Booz Allen is watching you. Saving Private Snowden or Saving Public Manning? (Outsourcing intel in Patriot Act times - When Big Data meets Small Government)

So I received this email*, which is supposed to make me feel guilty:

"191,537 people have signed President Obama's birthday letter.

But you're not ONE OF THEM.

SIGN THE CARD."

 
Sorry, but I don't feel guilty. And this choice of picture... Barack Obama like Cary Grant carrying that glass of milk to Joan Fontaine in "Suspicion"...

Well. I'm still ONE OF THEM, them people who subscribe to Barack Obama newsletters. So the NSA didn't have to scan my profile to find out I didn't sign the darn card: I opted in 6 years ago. And yes, I still receive Karl Rove memos - you need a good laugh now and then.

Ah! Ah! Guantanamo, can't get tired of that old Bush-Cheney joke! Actually, Obama's America invented something even better than Guantanamo in Cuba: One-man-ammo in Russia! You're afraid to face unfair justice in the US? Uncle Vlad will be happy to provide tailored hospitality in his model democracy.

No, Eric Holder hasn't choked on a pretzel yet.

Frankly, I think Saving Private Snowden is less important than Saving Public Manning. I'm not talking about poor whistleblower Bradley Manning, but about national intelligence services.

Outsourcing intel at the core of NSA is already disturbing. To a Carlyle Group affiliate. As if Israel were outsourcing its strategy to the Boston Consulting Group. Sorry, wrong example.

Outsourcing intel in Patriot Act times, when Big Data meets Small Government.

Outsourcing intel means that the Big Brother who's watching you is not the NSA but Booz Allen Hamilton.

And don't think these contractors are very careful when they handle or man this most sensitive mission. Booz Allen CEO Ralph W. Shrader said "Mr. Snowden was on our payroll for a short period of time, but he was not a Booz Allen person and he did not share our values".

In other words: "Oh, you know, that mission you hired us for, spying for America? You can trust us: we gave the job to a most untrustworthy person. Anyway, we can't afford to keep the best ones, they sell their services to foreign companies and nations. Handling confidential NSA stuff, that's pretty good on a resume when you're looking for a job in Russia, in Pakistan, or at Facebook. Non Disclosure Agreements? We do those, but only to make sure the public doesn't know how much your Government is paying us. By the way, can we renegociate this contract of ours? We believe you need new servers and software to catch up with the competition. To build their own systems, they hired people who were trained on your obsolete material and knew all your weaknesses."

Talking about weaky leaks.

McLean, Va. 795,582,003,441,637,794 data burgers served across the world.





Outsourcing intel: - #ParriotAct + #BigData + small government = #BoozAllen is watching you - Saving private #Snowden or public #Manning?
twitter.com/stephanemot/status/363709151731388416
 
#Snowden: after #Guantanamo in #Cuba, the US created #OneManAmo in #Russia The moral hazards of outsourcing intel in #PatriotAct times
twitter.com/stephanemot/status/363710368557711362





blogules 2013
Since 2003, nonsensical posts about noncritical issues in nonenglish (get your blogules transfusion in French)
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Korea : too soft, but not soft enough

The major blackout Korea just experienced may be the consequence of a hacking of KEPCO earlier this year. It also could be due to a simple bug.

I can't help but believe in the first scenario, which would cast yet another unsettling cloud over the country and its security.

Over the past few months, Korea has proven embarrassing vulnerabilities in strategic areas :
- conventional warfare : military / organizational fiascos following North Korean attacks (ie Yeonpyeong)
- hackings / suspicious blackouts at the core of vital networks : financial (ie banks), media / internet, air traffic, and now electricity...

So regardless of who is responsible here (incompetence) or there (most fingers pointing at North Korea or China), a malicious organization could completely incapacitate Korea within minutes without using any conventional weapon. Even if the aim is not an invasion per se (nor even a diversion preceding an invasion of say North Korea), this would definitely damage the reputation of Korea as an economic powerhouse.

With its drive, infrastructures and talents, Korea should be ahead of Israel in national security. KISA (Korea Information Security Agency) significantly improved its visibility, but the national culture remains focused on hardware.

Samsung has eventually understood it needed to evolve and change business models, but it took series of obvious wake up calls (ie Google wolfing down Motorola). The government will probably follow suit. And if spurs are needed, the potential candidacy of Ahn Cheol-soo at the 2012 presidential elections might help : the founder of antivirus specialist AhnLab has some credentials in the area.


blogules 2011
(also on Seoul Village : "Korean blitz : all bases loaded")

Open Season for Yosemite Sam

The Congress voted 279-147 to allow guns in national parks.

Don't ask why representatives tackle such priorities in times of recession. I guess not every NRA card holder can afford paying for meat in his or her local Wal Mart. Who knows ? Some may even want to check if their mortgaged machine guns can still fire correctly.

Anyway, this votes marks a bipartisan "victory", since 105 Dems joined what happens to be a GOP initiative ("yes, we can have initiatives").

Dick "Yosemite Sam" Cheney plans to invite his closest friends to celebrate. The bang of a party in ... deed.

Bambi sadly commented on the vote : "The buck stops here".

AIPAC Hillary v. J Street Barack

My first reaction when I heard about the Clintons being vetted for Secretary of State and Chief Bubbassador was disappointment : I get the "good-cop - bad-cop" concept but to me, this looks like XXth century politics and XIXth century diplomacy.

My second reaction was : that's a darn good way of getting rid of the Clintons. Billy Boy will never accept to open his books (Prez library and beyond), and once again, turn into a liaBillity for the person who made a President Of The United States out of a cool dude from Hope, AR.

I guess we'll have to watch the usual good cop bad cop flick after all. The NYPD veteran swallowing her pride after the rookie took the medal she'd been coveting for decades, and now ready to catch a bullet for a not so cool dude from Hope, HI she wished (in her wildest dreams*) would catch one first.

Scenarists pushed the cliché all the way to the young tall Afro-American / old short blond Caucasian stereotypes. Their car is an old Detroit survivor with dented bumpers and a battered exhaust pipe spitting more tar than a chain smoker on his deathbed. The tough veteran can read NYC's mid forties streets like the palm of her own hand and would never miss an AIPAC meeting. The soft speaking toddler in an Hawai'ian shirt is more the J Street** kind of guy, but not the kind of person to sport bumper stickers for this kind of causes either.

Both have the full support of Police chief Biden a.k.a. Frank Drebin, their white haired, gaffe prone boss who knows the city best and can use a gun when needed.

This squad may not catch the most wanted terrorist but together, they can do a lot of damage to his network. Not to mention a lot of good things if scenarists truly really want the new series to become a hit.

Season I premieres Jan. 20.

* remember that old black & white movie, "Dial Hillary for murder" ? Feels like it was released eons ago.
** see "J Street - at last"

White blogule to the NYT - The State of the Union in Words

Dear compassionate reader,

Last year, I would release a scoop for your eyes only : the State of the Union speech as initially written by George W. Bush. A few days later, you could measure the gap between his fundamentalist way of thinking and the official propaganda*.

This year, a new face joined the sitcom for Season VII : behind the Kommander in Thief sitted Lobby Dick Cheney, as usual and with his trademark snarl, but also Nancy Pelosi, completing a perfect Good vs Evil picture.

And the New York Times offered an exciting gimmick to fully enjoy the show : an online search engine comparing the usage of keywords during all SotU speeches since 2001**. For example, the words Iraq/Iraqi(s) were never used in 2001, twice in 2002, and respectively 21, 24, 27, 16 and 34 times the following years. There is even a graphic showing the positions of all occurences in all speeches.

If you compare "Security" with "Social Security", you can notice all 15 occurences of the former were actually associated with the latter in 2001. One year later, only 2 of 19 occurences of Security had something to do with health.

Bush bats a steady 5,000 words and 53.5 "America" per speech, plus 5.7 for "United States". "China" is not exactly at the top of his mind : he uttered it once this year, tying the humble record of years 2002, 2003 and 2006. The "World" ? Dubya didn't care for it when he took office (2 mentions), gave it some consideration after 9/11 (19-26-13-15-27 between 2002 and 2006), and put it back to the bottom drawer in front of a semi-hostile audience yesterday (10).

The word "peace" has never been so unpopular in his mouth : 3 miserable appearances in 2007 after a solid 6- 5- 10- 5- 12- 8 streak. On the other hand, "war" is back to its peak levels : 11 vs 2-13-13-12-5-2.

Don't be fooled by this overall rather balanced 46-58 "peace-war" ratio : from 2001 to 2007, the POTUS mentioned only 19 "liberty" and 20 "democracy" vs 44 (non-social) "security" and 145 "terror".

Another propaganda favorite looks almost abandoned this year : the "Freedom" agenda knocked only 3 times at our door (vs 8-14-5-8-21-17). W seems to have some trouble selling values this season, so he sticks to less vague concepts and pitches below the waist, where Joe Sixpack can catch a neither fast- nor knuckle- ball. Significantly, the part of "freedom" in the overall occurences of "free" is also at its lowest point : 27% vs an average 65%, after last year's staggering peak (94.4%!).

Anyway... what George W. Bush said is one thing, how he looked another and what he'll do yet another. The actual State of the Union remains that of the Divided States of Amerika.

* "White blogule to the State of the Union speech - complete and uncut edition" (20060126), followed by "Red blogule to Demokracy - professor Bush's vision" (20060204)
** see nytimes.com/ref/washington/20070123_STATEOFUNION.htmlx

Red blogule to Logan International Airport - Better late than sorry

Associated Press reported yesterday an anti-terrorism drill at the Boston Airport "revealed flaws in the ability to respond to an attack", reminding the reader both 9/11 WTC torpedoes were launched from Logan.
Nothing to be amazed about : it took the authorities four and a half years to perform the said simulated hijacking (June the 4th) and six more months to release their report.
Who said the war on terror was a priority ? Who's in charge there ? Governors Ted Kennedy and JF Kerry ? The Prez whose vision of war on terror is to repeat "fasten your Bible belt" ?

Red blogule to Homeland Security's rainbow warriors

Rainbow Warrior was the name of the Greenpeace ship sunk by the French intelligence service as the organization tried to reach the site of nuclear tests, about 20 years ago.
Rainbow warrior is the name of the sinking US president as he tries to reach a more decent approval rate by raising both fear and the US Department of Homeland Security's threat level from Green to Blue to Yellow to Orange to Red*.
Neither Greenpeace nor Bush did swallow Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei's Nobel Price, the IAEA promoting from the start civil nuclear energy and its leader contesting from the start the existence of WMDs in Iraq.
Yesterday, you had to see Greenpeace leaders go nuclear and Dubya turn green... Now that's quite a weird association. And considering the intensity of the attacks on a former Nobel duet (the UN & Kofi Annan), ElBaradei could be considered an endangered specie.

* Is Amerika Ready ? For those feeling nostalgic for the McCarthy era, enjoy the government's website devoted to readiness. Coming soon after Ready Business and Ready America : Ready Kids. After Katrina, I guess they're working on Ready Pets as well.

Red blogule to counterterrorism in Korea

Judge Bruguiere warned Asian financial capitals : Al Qaeda may strike anytime soon. Hong-Kong, S'pore and Tokyo reacted more or less quickly but Seoul doesn't seem to realize Korea has soldiers in Iraq and a quite nice flock of Pakistanese fundamentalists around Itaewon's mosque. They don't seem to realize Seoul is a perfect hub for central asian terrorists the police cannot even dream of infiltrating.
Of course terrorists would have a tough time escaping the country safely and retaliation would easily strike the harmless bulk of these small communities, but they shouldn't care if they're ready to blow themselves up. I think the country could afford doing some research about this kind of stem cells too.

Red blogule to the Department Of Justice - "Preserving life and liberty" or Propaganda 101

The Department Of Justice proposes a justification to the Patriot Act on its "Preserving life and liberty" website (http://www.lifeandliberty.gov), with a special focus on "dispelling the myths" because this is about providing truth to those who dare objecting to the Propaganda and refusing "the pursuit of Happiness" (ignorance).
Note the site's title : this Administration sure knows how to preserve liberty (at the cost of thousands of lives, the apology of torture and the negation of justice), and it just proved it knew how to preserve life (theotherapeutical harassment for Terri Shiavo, not one finger lifted for Columbine II).
Right under the title lies a quote from the Declaration of Independence : "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted..." And that's it. They don't go any further. "Governments are instituted" in this context means this is the right, self-evident unalienable and secure body which shall do the job. Yet, I'll complete the quote, just for the education of the masses (not for fun, alas) : "... among Men, deriving their JUST POWERS from the CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED, that WHENEVER ANY FORM OF GOVERNMENT BECOMES DESTRUCTIVE OF THESE ENDS, IT IS THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO ALTER OR TO ABOLISH IT, AND TO INSTITUTE NEW GOVERNMENT." This site is definitely a masterpiece in editing for the sake of Propaganda...
Their justifications are very clear : the Patriot act...
... "Allows law enforcement to use surveillance against more crimes of terror" ("courts could permit law enforcement to conduct electronic surveillance to investigate many ordinary, non-terrorism crimes"... translation : we decide who is a terrorist)
... "Allows federal agents to follow sophisticated terrorists trained to evade detection" (translation : federal agents can act as terrorists, kidnap anyone anywhere anytime and evade the detection of human right groups)
... "Allows law enforcement to conduct investigations without tipping off terrorists" (translation : get rid of all safeguards to democracy. tipping off journalists is just as dangerous as tipping off terrorists so lets get rid ov'em too)
..."Allows federal agents to ask a court for an order to obtain business records in national security terrorism cases" (strange : they care about legality only when corporate money is involved)
... "Enhanced the inadequate maximum penalties for various crimes likely to be committed by terrorists" (translation : illegal detention without any proof, torture or death for the luckiest. shall we consider "likely to be" as "not committed yet but with such a profile it's just as well" ?)
... "Enhanced a number of conspiracy penalties" ("conspiracy" as in "I wish Bush weren't reelected" ? "penalties" as in "torture" ?)
The propaganda goes on with the "support of the people" section where polls justify the Patriot Act :
=> These two questions were asked by USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll on August 29, 2003, at a time when the heat was not at its peak on the Patriot Act : "Do you think the Bush administration has gone too far, has been about right, or has not gone far enough in restricting people's civil liberties in order to fight terrorism?" and "Based on what you have read or heard, do you think the Patriot Act goes too far, is about right, or does not go far enough in restricting people's civil liberties in order to fight terrorism?".
=> These two questions were asked even earlier (July 31, 2003) by a very trustable propaganda tool (Fox News/Opinion Dynamics) : "After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Congress passed the Patriot Act which, in part, gives federal officials wider authority to use wiretaps and other surveillance techniques. Some people say the Patriot Act is a necessary and effective tool in preventing terrorist attacks, while others say the act goes too far and could violate the civil liberties of average Americans. Which comes closer to your view - overall, would you say the Patriot Act is a good thing for America or a bad thing for America?" and "To the best of your knowledge have you or a member of your family had your civil rights affected by the Patriot Act?"
Now moving on to the "stories and articles" section : the first quote is an editorial from a very conservative magazine, National Review and the rest is a selection you would expect from a political brochure but not from a Government's official site.
This is a textbook example of a dictatorship justifying itself. Stephane MOT on a forum

Red blogule to the Contra-terrorism squad

Much has been said about John Negroponte's past in the troubled Contra scandal, involving torture in Honduras and sponsoring terrorist activities. Well this man should know about intelligence, and the former Honduras, UN and Iraq ambassador may have changed. Everybody has a right to make mistakes, but there is a pattern : strangely enough, 3 other former Contra men have been promoted at key positions since last november elections :

• John Poindexter : the new Information Awareness Office Director at the Pentagon lied to the Congress and was convicted several times
• Elliot Abrams : this man pleaded guilty to have not disclosed information about the scandal. Five years later Bush I forgave him and now Bush II appoints him head of his Middle East task force
• Otto Reich : from the State Department, Reich would be involved in illegal pro-Contra propaganda. He's now working for the Western Hemisphere Affairs.

So in this lovely Administration, the head of justice promotes torture and the people in charge of counter-terrorism and diplomacy used to sponsor terror and torture. You know what you've got to do if you want to be promoted. Just stick to the stick.

White blogule to the "Stop Government Propaganda Act"

I love this no nonsense name - the perfect answer to the "Patriot Act" and its likely sequels ("Freedom Act" ? "Stop Tyranny But Collect Intel Efficiently Act" ?). I just wish it weren't just a daring project from a few Democrats but a strong commitment by this Administration. Stephane MOT