Ted Belman of Israpundit
posted a series of articles he stipulates was sent to him by “MIL-OPS
INTELLIGENCE”. It seemed to me at least one theme of the combined articles was
that America’s Intelligence Community shares an affinity with the American
Left. The first article I found particularly disturbing was about former CIA
Director John Brennan (a one-time CPUSA voter [perhaps at least a closet member]
and rumored convert to Islam). That
article shows Brennan to be an imbecile or an egregious traitor. Two extremes I
do realize – you decide.
JRH 3/6/19
Your generosity is always appreciated:
*******************
A peek inside Military Intelligence Ops.
Posted by Ted Belman
March 5, 2019
This is a collection of articles which were, today supplied
to me by MIL-OPS INTELLIGENCE who follow Israpundit daily. I am not sure how to
describe them but they consists of senior military Intelligence specialists who
continue to follow events in the Middle East. They are regular readers of
israpundit Daily Digest and often circulate my posts.
All of the materials, below are unclassified.
These articles are:
1) examples of some of the robust exchanges that go on within the US intelligence community;
2) the personal opinions of the authors;
3) are distributed for discussion.
4) None of the articles represent the official view of any agency
of the United States government.
+++++
MIL-OPS INTELLIGENCE
Friday, March 1, 2019
PENETRATIONS OF US INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES BY HOSTILE SPY
SERVICES DURING JOHN BRENNAN’S CIA DIRECTORSHIP CRIPPLE US
OPERATIONS WITHIN CHINA, IRAN, RUSSIA LEBANON During John Brennan’s
directorship of the CIA, many brave foreign nationals who risk their lives
inside extremely brutal regimes to provide the United States with
essential information have been detected, imprisoned, tortured and
executed. Public examples:
1. The loss of all
recruited agents in China [Between 20 and 30 of the US
recruited agents in China were killed or imprisoned.] Media sources blamed
the loss on a former CIA officer, Jerry Chung Shin Lee, who was arrested
in January 2018 and is suspected of passing along their names to China
2. In May 2011
, according to Iranian state media, 30 people were arrested as CIA spies
and 42 others were suspected of involvement with U.S. intelligence.
Insiders attribute this failure to information that
was provided to Iran by Monica Witt, a former Air Force
counterintelligence officer (and later an intelligence contractor) who
defected to Iran 1n 2013 [where she is immune from any US criminal
prosecution.]
Ms. Witt worked at the Air Force Office of Special
Investigations from 2003-08 and then as a contractor, running an ultra
secret Special Access Program, or SAP, until August 2010. The program gave her
access to details about counterintelligence operations, true names of
recruited agents, and identities of U.S. intelligence operatives in charge
of recruiting foreign agents. Ms. Witt left the contractor in August 2010
for unspecified reasons.
Witt provided Iran with the details of a secret
communications system American handlers use to talk to their recruited
agents. Other texts reveal she “told all” to an Iranian ambassador in Central
Asia. As she boarded the plane, she texted her handler: “I’m signing off
and heading out! Coming home.” The FBI’s assistant director for national
security, stated that Witt became an “ideological” defector after converting
to Islam. Her actions, he added, inflicted “serious damage to national
security.”
The FBI fumbled the case in 2012 by warning Ms. Witt she
might be targeted for recruitment by Iranian intelligence. A trained
counterspy, she knew that the tip-off meant she was under investigation
and surveillance. It likely set in motion her flight to Iran a year later.
++++++
Wednesday, February
13, 2019
by Peter Huessy
February 11, 2019
Pictured: U.S. President Donald
Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shake hands at their first summit in
Singapore, on June 12, 2018. (Image source: White House/Wikimedia Commons)
United States intelligence chiefs told Congress on January
29 that Pyongyang is unlikely to give up its nuclear weapons in any deal with
Washington. This assessment was made a month ahead of U.S. President Donald
Trump’s February 27-28 second summit — to be held in Vietnam — with North
Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the purpose of which is to make strides in achieving
the very denuclearization that FBI Director Christopher Wray, CIA Director Gina
Haspel and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats consider improbable.
One would have thought that if these intelligence chiefs
disagreed with Trump’s efforts to reach a deal with North Korea, they would
have presented an alternative. They might have explained what a deal with
Pyongyang is liable to do to America’s relations with Japan and South Korea.
They might have provided a future scenario for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT), which North Korea signed in 1968, then violated and withdrew from
in 2003.
Trump might, however, actually be acting sensibly. During a
speech on January 31 at Stanford University, the U.S. special envoy for North
Korea, Stephen Biegun, said that when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with
Kim in Pyongyang in October 2018, Kim committed for the first time to
dismantling and destroying his plutonium and uranium enrichment facilities.
Although the media has been highlighting the disagreement
between Trump and the U.S. intelligence community as though it is a huge
scandal, such disputes have occurred in the past.
The most notable example was President Gerald Ford’s Team B
project, launched in May 1976, to challenge the conventional intelligence
community assessments of the Soviet threat. George H.W. Bush, who was director
of the CIA at the time, had approved the project, which enlisted a group of
foreign policy and security professionals who strongly disagreed with the policy
of détente. Team B was convinced that the Soviet Union was spending 40% of its
GDP on defense, as opposed to the 5% projected by the U.S. intelligence
community.
After Team B released its report, the CIA conceded that
Soviet defense spending was probably higher than it had thought, but
nevertheless pushed for détente, a policy Ford supported, as well as for
peaceful coexistence between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.
Ronald Reagan’s 1976 Republican Party primary campaign
against Ford focused on this very issue, with Reagan taking a much harsher view
of the Soviet Union and the battle against communism. As Reagan predicted,
détente led not to peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union, but to Soviet
expansion. Still, Reagan lost the Republican primary to Ford, and Ford lost the
presidential race to Jimmy Carter.
Upon assuming the presidency in 1980, Reagan reversed most
of the policies of the previous decades, and went against the consensus of a
majority of the U.S. intelligence community.
Reagan turned out, of course, to be right, while the
conventional wisdom of economists and intellectuals, such as John Kenneth
Galbraith — who considered communism to be superior to capitalism because it
supposedly made better use of “manpower” — was revealed to be spectacularly
wrong.
Another key fight between the administration in Washington
and its intelligence community took place at the outset of Reagan’s presidency,
when Secretary of State Alexander Haig accused the Soviet Union of “training,
funding and equipping” international terrorists. Reagan backed up Haig on this
assessment — much to the chagrin of the intelligence community, which held a
different view.
Yet, as former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates — who
headed the CIA under President George H.W. Bush — revealed in his 1996 book,
From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They
Won the Cold War, Haig and Reagan were not only correct; the extent to which
the Soviets supported terrorism was even greater than they had thought.
In spite of the fact that Reagan ultimately won the Cold War
– and the Soviet Union subsequently fell – his policies and extraordinary
global achievements were partially discarded by the failures and laziness of
the U.S. intelligence community. Starting in 1993, the US cut back excessively
its military defenses. The US also failed to help Russia secure the Duma’s
ratification of the 1993 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II), signed by
Yeltsin and Bush but not ratified by the Senate. And the US allowed China both
militarily and non-militarily to run rampant.
Almost worse, the intelligence community failed to recognize
the rise of Islamic terrorism in Iran and elsewhere, which would culminate in
the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
These failures are not surprising, given the history of
American intelligence assessments. In early 1950, for example, President Harry
Truman was told by his intelligence chiefs that there would not be a North
Korean invasion of South Korea. They reached this conclusion based on the
assumption that North Korea could only invade South Korea with the help of the
Soviet Union, and there appeared to be no sign of such assistance.
In June 1950, however, North Korea invaded South Korea, and
an unprepared United States lost over 35,000 soldiers in the Korean War.
Whether Trump is able, through a combination of toughness
and street-smarts, to succeed where others have failed with North Korea remains
to be seen. What is clear, however, is that the U.S. intelligence community
often has a terrible track record where threat assessments are concerned.
Alarmingly, it would not be surprising they were wrong again today.
Dr. Peter Huessy is President of GeoStrategic Analysis, a
defense consulting firm he founded in 1981, as well as Director of Strategic
Deterrent Studies at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. He was also
for 20 years, the senior defense consultant at the National Defense University
Foundation.
++++++++++++
Thursday, February 7,
2019
VALARIE JARRETT,
OBAMA and the IRAN DEAL
We have been tracking Valerie Jarrett from the time
that Jarrett worked for Mayor Richard Joseph Daley’s
Housing Authority where she functioned as his personal bagman for
donations from builders, architects, developers, etc. Subsequent to that
Jarrett went into public housing development as a private developer. Her
group received generous government funding. However, their work was
so shoddy that it had to be torn down.
We closely followed Jarrett’s early involvement with
Michelle Obama whom she employed in Chicago city government and then later
Jarrett hired Michelle as a $300,000 a year VP for University of
Chicago Hospital. Jarrett was the original discoverer
of Barak Obama as a potential political candidate
and Jarrett raised significant funding for Obama from
the Muslim community.
Other participants in Valerie Jarrett’s Muslim brotherhood
in group included Rashid Khalidi and Robert Malley. A glimpse
into the thinking of these key individuals was provided by the tape of the
farewell banquet for Rashid Khalidi where the participants, including
Barack Obama, participated in the toast: “death to Israel”.
[Although the wording of the toast was clear on the tapes and Obama
is shown actively participating, it is impossible ,without further analysis of
the acoustics and other local factors, to determine whether the
microphones that clearly picked up the text of the toast were actually
tuned and located in a position where the reception was clear, but the
acoustics of the room may have muffled the actual text…. and Obama’s claim that
he never heard the wording might be, In fact, correct.]
During the Obama presidential years Valerie Jarrett
was a key presidential assistant and Obama advisor at the White
House. Although Pres. Obama promised the Jewish community that he would
not in any way engage Robert Malley in anything to do with the Middle East,
Obama later not only hired Robert Malley for the National Security
Council staff, he actually placed O’Malley in charge of the entire
National Security Council Middle East effort.
Meanwhile, Rashid Khalidi was a very frequent visitor to the White House [presidential visitor logs].
For six months to a year prior to the JCPOA [Iran
deal] negotiations, Jarrett spent full time in Iran in close
discussions with the Iranian clerical leadership relating to not only the
nuclear deal but also establishing Iranian leadership in the Middle East.
It was the content of these discussions that served as the directions
for the US delegation. This was noted by Amir Hossein Motaghi when he
defected and publicly complained that Secretary of State Kerry and Wendy
Sherman were more enthusiastic in supporting the maximum Iranian
position than was the Iranian delegation.
Valerie Jarrett is now a full- time resident in the Obama
post-president home [compound] in Washington DC with the announced function of
continuing Obama’s programs and legacies [which hopefully do not include
“death to Israel”].
++++++++++
Tuesday, January 8,
2019
ERDO?AN + Rep. SCHIFF +NY TIMES + WASH POST
JOIN TO DEMOLISH CURRENT SAUDI – ISRAEL COUNTER IRAN WORKING
RELATIONSHIP
Top intelligence sources revealed the concerted joint
efforts by Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, and US leftists [Washington Post, New York
Times, representative Adam Schiff, etc. ] to disrupt the current
Saudi Arabian – Israeli working relationship to forestall
Iran’s aggresive [sic] drive to dominate the Middle East.
Question:
Is the murder of Jamal Khashoggi [K] a brilliant plot by Eerdo?an to in one swoop become a more favored US ally than Saudi Arabia, restore fundamentalist government to Saudi Arabia by eliminating Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman [MBS] and at the same time disrupting/destroying the US-Saudi-Israeli confluence which is the major obstacle to Iranian dominance of the Middle East?
Is the murder of Jamal Khashoggi [K] a brilliant plot by Eerdo?an to in one swoop become a more favored US ally than Saudi Arabia, restore fundamentalist government to Saudi Arabia by eliminating Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman [MBS] and at the same time disrupting/destroying the US-Saudi-Israeli confluence which is the major obstacle to Iranian dominance of the Middle East?
Some factors for consideration:
Turkish tapes. Saudi Arabia was aware of the surveillance of
their embassy in Turkey. Was the on the record on camera murder of
K engineered by fundamentalist enemies of MBS
within the Saudi royal family/government?
If the purpose was to kill K, then a 15 man team was
far too obvious for the mission. Further, a sniper operating at a distance from
the embassy on a day other than K’s visit would have easily
accomplished the mission
If the mission was similar to other Saudi mission, to kidnap
K, then his death might have been from natural causes, or accidental, or
part of a plot to embarrass and entrap MBS.
Examination of K.s father’s political affiliation and
business dealings show that he was deeply involved the most Islamic elements of
Islam and the most” conservative” elements of the Saudi royal family/government.
Examination of K’s previous affiliationss
[sic] show that he was deeply involved with the most Islamic elements of Islam
and the most “conservative” elements of the Saudi royal family/government
Here is today’s Washington Post’s assault on Saudi
Arabia and on MBS
If the United States is to uphold its values by insisting on
justice in the Khashoggi case, Congress must take the lead.
By Washington Post Editorial Board
++++++
Tuesday, December 25,
2018
RUSSIA’S 2016 DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN
Russia’s 2016 disinformation campaign targeted both
pro-Trump and pro-Hillary supporters.
Russia spent just $6,000 in the last six
weeks of the 2016 election on ads.
Russia spent only $4,600 on Google ads in
the 2016 campaign.
The Russian influence in the 2016 election was minimal.
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
IS ADAM SCHIFF THE RUSSIAN MOLE? [Blog Editor: In an
admittedly only a cursory search, this LINK
is the only source close to Belman’s submitted articles.]
First, the Soviet Union and now the Russian government
has sought to disrupt the American political process. Currently, they are
succeeding beyond their wildest imagination thanks to representative Adam
Schiff, a prominent leader of the let’s lynch Trump movement. Now that” Russian
collusion” is fading as a possible pretext, Mr. Schiff must dream up some
other ways to justify his committee’s fishing in these waters. His new patter
also has to shed a semi-credible back glow on his earlier role as chief flogger
of now-defunct Russian conspiracy theories.
Interpreting the Trump Meteor
By Holman W. Jenkins,
Jr. Wall Street Journal 12-18-18
His survival fight may at least buy time for a few
important lessons to sink in.
Recall that we started down today’s investigatory whirlpool
as a direct result of Hillary Clinton and the Democrats’ seizing on Russia as
an excuse for their loss to a president whom many considered a joke. Now poor
Adam Schiff, incoming head of the House Intelligence Committee, is trying to
catch up with the new Democratic theme: Mr. Trump’s real sin is not Russian
collusion after all. It’s his tawdry but well-known business and personal life.
Not only must Mr. Schiff dream up some way to justify his
committee’s fishing in these waters. His new patter also has to shed a
semi-credible backglow on his earlier role as chief flogger of now-defunct
Russian conspiracy theories.
Sadly, he would have benefited from an aide whispering in
his ear when he was making his pitch to a New Yorker writer. “What should
concern us most,” he explained to the magazine, “is anything can have a
continuing impact on the foreign policy and national-security policy of the
United States, and, if the Russians were laundering money for the Trump
Organization, that would be totally compromising.”
Huh? For the Russians to be laundering money for him, Mr.
Trump would need a large source of under-the-table cash from somewhere (his NBC
show?). What the confused Mr. Schiff presumably means is that Mr. Trump was
laundering money for Russians—i.e., selling them condos. Never mind that the
entire Western financial system also participated in this business opportunity.
Now it will be one more legal jeopardy in the swirl of investigations around
the White House.
Still, the media will have to work hard to flap away the
odor of selective prosecution. Mr. Trump was already an unusually heavily
scrutinized figure. Now he’s attracting the kind of subatomic legal scrutiny reserved
only for presidents of the opposite party when the press is inveterately
hostile too. Example: the New York Times re-auditing his family’s heavily
audited tax returns to find a welter of abuses that somehow escaped the IRS and
New York tax department.
You can argue whether this is fair or wise, but that’s our
system, and a U.S. political party was poorly advised to nominate somebody with
Mr. Trump’s baggage in the first place.
This column has long maintained that a high-level Russian
criminal conspiracy is the one thing investigators won’t find when loosed on
Mr. Trump’s colorful business and personal history. I especially have to laugh
over the somber and knowing suggestions that the Russians have “dirt” on Mr.
Trump. Every third-tier swimsuit model and ex-Playmate from here to Las Vegas
probably has dirt on Mr. Trump.
Michael Cohen’s reported admission that the Trump
Organization was pursuing Russian opportunities well into 2016 campaign is a
smoking gun, all right, but not of Russian collusion. Why did Mr. Trump run for
president in the first place? To become more famous, to add gaudy luster to his
brand. He had no expectation of winning. Of course he used the campaign
spotlight to market himself for deals in which others would pay to use his
name.
Winning was his big mistake, a colossal if propitious
miscalculation. Nobody would care about Stormy Daniels if he weren’t president.
His decades-long pursuit of a Trump Tower in Moscow would be a non-story.
Nobody would be raking him over the emoluments coals for owning a hotel in
Washington.
Unfortunately, it will also occur to Mr. Trump now that his
best move is to cling to the White House at all costs. That’s because under
Justice Department guidelines he can expect not to be indicted as long as he
remains in office. I wonder if his Torquemadas have taken this into account.
The moment is turning weird. Even President Obama stepped
forward to tidy up the scene by claiming that the inconvenient Trump boom is
really the Obama boom. By all lights, the media should have treated this as
laughable. Had a Republican leg of lamb been victorious on election night 2016,
markets would have priced upward on the news that the Obama agenda was
finished. Investors aren’t clairvoyant but they respond to unexpected information.
And seldom in history have circumstances conspired to give so clear a verdict
on an outgoing administration.
When it’s all over, this will be one lesson worth holding on
to. Mr. Trump’s personal fight for survival is likely to dominate our politics
for the foreseeable future. And yet if anything justified his election in the
first place, it was the wake-up call from 63 million voters to America’s
leadership class. Alas, it’s hard to listen to people like James Comey and Mr.
Obama himself and not see our political system trying hard to expel Mr. Trump
so it can go back to doing exactly what it was doing before he was elected.
______________________
Some Editing (much left untouched) by Blog Editor John R.
Houk.
No comments:
Post a Comment