The Trump Administration is considering the idea of outsourcing intelligence gathering and the capture of terrorists to a private company. So many red flags here.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:  

The White House and CIA have been considering a package of secret proposals to allow former US intelligence officers to run privatized covert actions, intelligence gathering, and propaganda missions, according to three sources who’ve been briefed on or have direct knowledge of the proposals. 

One of the proposals would involve hiring a private company, Amyntor Group, for millions of dollars to set up a large intelligence network and run counterterrorist propaganda efforts, according to the sources. Amyntor’s officials and employees include veterans of a variety of US covert operations, ranging from the Reagan-era Iran–Contra affair to more recent actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Amyntor declined to discuss the proposals, but a lawyer for the company said in a statement to BuzzFeed News that the type of contract being contemplated would be legal “with direction and control by the proper government authority.” 

Another proposal presented to US officials would allow individuals affiliated with the company to help capture wanted terrorists on behalf of the United States. In keeping with that proposal, people close to the company are tracking two specific suspects in a Middle Eastern country, the sources said, for possible “rendition” to the United States. 

A source speaking on behalf of the company stressed that while Amyntor officials are aware of and involved in the rendition plan, the company itself would not be involved.

What the actual fuck folks?

This is clearly an attempt to undermine the CIA and to engage in activities that the agency would never sanction.

Which seems to be supported by comments made by sources:  

Those familiar with the proposals say one of the driving impulses for privatizing some missions is a fear by some supporters of President Donald Trump, outside government, that the CIA bureaucracy has an anti-Trump bias that would thwart efforts to fulfill the president’s objectives. “The system does not work,” one source who is sympathetic to the Amyntor efforts told BuzzFeed News. “The people leaking this to you just want to destroy the president.”

Paranoid much?

The agency itself is located in the same small community of Whitefish, Montana which was also home to the company that received that sweetheart deal to restore electricity to Puerto Rico, and then failed miserably to do so. 

Gee, what a coincidence.

How could Congress even provide oversight to a private company like this, and how would the American people have any confidence that they were not breaking international laws in our name?

Such a bad feeling about this.

US forced to apologize after White House Spokesperson accuses Britain of spying on Donald Trump for President Obama. Update!

Courtesy of The Telegraph: 

The US has made a formal apology to Britain after the White House accused GCHQ of helping Barack Obama spy on Donald Trump in the White House. 

Sean Spicer, Mr Trump's press secretary, repeated a claim on Thursday evening – initially made by an analyst on Fox News - that GCHQ was used by Mr Obama to spy on Trump Tower in the lead-up to last November's election. 

The comments prompted a furious response from GCHQ, which in a break from normal practice issued a public statement: "Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct 'wiretapping' against the then president-elect are nonsense. They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored."

Intelligence sources told The Telegraph that both Mr Spicer and General McMaster, the US National Security Adviser, have apologised over the claims. "The apology came direct from them," a source said. 

I swear every day I wake up thinking we cannot possibly go any further down the rabbit hole than we did the day before, and every day I am wrong.

You would think I would stop allowing myself to be shocked, but I guess I keep assuming that there must be a limit to the incompetency of this White House.

There must be, right?

Update: Nope there is no limit, here is Sean Spicer saying he has no regrets for accusing Britain of spying on his boss:  

White House press secretary Sean Spicer flatly denied Friday that the White House apologized to the British government after citing an uncorroborated Fox News report to allege that a UK intelligence agency spied on President Donald Trump at the behest of former President Barack Obama.

"I don't think we regret anything," Spicer told reporters at a gaggle Friday afternoon. Asked by CNN's Jim Acosta if there was an apology by the administration to the British government over the matter, Spicer replied, "No, we were just passing on news reports."

Unbelievable. 

Kellyanne Conway has a theory as to how Obama surveilled Donald Trump.

"Microwaves that turn into cameras?"

Nice to know that Trump surrounds himself with such intellectual powerhouses.

Amid an ongoing back and forth between Donald Trump and American intelligence agencies, Wikileaks releases documents from CIA hack.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

WikiLeaks on Tuesday released thousands of documents that it said described sophisticated software tools used by the Central Intelligence Agency to break into smartphones, computers and even Internet-connected televisions. 

If the documents are authentic, as appeared likely at first review, the release would be the latest coup for the anti-secrecy organization and a serious blow to the C.I.A., which maintains its own hacking capabilities to be used for espionage. 

The initial release, which WikiLeaks said was only the first part of the document collection, included 7,818 web pages with 943 attachments, the group said. The entire archive of C.I.A. material consists of several hundred million lines of computer code, it said.

Now Wikileaks offers up some obfuscation to camouflage the source of this hack but if you are not already convinced that it is the Russians than you have simply not been paying attention.

Currently Trump is reeling from one anonymous tip after another showing that his White House is in turmoil, his ties to Russia are multiplying exponentially, and his mental health is in question.

Much of this Trump is blaming on intelligence sources, and as of yesterday those same intelligence sources threw cold water on his claim that President Obama tapped his phones.

In a word he is pissed!

So then we come to today and lo and behold Wikileaks, the same group who released information hacked from the DNC and other sources to help Trump win the election, have suddenly released a treasure trove of information concerning HOW the CIA conducts espionage and gains access to electronic devices.

What a coinky dink.

So how does this help Trump you might ask?

Well besides offering an irresistible distraction to the media, there are tidbits like this:

Another program described in the documents, named Umbrage, is a voluminous library of cyberattack techniques that the C.I.A. has collected from malware produced by other countries, including Russia. According to the WikiLeaks release, the large number of techniques allows the C.I.A. to mask the origin of some of its cyberattacks and confuse forensic investigators.

Now just let that digest a little. And then imagine what Trump supporters will make of that revelation.

Well here let me just tell you, because they are already doing it.

What this Umbrage program suggests is that the CIA could hack into a computer and then leave behind false data that will confuse investigators into believing that the hack came from another source.

So if you are a Trump supporter who does not want to accept the fact that the Russians hacked computers in America in order to help hand the election to your candidate, well now you don't have to accept that fact.  

You can simply convince yourself that the CIA hacked the DNC, State Department, Clinton Campaign, White House, and apparently themselves, and then blamed the whole thing on poor, blameless Vladimir Putin.

And if you don't think they are dumb enough to do this, well like I said you have not been paying attention.

Speaking of Putin and Russia, I would like to bring something else to your attention.

According to the New York Times this material was apparently hacked between 2013 and 2016.

This means that whoever had it in their possession (The Russians) has had all of those CIA tricks in their tool kit for as long as three years.

That means that they could have been using that stolen data to gain access to any number of computers, televisions, and smart phones in the possession of diplomats, reporters, politicians, you name it.

If you then remember that the Russians are famous for using blackmail to force powerful people to bend to their will, well then at this point I think some things might be starting to fall into place.

Now do you remember what else happened in 2013?

That is the year that Edward Snowden flew to Russia after stealing the global surveillance blueprints from the NSA.

As @wikileaks are revealing how the CIA hack, let's ask why they never leak anything about SORM. pic.twitter.com/QHanK2dth3

— Darth Putin (@DarthPutinKGB) March 7, 2017

And once again the picture starts to become a little bit clearer.

Did Israel spy on the US/Iran negotiations and then give that information to the Republicans? Maybe.

Courtesy of the Daily Mail:

Israel has been accused of spying on White House nuclear talks with Iran and then leaking details to Republicans in Congress in an effort to scupper the deal. 

President Obama's administration, along with Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain, have been engaged in highly confidential talks with Iran. 

However, Israel's security services have been accused of relaying information gleaned from the talks to Republicans in Congress. 

The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. intelligence agencies discovered Israeli officials discussing information that could have only been gathered from inside the confidential talks. 

A senior U.S. official told the Wall Street Journal: 'It is one thing for the U.S. and Israel to spy on each other. It is another thing for Israel to steal U.S. secrets and play them back to U.S. legislators to undermine U.S. diplomacy.

A White House source said: 'People feel personally sold out. That’s where the Israelis really better be careful because a lot of these people will not only be around for this administration but possibly the next one as well.'

Of course Netanyahu completely denies this whole thing and the outgoing foreign minister added this: 

'This report is not true. Obviously Israel has security interests to defend and we have our own intelligence. But we do not spy on the United States. There are enough participants in these negotiations, including Iranians.

Okay nice try but the fact that Israel has been spying on America for years is one of the best known secrets in Washington.

However the fact that they might be funneling information about the Obama administration's attempt to reach a nuclear deal with Iran to Republicans so that they can sabotage them, well that is a new, and ugly, wrinkle indeed.

For his part John Boehner  claims to be shocked, shocked I say, at reports the Israelis might be handing secrets to his Congress.

You know I believe him about as much as I believe Netanyahu.