#classified information

[elumish]

I am once again asking people to spend at least five minutes googling classified information and how it works in the United States before writing the most nonsensical things about it into their stories.

#classified information #operational security #us government #research

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

As the national security workforce ages, dementia impacting U.S. officials poses a threat to national security, according to a first-of-its-kind study by a Pentagon-funded think tank. The report, released this spring, came as several prominent U.S. officials trusted with some of the nation’s most highly classified intelligence experienced public lapses, stoking calls for resignations and debate about Washington’s aging leadership.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who had a second freezing episode last month, enjoys the most privileged access to classified information of anyone in Congress as a member of the so-called Gang of Eight congressional leadership. Ninety-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., whose decline has seen her confused about how to vote and experiencing memory lapses — forgetting conversations and not recalling a monthslong absence — was for years a member of the Gang of Eight and remains a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on which she has served since 2001.

The study, published by the RAND Corporation’s National Security Research Division in April, identifies individuals with both current and former access to classified material who develop dementia as threats to national security, citing the possibility that they may unwittingly disclose government secrets.

“Individuals who hold or held a security clearance and handled classified material could become a security threat if they develop dementia and unwittingly share government secrets,” the study says.

As the study notes, there does not appear to be any other publicly available research into dementia, an umbrella term for the loss of cognitive functioning, despite the fact that Americans are living longer than ever before and that the researchers were able to identify several cases in which senior intelligence officials died of Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive brain disorder and the most common cause of dementia.

“As people live longer and retire later, challenges associated with cognitive impairment in the workplace will need to be addressed,” the report says. “Our limited research suggests this concern is an emerging security blind spot.”

Most holders of security clearances, a ballooning class of officials and other bureaucrats with access to secret government information, are subject to rigorous and invasive vetting procedures. Applying for a clearance can mean hourslong polygraph tests; character interviews with old teachers, friends, and neighbors; and ongoing automated monitoring of their bank accounts and other personal information. As one senior Pentagon official who oversees such a program told me of people who enter the intelligence bureaucracy, “You basically give up your Fourth Amendment rights.”

Yet, as the authors of the RAND report note, there does not appear to be any vetting for age-related cognitive decline. In fact, the director of national intelligence’s directive on continuous evaluation contains no mention of age or cognitive decline.

While the study doesn’t mention any U.S. officials by name, its timing comes amid a simmering debate about gerontocracy: rule by the elderly. Following McConnell’s first freezing episode, in July, Google searches for the term “gerontocracy” spiked.

“The President called to check on me,” McConnell said when asked about the first episode. “I told him I got sandbagged,” he quipped, referring to President Joe Biden’s trip-and-fall incident during a June graduation ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, which sparked conservative criticisms about the 80-year-old’s own functioning.

While likely an attempt by McConnell at deflecting from his lapse, Biden’s age has emerged as a clear concern to voters, including Democrats. 69% of Democrats say Biden is “too old to effectively serve” another term, an Associated Press-NORC poll found last month. The findings were echoed by a CNN poll released last week that found that 67% of Democrats said the party should nominate someone else, with 49% directly mentioning Biden’s age as their biggest concern.

As Commander In Chief, the President is the nation’s ultimate classification authority, with the extraordinary power to classify and declassify information broadly. No other American has as privileged access to classified information as the president.

The U.S.’s current leadership is not only the oldest in history, but also the number of older people in Congress has grown dramatically in recent years. In 1981, only 4% of Congress was over the age of 70. By 2022, that number had spiked to 23%.

In 2017, Vox reported that a pharmacist had filled Alzheimer’s prescriptions for multiple members of Congress. With little incentive for an elected official to disclose such an illness, it is difficult to know just how pervasive the problem is. Feinstein’s retinue of staffers have for years sought to conceal her decline, having established a system to prevent her from walking the halls of Congress alone and risk having an unsupervised interaction with a reporter.

Despite the public controversy, there’s little indication that any officials will resign — or choose not to seek reelection.

After years of speculation about her retirement, 83-year-old Speaker Emerita Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stunned observers when she announced on Friday that she would run for reelection, seeking her 19th term.

#us politics #news #republicans #Democrats #boomers #Gang of Eight #sen. Mitch Mcconnell #sen. Diane Feinstein #rep. nancy pelosi #Senate Intelligence Committee #the pentagon #classified information #RAND Corporation #National Security Research Division #national security #dementia #cognitive decline #Alzheimer’s disease #security clearances #Fourth Amendment #gerontocracy #president joe biden #us congress #2023 #the intercept

[tomorrowusa]

Donald Trump's preternatural big mouth keeps making Special Counsel Jack Smith's job a lot easier.

An audio recording has emerged of Trump discussing in July of 2021 secret Pentagon attack plans from classified documents he illegally was keeping in his possession.

You can even hear him shuffling those classified papers in the recording.

Of course Republicans and MAGA toadies compete with each other to make idiotic excuses for Trump having those documents in the first place and then providing access to them for people without a security clearance.

If Bill Clinton had done something like that six months after leaving office we'd have seen mobs of crazed wingnuts storming Clinton's house in Chappaqua.

Here's the recording itself.

The last we hear of Trump on that recording is unmistakably Trumpian...

"Hey, bring some, uh, bring some Cokes in please."

There's nothing that makes him more thirsty than divulging military secrets.

We all know that Trump is a serial liar and that he doesn't care that we know he is. But now that he's under indictment and his case is going to trial, facts regarding the case matter a lot more. This recording disproves one of his contentions.

From the Washington Post.

The audio also runs counter to what Trump told Fox News anchor Bret Baier in an interview that aired last week. In the interview, Trump denied referring to an actual document during the conversation at Bedminster; rather, he said he was discussing “newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles.”

Sorry Donald, you can't George Santos your way out of this one.

#donald trump #lock him up! #military secrets #classified information #bedminster #indictment #jack smith #rachel maddow #lawrence o’donnell

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

December 15, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

DEC 15, 2023

CNN reporters today pulled together evidence from a number of sources to explain how “a binder containing highly classified information related to Russian election interference went missing at the end of Donald Trump’s presidency.” The missing collection of documents was ten inches thick and contained 2,700 pages of information from U.S. intelligence and that of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies about Russian efforts to help Trump win the 2016 presidential election. 

The binder went missing in the last days of the Trump presidency and has not been recovered. Its disappearance has raised “alarms among intelligence officials that some of the most closely guarded national security secrets from the US and its allies could be exposed.”

Reporters Jeremy Herb, Katie Bo Lillis, Natasha Bertrand, Evan Perez, and Zachary Cohen have pieced together the story of how in his last days in office, Trump tried to declassify most of the information in the binder in order to distribute copies to Republican members of Congress and right-wing media outlets. According to an affidavit by reporter John Solomon, who was shown a copy of the binder, the plan was to begin releasing information from it on the morning of January 20, 2021, so that it would hit the news after President Joe Biden had been sworn in. 

But late on January 19, while Solomon was copying the documents, White House lawyers recalled the copies to black out, or redact, sensitive information, worrying that while most of the facts in the binder were apparently already public, the methods of collection and persons involved were not. At some point in that process, an unredacted copy of the binder disappeared. 

A former aide to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson, told the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol last year that she thought Meadows took the unredacted binder with him. 

Today, in statements that seemed very carefully worded, Meadows’s lawyer, George Terwilliger, told CNN: “Mr. Meadows was keenly aware of and adhered to requirements for the proper handling of classified material, any such material that he handled or was in his possession has been treated accordingly and any suggestion that he is responsible for any missing binder or other classified information is flat wrong.” Terwilliger told the New York Times: “Mark never took any copy of that binder home at any time.” 

The missing binder was not among the material the Federal Bureau of Investigation recovered from Mar-a-Lago last year, and intelligence officials briefed the Senate Intelligence Committee about the missing information (the CNN story does not say that the House Intelligence Committee has been briefed). In April 2021, Trump allegedly offered to let the author of a book about him see the binder, saying “I would let you look at them if you wanted…. It’s a treasure trove…it would be sort of a cool book for you to look at.” 

The story of yet more missing classified information highlights that Judge Aileen Cannon, who was confirmed to her position after Trump lost the 2020 election, has permitted Trump to slow down United States of America v. Donald J. Trump, Waltine Nauta, and Carlos De Oliveira, the pending criminal case in which he and two aides are accused of mishandling classified documents under the Espionage Act as well as making false statements and engaging in a conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Perhaps even more strongly, at a time when House Republicans have declined to fund Ukraine’s war against Russia’s 2022 invasion, the story serves as a reminder of the role Russia played in Trump’s 2016 election and how, during Trump’s time in office, he continued to cultivate a relationship with Russia’s authoritarian president Vladimir Putin and to turn his back on America’s traditional democratic allies, including those in NATO. (At one point, he told National Security Advisor John Bolton, “I don’t give a sh*t about NATO.”) 

Indeed, Trump has suggested he would take the U.S. out of NATO if he returns to office, breaking the coalition that held first the Soviet Union and then Russia at bay since World War II. Such a betrayal would weaken all of the security alliances of the United States, according to Eastern European specialist Anne Applebaum, exposing the U.S. as an unreliable ally. As democracies ceased to work together, they would have to work with authoritarian governments, and after American political influence declined, so would the economic influence that has protected our economy. Authoritarian leaders like Putin would be the winners.

News about the missing binder also highlights just how hard Trump worked to convince his loyalists that that connection was a hoax. Although all U.S. intelligence services and the Republican-dominated Senate Intelligence Committee assessed that, in fact, Russia did intervene in the election to get Trump into the White House, many Trump loyalists continue to believe Trump’s lie that such interference did not happen. 

Trump’s determination to convince his followers that “Russia, Russia, Russia” was a hoax was in part an attempt to get out from under the legal implications of working with a foreign country to win an election but also, perhaps more profoundly, an attempt to make his followers believe his lies over reality. If he could make them believe him, rather than the conclusions of the U.S. intelligence community and the Senate, they would be his to command.

Russia, Russia, Russia was an important precursor to the Big Lie that Trump, rather than Joe Biden, won the 2020 presidential election. The Big Lie has failed at every test of evidence, and yet Trump loyalists still say they believe it. 

Today, former Trump ally Rudy Giuliani continued to defend the idea that the 2020 election had been stolen, even after a jury of eight Americans said he must pay the eye-popping sum of $148,169,000 to Georgia election workers Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman for defaming them by saying they had participated in election fraud—he made that up—and for emotional distress. Freeman and Moss had asked for $24 million each.

Of that verdict, $75,000,000 was for punitive damages, illustrating that spreading Trump’s lies so that they hurt individuals comes at a whopper of a cost. Giuliani had refused to cooperate in the case, although he admitted to the truth of the underlying facts, and he had continued to attack Moss and Freeman to reporters during the trial. 

Trump’s election lies that hurt companies are also costly, as the Fox News Corporation found when it settled with Dominion Voting Systems for $787 million over the media company’s lies about the 2020 election. 

Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) tried to address Trump’s attack on our democracy when this week they inserted into the National Defense Authorization Act a provision saying that no president can withdraw from NATO without approval from the Senate or from Congress as a whole. 

“NATO has held strong in response to Putin’s war in Ukraine and rising challenges around the world,” Kaine said. He added that the legislation “to prevent any U.S. President from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO reaffirms U.S. support for this crucial alliance that is foundational for our national security. It also sends a strong message to authoritarians around the world that the free world remains united.” 

Rubio added, “The Senate should maintain oversight on whether or not our nation withdraws from NATO. We must ensure we are protecting our national interests and protecting the security of our democratic allies.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Russia #Ukraine war #Letters from an American #Heather Cox Richardson #national security #NATO #classified information

[spymaster-and-socialite]

⚠️ i mean, we all know andre could do with some, in the words of sister cindy, "good old fashioned slut shaming"

Andre neither confirms nor denies the accusation. (ooc: but I confirm it >:))

#(i have that one tiktok audio in my head rn...) #(andre: maybe.... but that is not a crime) #classified information

[wojakgallery]

Title/Name: Edward Joseph Snowden, better known as ‘Edward Snowden’ or simply ‘Snowden’, born in (1983). Bio: American and naturalized Russian citizen who was a computer intelligence consultant and whistleblower who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency in 2013 when he was an employee and subcontractor. Country: USA / Russia Wojak Series: Feels Guy (Variant) Image by: Wojak Gallery Admin Main Tag: Snowden Wojak

#Wojak #Edward Snowden #Edward Snowden Wojak #Snowden #Snowden Wojak #USA #Russia #computer intelligence #consultant #whistleblower #classified information #National Security Agency #NSA #subcontractor #employee #Feels Guy #Feels Guy Series #Feels Guy Wojak #White #Gray

[bee-birb]

The Shad Dads

#gerald and doom are so proud #eggman is already plotting #tower is... there #they bailed shadow out of federal prison #sth #shadow the hedgehog #gerald robotnik #black doom #ivo robotnik #dr eggman #abraham tower #is there too ig #fuck tower honestly hes a hoe #/derogatory #shadow is embarrassed #his dads bailed him out #of federal prison #why was he there? #classified information

[midnightfunk]

#donald trump #mar-a-lago #fbi #justice department #ag merrick garland #investigation #classified information #search warrant #fbi raid

[hellyeahheroes]

Ignorance & Ceonsorship by Philosophy Tube

#thought provoking #thought provoking summer bummer #censorship #madia manipulation #book banning #ignorance #sex education #classified information

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

After he left the White House, former President Donald Trump allegedly shared sensitive information about U.S. nuclear submarines with an Australian billionaire who is a member of his Mar-a-Lago club, according to a pair of reports published on Thursday.

Trump shared the information with Anthony Pratt during an April 2021 conversation at the Palm Beach, Fla., golf club, according to ABC News, which first reported the development, citing sources familiar with the matter. The New York Times also confirmed the former president shared the information with Pratt, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The revelation was reported to special counsel Jack Smith's office, which charged Trump this year with mishandling classified documents, and prosecutors and FBI agents have twice interviewed Pratt this year about the discussion, ABC News reported.

Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, said in response to questions about the report, “These illegal leaks are coming from sources which totally lack proper context and relevant information. The Department of Justice should investigate the criminal leaking, instead of perpetrating their baseless witch-hunts while knowing that President Trump did nothing wrong, has always insisted on truth and transparency, and acted in a proper manner, according to the law.”

NBC News has also reached out to Pratt’s company for comment.

Pratt recounted that he told Trump during their conversation that Australia should buy submarines from the U.S., and an excited Trump "leaning" toward Pratt as if to be discreet, told him two pieces of information about American submarines, ABC reported, citing the anonymous sources. Trump shared the number of warheads that U.S. submarines typically carry and how close they can get to Russian submarines without being detected, according to both ABC News and The New York Times.

Trump didn't show any government documents to him during the meeting or any other time at Mar-a-Lago, sources told ABC News.

Pratt, executive global chairman of cardboard company Pratt Industries, then shared Trump's remarks with at least 45 other people through emails and conversations, reported ABC News, including journalists, Australian officials, three former Australian prime ministers and employees at his company.

According to the Times, Pratt is among more than 80 people whom prosecutors from Smith's office have identified as potential witnesses who could testify at Trump's trial that's slated to begin in May in Fort Pierce, Fla.

The special counsel's office declined to comment on the reports.

Just so we're all clear:

You can be jailed for taking photos inside a submarine but this motherfucker tells some rando billionaire about it's armament and capabilities and gets to lounge at his golf resort...

A tale of two Justice systems, indeed.

#us politics #news #the guardian #nbc news #donald trump #classified information #classified documents #us navy #nuclear submarines #Anthony Pratt #billionaires #Pratt Industries #Kristian Saucier #unauthorized detention of defense information #2023 #2016 #espionage act #espionage #treason #my thoughts

[mygirljunhee]

who's the other guy

#classified information

[tomorrowusa]

I'm sure we're all utterly shocked by Trump personally hording highly classified materials that Putin's Russia would find useful. /sarcasm

Material from a binder with highly classified information connected to the investigation into Russian efforts to meddle in the 2016 election disappeared in the final days of Donald J. Trump’s presidency, two people familiar with the matter said. The disappearance of the material, known as the “Crossfire Hurricane” binder for the name given to the investigation by the F.B.I., vexed national security officials and set off concerns that sensitive information could be inappropriately shared, one of the people said. [ ... ] [T]he raw version in the binder contained details that intelligence agencies believe could reveal secret sources and methods. (The publicly available version contains numerous portions that were whited out as classified.)

Jack Smith, please take note!

EDIT: A CNN report on the raw intelligence about Russia collusion in the 2016 election which wen missing during Trump's last 24 hours in power.

#donald trump #russia #classified information #trump russia collusion #missing secret papers #donald trump is a threat to national security #russia collusion #mark meadows #election 2024

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Today's Must Read: The FBI's most sensitive file concerning Russian active measures operations in the United States disappeared after being delivered to Donald J Trump. A binder containing highly classified information related to Russian election interference went missing at the end of Donald Trump’s presidency, raising alarms among intelligence officials that some of the most closely guarded national security secrets from the US and its allies could be exposed, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Its disappearance, which has not been previously reported, was so concerning that intelligence officials briefed Senate Intelligence Committee leaders last year about the missing materials and the government’s efforts to retrieve them, the sources said.

In the two-plus years since Trump left office, the missing intelligence does not appear to have been found. The binder contained raw intelligence the US and its NATO allies collected on Russians and Russian agents, including sources and methods that informed the US government’s assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election, sources tell CNN. The intelligence was so sensitive that lawmakers and congressional aides with top secret security clearances were able to review the material only at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where their work scrutinizing it was itself kept in a locked safe.

#CNN #Classified information #russia #TFG #missing intelligence #national security #political

[spymaster-and-socialite]

"Major André! Good afternoon." Peggy smiles as she walks up to the man she had a....crush? Fallen in love with at first sight? It was hard to tell.

Andre's heart leaps at the sight of her - a foreign feeling that he tries to conceal with an easy smile. "Miss Shippen. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

#classified information #ohohohoho

[eternalistic]

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION RECEIPT FOR PROPERTY Case ID: WF- [Redacted] On (date) 8/8/2022 item(s) listed below were: (X) Collected/Seized (Name) Mar-A-Lago (Street Address) 1100 S OCEAN BLVD (City) PALM BEACH, FL 33480

#trump #search warrant #receipt #search warrant receipt #politics #crime #espionage #fbi #doj #palm beach #florida #nuclear #classified information #mar a lago #news #2022 #current events #top secret #tre45on

[cyphorical]

#trump #bomb #riding #riding the bomb #nuclear secrets #nuclear #fbi #search warrant #espionage #classified information #doj #mar a lago #news #2022 #current events #top secret #tre45on