Category Archives: US Defense Department

CIA suddenly discovers entire stack of Hollywood/bin Laden files

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The US Defense Department and the CIA say that they’ve accidently uncovered a lost stack of files that details their relationship with Hollywood movie makers in the midst of a planned film about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Both the Pentagon and America’s top spy agency are now appealing to a United States District Court judge for an extension in their motion for summary judgment in a Freedom of Information Act case involving what materials Washington insiders could have handed over to Hollywood. The CIA and DoD were petitioned with a FOIA request for material pertaining to their relationship with movie makers on behalf of the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, but now say they need more time to consider their plea because their latest discovery has unturned as many as 30 new documents detailing the events on and leading up to the May 2, 2011 execution.
A planned movie detailing the assassination of the former al-Qaeda leader, currently being produced under the title “Zero Dark Thirty,” is still in the works, although it has garnered criticism from those on all ends of the political spectrum over what sort of sensitive or classified information the Obama administration may have handed over to movie makers, notwithstanding serious national security risks. Now pending the results of a decision on the latest stack of documents, more information could be made available on how Hollywood was handed information for financial gain that the American public wasn’t privy to.
“The CIA discovered a 4 to 5 inch stack of records potentially responsive to plaintiff’s FOIA request that had been inadvertently overlooked during the CIA’s search,” Civil Division attorney Marcia Berman writes in a second motion to extend briefing, dated July 24, 2012, published that same afternoon by POLITICO. “The CIA is continuing to look into the circumstances of the discovery of the new documents to ensure the adequacy of its search.” They are now asking for an extension in the deadline for their summary motion regarding to FOIA requests for information.
The agency has refrained from discussing the just uncovered files in detail, but Berman writes, ” From its initial review of the documents, the CIA has determined that the newly discovered documents are responsive to plaintiff’s request but contain some duplicates of produced records. The CIA estimates that there are approximately 30 new documents (primarily emails), with many documents containing multiple pages.”
Days before the CIA said they found the new documents, Senate Intelligence Committee head Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) suggested that a string of national security leaks have made it to the mainstream press as of late because the Obama administration was allowing sensitive material to seep through the White House. Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the likely Republican Party candidate to challenge Mr. Obama this fall, jumped on her statements during a Tuesday afternoon address this week. Following up hours later, Sen. Feinstein said she was “disappointed” by Romney’s remarks in the wake of her own.
“I was asked whether the White House might be responsible for recent national security leaks. I stated that I did not believe the president leaked classified information. I shouldn’t have speculated beyond that because the fact of the matter is I don’t know the source of the leaks,” the senator said.
Romney had told a crowd in Reno, Nevada that “Whoever provided classified information to the media, seeking political advantage for the administration, must be exposed, dismissed and punished. The time for stonewalling is over.”

Pentagon admits lethality, effectiveness of Iran missile systems

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presstv.ir
July 11, 2012

The Pentagon has admitted that the “lethality and effectiveness” of Iran’s missile systems has improved and Tehran would present a “formidable force” while defending its territory.

According to a June 29 report by the Pentagon, “Iran has boosted the lethality and effectiveness of existing systems by improving accuracy and developing new submunition payloads” that “extend the destructive power over a wider area than a solid warhead,” Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

The report, signed by US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, was presented to the four US congressional defense committees last week to comply with a 2010 directive to provide an annual classified and unclassified assessment of Iran’s military power.

It noted that improvements in Iran’s missile capability are occurring in parallel with regular ballistic-missile training that “continues throughout the country” and the addition of “new ships and submarines.”

Iran is “developing and claims to have deployed short-range ballistic missiles with seekers that enable the missile to identify and maneuver toward ships during flight,” the report added.

“This technology also may be capable of striking land- based targets.”

Congressional Research Service Iran analyst Kenneth Katzman said previous reports by the US government “always downplayed the accuracy and effectiveness of Iran’s missile forces.”

“The report [however], seemed pretty sober and respectful of Iran’s capabilities, crediting Iran with improving survivability,” Bloomberg quoted Katzman as saying.

Early in July, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) test fired domestically-produced missiles during a three-day military drill codenamed The Great Prophet 7.

The tested missiles included Shahab (Meteor) 1, 2, 3, Khalij Fars (Persian Gulf), Tondar (Lightning), Fateh (Victor) and Zelzal (Quake) as well as Qiam (Uprising).

Iran has repeatedly stated that its military might poses no threat to other countries, reiterating that its defense doctrine is based on deterrence.

Pentagon cyber chief downplays NSA email snooping; says attack is ‘coming our way’

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The Pentagon official at the top of the US Defense Department’s cyber program says that an attack on the United States’ computer systems is not just on the way but that America is now more vulnerable than ever.
National Security Agency Director Army Gen. Keith Alexander, who also heads the Pentagon’s Cyber Command unit, tells reporters this week that the US is coming close to being hit with a computer attack that could devastate the country. Speaking before a crowd this week, Alexander warns, “The conflict is growing [and] the probability for crisis is mounting.”
“While we have the time, we should think about and enact those things that we need to ensure our security in this area. Do it now, before a crisis,” insists Alexander.
“What I’m concerned about is the transition from disruptive to destructive attacks,” he adds. “And I think that’s coming. We have to be ready for that.”
The US Congress is currently tasking itself with finding a way to fight cyberterrorism, but the inability to fully find a way to balance security with civil liberties has raised objections across the country. Alexander dismissed these concerns during this week’s address, however, insisting that the NSA does not “hold data on American citizens” and equated the US government’s association with major Internet entities as one that is relatively hands-off.
“Like the police force, like the fire department, they don’t see around buildings waiting for a fire to come on, you call them when it happens. In cyberspace, I see very much the same thing in our partnership with industry,” he alleges.
“We can protect civil liberties and privacy, and cybersecurity,” says Alexander, who insists his agency is “not talking about giving our personal e-mails to the government.”
Meanwhile, only last month the NSA sent a letter to two leading congressmen refusing to reveal the number of Americans that they have spied on through provisions made in 2008 to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a legislation that allows the government to go through correspondence that they believe is being sent overseas. In explaining themselves to the two lawmakers that asked for an answer, Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mark Udall (D-CO), the NSA said that that informing Americans about any spying they may have been subjected to would be damaging to personal privacy.
RT has also reported that, under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986, the government is given practically an open invitation to access private information such as that contained in emails tens of thousands of times a year.
Elsewhere, recent reports have alleged that the United States has all the while been behind massive computer attacks waged not at its own citizens through spy programs but instead at Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. By way of both Stuxnet and Flame, a worm and malware, respectively, Obama administrations officials speaking with the New York Times have confirmed that the technology behind the cybercrimes was engineered on behalf of the American government and authorized by US President Barack Obama.
Speaking of attacks aimed at America, however, Alexander explains this week, “I do think that’s coming our way. You can see this statistically; the number of attacks is growing.”

More at EndtheLie.com – http://EndtheLie.com/2012/07/10/pentagon-cyber-chief-downplays-nsa-email-snooping-says-attack-is-coming-our-way/#ixzz20Jipe3og