Posts

Former Security Officials to Obama: Cancel Nuke Cuts

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: APA group of 18 former military and national security officials wrote to President Barack Obama on Friday urging the administration to cancel plans for further cuts in United States nuclear warheads, warning that new arms reductions would undermine U.S. security.

The ex-officials, including two former members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated in the letter to Obama that North Korea’s recent underground nuclear test, and concerns about growing Pyongyang-Tehran nuclear arms cooperation, undermines any further disarmament sought by the president.

“In our professional judgment, born of decades of experience with national security policy and practice, America’s ‘triad’ of nuclear-armed land-based and submarine-launched missiles and bomber-delivered nuclear weapons have promoted strategic stability and discouraged proliferation,” the former officials stated.

“Steps that raise uncertainty about the viability, reliability and effectiveness of our deterrent will have the opposite effect.”

The letter followed a report this week that the new strategic arms cuts with Russia will be announced soon. U.S. officials said the president is preparing for a new round of arms reduction talks with Russia that will seek a one-third cut in U.S. nuclear warheads, beyond the levels set in the 2010 New START arms treaty. The treaty requires cutting the U.S. arsenal to 1,550 warheads.

Read more from this story HERE.

Dick Cheney Blasts Obama’s ‘Second-Rate’ National Security Team

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: APFormer Vice President Dick Cheney said Saturday night that President Obama has jeopardized U.S. national security by nominating substandard candidates for key Cabinet posts and by degrading the U.S. military.

“The performance now of Barack Obama as he staffs up the national security team for the second term is dismal,” Mr. Cheney said in comments to about 300 members of the Wyoming Republican Party.

Mr. Cheney, a Wyoming native, said it was vital to the nation’s national security that “good folks” hold the positions of secretary of state, CIA director and secretary of defense.

“Frankly, what he has appointed are second-rate people,” he said.

John F. Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, has been confirmed as secretary of state. CIA-designate John Brennan and Defense Secretary-nominee Chuck Hagel are still awaiting U.S. Senate confirmation.

Read more from this story HERE.

The Ayatollah’s Goal

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: APIranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei believes his primary job “is to set Israel on fire,” according to Spain’s former national security adviser.

Khamenei made the controversial comments during a 2001 breakfast meeting with Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and Rafael Bardaji, Aznar’s former national security adviser.

Anzar, Bardaji, and several other Spanish officials pressed Khameini to explain his role in the Iranian government during the breakfast meeting.

“My job is to set Israel on fire,” Khamenei said.

Bardaji and his colleagues were shaken by the comments, which suggest that Khamenei’s anti-Israel bluster is more than just a rhetorical tactic.

Read more from this story HERE.

Inside the Ring: Chinese Missile Defense Test?

/0 Comments/in , /by

U.S. intelligence agencies are closely monitoring China’s missile facilities in anticipation of a test of China’s missile defense interceptor, which also doubled in the past as an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile.

The officials commented in response to reports that China is set to conduct another potentially destabilizing anti-satellite missile test in space. In 2007, China fired a missile that destroyed a weather satellite and resulted in tens of thousands of dangerous pieces of debris that threaten manned and unmanned spacecraft.

The Washington Free Beacon reported in September on new intelligence reports that indicate China is preparing to fire its Dong Ning-2 missile into space, this time at a high-earth orbit target.

Then last week Gregary Kulacki, a specialist with the Union of Concerned Scientist, reported on his blog, “All Things Nuclear,” that Chinese officials recently circulated an internal notice of an upcoming anti-satellite missile test in space.

A U.S. official said a test at this point does not appear imminent. However there are signs an interceptor flight test is being prepared.

Read more from this story HERE.

Ex-Officer Is First From C.I.A. to Face Prison for a Leak

/2 Comments/in , /by

WASHINGTON — Looking back, John C. Kiriakou admits he should have known better. But when the F.B.I. called him a year ago and invited him to stop by and “help us with a case,” he did not hesitate.

In his years as a C.I.A. operative, after all, Mr. Kiriakou had worked closely with F.B.I. agents overseas. Just months earlier, he had reported to the bureau a recruiting attempt by someone he believed to be an Asian spy.

“Anything for the F.B.I.,” Mr. Kiriakou replied.

Only an hour into what began as a relaxed chat with the two agents — the younger one who traded Pittsburgh Steelers talk with him and the senior investigator with the droopy eye — did he begin to realize just who was the target of their investigation.

Finally, the older agent leaned in close and said, by Mr. Kiriakou’s recollection, “In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that right now we’re executing a search warrant at your house and seizing your electronic devices.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Full-Court Press: Global Warming Hysteria Pushed by National Intelligence Council and Department of Defense?

/4 Comments/in , /by

photo credit: donkeyhotey

A new U.S. intelligence community report finds that climate change will fuel new conflicts and competition for resources in coming decades.

The federal National Intelligence Council’s “Global Trends 2030” report issued Monday follows Defense Department analyses that have similarly called climate change an emerging security risk.

“Demand for food, water, and energy will grow by approximately 35, 40, and 50 percent respectively owing to an increase in the global population and the consumption patterns of an expanding middle class. Climate change will worsen the outlook for the availability of these critical resources,” the report states.

Elsewhere, it notes that climate change is among the factors that will drive conflict in some regions.

“[M]any developing and fragile states — such as in Sub-Saharan Africa — face increasing strains from resource constraints and climate change, pitting different tribal and ethnic groups against one another and accentuating the separation of various identities,” the report states.

Read more from this story HERE.

Have You Heard About the Quietly-Released Obama Memo on ‘Insider Threat Policy’?

/5 Comments/in , /by

In what some might consider an increasingly growing trend of releasing information just before holidays or the late on Friday afternoon, the White House has yet again quietly published a memo from President Barack Obama, laying out guidelines for executive agencies to establish “effective insider threat programs.”

The presidential memorandum issued on Nov. 21 — the day before Thanksgiving — is called “National Insider Threat Policy and Minimum Standards for Executive Branch Insider Threat Programs.” Here’s what the relatively short memo said (Note: Emphasis added):

“This Presidential Memorandum transmits the National Insider Threat Policy and Minimum Standards for Executive Branch Insider Threat Programs (Minimum Standards) to provide direction and guidance to promote the development of effective insider threat programs within departments and agencies to deter, detect, and mitigate actions by employees who may represent a threat to national security. These threats encompass potential espionage, violent acts against the Government or the Nation, and unauthorized disclosure of classified information, including the vast amounts of classified data available on interconnected United States Government computer networks and systems.

The Minimum Standards provide departments and agencies with the minimum elements necessary to establish effective insider threat programs. These elements include the capability to gather, integrate, and centrally analyze and respond to key threat-related information; monitor employee use of classified networks; provide the workforce with insider threat awareness training; and protect the civil liberties and privacy of all personnel.

The resulting insider threat capabilities will strengthen the protection of classified information across the executive branch and reinforce our defenses against both adversaries and insiders who misuse their access and endanger our national security.”

Read more from this story HERE.

FBI Whistle-Blower Told Eric Cantor About Petraeus Affair in October

/1 Comment/in , /by

An FBI whistleblower told House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) in late October that ex-CIA Director David Petraeus had been involved in an extramarital affair and was potentially putting national security at risk, the New York Times reported Saturday.

Cantor reportedly knew about the affair for at least a week and a half before Petraeus resigned Friday.

“I was contacted by an F.B.I. employee concerned that sensitive, classified information may have been compromised and made certain Director Mueller was aware of these serious allegations and the potential risk to our national security,” Cantor said in a statement to the Times.

According to the Times, Cantor learned through Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) “that a whistle-blower wanted to speak to someone in the Congressional leadership about a national security concern.” Cantor’s chief of staff called the FBI afterward on Oct. 31 to inform them about what Cantor had learned.

A Cantor spokesman confirmed the report to CNN on Sunday.

Read more from this story HERE.

Who Authorized FBI Surveillance of Gen. Petraeus?

/2 Comments/in , /by

Even by the standards of the friday afternoon news dump tradition, yesterday’s news that Gen. David Petraeus had resigned from the CIA was a stunner. The most heralded military officer of his generation fell from grace after it was revealed he’d had an affair with his biographer. The affair was discovered earlier this year soon after the FBI began monitoring his email. This raises a very serious question. Who authorized the FBI to monitor the e-mail of the Director of the CIA?

The Director of the CIA is one of the central individuals responsible for America’s national security and intelligence. His communications would, by their very nature, be one of the nation’s closest guarded secrets. According to FBI sources, the Bureau began surveillance of his email communication in the Spring of this year, after an email Petraeus sent to his biographer, Paula Broadwell, was misinterpreted to reference possible corruption.

First question: How did that initial email come to light? Second question: Who authorized the Bureau to pore over all his email communication? We are talking, after all, about the Director of the CIA. That cannot have been a decision made by a junior staffer at DOJ. I doubt that even the Director of the FBI could authorize the surveillance of a critical member of America’s national security team.

Read more from this story HERE.

Russian Attack Sub Detected Near US Coast

/2 Comments/in /by

A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine cruised within 200 miles of the East Coast recently in the latest sign Russia is continuing to flex its naval and aerial power against the United States, defense officials said.

The submarine was identified by its NATO designation as a Russian Seirra-2 class submarine believed to be based with Russia’s Northern Fleet. It was the first time that class of Russian submarine had been detected near a U.S. coast, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of anti-submarine warfare efforts.

One defense official said the submarine was believed to have been conducting anti-submarine warfare efforts against U.S. ballistic and cruise missile submarines based at Kings Bay, Georgia.

A second official said the submarine did not sail close to Kings Bay and also did not threaten a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group that was conducting exercises in the eastern Atlantic.

Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, north of Jacksonville, Fla., is homeport for two guided missile submarines and six nuclear missile submarines. The submarines are known to be a target of Russian attack submarines.

Read more from this story HERE.