Security Firms Pitching Bank of America on WikiLeaks Response Proposed Targeting Glenn Greenwald
On Saturday, private security firm HBGary Federal bragged to the FT that it had discovered who key members of the hacking group Anonymous are. In response, Anonymous hacked HB Gary Federal and got 44,000 of their emails and made them publicly available.
You believe that you can sell the information you’ve found to the FBI? False. Now, why is this one false? We’ve seen your internal documents, all of them, and do you know what we did? We laughed. Most of the information you’ve “extracted” is publicly available via our IRC networks. The personal details of Anonymous “members” you think you’ve acquired are, quite simply, nonsense.
So why can’t you sell this information to the FBI like you intended? Because we’re going to give it to them for free. Your gloriously fallacious work can be a wonder for all to scour, as will all of your private emails (more than 44,000 beauties for the public to enjoy). Now as you’re probably aware, Anonymous is quite serious when it comes to things like this, and usually we can elaborate gratuitously on our reasoning behind operations, but we will give you a simple explanation, because you seem like primitive people:
You have blindly charged into the Anonymous hive, a hive from which you’ve tried to steal honey. Did you think the bees would not defend it? Well here we are. You’ve angered the hive, and now you are being stung.
As TechHerald reports, among those documents was a presentation, “The Wikileaks Threat,” put together by three data intelligence firms for Bank of America in December. As part of it, they put together what they claimed was a list of important contributors to WikiLeaks. They suggested that Glenn Greenwald’s support was key to WikiLeaks’ ongoing survival.
The proposal starts with an overview of WikiLeaks, including some history and employee statistics. From there it moves into a profile of Julian Assange and an organizational chart. The chart lists several people, including volunteers and actual staff.
One of those listed as a volunteer, Salon.com columnist, Glenn Greenwald, was singled out by the proposal. Greenwald, previously a constitutional law and civil rights litigator in New York, has been a vocal supporter of Bradley Manning, who is alleged to have given diplomatic cables and other government information to WikiLeaks. He has yet to be charged in the matter.
Greenwald became a household name in December when he reported on the “inhumane conditions” of Bradley Manning’s confinement at the Marine brig in Quantico, Virginia. Since that report, Greenwald has reported on WikiLeaks and Manning several times.
“Glenn was critical in the Amazon to OVH transition,” the proposal says, referencing the hosting switch WikiLeaks was forced to make after political pressure caused Amazon to drop their domain.
As TechHerald notes, an earlier version of the slide said support from people like Glenn needed to be “attacked.”
Now aside from the predictable, but nevertheless rather shocking detail, that these security firms believed the best way to take WikiLeaks out was to push Glenn to stop supporting them, what the fuck are they thinking by claiming that Glenn weighs “professional preservation” against “cause”? Could they be more wrong, painting Glenn as a squeamish careerist whose loud support for WikiLeaks (which dates back far longer than these security firms seem to understand) is secondary to “professional preservation”? Do they know Glenn is a journalist? Do they know he left the stuffy world of law? Have they thought about why he might have done that? Are they familiar at all with who Glenn is? Do they really believe Glenn became a household name–to the extent that he did–just in December?
I hope Bank of America did buy the work of these firms. Aside from the knowledge that the money would be–to the extent that we keep bailing out Bank of America–taxpayer money, I’d be thrilled to think of BoA pissing away its money like that. The plan these firms are pushing is absolutely ignorant rubbish. They apparently know almost nothing about what they’re pitching, and have no ability to do very basic research.
Which is precisely the approach I’d love to see BoA use to combat whatever WikiLeaks has coming its way.
This is just another example of how stupid the MOTU’s are. They hire hack firms to tell them just what they want to hear with crappy reasoning behind it. Consultants get away with publishing(for their clients) this clap-trap? EW is right. No wonder this country is screwed. The MOTU’s only got where they are(mostly) because of the Peter Principle.
Wow. Anonymous strikes again. Well done.
Marcy, great article. Glenn and Jon Walker just tweeted it. That’s why I’m here.
That BofA feels they need to stop the WikiLeaks is very interesting, indeed. What do they think may be contained in these diplomatic cables that are yet to come out? Is it their fear of information being made public, or their fear of that information destabilizing regions in which they have a financial stake? Any thoughts from anybody here would be welcome.
I’m also somewhat shocked that things like this are openly discussed within corporations. This means that some mucky-mucks at BofA discussed, in a company conference room in NYC, I’m sure, BRIBING or INTIMIDATING Glenn. Scary shit.
Marcy, I’d push to front page this at FDL soon. (Just went back to FDL front page, it’s there. NM.) We all love Glenn, and this is a personal assault on him, and the folks like yourself who strive to tell the truth. Utter bullshit from BofA and HB Gary Federal.
What Anonymous did was beautiful — absolutely beautiful. As an old Klingon proverb states, “Egg on face is no recipe for successful omelette”.
I admire their organization and hope it grows and thrives. They’re live-time truth tellers, doing what WikiLeaks does but in real time, not in timed releases.
Talk about modern day heroes. Long live Anonymous!
“Modern day heroes”? “Anonymous” is the creater of most of the arts — literature, painting, sculpture, et al. — produced since the beginning of time.
So it’s pretty difficult to pin down “Anonymous” in any respect whatsoever.
Thanks for this, Marcy. I needed the laugh.
It is a comfort to know just how clueless some of these “Masters of the Universe” types really are.
The comments at the Anonymous torrent site are hysterical…
Bwahahaha!
…and just what is the difference between these “private security firms” and Hitler’s “Brownshirts” or Russia’s KGB???
Every time I see one of these “pukes” on mainstream (a/k/a “subservient”) TV, I want to vomit….long and hard!
Weasels, one and all….and they would sell out anyone, everyone….and their (or, more correctly, MY) country for a wooden nickel!!
America….the once great and now worthless country…won WWII; but we made the fatal mistake of over-correcting for our pre-WWII lack of intelligence capability by creating a bloated, dysfunctional…and highly UN-dependable “spy network” which has had us on the BRINK of WWIII ever since!
For a better perspective, THINK “Dick Cheney”; then think “Masturbation”. Then “prepare to leave the Planet”!
Actually, the difference would be KGB and Brownshirts put their lives on the line and these cowards are just out there selling lies while hiding in the comfort of their lavish homes and offices.
Greenwald laughed at wanking Gregory when Gregory tried to point out to Greenwald “how the game is played” and that if he didn’t do that, he wouldn’t be invited on television anymore. The problem with conventional people is that they always base their actions on assumptions made through the lens of what they, themselves would do, Greenwald is as much a squeamish careerist as Bradley Manning. Both see their duty to freedom as tantamount to their careers.
Bingo. Spot on.
Yeah it’s shocking to folks like Borg Queen, Blythe Masters, when they encounter organic and fully aware human life forms as this.
Wow! That bitch needs to be in prison.
.. and her little hive mates too.
Yeeks… talk about the sociopathic mind at work. Why is this CROOK out walking around?? (rhetorical question, esp when Barry Zero is committed to only collaborating with the MOTU and looking forward, not backward).
Plus this bitch’s *condescenion* is duly noted. Figures.
My my.
I adore Glenn. He is so gifted.
Obviously, the writer of the report adores Glenn too.
That is the most intense example of “crush’n” on an individual I have ever witnessed.
How about people start closing their BoA Rainbow Card accounts in support of Glenn?
This is so funny. Kudos to Anonymous! Would it not be perfect revenge to have BoA and others like them to keep spilling their ill gained dollars on prevention of leaks? Or better yet, have that money returned to the poor Americans without work right now due to their policies! Stranger things have happened, and seeing this feels sooooo good. Especially, to a society that has been robbed, raped, pillaged, and lied to by the likes of Wall Street and Bernanke!
Greenwald couldn’t have said it any better. Are they plagiarizing Glenn’s work?
I find it interesting, that Glen does not live here. He probably would be picked up and tortured if he did.
It is not interesting. It is about marriage.
Liberal? As in liberally “Libertarian” reactionaries?
Anyone who has ever worked in the corp world knows that this is just the sort of thing mgmt luvs. It’s easy to understand, it creates an enemy with a face who they can hate, and it is guaranteed by experts.
That remark about business professionals placing a higher value on their careers than their causes (as if it were a truism), reminds me of Gibb’s term of reference: “the professional left”.
Hey now – what’s with the “stuffy?” Just below you were describing how “Elizabeth” the Lawyer got to do all kind of fun stuff like target German citizens for torture.
How stuffy is it to have a man stripped, beaten and sodomized just because you can?
Ok, I never was a litigator but I can feel I’m somehow losing this argument.
You didn’t notice that the sodomy you describe is “stuffy”?
Heck, I’d add “officious” to that, but it associates to the horror Dick “Dick” Cheney.
Wow… Hard to fathom how someone could misread Glenn Greenwald like that. That’s perhaps the worst advice I’ve ever seen from a consultant (and man, oh, man have I seen some bad advice).
Just try to imagine what you would get if you attacked Greenwald thinking he would choose professional preservation (they don’t call him Glennzilla for nothing). Not to mention the internet hordes that would spring to his defense.
Who are these idiots? … going off to google to answer my own question…
Ah shoot. Should have used “Glenzilla” in the headline.
But given that they seem to believe Glen was only birthed in December, they may even be unaware of his nickname.
See, this is what happens when you have royalty running things: the key doofi at BoA didn’t get there on merit, but because they were somebody’s kid, somebody’s buddy, or the kid of somebody’s buddy.
Also, why doesn’t my work network block that link to “thepiratebay.org”. Methinks one of the sysadmins here must be doing some torrenting…
Shhh.
Don’t get him in trouble with Bank of America.
I’m really interested now in why BofA is concerned about WikiLeaks.
What happened to that major dump of BoA documents wikileaks was promising?
Bob in AZ
Was BofA every actually implicated by WL? I recall reading it was a “major bank”.
It could be something as simple as timing. Right now the Egyptians are hogging the headlines. Assange may just be waiting for a dead spot to make the dump.
Reportedly, there are 5Gb of BofA internal high-level memos and emails that Wikileaks will reveal this month. Not BofA for sure, but that is the word on the street.
One might reasonably doubt that Glenn G.’s support is a necessary condition WikiLeaks must have in order to survive. Money in sufficient amounts and the technical infrastructure WikiLeaks has created are likely more important than Glenn’s support.
Why, then, target Glenn Greenwald? He makes a worthy target because he is a public figure who produces high-quality work which often annoys the powerful. Attacking Glenn would thus be a case of exemplary repression. It would show the less famous that a notable person who thinks like them can be made to suffer or can be corrupted in a decisive way. Even if this repression fails to silence Glenn, it would reveal to others the risks involved in publicly criticizing and actively opposing these predatory institutions.
I wonder if it’s worth the effort to collect in a searchable database verified cases of corporate and governmental repression along with verifiable cases of other forms of repression. The latter would include public death threats made to individuals like Francis Fox Piven, white terror events like the MLK Day bombing attempt in Spokane, WA, etc.
Does such a collection exist?
I ask because collective self-defense is the best way to oppose repressive actions of all kinds.
Great thoughts.
The idea of “exemplary repression” is important because such a practice in a society leads to self-censorship, or rather, self-censorship is the hoped outcome by the repressors.
A good example was the knee capping of Dan Rather, primarily for having humiliated Bush Pere years earlier in an interview, but also as a lesson to the MSM generally to stay in line.
Sorry to indulge in conspiracy theories. But Glenn was recently very sick. For a while, it sounded mysterious. Do we know for a fact that was not an attack?
tragic we live in a world where such things are possible – it was my first thought when I saw the tweet about his illness
the good news is that wasn’t the case here – you can’t ‘give’ someone Dengue, no matter how much $$$ you offer the mosquito :D
This concerted attack on Jane, Glenn and others who might support Wikileaks is nothing but out and out state repression, even if some of it is outsourced or greedily solicited by private firms.
In this increasingly totalitarian state, any real political attack on the legitimacy of the state apparatus is treated as if it is real terrorism. This is how Mubarak is one of them, and treated as such.
Readers, this is the time to show even more support for Jane/FDL, Glenn/Salon, Wikileaks, Bradley Manning, and others who are standing up against lies and crimes to bring us the truth.
Great comment. Thank you.
Yeah, but I can see Obummer’s “Justice Dept” prosecuting anyone they don’t like on the flimsiest of evidence; they’ll just ramp up the propaganda and let the Kochs take it over. Teh tea baggers will beleive anyhting as long as it’s not directed at the corporatists roobing them blind.
I am very alarmed by this
Which makes the @Shoq attack of Jane/Glenn/Bradley etc. even more suspicious.
Ha…BofA….teh suketh mightily
how exactly was BofA planning to “push” Glenn?
and the law firm who solicited the security firm proposals was recommended to BofA by the DOJ? how…cozy.
ha !
in perfectly righteous cbl world, it would have been Anonymous posing as these snake oil salesmen grifting the sh** out of BOA :D
In a perfectly righteous Margaret world, people like Glenn Greenwald would have Sunday shows and people like David Gregory would be lucky to have a job with National Enquirer.
Oh Margaret, let us all have happy fantasy dreams about such a lovely lovely world… and then: snap! back to reality, where the fools hurl out foolish stuff on the Sunday “nooz” showz.
yep. although the Enquirer actually practices journalism on occasion, Gregory deserves Walmart Greeter or puppeter for birthday parties . . . in Cleveland
:D
I certainly wouldn’t want to wish the likes of Gregory on those who feel that they must shop at Walmart… much less on anyone’s child at a birthday party (albeit… I think I “get” what you’re saying)… just saying… we would all be served if Gregory just STFU and went far far away never to be seen or heard from again (but leading a healthy life).
I’d like to nominate Gregory for any of the positions that qualify as Mike Rowe’s Dirtiest Jobs.
heh… well, esp at this point, I quite agree. Speaking for myself, I am very very grateful to Greenwald; salute him; and wish him a very long, happy and healthy life.
He’s a good man. Rare ilk, that one.
Yeah but who’d want to stick their hand up his butt? Oh, you mean he’d be working the puppets! Easy mistake to make. :D
Gabby Giffords speaks. Asks for toast with her breakfast. Woohoo!
That’s great. Amazing, in fact
Great! It also means that she is able to swallow, which was a concern previously. Yay!
Have you ever had a tube down your throat? That’s why she wasn’t speaking. I hate those things. I came out of surgery once with one of those things stuck down my throat, and the first thing I scrawled on the note pad was to ask for the dam* tube to be removed.
Bob in AZ
Her husband said she’s been eating 3 meals a day, so swallowing apparently isn’t an issue, while speaking and engaging in rational conversation most certainly ARE.
I must be behind in the developments, because last time I knew, she still had the tube down her throat. Obviously, the tube has been removed. My comment was only in surprise that they left the dam* thing in so long, well beyond what seemed necessary. But then, I’m not a brain surgeon.
Bob in AZ
I gathered from the story that the LA Times ran that the tube was removed some days ago, possibly last week, and that she’d started talking a couple of days ago, but it was only being announced now. But I could easily be wrong.
(I really hope she’s able to make the shuttle launch.)
Ouch. One of the reasons she had the tube was because they were afraid that the damage by the bullet had affected the nerves that are needed for swallowing. That is what my point was…
OK, I guess that’s why I’m not a brain surgeon…
Bob in AZ
Double WOO HOO!
As if the momentum against
MubarakBank of America and the others could be stopped. Every open minded commentator, website and consumer has more than enough frustration to keep the reputations of the banks from being restored. The only reason they are in business today is because the biggest banks form an oligopoly and there is little other choice.Banks should be just as worried about videos like this as Glenn Greenwald’s support for free flow of information. So, even if they were to stop Glenn, the revolution will continue.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/bankster-vs-deadbeat
Naw, there’s choice. You can also chose to make a wee small investment while you’re at it. P-)
Dengue fever is hardly mysterious in Brazil, which is where Glenn lives, it hit a spike in November and now in February is epidemic in several states in Brazil.
Edit, in response to post 23
These tools are projecting how they, and the PTB, *behave* NOT how those who are invested in *real* freedom and democracy behave. Unsurprising, though, that those who are hired by the bubble-chamber reflect the sociopathic self-serving behavior, thinking, actions of those at the very top.
Thanks for making my day with this post. Excellent to watch the bitch-slapping by the Anonymous “hive,” and best & kudos to Greenwald, as always.
Hate to keep going off topic but here is another case of conventional thinking gone awry: Suleiman threatens a crackdown on protesters so the protests grow. Who’d a thunk it? Oh, I know! Everybody who has been paying attention.
Sulieman seems to flip-flop a lot on what he says will happen to the protesters… seems like it’s just one “fishing expedition” after another in terms of what the PTB say (as in: Let’s threaten the protestors with “X” and see if they run away…).
I am pulling my hair out waiting for that fucking torrent to download all those emails.
In the mean time, Plantir is an enormous DoD contractor. Did $9 million worth of contracts with the federal government last year.
As they say in the South (or so I’m told): Why hooow *nice*!! Cozy, too.
I, too, cannot wait for the download… bring it on!
I read 5 gigs? That’s a lot of mail. I don’t have the room here at work but I’m happy to volunteer at home and help sift through.
We techies know that a watched download is like a watched pot that never boils. Go take a walk or a shower or something. Happens much faster that way.
So, is the US Air Force Wikileaks push a way to set up Glenn for being arrested?
Will the Nobel Peace Prize committee get arrested? Will Norway be refused diplomatic relations?
Greenwald lives in Brazil. I don’t think such a trumped up charge would impress the Brazilians much.
I am aware. See my @30.
From a perspective of repression, the USAF and BoA information coming out has all the makings of shutting down media interviews of Glenn.
Similar to “material support” language.
Blocking Glenn’s media access wouldn’t help keep him off Democracy Now and other sites. Nor would it keep his writing off the internet.
I am aware of that. If you read the language of the USAF position on Wikileaks and overlay it with what BoA is doing, it furthers repression of media outlets wrt Glenn.
I trust Glenn will have a voice. It is “what repression does to others” that is important. It has the power to create self censorship in the observerers.
Yep. Self-censorship, lack of solidarity, disrupted communication — these are all effects of this kind of repression.
David Dayen has a fresh cross-post ready: Jim Webb Will Not Seek Re-Election
Another important point, is that these email’s show these security firms were recommending BoA engage in cyber attacks on Wikileaks infrastructure and allies. This is in December, so now these firms should be considered admitted cyber criminals by the DOJ, even worse than Anonymous, as they started it.
Cyber attacks are illegal. Doesn’t BofA have a legal department that ensures that BofA always conducts itself in conformity with the rule of law?
This does tie in nicely with the work Wendell Potter has claimed he engaged in re Michael Moore for AHIP.
In general, this is true for many of the so-called “professionals” with the supposed “liberal” bent. They ARE more concerned about their careers than reporting truths which is why we as a country are deteriorating without a representative and decent fourth estate. But, as someone who has read Glenn Greenwalds posts for years, I can definitely say, that statement from a BOA security firm is truly clueless on their part.
If what we were doing as a nation was morally the right thing to do, we wouldn’t need Daniel Ellsberg, Chris Hedges, Glenn Greenwald, Marcy Wheeler, and others to point out the injustices. These are the people who should be loudly applauded in our society.
A couple of Jefferson quotes on point here?
“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation then by deflation, the banks and the corporations will grow up around them, will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.”
Do the American people get it,or are they so brainwashed by media commercials that they have lost all common sense? People withdraw your assets from this institution now. There are plenty of responsible local banks and credit unions willing to do business in a fair and just manner. This corporation, BoA “epitomizes” the warnings of Jefferson. Is there any reason to doubt Jefferson? No American is forced to do business with this compromised corporate institution, in fact, depriving people of property under the color of law, in their lust for profit!
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6963229n
Glenn IS the patriot here.
Hmmm. I would also note that the tactics proposed to BofA look remarkably like a classic DoD information operation. Check this old post of mine and the graphic near the bottom.
I’m with you. Most of the folks running these private security consultancy firms are prior military or CIA. So it makes sense.
Nice catch Jim.
EW,
That would be an interesting update to your post.
Yes, it’s either part of the DoD campaign or a mirror image of it, using identical tactics and against a common target. I’m waiting with baited breath to hear the FBI announce its investigation of these international computer hackers and their client, the B of A.
dengue fever is now a biological weapon, being genetically modified by US military.
Apparent cyanide suicide victim was USF health researcher, TampaTribune, 11/16/10
Cholera and Dengue Fever: State health officials issue warnings of two diseases, WTSP, 11/18/10
Genetically Modified Mosquitos, Brandon Turbeville, Activist Post, 12/13/10
Dengue Fever Outbreak Leads Back to CIA & Army Experiments, Albarelli & Martell, Voltairenet 7/17/10
Dengue fever is quite a nasty little thing. Its symptoms include very high temperatures that can lead to memory loss and other brain damage; it can also be fatal.
A conspiracy theorist might wonder if there was link between these government experiments, this BofA Wikileaks report, and Glenn’s recent disease.
Geezus… just when I think nothing surprises me.
on page 2 of the TechHerald report ew cites in her post there is this quote from one of the
purloinedliberated e-mails:[ “Traditional responses will fail; we must employ the best investigative team, currently employed by the most sensitive of national security agencies.” ]
anybody got a clue about the reference to “the best investigative team” (other than that the entire memo was written by a new, young hire)?
Anonymous ROCKS. Don’t fuck with The Hive!
This is hilarious. The incompetent taking advantage of the fat-and-complacent. What a circle-jerk.
So much for Bank of America’s oft-repeated pledge in its securities filings that it “complies with all applicable laws in the jurisdictions in which it does business”. That sounds like an intentional misstatement to me.
“Hive hacking” by individuals is one thing; conspiratorial agreements to violate computer and data security and transmission laws in multiple countries, and taking concrete steps to implement such conspiracies, at the request of a top American bank is quite another. Among other things, that such plans were so openly discussed in digital media makes clear the impunity with which big banks and the lucrative, shadowy “data intelligence” industry operate.
Has the FBI launched an investigation of B of A and its contractors at all, let alone with the lavish resources it continues to devote to those who hacked in support of WikiLeaks? I thought not.
EOH
That would make a superb post.
I think it’s great that Anonymous got to out these clowns, and I wanted to share a perspective that I have not yet seen.
Wikileaks shook the management world with Manning’s leaks, and then Assange threatened a major bank with disclosure of nasty secrets. At this point, anyone who considered themselves a major bank would be negligent if they did not do something about that threat – if Assange later posted information that, in an extreme case, caused the bank’s executive staff to resign and the bank to be liable for big damages or worse, it would be subject to shareholder lawsuits for loss of value, especially since it had been “warned” by Assange ahead of time. The fact that a bank can say “we contracted these reputable (!) security firms and they proposed this plan, from which we implemented these actions…” is at least a CYA defense that they would be expected to do or maybe go to jail for not considering. I would expect no one to consider any ramification of these actions other than the ultimate financial ones to the organization (just like they would assume a journalist would first protect their job above all else).
So I expect that every other organization that might be a big bank also did or considered these kinds of things. Goldman is technically a bank now, isn’t it? And these 3 amigos of corporate security have probably been fired and are maybe being sued, while BofA has gone on to find more professional help. In other words, there is probably more going on that we won’t so luckily find out about. Maybe some of it will be in the torrent coming out now.
And thank you Anonymous, Assange, Manning, Greenwald, Marcy, and everyone who puts freedom first.
Seems to me this is a pedestrian defensive marketing campaign that shows a typical lack of imagination, unexamined projection, superficiality and over-generalization. It’s the kind of thing any one of a legion of “consultants” would come up with in order to feed a client precisely what it’s made clear it wants to hear.
What makes it interesting is that instead of taking out ads or building promotional themes, the actions at issue here quite possibly violate computer, data protection and privacy laws in more than one jurisdiction. Somebody here must have the local FBI’s number.
Is this sort of hacking considered a “terrorist” act; could authorities block the global assets of these “industry consultants”, or implement warrantless searches of B of A’s databases in order to find out more. Sauce for the goose and all that, eh. And there may be the opportunity to file civil complaints for defamation, etc.
I see that Janet Naplitano claims that the US faces as heightened a risk of “terrorist attack” now as at any time since 9/11. I wonder if Tom Ridge is laughing or crying.
Ms. Napolitano might be correct; its possible that politics and foreign policy concerns played no role in her assessment, though that would make it a surprising event in today’s Washington.
There are a number of possibilities, however, that have nothing to do with “them” hating us for our freedoms. The determination to raise the alert level could be a Pavlovian response to the threat that democracy might break out in the Middle East, in Egypt for example.
It might stem from a desire to divert attention from our change of mind that prompt reforms, including regime change, might be both what the Egyptian people want and be good for them and quite possibly us.
It might be a standard backdrop, a painted flat dropping from the wings, to be used in the passion play whose theme is that we need “stability” in Egypt lest it be the victim of a military coup (unlike, say former air force officer Mubarak’s assuming dictatorial powers thirty years ago) or permit “Islamists” in a Muslim country to participate in running their government.
Are we finally addressing the concern that our own policies and foreign wars might be adding to the threats we face rather than reduce them? Or is this unrelated to foreign affairs and we are at last categorizing violent domestic white supremacist actions as potential terrorist threats?
Two quick items:
Did these security bozos really not know that Glenn’s nickname is Glenzilla, and that he got it for a reason?
Re the BofA material: I wonder if we’ll ever get to see it. Isn’t it being held as part of Assange’s “insurance policy”? Any chance it only comes to light if something bad happens to him? (“Accidental” death, rendition to Gitmo, etc?)
Wikileaks has now posted the presentation, which I posted on here.
We in this country are so unbelieveably f*cked. The corporate MOTU whom our president is apparently depending upon to rescue us from an unemployment nightmare are so completely clueless that it’s terrifying. They’re clowns, careening along in a little clown car and dragging our country toward its doom.
Yikes. That voltaire.net article is hair-raising.
I suppose it would be rhetorical to ask why BOA hasn’t been prosecuted for multiple fraud and theft, but how about cyber terror conspiracy? There is something fundamentally wrong about a country where the FBI can groom and equip naive youngsters as terrorists arm them with fake bombs and proceed to prosecute for lifetime incarceration, when banks conspire to sabotage public rights and property with impunity.
Only because it is so fecklessly inept and clueless are we amused. So where would the DOJ sit on stuff like this….?
Oh hell yes…they took a bat to The Hive and The Hive came back with a gun….maybe even a low orbit ion cannon XD
This is stuff that would be at home in Gibson/Sterling cyberpunk!
The ineptitude and arrogance bring to mind recent government activities…for example, the U.S. Air Force’s recent threat to prosecute the families of airmen for “espionage” if any member of the family accessed Wikileaks documents.
The Air Force Times reports that the USAF has withdrawn that threat, which they claim was not authorized.
Meanwhile, William Bosanko, director of the Information Security Oversight office, wrote to Secrecy News, “That has to be one of the worst policy/legal interpretations I have seen in my entire career.”
How long was williams legal career? 5 minutes?
I assume you are referring to William Bosanko and possible retaliation for his comment. Possibly, being in a civilian office unconnected to the Pentagon gives him some protection. But, it doesn’t rule out reprisal, in my experience with the federal government.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Awww..come on guys. It’s not their fault. After all in the circles these people move in everyone throws everyone and everything under the bus to get ahead. They’ve been slumming with the “important people” so long they just don’t know how to deal with people of principle like Glenn. LOL
BofA reviving the great Nixionian tradition of an “enemies list.”
Glenn should feel honored.
These stories explain how bank whistle blowers are being silenced in the U.S. –
see: http://www.reportingwrongdoing.com/who-is-silencing-bank-whistle-blowers.html
Maybe now the media will believe what we have been telling them and report on these stories.