TBR News July 22, 2012
The Voice of the White House
Washington, D.C. July 21, 2012: “There is information, from a source whose son works in the Justice Department, that there are on the drawing board, plans to implement a so-called “National Security State.”
This bit of fascistic nonsense is not new but has been updated and is now waiting for the “right moment.” This moment is stated to be a response to the next serious terrorist incident within the US.A protocol of this report is available but all I have is a listing at this point in time.
This plan calls for:
1.Federal control of all domestic media, the internet, all computerized records, through overview of all domestic fax, mail and telephone conversations,
2.A national ID card, universal SS cards being mandatory,
3.Seizure and forced deportation of all illegal aliens, including millions of Mexicans and Central Americans, intensive observation and penetration of Asian groups, especially Indonesian and Chinese,
4.A reinstitution of a universal draft (mandatory service at 18 years for all male American youths…based on the German Arbeitsdienst)
5. Closer coordination of administration views and domestic policies with various approved religious groups,
6. An enlargement of the current “no travel” lists drawn up in the Justice Department that prevents “subversive” element from flying, (this list will include “peaceniks” and most categories of Muslims)
7. The automatic death penalty for any proven acts of sedition,
8. The forbidding of abortion, any use of medical marijuana,
9. Any public approval of homosexual or lesbian behavior to include magazines, websites, political action groups and so
There are about a hundred other categories and I am stressing that these plans are not going to be implemented unless, and until, there is an overriding excuse for them at which time the public will see the need to be protected. Once the lid goes on, it will not come off voluntarily.”
£13tn: hoard hidden from taxman by global elite
• Study estimates staggering size of offshore economy
• Private banks help wealthiest to move cash into havens
July 21, 2012
by Heather Stewart, business editor
A global super-rich elite has exploited gaps in cross-border tax rules to hide an extraordinary £13 trillion ($21tn) of wealth offshore – as much as the American and Japanese GDPs put together – according to research commissioned by the campaign group Tax Justice Network.
James Henry, former chief economist at consultancy McKinsey and an expert on tax havens, has compiled the most detailed estimates yet of the size of the offshore economy in a new report, The Price of Offshore Revisited, released exclusively to the Observer.
He shows that at least £13tn – perhaps up to £20tn – has leaked out of scores of countries into secretive jurisdictions such as Switzerland and the Cayman Islands with the help of private banks, which vie to attract the assets of so-called high net-worth individuals. Their wealth is, as Henry puts it, “protected by a highly paid, industrious bevy of professional enablers in the private banking, legal, accounting and investment industries taking advantage of the increasingly borderless, frictionless global economy“. According to Henry’s research, the top 10 private banks, which include UBS and Credit Suisse in Switzerland, as well as the US investment bank Goldman Sachs, managed more than £4tn in 2010, a sharp rise from £1.5tn five years earlier.
The detailed analysis in the report, compiled using data from a range of sources, including the Bank of International Settlements and the International Monetary Fund, suggests that for many developing countries the cumulative value of the capital that has flowed out of their economies since the 1970s would be more than enough to pay off their debts to the rest of the world.
Oil-rich states with an internationally mobile elite have been especially prone to watching their wealth disappear into offshore bank accounts instead of being invested at home, the research suggests. Once the returns on investing the hidden assets is included, almost £500bn has left Russia since the early 1990s when its economy was opened up. Saudi Arabia has seen £197bn flood out since the mid-1970s, and Nigeria £196bn.
“The problem here is that the assets of these countries are held by a small number of wealthy individuals while the debts are shouldered by the ordinary people of these countries through their governments,” the report says.
The sheer size of the cash pile sitting out of reach of tax authorities is so great that it suggests standard measures of inequality radically underestimate the true gap between rich and poor. According to Henry’s calculations, £6.3tn of assets is owned by only 92,000 people, or 0.001% of the world’s population – a tiny class of the mega-rich who have more in common with each other than those at the bottom of the income scale in their own societies.
“These estimates reveal a staggering failure: inequality is much, much worse than official statistics show, but politicians are still relying on trickle-down to transfer wealth to poorer people,” said John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network. “People on the street have no illusions about how unfair the situation has become.”
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Countries around the world are under intense pressure to reduce their deficits and governments cannot afford to let so much wealth slip past into tax havens.
“Closing down the tax loopholes exploited by multinationals and the super-rich to avoid paying their fair share will reduce the deficit. This way the government can focus on stimulating the economy, rather than squeezing the life out of it with cuts and tax rises for the 99% of people who aren’t rich enough to avoid paying their taxes.”
Assuming the £13tn mountain of assets earned an average 3% a year for its owners, and governments were able to tax that income at 30%, it would generate a bumper £121bn in revenues – more than rich countries spend on aid to the developing world each year.
Groups such as UK Uncut have focused attention on the paltry tax bills of some highly wealthy individuals, such as Topshop owner Sir Philip Green, with campaigners at one recent protest shouting: “Where did all the money go? He took it off to Monaco!” Much of Green’s retail empire is owned by his wife, Tina, who lives in the low-tax principality.
A spokeswoman for UK Uncut said: “People like Philip Green use public services – they need the streets to be cleaned, people need public transport to get to their shops – but they don’t want to pay for it.”
Leaders of G20 countries have repeatedly pledged to close down tax havens since the financial crisis of 2008, when the secrecy shrouding parts of the banking system was widely seen as exacerbating instability. But many countries still refuse to make details of individuals’ financial worth available to the tax authorities in their home countries as a matter of course. Tax Justice Network would like to see this kind of exchange of information become standard practice, to prevent rich individuals playing off one jurisdiction against another.
“The very existence of the global offshore industry, and the tax-free status of the enormous sums invested by their wealthy clients, is predicated on secrecy,” said Henry.
Bankers and Madoff: Peas in a Pod
July 21, 2012
There was something refreshing about Bernie Madoff. He robbed Peters to pay Pauls and it worked well until there were more Pauls than Peters. It was straightforward and simple. And that is the difference between him and Barclays, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and the many other large financial institutions that cheat those with whom they deal. Bernie was not subtle. No Congressional hearings or hearings in the British parliament were required in order to understand what happened
A man named Diamond runs Barclays and a man named Dimon runs JPMorgan Chase. The similarity in names is not all they have in common. Each man has presided over an institution that has dealt less than fairly, in the case of JPMorgan, with its customers, and in the case of Barclays, with consumers everywhere. JPMorgan did it by ripping off its customers and Barclays did it by manipulating the LIBOR rate. (It is now reported that four other major European banks are being investigated for similar behavior.)
Barclays manipulated the LIBOR rate from 2005-2009. The LIBOR rate is the rate banks charge each other for inter-bank loans. According to Ezra Klein from 2005 to 2007 Barclay’s placed bets that LIBOR rates would increase. Barclays would then report artificially high rates to the authority gathering the rates from the banks to establish the LIBOR rate thus improving the chance that the LIBOR rate would go up and the bets the firm made would pay off.
Investors on the other side of the bet were losers and borrowers whose interest rates on loans were set to LIBOR were paying artificially high rates. Beginning in 2008 when the solvency of financial institutions was being questioned, instead of reporting artificially high rates Barclays reported artificially low rates leading regulators to believe the bank was healthier than it was thus reducing the likelihood that its stability would be questioned. (When rates were low consumers benefitted since mortgages, credit card loans and other financial transactions are tied to those rates.) When the LIBOR manipulation came to light, Mr. Diamond sent a memo to staff saying he was “disappointed because many of these things happened on my watch.”
On July 2 he said that although disappointed he would not resign his position. On July 3 he resigned. Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, said the episode was “evidence of systematic greed at the expense of financial integrity and stability” and said the bank was in flagrant breach of its duty “to observe proper standards of market conduct. . . .” Any reader who tries to understand my attempt to describe the LIBOR manipulation and its effects will certainly appreciate the simplicity of Mr. Madoff’s scheme.
JPMorgan Chase is one of the largest mutual fund managers in the country. In addition to selling its own funds, it is in a position to sell other funds to its customers. According to a story in the New York Times its sales personnel were encouraged to sell customers its proprietary funds rather than those of competitors, even when the competitors’ funds had historically performed better than the bank’s funds. One former employee said he was “selling JPMorgan funds that often had weak performance records, and I was doing it for no other reason than to enrich the firm. I couldn’t call myself objective.” Some people might have been surprised at those disclosures thinking that the bank would have reformed its ways after 2011.
That was the year the bank was ordered to pay $373 million to American Century Investments because it failed to honor its agreement with American Century to promote American Century products when it acquired that firm’s retirement-plan services unit. The arbitrators who heard the case said JPMorgan employees were rewarded for pushing JPMorgan’s own products.
Goldman Sachs is another venerable institution that benefits itself at the expense of its customers. In March 2012 Chancellor Leo Strine of the Court of Chancery in Delaware issued a lengthy ruling in the case of in re El Paso Shareholder Litigation. He criticized Goldman for its blatant conflict of interest when trying to acquire El Paso Corp describing it as “disturbing behavior.” Jonathan Weil who writes for Bloomberg, made the observation about Goldman’s conduct in that transaction that Goldman had “every incentive to maximize its own investment and fleece El Paso shareholders.”
At roughly the same time Chancellor Strine’s opinion was making the news a former Goldman employee published an op-ed piece in the New York Times in which he said, among other things, that the firm’s clients were “sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. . . . It is purely about how we can make the most possible money off them {clients.}.”
Readers should understand that the foregoing does not purport to be a complete list of banks that have devised schemes to enrich themselves at the expense of their customers. It is only a small sampling. As I said at the outset, the nice thing about Bernie was how straightforward his malfeasance was. Everyone can understand it. The banks are no more honest than he–just more artful.
Rupert Murdoch quits as News International director
Move fuels rumours of sell-off of UK newspapers despite media mogul’s reassurance that he is ‘fully committed’ as chairman
July 21, 2012
by Matt Williams in New York and Josh Layton
Rupert Murdoch has stepped down as a director of News International, in a move that will fuel speculation the media mogul is preparing to sell off his UK newspapers.
In an email sent on Saturday, staff at The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun were told that Murdoch remained “fully committed” as chairman despite relinquishing positions on a number of UK boards, including NI Group.
The move is in line with plans to restructure his News Corporation empire, the message read. Murdoch has already outlined plans to split the group into two.
Under the proposals, a largely US-based media empire consisting of Fox TV, the 20th Century Fox film studio and other entertainment assets, will be separated from the publishing businesses, including The Wall Street Journal, alongside Murdoch’s UK and Australian newspapers and HarperCollins book publishing.
The media mogul plans to remain the chairman of both businesses although Chase Carey, chief operating officer at News Corp, will be elevated to the number two spot at the entertainment business.
In line with that strategy, Murdoch has also resigned from the boards of a dozen companies with interests in the US, Australia and India, it was revealed. It is thought that he resigned as director at some point over the last week.
Staff were informed of the development in an email – seen by the Guardian – that was sent out on Saturday.
It states that the decision “is part of the preparation of the business for the upcoming restructure into two companies”.
In a bid to reassure employees amid swirling rumours of a possible sell-off, it adds: “[Murdoch] remains fully committed to our business as chairman of what will become the largest newspaper and digital group in the world and we look forward to seeing him in London over the Olympic Games.”
But some staff are said to be concerned that the move is a precursor to putting the UK titles up for sale following a rocky year in which NI has been badly damaged by revelations of widespread phone hacking at its now defunct newspaper News of The World.
Earlier this year a parliamentary committee said Murdoch was “not a fit person” to run an international business.
Media analyst Claire Enders said Murdoch’s resignations were part of the “controlled fade of Rupert and James from the UK” that began last year in order to take a “psychological step back” from embarrassments such as the recent phone hacking scandal.
“It’s the big farewell, it’s time to move on. They are leaving the country and they won’t be back. It is quite a historic moment,” she said. “This follows on from comments Murdoch made a few weeks ago when he remarked on the unfriendliness of the UK, but it’s something that is part of the long-term strategy.
The string of board resignations comes as the 81-year-old faces renewed pressure to resign as chairman of News Corp at the group’s annual general meeting later this year.
Last week it was revealed that 18 major shareholders including Connecticut’s state pension fund and the UK’s Legal & General have now signed a letter calling for Murdoch to step down from the company he has spent 60 years creating.
Pentecostalism
Most consider the father of Pentecostalism to be Charles Parham, a young college student from Kansas with roots in the Methodist Church. While the Wesleys (John & Charles) could not be defined as Pentecostals, their theology laid the foundation upon which the Pentecostal movement would be built. Principally, it was the Methodist view that sanctification was a second work of grace, separate from salvation, coupled with the Holiness belief of a third experience, the “Baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire,” that intrigued Parham. Parham was also influenced by a fresh desire within his denominational circles to experience divine healing and speaking in tongues — practices that most Christians at the end of the nineteenth century believed had ceased with the apostolic age.
In 1900, Parham opened a Bible college to promote these views, which he deemed “Apostolic Faith” theology. An interesting footnote is Parham’s theory that God would soon give His church the gift of tongues, in the form of known languages, so that the world could be quickly evangelized.
Modern Pentecostalism began around 1901. The commonly accepted origin dates from when one Agnes Ozman claimed she had received the ‘gift of tongues (glossolalia)’ at Charles Fox Parham‘s Bethal Bible College in Topeka, Kansas in 1901. Parham, a minister of Methodist background, formulated the doctrine that tongues was the “Bible evidence” of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Charles Fox Parham left Topeka and began a revival ministry which led to a link to the Asuza street revival through William J. Seymour whom he taught in his school in Houston, although because Seymour was African-American, he was only allowed to sit outside the room to listen.
William J. Seymour moved to Los Angeles from Texas in 1906. He founded the Azusa Street Mission from where he promoted the style of worship characterized by “speaking in tongues.” Most of his followers were white. Shockwaves also came over racial tension. In the early months of Azusa Street, blacks and whites, men and women, shared leadership, although blacks were predominate. But soon Seymour asked all the Hispanics to leave, and eventually wrote by-laws that prevented anyone except African-Americans from holding office in the Mission. By 1909, the revival was spent, and eventually faded into history. Even the mission building was razed after Seymour’s death.
The movement led to the first rift over the style of worship in a mainline church when the congregation of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Van Nuys split over the issue in 1960. An estimated 75 million people are believed to currently adhere to the Pentecostal (or charismatic) form of worship.
The expansion of the movement started with the Azusa Street Revival, beginning April 9, 1906 at the Los Angeles home of a Mr. and Mrs. Edward Lee when Mr. Lee experienced what he felt to be an infilling of the Holy Spirit during a prayer session. The attending pastor, William J. Seymour, also claimed that he was overcome with the Holy Spirit on April 12, 1906. On April 18, 1906, the Los Angeles Times ran a front page story on the movement. By the third week in April, 1906, the small but growing congregation had rented an abandoned African Methodist Episcopal church at 312 Azusa Street and organized as the Apostolic Faith Mission.
The first decade of Pentecostalism was marked by interracial assemblies,”…Whites and blacks mix in a religious frenzy,…” according to a local newspaper account. This lasted until 1924, when the church split along racial lines (see Apostolic Faith Mission). When the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America was formed in 1948, it was made up entirely of Anglo-American Pentecostal denominations. In 1994, Pentecostals returned to their roots of racial reconciliation and proposed formal unification of the major white and black branches of the Pentecostal Church, in a meeting subsequently known as the Memphis Miracle. This unification occurred in 1998, again in Memphis, Tennessee. The unification of white and black movements led to the restructing of the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America to become the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America.
About the latter third of the 20th century there was a movement of Pentecostalism, sometimes called the Charismatic Movement into the mainline Protestant denominations and the Roman Catholic church. Unlike earlier Pentecostals, they did not leave their churches for strictly Pentecostal churches, or found new denominations. Their motto became, “Bloom where God planted you.”
Size
The largest Pentecostal denominations in the United States today are the Church of God in Christ, Church of God (Cleveland) and the Assemblies of God. According to a Spring 1998 article in Christian History, there are about 11,000 different pentecostal or charismatic denominations worldwide.
The size of Pentecostalism in the U.S. is estimated to be more than 20 million and also including approx 918,000 (4%) of the Hispanic-American population, counting all unaffiliated congregations, although exact numbers are hard to come by, in part because some tenets of Pentecostalism are held by members of non-
Pentecostal denominations in what has been called the charismatic movement.
Pentecostalism was conservatively estimated to number around 120 million followers worldwide in 2000; other estimates place the figure closer to 400 million. The great majority of Pentecostals are to be found in Third World countries although much of their international leadership is still North American.
Pentecostalism is sometimes referred to as the “third force of Christianity.” The largest Christian church in the world is the Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea, a Pentecostal church. Founded and led by David Yonggi Cho since 1958, it had 780,000 members in 2003.
Statistics
Africa: 41.1 million
Nigeria: 12.1 million
Kenya: 4.1 million
South Africa: 3.4 million
Ethiopia: 2.6 million
South America: 32.4 million
Brazil: 13.5 million
Argentina: 3.5 million
Mexico: 2.7 million
Guatemala: 2.0 million
Chile: 1.8 million
North America: 21.5 million
United States: 20.2 million
Canada: 1.3 million
Asia: 15.3 million
China: unknown; believed to be several million
Indonesia: 5.0 million
India: 3.9 million
South Korea: 1.7 million
Europe: 4.3 million
United Kingdom: 0.9 million
Oceania: 3.3 million
Papua New Guinea: 0.4 million
Australia: 0.4 million
Source: Operation World by Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk, 2000, unless otherwise indicated.
Some of the best known Pentecostal Denominations are:
Church of God in Christ
Church of God of Prophecy
Fire-Baptized Holiness Church
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel Church of God (Tenn.)
Pentecostal Holiness Church
Pentecostal Free-Will Baptist Church
The Assemblies of God
The United Pentecostal Church
Glossolalia- Speaking in Tongues
Glossolalia comprises the utterance of what appears (to the casual listener) to be either an unknown foreign language, or as simply nonsense syllables; the utterances sometimes occur as part of religious worship (religious glossolalia), and sometimes as a result of mental illness.
Christian fundamentalists regard the act of ‘speaking in tongues’, as a gift of God through the Holy Spirit — one of the ‘Gifts of the Spirit.’ However, what some Christians see as divinely inspired, many other Christian denominations and also those in the secular world may dismiss as glossolalia.
From a linguistic point of view, the syllables that make up instances of glossolalia typically appear to be unpatterned reorganizations of phonemes from the primary language of the person uttering the syllables; thus, the glossolalia of people from Russia, Britain, and Brazil all sound quite different from each other, but vaguely resemble the Russian, English, and Portuguese languages, respectively. Linguists generally regard most glossalia as lacking any identifiable semantics, syntax, or morphology— i.e., as nonsense and not as language at all.
The Charismatic Movement
A second form of Pentecostalism arose in the 1960s after many non-Pentecostals became aware of Pentecostalism through an earlier Pentecostal revival organized by faith-healing evangelists (notably Oral Roberts). The formal origin of the new Pentecostalism or charismatic movement, as it is often called, is traced to Dennis Bennett, an Episcopal minister who declared to his congregation in Van Nuys, California (1961) that he was ‘speaking in tongues.’ Following Bennett’s ‘confession’ the charismatic movement appeared in nearly all the Protestant denominations, the Roman Catholic church, and, to a lesser extent, in Eastern Orthodox communions
Snake Handling
One group of Pentecostals focus on what they see as Jesus’ promise that they may take up venomous serpents and drink poisons without experiencing any harm. This understanding has led to the practice popularly called snake handling. The original group that practiced the “signs,” that is, that handled snakes and drank poison (usually strychnine) in worship services, arose very soon after the Pentecostal movement spread to the Appalachian Mountain region.
Those who engage in snake handling are Pentecostals who accept the basic theology by which people seek and receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, evidenced by speaking in tongues. The snake handlers, however, go beyond the Pentecostals in their belief that holding venomous reptiles and drinking poison are signs of an individual’s faith and possession of the Holy Spirit. The handling of snakes and drinking of poison are done while in an ecstatic state, referred to by members as “being in the Spirit.”
What do Pentecostals believe about the “End Days?”
The Antichrist is described by Pentecostals as the “son of perdition” and the “beast”!
They claim that this interesting creature will have great charisma and speaking ability, “a mouth speaking great things”.
The Antichrist, they allege, will rise to power on a wave of world euphoria, as he temporarily saves the world from its desperate economic, military & political problems with a brilliant sevenyear plan for world peace, economic stability and religious freedom.
The Antichrist could well rise out of the current chaos in the former Soviet Union. The prophet Ezekiel names him as the ruler of “Magog”, a name that Biblical scholars agree denotes a country or region of peoples to the north of Israel. Many have interpreted this to mean modern day Russia. It could also be Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, perhaps one of the Baltic States or even the lewd and dissolute Socialist Sweden.
His power base will include the leading nations of Europe, whose leaders, the Bible says, will “give their power & strength unto the beast.”
The Bible even gives some clues about his personal characteristics. The prophet Daniel wrote that the Antichrist “does not regard the desire of women.” This could imply that he is either celibate or a homosexual. Daniel also tells us that he will have a “fierce countenance” or stern look, and will be “more stout than his fellows”–more proud and boastful.
Unfortunately, the so-called Book of Daniel was written during the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero, not many decades earlier as its proponents claim, and has been extensively modified by early Christian writers to predict the arrival of their personal Messiah, or Christ, on the Judean scene. The so-called “wonderful” prophetic statements put into the mouth of Daniel are absolutely and wondrously accurate…up to the reign of Nero and then fall as flat as a shaken soufflé afterwards
It is well known that Pentecostals loathe homosexuals, among many other groups not pleasing to them, and would like nothing better than to shove them into a bottomless pit filled with Catholics, rock and roll fans, teenaged mothers, Communists, gun control advocates, Tarot card readers, Christian Scientists, abortionists, Wayne Newton fans, Asians, African-Americans and Latino Surnamed Hispanics.
The 7-year peace-pact (or covenant) that is engineered by the Antichrist is spoken of a number of times in the Bible, & may even have already been signed in secret. The historic peace agreement signed between Israel & the PLO at the White House on September 13, 1993, vividly illustrates how dramatically events in the Middle East are presently moving in this direction.
Under the final terms of the Covenant, Jerusalem will likely be declared an international city to which Judaism, Islam & Christianity will have equal rights. Scripture indicates that the Jews will be permitted to rebuild their Temple on Mt. Moriah, where they revive their ancient rituals of animal sacrifice.
According to prophecy the Antichrist will not only be a master of political intrigue, but also a military genius. Daniel describes several major wars that he fights during his 7-year reign, apparently against the U.S. and Israel, who will oppose him during the second half of his reign.
For awhile, most of the world is going to think the Antichrist is wonderful, as he will seem to have solved so many of the world’s problems. But, three-and-a-half years into his seven year reign he will break the covenant & invade Israel from the North.
At this time he will make Jerusalem his world capitol & outlaw all religions, except the worship of himself & his image. The Bible says that the Antichrist will sit in the Jewish Temple exalting himself as God & demanding to be worshipped.
It is at this time that the Antichrist imposes his infamous “666” one-world credit system
It must be said that the Antichrist does, in point of fact exist. He can be seen on a daily basis on the walls of the Cathedral at Orvieto, Italy in the marvelous frescos of Lucca Signorelli. He looks somewhat like a Byzantine depiction of Christ with either a vicious wife or bad indigestion.
Pentecostals strongly believe that U.S. public schools “departed from the faith” when in 1963 the Bible and prayer were officially banned. Now, Pentecostals believe with horror, thousands of these same schools are teaching credited courses in “the doctrines of devils”–the occult and Satanism.
Even a cursory check of curriculum of a number of American public school districts does not support this claim but then the Pentecostals have stated repeatedly that they represent 45% of all Protestants in America. The actual number, excluding the Baptists, is more like 4%.
What they lack in actual numbers they more than compensate for by their loud and irrational views so that at times it sounds like the roar of a great multitude when in truth, it is only a small dwarf with a bullhorn, trumpeting in the underbrush.
Frantic Pentecostals estimated that according to their private Census for Christ there are over 200,000 practicing witches in the United States and allege there are literally millions of Americans who dabble in some form of the occult, psychic phenomena, spiritualism, demonology and black magic. Their statistics claim that occult book sales have doubled in the last four years.
What is seen by terrified Pentecostals as The Occult today is no longer the stuff of small underground cults. They believe that many rock videos are an open worship of Satan and hell that comes complete with the symbols, liturgies, and rituals of Satanism, and the Pentecostals firmly and loudly proclaim to anyone interested in listening, that “millions of young people” have been caught in their evil sway.
Popular music is termed “sounds of horror and torment” that Pentecostals firmly believe is literally “driving young people insane and seducing them into a life of drugs, suicide, perversion & hell.” It is forgotten now but the same thing was once said about ragtime and later, jazz. If this had been true, perhaps the real reason behind the First World War, the 1929 market crash, the rise of Franklin Roosevelt and the lewd hula hoop can be attributed to Scott Joplin and Ella Fitzgerald.
It is also to be noted that the immensely popular Harry Potter series of children’s books are loudly proclaimed as Satanic books designed to lure unsuspecting children into the clutches of the Evil One. Any sane person who has read these delightful fantasy books will certainly not agree with these hysterical strictures. In point of fact, it would be exceedingly difficult to locate any person possessing even a modicum of sanity who would believe the weird fulminations of the Pentecostals.
Outraged Pentecostals now firmly state that in the beginning years of the Twenty First Century, “even the most shameless acts of blasphemy and desecration are socially acceptable.”
“Acts of blasphemy and desecration” sound like human sacrifices carried out at bus stops during the noontime rush hour or lewd acts with crucifixes performed by drug-maddened transvestites on commercial airlines.
In his weird Book of Revelation the lunatic John of Patmos claimed he foresaw that in the last days the world would turn away from God in order to worship and follow Satan.
Such a prophecy would have seemed unbelievable to previous generations, but not so in our day. Hard-core Satanism has been called by terrified Pentecostals as “the fastest-growing subculture among America’s teens”, and the revival of witchcraft & the occult is one of the World’s fastest growing religions!
Pentecostal Luminaries
By the mid-80s, Jimmy Swaggart had become the world’s richest and most famous hypocritical shitbag. His operation raked in more than $150 million annually. Every week, his television program “The Jimmy Swaggart Telecast” attracted eight million Jesus freaks. He had clawed his way to the peak of the televangelism racket, and now he had nothing to do.
So Swaggart turned to schadenfreude for his primary source of pleasure. He took great joy in 1986 for defrocking fellow Assemblies of God minister Marvin Gorman. Gorman had conducted an extramarital affair with one of his parishioners. And then the next year, when the PTL Ministry collapsed in around Jim Bakker, Swaggart was ecstatic. It was almost too good to believe. He went on CNN and told Larry King that Bakker was a “cancer in the body of Christ.”
But if watching other people in misery was Swaggart’s favorite thing, then his next favorite was probably looking at pornography and fucking $35-per-hour prostitutes in cheap motels. When the rumors started flying, Jimmy was doomed. Ironically, it was Marvin Gorman who nailed him.
In 1987 Marvin paid a private detective to take photos of Swaggart with his Louisiana hooker. It didn’t take long. Reportedly Marvin tried blackmailing him, but Jimmy didn’t follow through on the payments. So Marvin turned to the same church elders who had disgraced him two years prior.
When confronted by the Assemblies of God leadership, Jimmy had no choice but to confess. He told them that he suffered a lifelong addiction to pornography. It was probably no real surprise to them. All the signs were there. Swaggart had written an article in 1987 asserting that “pornography is now considered as addictive as drugs.” And over the years he had campaigned for tougher anti-porn legislation.
The AOG had no choice but to reprimand him somehow. So they defrocked him for one year. The next week, Swaggart wound up crying his ass off on TV. In front of cameras and congregation, Jimmy seemed contrite: “I have sinned against you, my Lord, and I would ask that your precious blood would wash and cleanse every stain until it is in the seas of God’s forgetfulness, never to be remembered against me.” But he made no specific mention of the nature of his transgressions, referring only to some vague “moral failure.” Maybe he was following the advice of his attorney.
His empire foundered and never recovered. Three years later, more than 80% of their faithful viewers had stopped watching the telecast. Donations were way, way down and the ministry had racked up $4.5 million in debts. But Swaggart was still hanging in there, even though things couldn’t get much worse.
In March 89, some woman named Catherine Campen gave an interview to Penthouse magazine, in which she claimed to have had an extramarital affair with the preacher. Between July 87 and January 88, they had met up on ten separate occasions. She mentioned beating him with a riding crop, but only after Swaggart convinced her to do it.
Then in July, Penthouse ran an exclusive interview with the prostitute, Debra Murphree. She claimed that Jimmy once inquired whether he could fuck her child:
He'd ask me if I'd ever let anyone screw my daughter when she was that young, and I said, "No, She's only nine years old." He asked me if she started developing or if she had any hair down there. [...] "I can picture my cock going in and out of a pussy like that," he said.
These revelations were a sales and marketing bonanza for Penthouse magazine and its publisher, Bob Guccione. While many people claim to love pornography, how many actually give back to the industry?
Finally, during a preaching tour of California, Swaggart drove his white Jaguar into the town of Indio. There he propositioned 31-year-old Rosemary Garcia, who promptly got in the car. Then they were pulled over by the cops for driving on the wrong side of the road.
Garcia told a Palm Springs TV news crew that Swaggart had picked her up, then inquired where they could find a motel with in-room porn. When the reporter asked why Swaggart had approached her, Garcia said:
“He asked me for sex. I mean, that’s why he stopped me. That’s what I do. I’m a prostitute.”
If anybody had still needed proof that Swaggart really loved hookers and porn, no further convincing was necessary.
On November 10, 2002 Swaggart denounced the Prophet Muhammad as a “pervert” and a “sex deviant.” Which sounds reasonable, if you subscribe to the takes-one-to-know-one school of criticism.
Casualty Lists- DoD
July 02, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
They died June 24, in Kandahar, Afghanistan. They were assigned to the 96th Transportation Company, 180th Transportation Battalion, 4th Sustainment Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), Fort Hood, Texas.
Killed were:
Staff Sgt. Robert A. Massarelli, 32, of Hamilton, Ohio, and
Sgt. Michael J. Strachota, 28, of White Hall, Ark.
July 04, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Cody O. Moosman, 24, of Preston, Idaho, died July 3, in Gayan Alwara Mandi, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.
July 08, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Capt. Bruce A. MacFarlane, 46, of Oviedo, Florida, died July 6, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
MacFarlane was assigned to the 1186th Transportation Company, 831st Transportation Battalion, Jacksonville, Fla.
July 09, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Raul M. Guerra, 37, of Union City, N.J., died July 4, in Spin Boldak, Afghanistan.
Guerra was assigned to the 502nd Military Intelligence Battalion, 201st Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Jonathan Batista, 22, of Kinnelon, N.J., died July 8, in Zharay, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 321st Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Cpl. Juan P. Navarro, 23, of Austin, Texas, died July 7, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when he was attacked with an enemy improvised explosive device.
Navarro was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
July 11, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of six soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
They died July 8, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit in Maidan Shahr, Wardak province, Afghanistan, with an improvised explosive device. They were assigned to the 978th Military Police Company, 93rd Military Police Battalion, Fort Bliss, Texas.
Killed were:
Staff Sgt. Ricardo Seija, 31, of Tampa, Fla.,
Spc. Erica P. Alecksen, 21, of Eatonton, Ga.,
Spc. Clarence Williams III, 23, of Brooksville, Fla.,
Pfc. Trevor B. Adkins, 21, of Spring Lake, N.C.,
Pfc. Alejandro J. Pardo, 21, of Porterville, Calif., and
Pfc. Cameron J. Stambaugh, 20, of Spring Grove, Pa.
July 12, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Sterling W. Wyatt, 21, of Columbia, Mo., died July 11, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his vehicle was attacked with an enemy improvised explosive device.
Wyatt was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
July 15, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. Michael E. Ristau, 25, of Rockford, Ill., died July 13 in Qalat, Zabul province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his vehicle was attacked with an enemy improvised explosive device.
He was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
July 17, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Carl E. Hammar, 24, of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., died July 14, in Khost province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from enemy small arms fire.
Hammar was assigned to 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. Erik N. May, 26, of Independence, Kan., died July 14, in Ghazni province, Afghanistan.
May was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
They died July 16, in Wali Kot District, Afghanistan, from injuries suffered when their vehicle was struck by enemy rocket propelled grenades. The soldiers were assigned to the 81st Troop Command, Indiana National Guard, Indianapolis, Ind.
Killed were:
Spc. Sergio E. Perez Jr., 21, of Crown Point, Ind., and
Spc. Nicholas A. Taylor, 20, of Berne, Ind.
July 19, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
They died July 18, in Ghazni City, Afghanistan, when their vehicle was struck by an enemy improvised explosive device. The soldiers were assigned to the 548th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
Killed were:
Sgt. Daniel A. Rodriguez, 28, of Baltimore, Md., and
Sgt. Jose J. Reyes, 24, San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico.
July 20, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Cpl. Joshua R. Ashley, 23, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., died July 19 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Law Enforcement Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Krystal M. Fitts, 26, of Houston, Texas, died July 17 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, from injuries suffered from indirect fire. She was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
July 21, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two sailors who died in a helicopter crash July 19 in Oman.
Senior Chief Aviation Warfare Systems Operator Sean P. Sullivan, 40, of St. Louis, Mo., and Naval Aircrewman (Helicopter) Second Class Joseph P. Fitzmorris, 31, of West Monroe, La., were declared deceased following an extensive search of the wreckage and the surrounding areas of the crash.
July 22, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Jeffrey L. Rice, 24, of Troy, Ohio, died July 19, in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 20th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas
Documenting the FBI: Declassified Documents Provide New Detail on Confronting the Terrorist Threat – from al-Qaeda to Skinheads
New Archive Posting Opens Window into Broad Range of Recent FBI Operations
Washington, D.C., July 19, 2012 – A new Web resource posted today by the National Security Archive offers a wide-ranging compilation of declassified records detailing the operations of a key component of U.S. national security. Among the new documents are internal reports on domestic terrorism that expand on what previously public intelligence assessments have revealed.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been one of the best known and most scrutinized components of the U.S. government for well over seventy years. As a result it has been the subject of non-fiction books, novels, a multitude of articles, films and television shows, and congressional hearings. In addition to its criminal investigative effort and pursuit of bank-robbers that propelled it into the news, the Bureau has also been heavily involved in counterintelligence, counterterrorism, foreign intelligence, and counter-subversion work. FBI successes, failures, and abuses have helped produce attention and controversy for the Bureau.
Today’s National Security Archive posting of 38 documents – drawn from a variety of sources – provides a window into the Bureau’s activities in those areas since, with one exception, 1970. The collection’s aim is to present a foundation for understanding the scope and history of the organization, and in some instances to offer correctives to popular accounts. Freedom of Information Act requests yielded a number of the documents included in the briefing book, which are being posted here for the first time. Included are two intelligence assessments of the domestic terrorist threat – The Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland: An FBI Assessment (2004) and A Threat Assessment for Domestic Terrorism, 2005-2006 (2007) – which examine the threat from al-Qaeda and its supporters as well as from assorted home-grown terrorist groups.
The latter assessments offer a broader and more detailed view of the terrorist issue, including on al-Qaeda, than the key judgments of the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate released by the Director of National Intelligence. The 2004 assessment stated that FBI investigations revealed “extensive support for terrorist causes in the US,” although they also found little evidence of sympathizers being actively engaged in planning or carrying out terrorist attacks.
Additional details on some of the domestic threats mentioned in the 2004 and 2007 estimates can be found in other newly released assessments – such as those on white supremacist groups. Those assessments discuss the threats from ‘stealth’ fascists, white supremacist infiltration of law enforcement, and the possibility of white supremacists employing suicide terrorism to further their cause.
Also, included are detailed inspector general reports concerning the FBI’s performance in the case of Robert Hanssen, the FBI official who spied for the Soviet Union and Russia, its handling of information related to the September 11 terrorist attacks, and its employment of national security letters. Finally, included are a number of Congressional Research Service studies on the Bureau’s history and current activities, including its terrorism investigations.
Documenting the FBI
by Jeffrey T. Richelson
For almost eight decades the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been one the best known components of the federal government. The organization, or its long-time director, J. Edgar Hoover, have been the subject of a number of non-fiction books – ranging from the adulatory to the intensely critical. 1 There have also been assorted novels, films, and television shows in which the Bureau or Hoover were central elements. 2
Created in 1908, as an untitled Justice Department bureau, it became the Bureau of Investigation in 1909, the Division of Investigation in 1933, and the FBI in 1935. Today, the FBI consists of its headquarters in Washington, D.C., its training academy in Quantico, Virginia, other elements in Virginia, 56 domestic field offices, 380 resident agencies, and more than 60 legal attaché offices outside the United States. As of April 30, 2012, it had 35,850 employees (13, 851 special agents, and 21, 989 support personnel) and a budget of $8.1 billion. 3
It became best known, at least initially, for its operations directed against high-profile gangsters, such as the fatal shooting of John Dillinger on July 22, 1934, in front of Chicago’s Biograph Theater by two of the Bureau’s special agents. 4 Subsequently, the Bureau’s prominence grew as a result of its national security activities. Over the years, those operations have included the gathering of foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, counter-terrorism, and combating, what were in the view of the Bureau (and others), subversive elements. 5
The documents posted today by the National Security Archive range from unclassified records to redacted versions of Secret or “Law Enforcement Sensitive” documents that were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act as well as from a variety of government web pages (including the Department of Justice and General Accountability Office) and private organization sites (including the Federation of American Scientists and Government Attic). The records focus on the Bureau’s foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, and counterterrorism activities since (with one exception) 1970.
Thus, several documents focus on the FBI’s foreign intelligence activities. One examines its operation of the Special Intelligence Service, which was active in Latin America during World War II (Document 9). Another discusses how the Joint Chiefs of Staff requested the FBI employ its “internal information program” to gather intelligence that would be useful in planning and executing a second attempt to rescue the American hostages seized in Iran in November 1979 (Document 2). Today, the FBI’s extensive presence overseas, via its legal attaché program, the subject of a Justice Department inspector general report (Document 17), allows it to produce information relevant both to criminal investigations and U.S. foreign intelligence requirements.
The counterintelligence component of the organization’s mission involves the related activities of investigating foreign intelligence services and their employees, both those employing diplomatic cover and those operating as illegals, and detecting Americans – including members of the FBI and CIA – who are providing classified information to those services. Thus, documents in the posting include the executive summary of an inspector general report on the activities and detection of FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who provided extraordinarily sensitive intelligence to the Soviet Committee of State Security (KGB) and the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) over two decades (Document 12).
The posting also includes an examination of the FBI’s successes and failures. One involved the case of the CIA’s Aldrich Ames, arrested in 1994, but not after he disclosed the identities of a number of CIA sources to the Soviet Union. (Document 6). In addition, there is the case of Katrina Leung (Document 25), who had sexual relationships with at least two FBI agents while appearing to provide information on developments within the government of the People’s Republic of China – but actually serving as a PRC agent. Further, the posting includes the reports produced by several security reviews under taken by RAND and an outside commission in the wake of the Hanssen fiasco (Document 7, Document 10).
Also represented in the briefing book are a number of FBI intelligence assessments concerning terrorism. A 1970 analysis focuses on the Fedayeen terrorist group (Document 1) while a 1984 study (Document 3) describes Iranian and Iranian-linked institutions in the United States – including both official institutions and educational foundations – that had (or could have) served as covers for clandestine intelligence collection and support to terrorist activities.
Other more recent assessments have focused on both the international and domestic terrorist threats. Thus, a Secret/Noforn assessment from April 2004 (Document 19) focuses on the threats from al-Qaeda as well as from U.S.-based groups. It reported that the “motivation and commitment to lethality remains as strong as ever” among al-Qaeda’s members, that the group continued to be interested in targeting international flights, and that few entities or individuals in the United States had direct connections to senior al-Qaeda leaders.
But while al-Qaeda was the greatest concern, the FBI also devoted analytical resources to evaluating the threat from a variety of domestic groups. A 2007 assessment (Document 30) noted the threat from animal rights extremists who “committed the overwhelming majority of criminal incidents during 2005 and 2006.” Several reports concerned white supremacist groups – including their possible use of suicide terrorism (Document 28), their infiltration of law enforcement (Document 26), and the phenomenon of “ghost skins,” (Document 27) who “strive to blend into society.” According to the reports, suicide terrorism was seen “primarily as a means of uniting a fractured movement,” while infiltration of law enforcement threatened the success of investigations and could “jeopardize the safety of law enforcement sources and personnel.”
Beyond estimates of the terrorist threat, the documents posted today illuminate various aspects of FBI counter-terrorist operations and organization prior to 9/11 or in its aftermath. Thus, the Department of Justice’s inspector general produced a lengthy report (Document 22) on the Bureau’s performance with respect to the Phoenix memo (warning in 2001 about Osama bin Laden’s possible plan to send operatives to the U.S. to train in civil aviation), the investigation of two hijackers, Khalid al-Mindhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, and of Zacarias Moussaoui. Another inspector general report (Document 32) focuses on the FBI’s involvement in and observations of interrogations at Guantanamo Bay. In addition, the FBI’s controversial, and at times inappropriate, use of National Security Letters is explored in a 2008 inspector general report (Document 31).
Other documents, produced by the Congressional Research Service as well as the Justice Department’s Inspector General, explore FBI practices subsequent to 9/11 and, particularly, attempts to improve the Bureau’s ability to perform its counterterrorist mission. Among the topics examined are the FBI’s efforts to improve the sharing of intelligence (Document 15); to develop a highly trained, stable corps of intelligence analysts (Document 23); to better integrate headquarters and field office intelligence operations (Document 35); and to assess the impact of revised attorney general guidelines for domestic intelligence operations (Document 38).
Documents
Document 1: Federal Bureau of Investigation, The Fedayeen Terrorist – A Profile, June 1970. Secret.
Source: www.governmentattic.org
This monograph was prepared “to furnish Field Agents a profile of the fedayeen terrorist,” a focus of major concern early in the modern era of international – and especially Middle East-based – terrorism. The study is based on the analysis of ten fedayeen terrorist attacks in Europe and other information available to the FBI. One motivation for its production was “persistent reports” that terrorist attacks in Europe would be followed by attacks in the United States.
Document 2: Joint Chiefs of Staff, Memorandum for the Record, Subject: Briefing of FBI Representatives, September 25, 1980. Top Secret.
Source: Digital National Security Archive
This memo discusses the briefing of FBI representatives by a member of the Joint Staff with regard to intelligence needs in support of operations against Iran – specifically with regard to plans to rescue American hostages.
Document 3: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Threat Assessment of Pro-Khomeini Shiite Activities in the U.S., February 24, 1984. Secret.
Source: www.governmentattic.org
This analysis consists of four key parts – an examination of the Shiite religion, a survey of official Iranian diplomatic establishments in the United States (including the Iranian mission to the United Nations, the Iranian interests section, the Islamic Education Center, and the Mostazafin Foundation), main Iranian Shiite organizations in the United States, and Iranian Shiite threats.
Document 4: General Accounting Office, International Terrorism: FBI Investigates Domestic Activities to Identify Terrorists, September 1990. Unclassified
Source: Government Accountability Office
This GAO study was conducted in response to a request by the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on civil and constitutional rights. The chairman was responding to information contained in documents released under the Freedom of Information Act that concerned FBI monitoring of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES). The study focused on the basis on which the FBI was opening investigations, the scope and results of the investigations, possible FBI monitoring of First Amendment activities, and the reasons for closure of the investigations.
Document 5: Office of the Attorney General, Attorney General Guidelines for FBI Foreign Intelligence Collection and Foreign Counterintelligence Investigations, May 25, 1995. Secret.
Source: Federation of American Scientists
The guidelines in the document govern all foreign intelligence and foreign counterintelligence, foreign intelligence support activities, and intelligence investigations of international terrorism conducted by the FBI as well as FBI investigations of violations of the espionage statutes and certain FBI investigations requested by foreign governments. It also provides guidance to the FBI with respect to coordination with CIA or Defense Department activities within the United States.
Document 6: Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Department of Justice, A Review of the FBI’s Performance in Uncovering the Espionage Activities of Aldrich Hazen Ames, Executive Summary, April 1997. Unclassified.
Source: Department of Justice
This document is the unclassified version of the executive summary of a more extensive, and more highly classified report on the FBI’s role in the Aldrich Ames investigation. While the investigation “found that the lack of knowledge and experience in counterintelligence work” among some FBI managers seriously hampered the FBI’s effort in detecting Ames’ espionage, it also found that once the investigation of Ames was initiated the FBI “allocated enormous resources” and pursued the investigation “efficiently and professionally.”
Document 7: Commission for Review of FBI Security Programs, A Review of FBI Security Programs, March 2002. Unclassified.
Source: Federation of American Scientists
In its report, the commission, which was established in response to the discovery of FBI agent Robert Hanssen’s delivery of “vast quantities of documents and computer diskettes” filled with national security information to the Soviet Union and Russia, identified “significant deficiencies” in FBI security policy practice — noting that “security is often viewed as an impediment to operations.” The report also contains a number of recommendations to improve Bureau security – including establishing an independent Office of Security.
Document 8: David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, FBI Reorganization: Initial Steps Encouraging but Broad Transformation Needed, June 21, 2002. Unclassified.
Source: Government Accountability Office
In testimony before a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, the head of the General Accounting Office discusses several aspects of the FBI’s proposed reorganization and realignment efforts — including the broader issue of federal government transformation, the realignment of FBI resources, the elements of a successful transformation, and the importance of Congressional oversight.
Document 9: G. Gregg Webb, “New Insights into J. Edgar Hoover’s Role,” Studies in Intelligence, 48, 1 (2003). Unclassified.
Source: www.cia.gov
This article focuses on the FBI’s operation of a foreign intelligence organization during World War II – the Special Intelligence Service – which focused on Latin America.
Document 10: Gregory T. Treverton, Richard Davidek, Mark Gabriele, Martin Libicki, and William (Skip) Williams, RAND Corporation, Reinforcing Security at the FBI, February 2003. Unclassified.
Source: FBI Freedom of Information Act Release
This RAND study was undertaken at the request of the FBI’s Security Division and reports the results of RAND’s assessment of the FBI’s efforts to establish a security program that would dramatically reduce the risk of another security compromise similar to that involving Robert Hanssen.
Document 11: Todd Masse, Congressional Research Service, Domestic Intelligence in the United Kingdom: Applicability of the MI5 Model to the United States, May 2003. Unclassified.
Source: Federation of American Scientists
In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks one suggestion for a possible change in the U.S. approach to domestic counter-terrorist intelligence was to remove such responsibilities (along with counterintelligence) from the FBI and create a separate organization along the lines of the British Security Service (better known as MI-5). This paper examines both political and organizational considerations relevant to the applicability of the British model as well as summarizing pending legislation.
Document 12: Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice,A Review of the FBI’s Performance in Deterring, Detecting, and Investigating the Espionage Activities of Robert Philip Hanssen, Executive Summary, August 14, 2003. Unclassified.
Source: Department of Justice
This review is the unclassified version of two classified reports on the same subject – a 674-page Top Secret/Codeword level report and a 383-page report. This version consists of five chapters, which examine Hanssen’s activities before joining the FBI and between 1976 and 1985; his career between 1985 (when he became supervisor of a technical surveillance squad in New York and offered his services to the KGB) and 1992; and deficiencies in the FBI’s internal security revealed during the OIG investigation. It also offers recommendations for changes in the FBI’s counterintelligence and security programs.
Document 13: Todd Masse and William Krouse, Congressional Research Service, The FBI: Past, Present, and Future, October 2, 2003. Unclassified.
Source: Federation of American Scientists
One part of this study is a review of the FBI’s history, its current status, and its future. In addition, it examines four issues facing Congress with regard to the Bureau – whether the FBI can adapt to a terrorist prevention role; some of the FBI’s criminal investigative work should be transferred to state and local law enforcement organizations; a statutory charter should be developed for the Bureau; and whether the planned collocation of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division and the Terrorist Threat Integration Center risks allowing U.S. foreign intelligence entities to engage in domestic intelligence activities.
Document 14: Office of the Attorney General, The Attorney General’s Guidelines for FBI National Security Investigations and Foreign Intelligence Collection , October 31, 2003. Secret/Noforn.
Source: Federation of American Scientists
This document is the result of a review of existing guidelines for national security and criminal investigations that was carried out after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The new guidelines authorize FBI investigations of threats to national security; assistance to state, local, and foreign governments in relation to national security matters; foreign intelligence collection by the FBI; the production of strategic analysis by the FBI; and the retention and dissemination of information from those activities.
Document 15: Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice, FBI’s Efforts to Improve Sharing of Intelligence and Other Information, December 2003. Redacted/Unclassified.
Source: Department of Justice
This audit focused on the FBI’s identification of impediments to its sharing of counter-terrorism related intelligence; improvements in its ability to share intelligence and other information not only within the FBI but with the Intelligence Community as well as state and local law enforcement agencies; and the dissemination of useful threat and intelligence information to other intelligence and law enforcement organizations.
Document 16: National Commission on Terrorist Attack Upon the United States, Memorandum for the Record, “Interview of [Deleted],” December 29, 2003. Secret.
Source: www.cryptome.org
This memo reports on an interview with a FBI reports officer (whose identity has been deleted) by members of the 9/11 Commission staff. It provides background on the interviewee, while the subjects of the remainder of the memo include, but are not limited to, the Terrorism Reports and Requirements Section, terrorism reporting, general impressions of the FBI, as well as the role of the Office of Intelligence and of reports officers and their products.
Document 17: Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice, FBI Legal Attaché Program, March 2004. Redacted/Unclassified.
Source: Federation of American Scientists
This audit examines the type of activities performed by the FBI’s Legal Attaché offices; the effectiveness of the offices in establishing liaison relationships with other U.S. law enforcement and intelligence organizations overseas; the criteria and process used by the FBI to locate offices; and the oversight and management of existing offices. The auditors reviewed operations at FBI headquarters and four of the Bureau’s 46 attaché offices.
Document 18: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Tactics Used by Eco-Terrorists to Detect and Thwart Law Enforcement Operations, April 15, 2004. Unclassified/Law Enforcement Sensitive.
Source: www.wikileaks.org
This assessment report focuses on sections of Earth First founder David Foreman’s Eco-Defense; A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching – which discuss some of the covers Foreman believes are used by law enforcement to infiltrate radical environmental groups and the means of identifying undercover law enforcement personnel.
Document 19: Federal Bureau of Investigation, The Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland: An FBI Assessment, April 15, 2004. Secret/NOFORN.
Source: FBI Freedom of Information Act Release
This secret assessment concerns the threat from Al-Qaeda as well as domestic terrorists (including terrorists from the white supremacist, animal rights, and hacker communities). It includes an examination of “Islamic Extremist Terrorism Trends.”
Document 20: Alfred Cumming and Todd Masse, Congressional Research Service, FBI Intelligence Reform Since September 11, 2001: Issues and Options for Congress, August 4, 2004. Unclassified.
Source: http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organizations/39334.pdf
In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks there were numerous proposals for reform of FBI intelligence operations. This study examines five options for Congress to consider – including creation of a domestic organization similar to the United Kindgom’s Security Service (MI-5), transferring domestic intelligence responsibilities to the Department of Homeland Security, and creating a national security intelligence service within the FBI.
Document 21: Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice, Internal Effects of the FBI’s Reprioritization, September 2004. Redacted/Unclassified.
Source: Department of Justice
This Inspector General report lays out the FBI’s new priorities announced by the Bureau’s director in May 2002: protecting the United States from terrorist attack, foreign intelligence operations, and cyber-based attacks. The report examines FBI changes in resource utilization from the 2000 and 2003 fiscal years to determine if the new priorities were reflected in FBI resource allocations.
Document 22: Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice, A Review of the FBI’s Handling of Intelligence Information Related to the September 11 Attacks, November 2004. Unclassified.
Source: Department of Justice
This 449-page report provides background concerning the FBI’s counterterrorism effort, and examines three key aspects of the FBI’s pre-9/11 work – its handling of the Phoenix communication and the Bureau’s attention to the possible use of airplanes in terrorist attacks, its handling of the Zacarias Moussaoui case, and its performance with respect to two of the 9/11 hijackers (Khalid al-Mihhar and Nawaf Al-Hazmi). It also provides several recommendations with regard to the FBI’s analytical program, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act process, and interactions with the Intelligence Community.
Document 23: Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice, FBI Efforts to Hire, Train, and Retain Intelligence Analysts, May 2005. Unclassified.
Source: Department of Justice
This Inspector General audit examines the FBI’s progress in meeting analyst hiring goals, analyst hiring requirements, establishing a comprehensive training program and reaching the training goals, analyst staffing and utilization in support of FBI activities, and retaining analysts. The auditors concluded that the FBI “made significant progress in hiring and training quality analysts, although significant issues remain[ed].”
Document 24: Alfred Cumming and Todd Masse, Congressional Research Service, Intelligence Reform Implementation at the Federal Bureau of Investigation: Issues and Options for Congress, August 16, 2005. Unclassified.
Source: Federation of American Scientists
This study attempts to assess the state of intelligence reform in the FBI, subsequent to the announcement that the Bureau would establish a National Security Service (which was ultimately known as the National Security Branch). It also discusses some of Congress’ options and areas for oversight.
Document 25: Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice, A Review of the FBI’s Handling and Oversight of FBI Asset Katrina Leung, Unclassified Executive Summary, May 2006. Unclassified.
Source: Department of Justice
In May 2000, the FBI received information that Katrina Leung, one of the Bureau’s most highly paid assets who was actively spying for the People’s Republic of China against the United States. The Secret 236-page report that was the product of the resulting investigation is summarized in this executive summary, which reports on the FBI’s Chinese counterintelligence program, the 18-year period in which Leung was operated by James J. Smith (who was also involved in “an intimate romantic relationship” with her), and the FBI’s investigation of Smith and Leung. It also reports the OIG’s conclusions and recommendations.
Document 26: Federal Bureau of Investigation, White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement, October 17, 2006. Unclassified/Law Enforcement Sensitive.
Source: FBI Freedom of Information Act Release
This assessment, drawn from open sources and FBI investigations, provides an overview of white supremacist infiltration of law enforcement. It reports the threats posed to intelligence collection and exploitation, as well as to elected officials and other protected persons. It also explains why different supremacist groups can benefit from a single penetration.
Document 27: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ghost Skins: The Fascist Path of Stealth, October 17, 2006. Unclassified/Law Enforcement Sensitive.
Source: FBI Freedom of Information Act Release
This intelligence bulletin focuses on ‘ghost skins’ – white supremacists who avoid giving any indication of their sympathy with Nazi beliefs and “strive to blend into society to be unrecognizable to the Jewish enemy.”
Document 28: Federal Bureau of Investigation, White Supremacy: Contexts and Constraints for Suicide Terrorism, April 20, 2007. Unclassified/For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive.
Source: FBI Freedom of Information Act Release
Suicide terrorism is defined in this study as instances in which a terrorist intentionally kills himself or herself while attempting to kill others or operations in which the terrorist expects to be killed by police or other defenders. It examines the prospects for organized suicide campaigns as well as for the white supremacist movement to generate lone offenders.
Document 29: Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice,FBI’s Progress in Responding to the Recommendations in the OIG Report on Robert Hanssen, Executive Summary, September 2007. Unclassified.
Source: Department of Justice
In the wake of the discovery that Robert Hanssen had provided the KGB and then the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) with extremely sensitive information about U.S. intelligence and counterintelligence activities, the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General examined FBI security practices and 21 recommendations to improve the Bureau’s internal security and its ability to deter and detect espionage by its own employees. This report assesses the FBI’s response to some of those recommendations.
Document 30: Federal Bureau of Investigation, A Threat Assessment for Domestic Terrorism, 2005 – 2006, September 18, 2007. Unclassified/For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive.
Source: FBI Freedom of Information Act Release
This study examines the activities, capabilities, opportunities, intent, and potential targets of a variety of domestic terrorist groups – including anarchist, animal rights, anti-abortion, Puerto Rican, and white supremacist extremists.
Document 31: Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice, A Review of the FBI’s Use of National Security Letters: Assessment of Corrective Actions and Examination of NSL Usage in 2006, March 2008. Unclassified.
Source: Department of Justice
This extensive review covers several aspects of the FBI’s controversial use of National Security Letters: corrective actions taken by the FBI and Department of Justice in response to an earlier Inspector General report on the use of NSLs; the FBI review of the earlier NSL report; NSL requests by the FBI in 2006; the effectiveness of national security letters as an investigative tool; Inspector General findings on the FBI’s compliance with non-disclosure and confidentiality requirements; and the improper or illegal use of NSLs reported by FBI personnel in 2006. It concluded that the FBI and Justice Department had made “significant progress” in implementing the recommendations from the earlier report but also offered 17 additional recommendations.
Document 32: Office of Inspector General, Department of Justice, A Review of the FBI’s Involvement in and Observations of Detainee Interrogations in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, and Iraq, May 2008. Unclassified.
Source: Department of Justice
This 438-page study consists of twelve chapters. Between the introductory and concluding chapters, it provides background on the FBI’s post-9/11 role and interrogation policies, early development of FBI policies regarding detainee interviews and interrogations, the concerns of Bureau agents about military interrogation activities at Guantanamo Bay, the Bureau’s response to the disclosures concerning Abu Ghraib, training for FBI agents in military zones, FBI observations regarding specific techniques used in Guantanamo, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and the Office of Inspector General’s review of alleged misconduct by FBI employees in military zones.
Document 33: Federal Bureau of Investigation, White Supremacist Recruitment of Military Personnel since 9/11, July 7, 2008. Unclassified/For Offical Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive.
Source: www.cryptome.org
This assessment, based on FBI case files from October 2001 to May 2008, examines why white supremacist extremist groups sought to increase their recruitment of current and former U.S. military personnel, the extent of their success, and the impact of recruitment on the white supremacist movement.
Document 34: Office of the Attorney General, The Attorney General’s Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations, September 29, 2008. Unclassified.
Source: Department of Justice
These guidelines, according to the introduction, were designed to allow full utilization of “all authorities and investigative methods, consistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States,” to shield the United States from threats to national security (including terrorism) and the victimization of individuals by federal crimes.
Document 35: Strategic Execution Team, FBI, The New Field Intelligence, March 2008-March 2009, 2009. Unclassified.
Source: FBI Freedom of Information Act Release
This study explores domestic intelligence collection, in 2008-2009, by FBI field offices. It focuses on organization, roles and responsibilities, collection management, HUMINT collection, tactical intelligence, production and dissemination, measuring and tracking performance, and implementation.
Document 36: Vivian S. Chu and Henry B. Hogue, Congressional Research Service, FBI Directorship: History and Congressional Action, July 25, 2011. Unclassified.
Source: Federation of American Scientists
This report examines the history of the 1968 and 1976 legislation that is the basis for the current nomination and confirmation process for FBI directors. It also discusses the precedent for lengthening the tenure of an office and the constitutionality of extending Robert Mueller’s tenure as director.
Document 37: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Anonymous’ Participation in “Day of Rage” Protest May Coincide with Cyber Attack, September 14, 2011. Unclassified/Law Enforcement Sensitive.
Source: www.publicintelligence.net
This intelligence bulletin reports the FBI’s assessment that the group of activist hackers known as Anonymous was likely to participate in the ‘Days of Rage’ protest in New York scheduled for September 17, 2011. The bulletin also notes past Anonymous activities that involved cyber attacks.
Document 38: Jerome P. Bjelopera, Congressional Research Service, The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Terrorism Investigations, December 28, 2011. Unclassified.
Source: Federation of American Scientists
This study focuses on key components of FBI terrorism investigations. It reports on enhanced investigative tools and capabilities, the revision of Attorney General guidelines for domestic FBI operations, intelligence reform within the FBI, and the implications for privacy and civil liberties inherent in the use of preventive techniques to combat terrorism.
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Notes [1] Don Whitehead, The FBI Story (New York: Pocket Books, 1959); Fred J. Cook, The FBI Nobody Knows (New York: Pyramid, 1972); Sanford J. Ungar, The FBI: An Uncensored Look Behind the Walls (Boston: Little, Brown, 1976); William C. Sullivan with Bill Brown,The Bureau: My Thirty Years in Hoover’s FBI (New York: W.W. Norton, 1979); David J. Garrow, The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr: From “Solo” to Memphis (New York: W.W. Norton, 1981); Richard Gid Powers, Secrecy and Power: The Life of J. Edgar Hoover (New York: Free Press, 1988); Ronald Kessler, The Secrets of the FBI (New York: Crown, 2011), and Tim Weiner, Enemies: A History of the FBI (New York: Random House, 2012). [2] Novels involving the FBI include those in the Ana Grey series, by April Smith, including White Shotgun (New York: Knopf, 2011) and Rex Stout’s The Doorbell Rang (New York: Viking, 1965). Films include The FBI Story (1959), Manhunter (1986), Mississippi Burning (1988), and J. Edgar (2011). Television shows featuring the FBI include I Led Three Lives (1953-56), The F.B.I. (1965-74), The X Files (1993-2002), and Fringe (2008- ). [3] “Quick Facts,” http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/quick-facts, accessed May 27, 2012. [4] Kessler, The Secrets of the FBI, pp. 194-195. [5] The Bureau’s COINTELPRO efforts are covered in Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Final Report, Book II: Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976). |
Things To Do When Bored
15 things to do at Wal-Mart while your spouse/significant other is taking
his/her sweet time
1. Get 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people’s carts when
they aren’t looking.
2. Set all the alarm clocks in housewares to go off at 5 minute intervals.
3. Make a trail of apple juice on the floor to the rest rooms.
4. Walk up to an employee and tell him/her in an official tone, ‘Code 3 in
housewares,’…and see what happens.
5. Go to the Service Desk and ask to put a bag of M&M’s on lay away.
6. Move a ‘CAUTION – WET FLOOR’ sign to a carpeted area.
7. Set up a tent in the camping department and tell other shoppers you’ll
only invite them in if they bring pillows from the bedding department.
8. When a clerk asks if they can help you, begin to cry and ask ‘Why can’t
you people just leave me alone?”
9. Look right into the security camera and use it as a mirror while you
pick your nose.
10. While handling guns in the hunting department ask the clerk if he
knows where the antidepressants are.
11. Dart around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the theme from
‘Mission Impossible’.
12. In the auto department practice your Madonna look using different size
funnels.
13. Hide in the clothing rack and when people browse through say ‘PICK ME!
PICK ME!!!!!!’
14. When an announcement comes over the loud speaker assume the fetal
position and scream ‘NO! NO! It’s those voices again’.
And last but not least,
15. Go into a fitting room and yell real loudly… ‘Hey! We’re out of toilet paper in here!’
Politically Correct Bumperstickers
1.Jesus loves you… but everyone else thinks you are an asshole
2. Impotence… Nature’s way of saying “No hard feelings”
3. The proctologist called… they found your head
4. Everyone has a photographic memory…some just don’t have any film
5. Save your breath…You’ll need it to blow up your date
6. Some people are only alive because it is illegal to shoot them
7. I used to have a handle on life… but now it is broken
8. WANTED: Meaningful overnight relationship
9. Hang up and drive
10. If you can read this… I can slam on my brakes and sue you
11. Heart Attacks… God’s revenge for eating His animal friends
12. Your ridiculous little opinion has been noted
13. Try not to let your mind wander… It is too small to be out by itself
14. Some people just don’t know how to drive… I call these people “Everybody But Me”
15. Don’t like my driving… Then quit watching me
16. Guys… just because you have one… doesn’t mean you have to be one
17. Welcome to America… NOW speak English
18. Hire the Handicapped: They’re fun to watch!
19. Death is nature’s way of telling you to slow down.
20. Asians don’t drive cars, they aim them ,,,,