Signs of sophisticated cellphone spying found near White House, U.S. officials say

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Members of the Secret Service patrol from the top of the White House. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

 

A federal study found signs that surveillance devices for intercepting cellphone calls and texts were operating near the White House and other sensitive locations in the Washington area last year.

A Department of Homeland Security program discovered evidence of the surveillance devices, called IMSI catchers, as part of federal testing last year, according to a letter from DHS to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on May 22. The letter didn’t specify what entity operated the devices and left open the possibility that there could be alternative explanations for the suspicious cellular signals collected by the federal testing program last year. Continue reading

America’s spies anonymously took down Michael Flynn. That is deeply worrying.

As evidenced in this article, a voice in the political opposition of the Trump administration sees something gravely wrong with what happened to Michael Flynn.

If you’re familiar with Anatoly Golitsyn, his works (The Perestroika Deception, New Lies for Old) and his warning, you might give pause to think about what’s going on with the intelligence community. It is indeed infiltrated (see original post).

Also see: Through the Looking Glass by Edward Jay Epstein

 

REUTERS/Carlos Barria

 

The whole episode is evidence of the precipitous and ongoing collapse of America’s democratic institutions — not a sign of their resiliency. Flynn’s ouster was a soft coup (or political assassination) engineered by anonymous intelligence community bureaucrats. The results might be salutary, but this isn’t the way a liberal democracy is supposed to function. Continue reading

Trump Is Being Sabotaged by the Pentagon

President Trump says he wants the US to have better relations with Russia and to halt military operations against Muslim countries. But he is being undermined by the Pentagon.

The commander of US forces in Europe, General Ben Hodges, has lined up tanks on Poland’s border with Russia and fired salvos that the general says are a message to Russia, not a training exercise. http://russia-insider.com/en/us-tanks-fire-salvos-poland-warning-against-russia/ri18767

How is Trump going to normalize relations with Russia when the commander of US forces in Europe is threatening Russia with words and deeds? Continue reading

Open Secrets — Pentagon plans to share missile secrets with Russia opposed by Republicans

The Pentagon held internal talks on declassifying sensitive missile defense technology that it plans to share with Russia as part of the Obama administration’s efforts to assuage Moscow’s opposition to European defenses.

Republicans in both the House and Senate plan to block any technology declassification for missile defense technology in the current defense authorization bill and other legislation. Legislative mark up on the authorization bill begins this week. Continue reading