Glenn Greenwald has called out National Public Radio in a recent interview for a story by Dina Temple-Raston for a story that it aired on how a study had found “tangible evidence” that leaks by Edward Snowden had harmed security by showing terrorists that they have to develop more sophisticated encryption programs. However, that study was the work of a firm named “Recorded Future,” which Greenwald claims has been funded by the CIA to the tune of millions of dollars. Greenwald chastises Temple-Raston and NPR for not informing listeners that the source is a CIA funded outfit. He accuses NPR of essentially airing CIA talking points.
The company released a report called “How Al-Qaeda Uses Encryption Post-Snowden” in two parts in May and August on how “Snowden leaks influencing Al-Qaeda’s crypto product innovation.”
Temple-Raston responded to the release with a story entitled Big Data Firm Says It Can Link Snowden Data To Changed Terrorist Behavior. She interviewed Recorded Future’s CEO and co-founder Christopher Ahlberg who said that they began to delve more deeply into the issue when “We saw at least three major product releases coming out with different organizations with al-Qaida and associated organizations fairly quickly after the Snowden disclosures.” She reported:
As it turns out, Recorded Future and Reversing Labs discovered that al-Qaida didn’t just tinker at the edges of its seven-year-old encryption software; it overhauled it. The new programs no longer use much of what’s known as “homebrew,” or homemade algorithms. Instead, al-Qaida has started incorporating more sophisticated open-source code to help disguise its communications.
Greenwald calls the failure to inform listeners of the CIA connection “a pure and indisputable case of journalistic malpractice and deceit.” He also notes that stories running back to 2001 detail how al-Qaeda was fully aware of the need to develop more advanced forms of encryption. I cannot find any response from NPR to the allegations.
The cause and effect relationship of the report can clearly be challenged given the continual reports of U.S. intelligence interceptions before and after the Snowden disclosures. That makes the connection and possible funding of the CIA more problematic if true. I do believe that, if Greenwald is correct and this firm receives such a high level of funding from the CIA, it should have been disclosed.
Recorded Future takes on an ominous sound if it is, as Greenwald claims, a company that has received millions from the CIA. He alleges that “the investment arm of the CIA, In-Q-Tel, sits on the board of this company, and the researcher on whom they rely himself is the head of a company in a strategic partnership with the CIA.” The company’s motto is “creating an insightful world.”
Two Captains and a white guy? Must see TV if for anything else, I gotta know what the rank of the white guy is.
I hope some of you folks have had a chance to see CNN tonight, they did a great job of covering the Ferguson saga. The Capt from the Mo Highway Patrol was incredible as were the white guy from St. Louis County and the Capt from the City of St. Louis police. The protests tonight are very uplifting. They are a tribute to the people of Ferguson and Saint Louis. There was a State Senator from University City who was quite articulate too. If you are still awake, watch CNN. 11:43 p.m.
Is the Washington Post mimicking the Onion or has common sense joined the MO Highway Partrol?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/08/14/with-highway-patrol-hugs-and-kisses-replace-tear-gas-in-ferguson
Paul C
Link your “stats” please…
Max-1 – my ‘stats’ are general knowledge. They are part of several lawsuits.
“Not surprisingly, big government has been at the heart of the problem. Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies-where police departments compete to acquire military gear that goes far beyond what most of Americans think of as law enforcement.” Rand Paul
http://www.paul.senate.gov/?p=news&id=1210
Nick I don’t see article about being appalled.
Here is NYT article “President Obama on Thursday claimed victory in the effort to rescue Yazidi refugees from a mountaintop in Iraq, but said that airstrikes in that country would continue in order to protect Americans and offer assistance to other Iraqis threatened by Sunni militants
Speaking to reporters during his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, Mr. Obama declared the siege of Mount Sinjar over, crediting American drops of food and airstrikes.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/15/us/despite-rescue-iraq-airstrikes-will-continue-obama-says.html?_r=0
and from Fox:
The president, in brief remarks from Martha’s Vineyard where his family is on vacation, said he expects the specific operation at Mount Sinjar to wind down. He said military planners will be leaving in the coming days, aid drops will stop and a U.S.-led evacuation is likely no longer needed.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/14/obama-us-has-broken-iraqi-militant-siege-rescue-effort-not-needed/
“The situation on the mountain has greatly improved,” Obama said. “We broke the ISIL siege of Mount Sinjar. We helped vulnerable people reach safety.”
But Obama said U.S. involvement will not come to an end, as militants with the Islamic State — also known as ISIS, or ISIL — continue to brutalize the civilian population in the region, especially minorities like Iraqi Christians and Yazidis.
Obama said “we will continue airstrikes” where necessary to protect American personnel and facilities in Iraq.
Maxcat06,
I appreciate the honorable mention in your post but I’m at a loss as to what it was I said to deserve it. I have been extremely consistent in my defense of natural rights and the rule of law. If something I said in this thread deviated from that then point it out so that I can learn from my mistake. If you made a mistake then admit it or remain silent.
Rep Steve King, on investigating the looting and the issue of racial profiling:
“This idea of no racial profiling,” King said, “I’ve seen the video. It looks to me like you don’t need to bother with that particular factor because they all appear to be of a single origin, I should say, a continental origin might be the way to phrase that.”
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/steve-king-and-continental-origins
(video of him saying this at click)
The NYT is reporting that Yazidi leaders and independent relief workers were appalled @ the President’s presser where he said the siege was over. I only listened to the presser. Anyone who watched, were Obama’s pants on fire? What a reprehensible lie!
Two journalists, Wesley Lowery with the Washington Post and Ryan Reilly of The Huffington Post were arrested Wednesday night in Ferguson after police told them to stop recording the night’s events. They were taken into custody shortly after. Lowery tweeted that an officer slammed him into a soda machine because he became confused about which door police asked him to walk through.
military grade weaponry but no money to install dash cams.
Jackson stated that the Ferguson Police Department is not in possession of any video of Brown’s shooting. He said the department received a $5,000 grant to purchase dashboard-mount cameras, as well as “two or three” body-worn cameras, but the dashboard cameras have not yet been installed.
“We didn’t have enough money to pay for the installation so we’re having to do that ourselves, at our garage so. We just got them, and we’re going to be installing them pretty soon,” Jackson said.
The article also has audio of the police dispatcher
Excerpt: Throughout the tapes, dispatchers discuss assistance for crowd control in Ferguson by sending additional patrol vehicles, officers and K-9 units for backup. A little after 11 minutes into the tape the dispatcher describes hearing the news about Brown’s shooting. A little later, a dispatcher can be heard saying that she called the Ferguson Police Department and that they “knew nothing about it.”
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/25574-anonymous-releases-name-of-alleged-michael-brown-shooter-sets-deadline-for-st-louis-police-response
excerpt:
According to Dorian Johnson, a close friend of Brown’s who was walking home with him during the time of the shooting, a Ferguson police officer told the boys to “get the fxck on the sidewalk,” and that when the boys told the cop they were only a few minutes from their destination, the officer then grabbed Brown by the neck and attempted to pull him into the patrol vehicle window; when Brown reared back, the officer threatened to shoot him.
Moments later, according to Johnson, the officer fired a shot and let go of Brown. Brown and Johnson ran from the patrol vehicle. As Johnson took cover behind a car, he watched the officer shoot Brown in the back as he ran. Brown then turned around to face the officer and raised his hands into the air, telling the officer he was unarmed and to stop shooting. Johnson then said he watched the officer shoot Brown seven more times in the head and chest area.
“It was just horrible to watch. It hurt him a lot. I saw it in his eyes. It hurt him a lot,” Johnson told NBC News. “It was definitely like being shot like an animal. It was almost like putting someone in an execution.”
uh, oh, I found the problem. I’ll edit and resend. A quote has a naughty word.
my comment is awaiting moderation. can someone help? actually, it would be great if the last sentence were removed. second thoughts should come before hitting send.
When protests turn violent, they lead to riots, which almost always leads to looting. It’s sad. Too bad we don’t have an MLK, Jr in our lifetime, because he is needed.
I just heard an interview from the friend of Michael Brown, who was shot in Missouri. It sounded like a detailed, credible statement. (But I’m not a detective; it’s just my initial opinion.) If true, it sounds like murder. It needs to be thoroughly investigated. The police claim there was a scuffle for a gun. Hopefully they can prove what happened, because there are wildly differing stories.
Looting and/or rioting to express outrage is so foolish and destructive. All it does is hurt innocent people. I absolutely agree with peaceful demonstrations urging an investigation. Once the investigation gets underway, I think everyone needs to calm down and wait until it’s concluded. Hopefully there were cameras in the police cars, and there will be video and audio from that night. I want a trial by evidence, rather than public opinion. The public’s job is to ensure there is a fair and accurate investigation into the facts, not to try and convict.
I also take issue with Jessie Jackson’s and Al Sharpton’s claims that it’s racist that the police department is predominantly white. In the same radio show in which they were discussing the possibility of it being murder, they said that nationwide, police departments are typically around 6% African American. In large cities, it tends to get more diverse, and it is less diverse in smaller communities. Police officers and firemen that I’ve known have told me that there is less interest in minorities in joining the force, which is why, under Affirmative Action, they had to lower standards to get minorities hired. They just didn’t have as big a pool of interested parties. I knew someone who waited for years to be a fireman, while a minority got right on who only showed the barest of interest.
For example, how many African-American kids want to grow up to be cops if they live in a neighborhood with intense gang activity? Or a neighborhood with a systemic hatred of cops?
So if the force does not have the same percentage of minorities as the community, that does not automatically prove that the entire police force is racist, or that they have racist hiring practices.
SWM, I’m just noting this thread has “veered.” That happens sometimes. I’m just noting it. I sense it’s a leftist mini revolution here in doing so. That’s good. Better you folks take action rather than the usual whining. Action always trumps whining.
Paul Schulte:
Author David K. Shipler spent several months riding with DC cops in the worst DC neighborhoods during the night shift and documented it in his book “The Rights of the People” (great non-partisan book).
Shipler pointed out that many (not all) police don’t perform the same unconstitutional searches like “stop & frisk” in the wealthier/whiter neighborhoods because they will be SUED by wealthier better educated citizens or their parents.
The drugs are sold in the poorer black neighborhoods but the buyers are in the wealthier white neighborhoods – police don’t “stop & frisk” search white kids in the suburbs to avoid lawsuits, career destruction and loss of personal assets. Many of the searches aren’t based on probable cause or any wrongdoing.
The 14th Amendment required equal treatment for all citizens.
Ross – it has always been how much justice can you afford.
Glenn Greenwald wrote about Ferguson and anonymous posted it, and it took off from there.
That’s good. No looting is good. There were Molotov cocktails and a building was torched last night according to CNN