Obama Turned CIA and FBI Into Instruments Of The State: “Their Missions Cannot Be Fulfilled In A Manner Beneficial To The Defense Of The United States”
Mar 8, 2017 by Jeremiah Johnson
SHTFplan.com
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was created in 1947 at the direction of President Truman. It had “evolved” from the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) used to perform clandestine military and espionage operations during World War II. The legal framework used to justify the CIA’s operations took several forms. The National Security Act of 1947 allowed the CIA special exemptions from the normal Congressional oversight.
The 1947 Act contained a provision that allowed the CIA “to perform such other functions and duties related to intelligence…as the National Security Council may from time to time direct.” This was followed (and expanded upon) by the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949, and subsequent charters and Presidential Directives that eventually enabled it to operate (almost unrestricted) at the direction of the President while effectively bypassing accountability to Congress.
The FBI saw a similar evolution and a “revision” in its mission following the end of World War II. The FBI agent was always viewed as a type of “top cop” in the U.S., however, domestic law enforcement is a secondary role to its primary function: the conduct of counterintelligence operations on American soil. Specifically, this meant to track down and nullify/capture foreign operatives such as KGB (Komitet Gosudostvenoy Bezopaznosti) agents, the (then) Soviet Union’s intelligence operatives.
The CIA’s role is similar, but for foreign/non-domestic operations: the conduct of intelligence and counterintelligence operations outside of the U.S. For missions either partially or entirely carried out in the United States (that must be demonstrably in the interests of national security), the CIA is not permitted to conduct operations without a domestic law enforcement agency attached to it at the time of execution.
In the 1950’s, the United States realized that the “Iron Curtain” of nations held by the Soviet Union was not going to be pushed back or neutralized. There was another change in the operations of the CIA that led to covert military operations, either by their operatives or forces (recruited foreign mercenaries or soldiers handpicked from U.S. military personnel) led by operatives. This has not ceased up until the present day.
There was a hiatus in this practice with the Church Committee, formed January 27, 1975 and headed by Senator Frank Church, (D-ID). The final report by this committee was released April 26, 1976 and it put a huge damper on the conduct of CIA operations worldwide. Concurrently, the FBI was being “nipped” away domestically when the details of its COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) procedures during the 1960’s to 1970’s came to light. The ones who protested it most vehemently were the ones who were (justifiably) within its crosshairs.
Under COINTELPRO, techniques developed during the Cold War for use in counterintelligence against foreign agents by the FBI were employed against Black Militant and White Supremacy groups, as well as groups deemed subversive and destructive, such as the Weather Underground. Note: this last organization “spawned” Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, criminal communist revolutionaries who mentored and sponsored Barack Hussein Obama II. COINTELPRO was actually employed between 1956 and 1971 before liberals and other communists labeled it as an infringement on First Amendment rights and attacked the FBI for employing it.
During those years, we experienced a plethora of domestic agents in foreign employ. The Rosenbergs had just been executed in 1953 for selling the secrets of the hydrogen bomb to the Soviets, and the rise of student radicalism during the 60’s followed on the heels of Eisenhower’s failed policies that allowed communists access to public schools and universities to mold the minds of youth. Contemporary politicians of today, such as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are all the direct resultant creations of communist indoctrinators at the secondary school and university level.
The FBI subsequently “morphed” into an organization that took care of “domestic terrorists” and worked to ensure the existing social and political order was not overthrown. The 1980’s saw a great change in the CIA’s activities, as the agency began to recover from the Church Committee and the tying of its hands by the Carter administration. That change was fostered by Reagan, but it came to a standstill with the Iran-Contra scandals, in which funds from one theater of operations were diverted toward another without Congressional approval or oversight.
With the 9-11 attacks, the CIA was then utilized to gather intelligence more, while the DoD (Department of Defense) was tasked with covert paramilitary operations as well as intelligence gathering. Over the past 15 years there has been a delineation and a “blending” of Special Forces assets and the CIA’s operators…where each have relied more heavily upon the other. Emphasis has been more on covert strike missions and assassinations rather than intelligence-gathering.
The Obama administration embraced the use of the CIA and the improved drone-strike capabilities to kill its targets in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen. Obama’s main focus, however, was in utilizing case officers and field operatives in destabilization operations in order to successfully overthrow governments and institute coup d’etats, with cover provided by the embassies and state department offices in the target nations. This is where we currently are.
The problem facing the new administration is there are a tremendous amount of operations that have been initiated under Obama that will have to be curtailed and/or reversed under President Trump. Some are simple, such as with Ukraine, where operatives will need to continue gathering intelligence about the changing situation without continuing their destabilization efforts initiated under the prior administration. Other “inherited” operations are more complex, such as those taking place in the Baltic states such as Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, or where we have recently deployed capabilities for nuclear weapons launching, such as Romania.
Regarding these last: the intelligence provided by these stations is still critical, but the operational tempo has changed due to the President desiring a newfound “détente” and reset with Russia. This is a 180-degree change from what Obama wanted: a war with Russia. The important consideration is this: all operations are approved either directly or indirectly from the level of the Commander-in-Chief.
The FBI (under Obama) has turned into an instrument of the State, capable of ignoring heinous crimes, such as the release of classified documents by the former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, or the sale of guns in Operation Fast and Furious resulting in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. The FBI is more interested in combatting domestic terrorism (making it a de-facto instrument of suppression by the government) than it is with protecting U.S. citizens from the ever-present threat of foreign agents and foreign terrorists entering the country and carrying out operations.
This is where we stand today. These two agencies have a specific function; however, those missions cannot be fulfilled in a manner beneficial to the defense of the United States when an administration twists them to serve its own ends. We have a new President…an American President…who can set the standards and ensure that they are met while not tying the hands of either agency behind their backs. The important thing is to return them to basics and the service of the Constitution and the American people. Wars cannot be fought by “Marquis of Queensbury” rules; however, the President can make policies that govern agency actions and return them to their original mission…an honored one our country depends upon.
Jeremiah Johnson is the Nom de plume of a retired Green Beret of the United States Army Special Forces (Airborne). Mr. Johnson is also a Gunsmith, a Certified Master Herbalist, a Montana Master Food Preserver, and a graduate of the U.S. Army’s SERE school (Survival Evasion Resistance Escape). He lives in a cabin in the mountains of Western Montana with his wife and three cats. You can follow Jeremiah’s regular writings at SHTFplan.com or contact him here.
This article may be republished or excerpted with proper attribution to the author and a link to www.SHTFplan.com.
Also Read:
“The End Goal Is To Destroy The Constitution and Subvert The Country” – How Secretive Non-Profit Organizations Erode The United States
The Left-Right Deep State Is One In The Same: “The Goal Is The Enslavement And Complete Control Of All Of Mankind”
Trump Can’t Stop It: “The People Who Have Been Orchestrating The Collapse Have Not Halted Their Agendas”
The Surveillance State Did Not Disappear With The Trump Victory: “It Is Still Lurking And Completely Intact”
12 Things President Donald Trump MUST Do For America To Be Great Again
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/obama-turned-cia-and-fbi-into-instruments-of-the-state-their-missions-cannot-be-fulfilled-in-a-manner-beneficial-to-the-defense-of-the-united-states_03082017
It’s Time for Congress to Investigate the CIA Hacking Scandal
Mar 11, 2017 by C. Mitchell Shaw
With WikiLeaks providing hardware and software manufactures with technical details about the hacking tools the CIA developed — and lost — the manufactures are working to plug the holes. While that is happening, there may be the beginnings of a Congressional investigation into the CIA’s hacking activities.
Almost as soon as WikiLeaks published a trove of documents and files revealing the size and scope of the CIA’s arsenal of cyber weapons and the fact that the CIA somehow lost control of that arsenal, Representative Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) released a statement saying, “I am deeply disturbed by the allegation that the CIA lost its arsenal of hacking tools.” Lieu, who has a degree in computer science, added:
The ramifications could be devastating. I am calling for an immediate congressional investigation. We need to know if the CIA lost control of its hacking tools, who may have those tools, and how do we now protect the privacy of Americans.
Since such a congressional investigation would likely be headed by either the House Intelligence committee or the Senate Intelligence committee.
Lieu is not alone in his concerns or his willingness to take action. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) told the assembled press at a briefing last Tuesday, “These [leaks] appear to be very, very serious.” He added, “We are extremely concerned, and we are following it closely.”
If a congressional investigation had bipartisan support, it could avoid the typical political obstacles that might get in the way. Such an investigation would have the potential to upset the apple-cart of the surveillance state by uncovering wrongdoing within the CIA’s hacking programs.
One possibility that the CIA has dismissed is that the agency could be shown to have used its cyber weapons to hack devices belonging to American citizens living in the United States. The CIA recently released a statement saying, in part:
It is also important to note that CIA is legally prohibited from conducting electronic surveillance targeting individuals here at home, including our fellow Americans, and CIA does not do so. CIA’s activities are subject to rigorous oversight to ensure that they comply fully with U.S. law and the Constitution.
That statement notwithstanding, the reality is that the agency has been accused in the past of hacking the computers and servers of Americans, including those used by a U.S. senator. In March 2014, Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) — who was, at the time the Intelligence Committee chairwoman — accused the CIA of searching the computer she used to store files for her committee’s investigation into the CIA torture program operated under President Bush.
In her remarks — made on the floor of the Senate — Feinstein said, “I have grave concerns that the CIA’s search may well have violated the separation of powers principle embodied in the United States Constitution.” Later that day, CIA Director John Brennan denied those claims in an appearance at the New World Order oriented Council on Foreign Relations. Brennan said that the CIA “has tried to work as collaboratively as possible with the committee on its report” and that “there have been many things written, and many things said — including, I understand, this morning — about the program, some fact and some pure fiction.”
He also told the globalist group, “As far as the allegations of … CIA hacking into … Senate computers, nothing could be further from the truth. I mean we wouldn’t do that,” adding that doing so would be “beyond … the scope of reason in terms of what we would do.”
One need not be a Feinstein fan to imagine that her claims were probably more truthful that Brennan’s denials. After all, a brief perusal of the documents published last week by WikiLeaks shows that the CIA developed methods for hacking computers, mobile devices, and SmartTVs to turn them into surveillance devices to be used against their owners. As this writer said in a previous article:
While the CIA claims that it never uses its investigative tools on American citizens in the United States, one is reminded that the agency doesn’t exactly have a stellar reputation for being truthful. Besides, how many terrorist camps in the Middle East have SmartTVs to watch their favorite programs on? The reality is that these tools are designed to penetrate the very types of devices used by ordinary citizens in Western countries.
Given the lack of accountability, lack of honesty, and lack of integrity that are par for the course where the CIA is concerned, the statement by the agency that “CIA’s activities are subject to rigorous oversight to ensure that they comply fully with U.S. law and the Constitution” would be laughable if so much weren’t at stake.
Concerned Americans should pressure Congress to investigate the CIA’s hacking programs to determine at least the following:
• Were American citizens living in the United States targeted by those programs?
• How did the CIA lose control of its arsenal of hacking weapons?
• Did the CIA even have the authorization to create that arsenal in the first place?
• If so, who granted such authorization?
• What was the cost of developing and using that arsenal?
• Who had access to the documents and files that comprised that arsenal?
In the absence of such an in-depth investigation, the CIA will simply start over, rebuild its arsenal, and continue in its unaccountable ways.
https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/congress/item/25575-it-s-time-for-congress-to-investigate-the-cia-hacking-scandal
Good News From CIA Leak: Encryption Works!
Mar 12, 2017 by C. Mitchell Shaw
The media have spun the recent story about CIA-developed hacking tools by claiming either that there’s nothing to worry about, or that the problem is so severe that it is no longer possible to protect our privacy through encryption. In reality, privacy is under attack, but encryption still works.
With WikiLeaks’ recent disclosure of the CIA’s secret hacking program, many are left wondering how deep the rabbit hole goes. How secure are the devices and softwares that people all over the world use and depend on every day? While the mainstream media have reported on this either as if there is nothing to it or it’s the end of both privacy and encryption, the truth is that encryption can still be used effectively to protect privacy.
As The New American has reported in previous articles, the tools (read: cyber weapons) developed by the CIA are scarily invasive. Any hacker who is worth his weight in silicon — and who also has access to these tools — has the ability to remotely access and control devices — such as computers, mobile devices, and SmartTVs — to watch and listen to targets, as well as the theoretical (if not actual) ability to hack and control cars and trucks to disable or override steering, brakes, acceleration, and airbag controls. And thanks to the haphazard way the cyber-weapon files and documents were circulated within the CIA and its contractor companies, that could be a lot of hackers.
And despite the pooh-poohing by the intelligence community and many in the mainstream media, recent statements by the CIA and White House, coupled with the FBI’s investigation into the source of the leaked CIA documents, serve as admissions that the disclosures are genuine. So regarding both the existence of the cyber weapons and the fact that the CIA lost control of them, it is really is as bad as it looks.
But that is also very good news.
Buried in the CIA documents (and WikiLeaks’ analysis of those documents) is the fact that there has been a shift in the way the surveillance state gathers information. In the wake of the Snowden revelations about mass surveillance almost four years ago, many — this writer included — began to implement ways to protect themselves against mass surveillance. The most effective tool for that is encryption. By encrypting data at rest (files and folders stored on a device), the owners of that data can be assured that it can only be accessed by someone with the encryption key or password. By encrypting data in motion (communications), the parties to those communications have the same assurances.
Apple introduced encryption by default for devices running newer versions of iOS; Google followed suit with encryption by default for all devices running newer versions of Android. Millions of people in the United States and worldwide began using encrypted communication applications. The surveillance hawks predicted the end of the world, claiming that terrorists were using those tools to “go dark.” The hawks demanded back doors into the encrypted devices and softwares.
Reports of recent revelations about the CIA hacking program focus on the fact that the vulnerabilities exploited by the CIA-developed cyber weapons allow the hackers to compromise the underlying operating systems (such as iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS, Linux, Solaris, and others) to capture the data before it is encrypted. As this writer noted in an earlier article:
Because the operating systems themselves would be compromised, all software running on those devices would be subject to corruption, as well. This would mean that privacy tools — such as those this writer uses on a regular basis — would be rendered useless. For instance, an application such as Signal — used for encrypting text messages and phone calls on mobile devices — would continue to encrypt the communications, leaving the user feeling secure. But since the keyboard would record (and report) all keystrokes before Signal could encrypt and send the text message, the communication could still be harvested by the hackers. Likewise, since the microphone itself could be activated, it would make no difference that the communication leaving the device would be encrypted; the hackers would still be able to capture the unencrypted voice recordings of both parties.
So, how is that good news? Put simply: it means that encryption works!
The surveillance state has had to change its game. As the New York Times reported recently:
The documents indicate that because of encryption, the agency must target an individual phone and then can intercept only the calls and messages that pass through that phone. Instead of casting a net for a big catch, in other words, C.I.A. spies essentially cast a single fishing line at a specific target, and do not try to troll an entire population.
“The difference between wholesale surveillance and targeted surveillance is huge,” said Dan Guido, a director at Hack/Secure, a cybersecurity investment firm. “Instead of sifting through a sea of information, they’re forced to look at devices one at a time.”
The New American reached out to several companies and organizations involved in promoting digital liberty to ask what the CIA revelations mean for the state of privacy. What we found shows that — for users who are willing to invest the time to keep their systems and programs up-to-date — the CIA hacking tools can be effectively blocked.
Dr. Andy Yen is the CEO and one of the founders of ProtonMail, an open-source, end-to-end encrypted, Zero-Knowledge e-mail service with its servers in Switzerland. Dr. Yen told The New American that the CIA revelations are “the biggest intelligence leak since Snowden in 2013 and the documents released so far appear to just be the tip of the iceberg.” When asked about the security of ProtonMail running on devices that may have been compromised by hackers (the government or otherwise) exploiting the devices’ vulnerabilities, Dr. Yen said, “From what we have seen so far, it is clear that ProtonMail’s cryptography is not compromised, so the email privacy of our users is still secure.” He added, “We are encouraging users to work to harden their endpoint devices, by actively patching all the software that they run.”
Part of that initiative to encourage users to “harden their endpoint devices” came in the form of a statement ProtonMail released the same day WikiLeaks dumped the CIA documents and files. Part of that statement says:
We can state unequivocally that there is nothing in the leaked CIA files which indicates any sort of crack of ProtonMail’s encryption. And despite claims to the contrary, there is also no evidence that Signal/Whatsapp end-to-end encryption has been breached. Here’s what we do know:
Over the past three years, the CIA has put together a formidable arsenal of cyberweapons specially designed to gain surveillance capabilities over end-user devices such as mobile phones and laptop/desktop computers. These advanced malwares enable the CIA to record actions such as keystrokes on a mobile device, allowing them to conduct surveillance without breaking encryption. Through this technique, US intelligence agencies can gain access to data before they have been encrypted. This is in fact the only way to achieve data access, because cracking the cryptography used in advanced secure communication services such as ProtonMail and Signal is still impractical with current technology.
In other words, the danger is in running old software, including operating systems that are missing the most recent updates. We asked Dr. Yen if a user running the most recent patches for their operating system and other software could be at risk using ProtonMail. He answered, “There can never be zero risk, so the way I would put it is, a user who has fully updated all his software would be at lowest risk of CIA hacking.”
That is because outdated operating systems (I’m looking at all of you who are still running Windows XP), software programs, and applications do not have the most up-to-date security patches. All software has vulnerabilities. As those vulnerabilities are discovered, the software developers issue updates to plug those vulnerabilities. Going over the list of the CIA’s notes on how to attack different devices, operating systems, and softwares, one common denominator shines through: they all depend on exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities.
In the quote above from one of this writer’s previous articles, there is a reference to Signal — an application for encrypted texts and phone calls. The company behind Signal is Open Whisper Systems. Signal has a list of endorsements from people — Ed Snowden, Laura Poitras, Bruce Schneier, and others — who have a real understanding of cryptography and the need for private communications. In a statement to The New American, Open Whisper Systems said:
These leaks are confirmation that ubiquitous encryption provided by WhatsApp and Signal are forcing intelligence agencies to use malware, pushing them from undetectable mass surveillance to high risk targeted attacks.
There again is the evidence that encryption works for those use it and keep their devices and software up-to-date.
Another open-source, end-to-end encrypted, Zero-Knowledge service is SpiderOak One, which offers an online backup service similar in function to DropBox with the distinction that everything built into SpiderOak One has the users’ privacy in mind. Since it is built on open-source software, there is no way for anything nefarious to be hidden in the code. Since it is end-to-end encrypted, even the administrators don’t have access to the users’ data. Since it is Zero-Knowledge, the administrators don’t know (or have any way to know) users’ passphrases. In a statement published on its website, SpiderOak said:
The latest leak of the Vault 7 files includes many exploits, but unlike previous leaks, initial analysis seems to indicate that they are entirely for attacks against endpoints.
This transition from network level to endpoint-focused attack is an interesting trend that points to an interesting hypothesis: Encryption is working.
Encryption – and particularly end-to-end encryption – fundamentally changes the cost of attacks. No longer can an adversary simply sniff network traffic, either locally or globally. To eavesdrop on communications they must take the more expensive and risky approach of compromising endpoints.
The take-away? Encryption works. At least for those willing to take the time and effort to make sure their endpoint devices (computers, mobile devices, routers, etc) are running up-to-date, reliable, trustworthy operating systems and software (which almost certainly excludes Microsoft Windows).
The answer to the question, “How can someone protect themselves from surveillance?” has not changed. Replace Windows with either Mac or (even better) Linux. Use open-source software and avoid proprietary software as much as you can. Encrypt everything you can, including your hard drive. Encrypt all communications, and encourage others to do the same. It’s simple to do with applications such as ProtonMail and Signal. Keep your operating system and other software up-to-date. Don’t store anything to an online backup service without first encrypting it — there is no cloud; it’s just someone else’s computer. And — most importantly — think about privacy and security. Make it a guiding principle in the way you use computers. Any chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The way you use computers — the choices you make, the programs and applications you use, and the ways you use them — are the biggest factors after following the above steps.
As for making a SmartTV secure, the best bet is to get rid of it. Period. The software is proprietary and the thing is designed as a spy tool.
Encryption has changed the game for the surveillance hawks. Now, instead of being able to conduct mass surveillance on scale, they are forced to compromise select and specific endpoint devices. If you are the specific target of a three-letter-agency, there is little you can do to avoid being spied on. For the rest of us, things are actually looking better.
https://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/computers/item/25576-good-news-from-cia-leak-encryption-works
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