Tag: CIA

CIA veterans who monitored crackdowns abroad see troubling parallels in Trump’s handling of protests

Washington Post logoThe scenes have been disturbingly familiar to CIA analysts accustomed to monitoring scenes of societal unraveling abroad — the massing of protesters, the ensuing crackdowns and the awkwardly staged displays of strength by a leader determined to project authority.

In interviews and posts on social media in recent days, current and former U.S. intelligence officials have expressed dismay at the similarity between events at home and the signs of decline or democratic regression they were trained to detect in other nations.

“I’ve seen this kind of violence,” said Gail Helt, a former CIA analyst responsible for tracking developments in China and Southeast Asia. “This is what autocrats do. This is what happens in countries before a collapse. It really does unnerve me.” Continue reading.

Attorney General Barr breaks a Trump promise by refusing to release 9/11 documents to families of the victims

AlterNet logoMonths after President Donald Trump promised to open FBI files to help families of the 9/11 victims in a civil lawsuit against the Saudi government, the Justice Department has doubled down on its claim that the information is a state secret.

In a series of filings just before a midnight court deadline on Monday, the attorney general, William Barr; the acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell; and other senior officials insisted to a federal judge in the civil case that further disclosures about Saudi connections to the 9/11 plot would imperil national security.

But the administration insisted in court filings that even its justification for that secrecy needed to remain secret. Four statements to the court by FBI and Justice Department officials were filed under seal so they could not be seen by the public. An additional five, including one from the CIA, were shared only with the judge and cannot be read even by the plaintiffs’ lawyers. Continue reading.

Ex-CIA senior operations officer blasts Trumpification of agency — and explains how Pompeo ‘subjugated the country’s interests to those of the president’

AlterNet logoThe Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), founded in 1947 under President Harry Truman, has been in existence for 73 years and has dealt with foreign intelligence under 13 different presidents — the most recent being Donald Trump. In a February 10 article for Just Security, Douglas London (a retired CIA senior operations officer who left in 2018) takes a look at the state of the agency in the Trump era. And London, who now teaches at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., laments that in the last few years, the CIA has been acting in Trump’s interests more than in the foreign intelligence interests of the United States.

Mike Pompeo, now secretary of state in the Trump Administration, served as CIA director from January 2017 to April 2018 — and London recalls that when Pompeo was in charge of the CIA, “anything that could somehow embarrass the president or make him appear weak had to be avoided.”

The former CIA operations officer explains, “Pompeo prioritized shielding Trump from news he didn’t want to hear, an approach to the job that sometimes subjugated the country’s interests to those of the president. Concerned more about his own standing with the president, Pompeo also refused to provide the CIA workforce with any words of support in the face of Trump’s repeated attacks on it — fearing such encouragement would anger Trump.” Continue reading.

Ex-CIA senior operations officer blasts Trumpification of agency — and explains how Pompeo ‘subjugated the country’s interests to those of the president’

AlterNet logoThe Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), founded in 1947 under President Harry Truman, has been in existence for 73 years and has dealt with foreign intelligence under 13 different presidents — the most recent being Donald Trump. In a February 10 article for Just Security, Douglas London (a retired CIA senior operations officer who left in 2018) takes a look at the state of the agency in the Trump era. And London, who now teaches at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., laments that in the last few years, the CIA has been acting in Trump’s interests more than in the foreign intelligence interests of the United States.

Mike Pompeo, now secretary of state in the Trump Administration, served as CIA director from January 2017 to April 2018 — and London recalls that when Pompeo was in charge of the CIA, “anything that could somehow embarrass the president or make him appear weak had to be avoided.”

The former CIA operations officer explains, “Pompeo prioritized shielding Trump from news he didn’t want to hear, an approach to the job that sometimes subjugated the country’s interests to those of the president. Concerned more about his own standing with the president, Pompeo also refused to provide the CIA workforce with any words of support in the face of Trump’s repeated attacks on it — fearing such encouragement would anger Trump.” Continue reading.

A ‘longtime friend’ of Bill Barr just scorched the attorney general in an impassioned op-ed

AlterNet logoWilliam Webster, a former director of both the CIA and the FBI, published an incisive op-ed on Monday in the New York Times in which he took aim at, among others, his “longtime friend” Attorney General Bill Barr.

The ominous piece warned that Webster sees an “ominous threat to the country I love” under President Donald Trump.

He explained:

I am deeply disturbed by the assertion of President Trump that our “current director” — as he refers to the man he selected for the job of running the F.B.I. — cannot fix what the president calls a broken agency. The 10-year term given to all directors following J. Edgar Hoover’s 48-year tenure was created to provide independence for the director and for the bureau. The president’s thinly veiled suggestion that the director, Christopher Wray, like his banished predecessor, James Comey, could be on the chopping block, disturbs me greatly. The independence of both the F.B.I. and its director is critical and should be fiercely protected by each branch of government.

Continue reading

C.I.A. Informant Extracted From Russia Had Sent Secrets to U.S. for Decades

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — Decades ago, the C.I.A. recruited and carefully cultivated a midlevel Russian official who began rapidly advancing through the governmental ranks. Eventually, American spies struck gold: The longtime source landed an influential position that came with access to the highest level of the Kremlin.

As American officials began to realize that Russia was trying to sabotage the 2016 presidential election, the informant became one of the C.I.A.’s most important — and highly protected — assets. But when intelligence officials revealed the severity of Russia’s election interference with unusual detail later that year, the news media picked up on details about the C.I.A.’s Kremlin sources.

C.I.A. officials worried about safety made the arduous decision in late 2016 to offer to extract the source from Russia. The situation grew more tense when the informant at first refused, citing family concerns — prompting consternation at C.I.A. headquarters and sowing doubts among some American counterintelligence officials about the informant’s trustworthiness. But the C.I.A. pressed again months later after more media inquiries. This time, the informant agreed.

View the complete September 9 article by Julian E. Barnes, Adam Goldman and David E. Sanger on The New York Times website here.

Trump Says He ‘Wouldn’t Let’ CIA Spy On Kim Jong Un

Trump told reporters that he would not allow the CIA to use North Korea dictator Kim Jung Un’s family as informants. The comments came on Tuesday afternoon as Trump prepared to leave for an event in Iowa.

“I saw the information about the CIA with respect to his brother or half-brother, and I would tell him that would not happen under my… under my auspices. That’s for sure. I wouldn’t let that happen under my auspices,” Trump said.

In his remarks, Trump was referring to reports that Kim’s half-brother, Kim Jong Nan, was a CIA informant before he was murdered in 2017, allegedly under orders from the North Korean government.

View the complete June 11 article by Dan Desai Martin on the National Memo website here.

Senators accuse Saudi crown prince of complicity in Khashoggi’s killing

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) on Dec. 4 said he would work to impose sanctions on Saudi officials involved in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (The Washington Post)

Senators emerged from an unusual closed-door briefing with the CIA director on Tuesday and accused the Saudi crown prince of complicity in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In some of their strongest statements to date, lawmakers said evidence presented by the U.S. spy agency overwhelmingly pointed to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s involvement in the assassination.

“There’s not a smoking gun — there’s a smoking saw,” said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), referring to the bone saw that investigators believe was used to dismember Khashoggi after he was killed Oct. 2 by a team of Saudi agents inside the country’s consulate in Istanbul.

View the complete November 4 article by Shane Harris and Karoun Demirjian on The Washington Post website here.

Senate Gears Up for Unpredictable Debate on Saudi Arabia and Yemen

Sen. Christopher urphy, D-CT., is among the chief advocates for the Yemen resolution. Credit: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call file photo

CIA Director briefed key senators on Khashoggi killing Tuesday

The Senate is gearing up for a potentially unwieldy debate over U.S. policy regarding Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and a Tuesday briefing for key senators from the CIA chief did nothing to thwart that.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker told Roll Call Tuesday afternoon that interested parties would be meeting on Wednesday to try to find an agreement on handling the contentious Yemen resolution.

The Tennessee Republican said that with the schedule changes necessitated by the funeral of President George H.W. Bush, floor debate would most likely come up on Monday, Dec. 10.

McConnell actually helped cover up Russia’s interference for Trump

A new book reveals how Sen. Mitch McConnell sought to undermine the CIA as it tried to address Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election.

Mitch McConnell, R-KY., 2018. Credit: J. Scott Applewhite, AP

A new book reveals further details of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) attempts to undermine the CIA as it raised alarms about Russian attempts to help Trump in the 2016 election.

Russia directly interfered in the 2016 election to influence the outcome. The Russian regime, at the direction of leader Vladimir Putin, sought to help Trump’s campaign and deny Hillary Clinton the presidency.

And the Trump campaign, at its highest levels, met with Russian operatives as it sought dirt on Clinton.

View the complete October 2 article by Oliver Willis on the ShareBlue.com website here.