This might refresh your memory.
It turns out that the Russians did not do it. It was an Estonian script kiddie, see here, and here.
Category: Espionage
Serioualy Neat SH%$: Air Force Declassifies Constant Peg
Constant Peg, where the USAF evaluated Warsaw Pact aircraft, largely from defections, during the Cold War, has been declassified.
I had no idea that it was still classified, as I recall reading about the program in the context of the death of a USAF Brigadier General around 1984, but it means that this information is now available to the public.
A Myth of Espionage
Here is an intersting bit of information on Tsien Hsue-shen, the 96-year-old architect of China’s ballistic missile program.
The story goes that he was deported back to China in September, 1955, taking with him information in his head about the US Titan missile program, which he used to develop Chinese ICBMs.
Small problem though, first contract for the Titan development program was not let until October 1955, a, “full month after he was deported to China.”
D’oh!!!! Maybe, just maybe, this guy was a rocket scientist, and had some brains about him.
Who Bombed the Buenos Aires Jewish Community Center (AMIA,) In 1994
It certainly does paint the picture of an incompetently run investigation, with conclusions being driven by political believs, rather than the facts, which is a characteristic of Bush and His Evil Minions™.
That being said, that the finger being pointed at Iran significantly began with the Clinton administration, and the inclination to blame Iran for anything bad happening in the world dates to the late 1970s, so there is a bureaucratic imperative at work here in both the US intelligence services, and the State Department.
Gareth Porter’s article is interesting, but it raises more questions than it answers.
Big Brother
Lovely, Mike McConnel, the man who says that waterboarding is torture for him, but not for other folks, because he has a deviated septum, is low looking for the power to, “read all the information crossing the Internet in the United States in order to protect it from abuse”.
Sir, I am more concerned about your abuse of this nation than I am of any sick man with Marfan syndrome hiding in the tribal regions of Pakistan.
Bush’s North Korea Counterfeit Accusations Completely Bogus
In May of last year, I made a couple of posts about how the accusations of the DPRK counterfeiting US dollars was bogus (here and here).
Now a McClatchy news investigation has found no evidence that to support these allegations (Bush lying, what a surprise).
If you look at my old articles, I finger the US intelligence services as being the most likely people to do this. They have the means, and opportunity, and as to motive, it allows them to hand out a suitcase full of cash without it appearing on budget.
Klaus Bender, the author of a book on the subject, “Moneymakers: The Secret World of Banknote Printing,” said that the phony $100 bill is “not a fake anymore. It’s an illegal parallel print of a genuine note.”
“It goes way beyond what normal counterfeiters are able to do,” said Bender, whose book first spotlighted the improbability of North Korean supernotes. “And it is so elaborate (and expensive) it doesn’t pay for the counterfeiting anymore.”
Bender claims that the supernotes are of such high quality and are updated so frequently that they could be produced only by a U.S. government agency such as the CIA.
As unsubstantiated as the allegation is, there is a precedent. In his new book on the history of the CIA, journalist Tim Weiner detailed how the agency tried to undermine the Soviet Union’s economy by counterfeiting its currency.
Telco Immunity: Reid to Choose Which Surveillance Bill to Send to Senate Floor
It makes a big difference if it’s the Senate intelligence committee or the Senate Judiciary Committee version.
The former has retroactive Telco immunity for the illegal wiretaps that the Telcos did for Bush and His Evil Minions™.
Senators are aggressively lobbying Senate Leader Harry Reid on this.
Chris Dodd has already made it clear that he will filibuster, and because Reid won’t extend the courtesy that he does to the obstructionist Rethuglicans, this will mean him talking, and talking, and talking, and talking on the floor of the Senate.
It would take Dodd off the campaign trail, but the spectacle would be the best thing that could possibly hit his candidacy.
The following letter was sent to him:
Dear Majority Leader Reid:
We understand that the Senate will shortly be considering amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. As you know, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Judiciary Committee have reported very different versions of the FISA Amendments Act, S. 2248, and it is up to you, as Majority Leader, to decide how the Senate considers this legislation.
We urge you to make the version of S. 2248 reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee the base bill to be considered by the full Senate. While the structure of Title I of both bills is the same, and both make improvements over the Protect America Act, the reasonable changes to Title I made in the Judiciary Committee ensure that the FISA Court will be able to conduct much-needed oversight of the implementation of these broad new surveillance authorities, and help to better protect the rights of innocent Americans. While we appreciate the hard work that the Intelligence Committee has done on this legislation, the process by which the Judiciary Committee considered, drafted, amended and reported out its bill was an open one, allowing outside experts and the public at large the opportunity to review and comment. With regard to legislation so directly connected to the constitutional rights of Americans, the results of this open process should be accorded great weight, especially in light of the Judiciary Committee’s unique role and expertise in protecting those rights.
We also believe that the Judiciary Committee bill is preferable because it does not provide immunity for telecom companies that allegedly cooperated with the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. As this is such a controversial issue, we feel it would be appropriate to require the proponents of immunity to make their case on the floor.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Russell D. Feingold (D-WI)
Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT)
Barack Obama (D-IL)
Bernard Sanders (I-VT)
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE)
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY)
Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI)
Jim Webb (D-VA)
Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA)
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
For your convenience, I have highlighted the presidential candidates who have objected.
Libby Drops Perjury Appeal
I have no clue as to why lybby dropped the appeal, but it means that he can no longer take the 5th if he is called before Congress.
I can’t help feeling that there is some sort of angle here that I am missing.
Waxman Has Just Made the Plame Investigation More Interesting
Bush and His Evil Minions™ have been stonewalling on releasing Patrick Fitzgerald’s Plame investigation to Henry Waxman, Chairman of the Committee ON Oversight and Ggovernment Reform, has sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey saying that the White HOuse is blocking release of these documents to his committee, and said that:
Equal application of the law means tþat there should not be one standard applied by the Justice Department to congressional investigations of Democratic administrations and another standard applied to congressional investigations of Republican administrations. I ask that you personally look into this matter and authorize the production of the documents to the Committee without any further delay.
He also notes that Janet Reno cooperated with Congressional committees, which I think is a subtle way of saying that if he does not make a statement for turning over the documents, that Reno is a better man than he is (insert Janet Reno jokes here).
Personally, I think that Mukasey is probably too much one of Bush’s lackeys to to the right thing, but I won’t be disappointed if I am wrong.
Scott McClellan Calls Bush Cheney, Rove, Libby, and Card Liars
An excerpt from Scott McClellan’s new book:
The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.
“There was one problem. It was not true.
“I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President’s chief of staff, and the president himself.”
House Minority Leader Boehner and Fox News Conspire to Leak Classified Information for Political Gain
Well, it looks like John Boehner and the employess of Fox News are filthy traitors who whould be locked away foir the rest of their life. I expect the administration to pursue this investigation with all diligewnce that it did the leaking of the name of CIA covert operative Valerie Plame.
A federal intelligence court judge earlier this year secretly declared a key element of the Bush administration’s wiretapping efforts illegal, according to a lawmaker and government sources, providing a previously unstated rationale for fevered efforts by congressional lawmakers this week to expand the president’s spying powers.
House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) disclosed elements of the court’s decision in remarks Tuesday to Fox News as he was promoting the administration-backed wiretapping legislation. Boehner has denied revealing classified information, but two government officials privy to the details confirmed that his remarks concerned classified information.
I keep forgetting, it’s OK if you are a Republican.
It’s be a bit less serious if those pig felchers called the “blue dog coalition” didn’t fold like a bunch of overcooked broccoli this weekend to give Bush and his evil minions™ everything that they wanted.
We can now all be spied on at Abu Gonzalez’s say so.
Scooter Is Going To Gaol.
As tempting as it is to make politically incorrect jokes, I will simply leave it at:
Scooter is a Really Bad Name in Prison
Judge won’t delay Libby prison term
By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago
WASHINGTON – A federal judge said Thursday he will not delay a 2 1/2-year prison sentence for I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a ruling that could send the former White House aide to prison within weeks.
U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton’s decision will send Libby’s attorneys rushing to an appeals court to block the sentence and could force
President Bush to consider calls from Libby’s supporters to pardon the former aide.