot boxes in over 60,000 voting stations. The first results are expected late Friday or early on Saturday.
U.S. To Increase Military Support To Syria Rebels -- Reuters
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama has authorized sending U.S. weapons to Syrian rebels for the first time, a U.S. official said on Thursday after the White House said it has proof the Syrian government had used chemical weapons against opposition forces fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
The U.S. decision came as Assad's surging forces and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies turned their guns on the north, fighting near the northern city of Aleppo and bombarding the central city of Homs after having seized the initiative by winning the open backing of Hezbollah last month and capturing the strategic town of Qusair last week.
The White House said Washington would provide "direct military support" to the opposition but did not specify whether it would include lethal aid, which would mark a reversal of Obama's resistance to arming the rebels. But the U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the package would include weapons.
