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Whistleblowers: FBI Officials Singled Out Agents Who Were Former Military for Anti-Trump Retaliation

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More whistleblowers have stepped forward to tell Congress that high-ranking FBI officials are targeting agents for their political beliefs and trying to force them out of the bureau, specifically going after former military members.

The Marine Corps and other military veterans at the FBI are being accused of being disloyal to the U.S. because they fit the profile of a supporter of former President Donald Trump, according to two new disclosures sent to lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee.

The Washington Times obtained copies of the disclosures.

The whistleblowers said FBI Security Division Deputy Assistant Director Jeffrey Veltri and Assistant Section Chief Dena Perkins specifically went after bureau employees who served as Marines or in other military branches

They retaliated against the agents by stripping them of security clearance, which sidelines them on the job and pushes them toward the exit, according to the disclosures.

Federal Officials Liken Whistleblower to Terrorists, Murderers

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The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is advising its defense industry partners that whistleblowers who could expose government wrongdoing are as dangerous as terrorists and foreign spies.

According to a report Wednesday from The Daily Beast, National Security Agency whistleblower Thomas Drake was listed alongside “Ft. Hood killer Nidal Hasan, Navy Yard killer Aaron Alexis, and FBI-agent-turned-Soviet-spy Robert Hanssen” in a list of “insider threats.”

Drake however is not a murderer or a spy. In fact, as we’ve previously noted, he was the victim of government harassment.

Here’s the story:

For his efforts of trying to reveal problems stemming from certain NSA data-collection efforts to his superiors and Congressional investigators, NSA management cut funding to programs under his control at the agency, marginalized him and increasingly scrutinized his every action. Having earned himself a scarlet letter within the intelligence community, Drake attempted a different approach and began communicating with a Baltimore Sun reporter with the condition that he would provide the journalist with no classified information.


(Read more from “Federal Officials Liken Whistleblower to Terrorists, Murderers” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Guardian Partners with New York Times Over Snowden GCHQ Files

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Guardian has struck a partnership with the New York Times which will give the US paper access to some of the sensitive cache of documents leaked by the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The arrangement was made when the Guardian was faced with demands from the UK government to hand over the GCHQ files it had in its possession.

“In a climate of intense pressure from the UK government, the Guardian decided to bring in a US partner to work on the GCHQ documents provided by Edward Snowden. We are working in partnership with the NYT and others to continue reporting these stories,” the Guardian said in a statement.

Journalists in America are protected by the first amendment which guarantees free speech and in practice prevents the state seeking pre-publication injunctions or “prior restraint”.

It is intended that the collaboration with the New York Times will allow the Guardian to continue exposing mass surveillance by putting the Snowden documents on GCHQ beyond government reach. Snowden is aware of the arrangement.

Read more from this story HERE.

Must See Video: ‘There’s No Way We Can be a Free Country When the Government has a Dossier on Every Citizen’

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Photo Credit: APSenators strongly criticise intelligence chiefs over NSA data collection

By Spencer Ackerman. On the eve of a major US Senate hearing on the National Security Agency’s bulk surveillance, two senators called for major reforms of the NSA’s collection of phone records and accused US intelligence leaders of misleading the public about its impact on privacy.

A letter sent by the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, to Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator for Oregon, on Friday said that there had been “a number of compliance problems” with the NSA’s bulk, ongoing collection of millions of Americans’ phone records, but “no findings of any intentional or bad-faith violations”.

On the Senate floor late on Tuesday afternoon, Wyden, a member of the Senate intelligence committee, all but accused Clapper of lying.

Citing classified documents that he did not specify, but referring to “violations of court orders”, Wyden said that “these violations are more serious than those stated by the intelligence community, and are troubling”. Wyden urged senators to read classified intelligence documents about the bulk surveillance for themselves.

“Any policymaker who simply defers to intelligence officials without asking to see their evidence is making a mistake,” Wyden warned. Read more from this story HERE.

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Effort to get NSA leaker Edward Snowden’s father to Moscow collapses

By Jerry Markon. The FBI tried to enlist the father of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden to fly to Moscow to try to persuade his son to return to the United States, but the effort collapsed when agents could not establish a way for the two to speak once he arrived, Snowden’s father said Tuesday.

“I said, ‘I want to be able to speak with my son. . . . Can you set up communications?’ And it was, ‘Well, we’re not sure,’ ” Lon Snowden told The Washington Post. “I said, ‘Wait a minute, folks, I’m not going to sit on the tarmac to be an emotional tool for you.’ ”

In a wide-ranging interview, the elder Snowden offered a vehement defense of the young man some have labeled a traitor. He said that Edward, who is holed up at an airport in Moscow, grew up in a patriotic family in suburban Maryland, filled with federal agents and police officers, and that he “loves this nation.’’

Asked what triggered his son’s decision to leak top-secret intelligence documents, Snowden, a retired Coast Guard officer, said he didn’t know. Although Edward had seemed troubled in April during their final dinner together, he said his son had recently put up a “firewall between himself and his family.”

“We had no idea what was coming,’’ he said. Read more from this story HERE.

Edward Snowden: the Whistleblower Behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations

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Photo Credit: guardian.co.uk

By Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras. The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.

The Guardian, after several days of interviews, is revealing his identity at his request. From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection of anonymity. “I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,” he said.

Snowden will go down in history as one of America’s most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He is responsible for handing over material from one of the world’s most secretive organisations – the NSA.

In a note accompanying the first set of documents he provided, he wrote: “I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions,” but “I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.”

Despite his determination to be publicly unveiled, he repeatedly insisted that he wants to avoid the media spotlight. “I don’t want public attention because I don’t want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the US government is doing.” Read more from this story HERE.
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NSA whistleblower donated to Ron Paul’s presidential campaign

By Katie McHugh. National Security Administration whistleblower Edward Snowden, who revealed his identity to The Guardian newspaper on Sunday, was a donor to former Texas Rep. Ron Paul’s presidential campaign.

OpenSecrets.org shows that Snowden twice donated $250 to Paul’s campaign, once on March 18, 2012 from a Maryland address, and a second time on May 6, 2012 from Hawaii. Paul ceased active campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination on May 14, 2012.

In an interview with The Guardian, Snowden said he voted for a third party for president on Election Day last November. Read more from this story HERE.
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Guardian: NSA contractor was source of massive US surveillance leak

By Fox News. The source of the bombshell leaks about the U.S. government gathering information on billions of phone calls and Internet activities was an American employed as a contract worker for the National Security Agency, The Guardian newspaper, which broke the story, said Sunday.

The British newspaper has identified the source as 29-year-old Edward Snowden, who worked for defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton and was a former technical assistant for the CIA.

The Washington Post followed the Guardian announcement by saying Snowden was the source for its surveillance stories that followed.

If the reports are accurate, Snowden could face many years in prison for releasing classified information if he is successfully extradited from Hong Kong, where he claims to have taken refuge.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on Snowden’s disclosure, saying the issue has been referred to the Justice Department. Read more from this story HERE.

NSA Whistleblower: What Was Leaked Last Week is Just “the Tip of the Iceberg”

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Photo Credit: AP

The National Security Agency’s collection of phone data from all of Verizon’s U.S. customers is just the “tip of the iceberg,” says a former NSA official who estimates the agency has data on as many as 20 trillion phone calls and emails by U.S. citizens.

William Binney, an award-winning mathematician and noted NSA whistleblower, says the collection dates back to when the super-secret agency began domestic surveillance after the Sept. 11 attacks.

“I believe they’ve been collecting data about all domestic calls since October 2001,” said Mr. Binney, who worked at NSA for more than 30 years. “That’s more than a billion calls a day.”

He called his figures “back of the envelope” estimates, adding that they include emails as well as telephone calls.

Mr. Binney, who left the agency in October 2001, said the data were collected under a highly classified NSA program code-named “Stellar Wind,” which was part of the warrantless domestic wiretapping effort — the Terrorist Surveillance Program — launched on orders from President George W. Bush.

Read more from this story HERE.

Ex-Diplomats Report New Benghazi Whistleblowers with Info Devastating to Clinton and Obama

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Photo Credit: شبكة برق | B.R.QMore whistleblowers will emerge shortly in the escalating Benghazi scandal, according to two former U.S. diplomats who spoke with PJ Media Monday afternoon.

These whistleblowers, colleagues of the former diplomats, are currently securing legal counsel because they work in areas not fully protected by the Whistleblower law.

According to the diplomats, what these whistleblowers will say will be at least as explosive as what we have already learned about the scandal, including details about what really transpired in Benghazi that are potentially devastating to both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Read more from this story HERE.

Whistle-Blower Attorney: I Have More Benghazi Witnesses Who Want to Testify

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Photo Credit: APThe attorney for one of the Benghazi whistleblowers told TheBlaze Radio that he has more people who want to come forward to testify.

Joseph diGenova, attorney for acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Counterterrorism Mark Thompson, did not specify how many new witnesses there were, but said they had been “on the ground” and “in the fight” during the September assault that left four Americans dead. Thompson was one of three whistleblowers who went before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

“We’ve been contacted by some people on the ground who were there, who were in the fight, who want to come forward but who fear if they do they will never get contract work with the agency again,” diGenova told TheBlaze Radio host Jay Severin on Thursday. “We are going to test the director of central intelligence’s word [that those who testify will not be penalized]. If these people decide they want to come forward, the first thing we’re going to do is go to the director’s office and say here they are, how are you going to protect them?”

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Admin. Denies Retaliating Against Benghazi Whistle-Blower

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Photo Credit: Andrew GeraciThe State Department on Thursday dismissed accusations that it retaliated against one of the key witnesses at this week’s Benghazi hearings by demoting him after he questioned the Obama administration’s account of the terrorist attack.

Foreign Service officer Gregory N. Hicks, who was the No. 2 U.S. diplomat in Libya during the Benghazi terrorist attacks last September, told lawmakers at an explosive House hearing on Wednesday that he was chastised and “effectively demoted” after he questioned the decision to blame the military-style assault on a spontaneous demonstration against an anti-Islam video.

The State Department “has not and will not retaliate against Mr. Hicks,” spokesman Patrick H. Ventrell said.

“As Mr. Hicks testified yesterday … he has followed ‘standard’ employment processes,” Mr. Ventrell added, quoting Mr. Hicks‘ testimony Wednesday.

During that testimony, Mr. Hicks said that his jaw “hit the floor” when, five days after the deadly assault, he heard U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan E. Rice directly contradict the president of Libya by saying the attack appeared to have grown out of a demonstration against the video and that there was no evidence it might have been preplanned.

Read more from this story HERE.

7 Things We Learned from the Benghazi Whistleblowers’ Hearing

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Photo Credit: شبكة برق | B.R.QThe Republicans mishandled the Benghazi whistleblowers’ hearing. What should have been stretched across several days to give the nation time to digest it all, was instead packed into a single day filled with an overwhelming amount of information. The media’s attention span is not that long. The verdict in the Jodi Arias trial came along in the afternoon and blew Benghazi off the networks, most of which didn’t want to cover it at all. Even Fox joined the drive-by media, taking Benghazi off the air in favor of the irrelevant Arias trial. Following the announcement of the Arias verdict, charges were read in the Cleveland kidnapping case. Those were aired live as well, relegating Benghazi again.

Nevertheless, for those who slogged through the entire day of hearings and ignored local crime stories, new information was there to be learned.

1. There were multiple stand-down orders, not just one. Special operations forces were told, twice, by their chain of command not to board aircraft to Benghazi to rescue the Americans then under attack. The U.S. deputy diplomat, Greg Hicks, testified that the military commander, Lt. Col. Gibson, had his team ready to go twice. They were on the runway about to board a flight to Benghazi in the middle of the attack. They were ordered to stand down and remain in Tripoli to receive wounded who would be coming out of Benghazi. One of the orders came in the middle of the attack, the other came toward the end after Hicks’ team had traveled from Tripoli to Benghazi. The fact that Hicks’ team was able get to Benghazi before the end of the assault strongly suggests that the special operations team could have made a real difference.

At the same time, the State Department’s commander on the scene, Hicks, ordered his personnel into Benghazi and went there himself. Hicks testified that Gibson never told him who issued the stand-down orders. He commented that Gibson told him that the military stand-down was a shock: “This is the first time in my career that a diplomat has more balls than someone in the military.”

Hicks also testified that the U.S. government never even requested military overflight to support the Americans in Benghazi. The U.S. had an unarmed drone overhead and could have gotten permission to fly fighters over the scene, at least, but never asked.

Read more from this story HERE including discussion of these additional six points:

2. Ambassador SteveDemocrats were uninterested in getting at most of the facts, but were very interested in destroying Mark Thompsons’ reason for going to Benghazi has been cleared up.

3. Clinton was briefed at 2 am on the night of the attack, was never told that a movie had anything to do with the attack by those on the ground in Libya, yet blamed the movie anyway.

4. Whistleblowers were intimidated into silence.

5. “The YouTube movie was a non-event in Libya.”

6. Democrats were uninterested in getting at most of the facts, but were very interested in destroying Mark Thompson.

7. House hearings are a poor way to determine who did what and why during and after the attack.