Obama’s crackdown views leaks as aiding enemies of U.S.

[limpyhobbler]

Obama’s crackdown views leaks as aiding enemies of U.S.

WASHINGTON — Even before a former U.S. intelligence contractor exposed the secret collection of Americans’ phone records, the Obama administration was pressing a government-wide crackdown on security threats that requires federal employees to keep closer tabs on their co-workers and exhorts managers to punish those who fail to report their suspicions.

President Barack Obama’s unprecedented initiative, known as the Insider Threat Program, is sweeping in its reach. It has received scant public attention even though it extends beyond the U.S. national security bureaucracies to most federal departments and agencies nationwide, including the Peace Corps, the Social Security Administration and the Education and Agriculture departments. It emphasizes leaks of classified material, but catchall definitions of “insider threat” give agencies latitude to pursue and penalize a range of other conduct.

Government documents reviewed by McClatchy illustrate how some agencies are using that latitude to pursue unauthorized disclosures of any information, not just classified material. They also show how millions of federal employees and contractors must watch for “high-risk persons or behaviors” among co-workers and could face penalties, including criminal charges, for failing to report them. Leaks to the media are equated with espionage.

“Hammer this fact home . . . leaking is tantamount to aiding the enemies of the United States,” says a June 1, 2012, Defense Department strategy for the program that was obtained by McClatchy.
...

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/06/20/194513/obamas-crackdown-views-leaks-as.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. My, we have truly gone down the rabbit hole

Leaks to the media are equated with espionage.

There was a time, we will get here soon, where reporters were simply eliminated. Those are not cute chicks either.

Go ahead, call me paranoid... go ahead, for all I care (not directed to the OP) We have crossed some very dangerous ground this past decade.

Soon, (well we are pretty much there) watching the news is only for the rubes. I think I need to find new background noise.

[HardTimes99]

12. Maybe Obama will set up his own Plumbers Unit, eh? Operation Gemstone v. 2.0 - nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. What should frighten people is a version of

.... Battalion 100 from the Central American Wars.

[HardTimes99]

14. Oh, Gemstone (v. 1.0) had its moments too, including still-born plans to

assassinate or otherwise incapacitate Daniel Ellsberg. Even that squid John Mitchell couldn't contain his exasperation when G. Gordon Liddy briefed him on plans for Gemstone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gemstone

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. Yeah, but Battalion 100, a product of the 1980s

and Negroponte, actually became operational and did kill thousands, it is thought. Some of them reporters. In fact, to this day being a reporter in Central America might find you suicided.

Version 2.0 will include that. We have now dug so deep down the damn rabbit hole that fully grown frakesteins are coming home to roost.

[Phlem]

2. While we're hunting all enemies of the US

Seems that congress is doing better job than the Taliban these days.

-p

[quinnox]

3. Jesus, wasn't it Nixon who was a paranoid asshole, wanting to spy on everyone

and thinking he had enemies all over the place? This shit is getting surreal.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Getting? From Frank Zappa

“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”

[daleanime]

31. And we're almost there.....

the question is what happens next.

[limpyhobbler]

15. There does seem to be a paranoid streak in the current government.

Not surprising considering some of the scandalous shit they've been keeping secret.

[Harmony Blue]

35. This is so unsettling...

[ohheckyeah]

4. Maybe we could pass a law that

kids have to report their parents for suspicious behavior.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. I am not laughing, that is coming

or fellow internat board members I am in deep shit over that one.

[ohheckyeah]

9. ??

I'm not laughing either.

[Fumesucker]

51. What do you think they teach the kids in the DARE classes?

Turn in your parents if you think they're using drugs, we only want them to get the help they need.

[ohheckyeah]

53. Seriously?

They teach kids that crap in DARE classes?

They already have neighborhood spies called Neighborhood Watches.

[Fumesucker]

54. They've been doing that since at least the late 80's when my kid was in grammar school

I can't imagine it's gotten any better in the meantime.

[ohheckyeah]

55. Wow.

I don't have children so I have a big gap in my knowledge of what kids are taught.

Thanks for the info.

[Fumesucker]

56. Just remember, children were taught to turn in their parents in the Soviet Union

When I was in grammar school turning in your parents was presented to us as a bad thing that those Pinko Commies taught their kids to do.

One generation was all it took for our society to do a complete 180 on kids dropping the dime on their parents.

[ohheckyeah]

57. I remember the

thing about turning in parents in the Soviet Union.

Things certainly have changed. Having been raised in a small southern town, I was raised to mind my own business and to NEVER talk about family and personal stuff outside of the family. It went too far in the opposite direction as I knew a number of my peers who were suffering from child abuse.

[cali]

5. utterly sickening.

[Catherina]

8. Meanwhile we're arming real enemies of the US in the Middle East

Please explain to me how that one works. Rec'd

[zeemike]

30. It's purely a business diecision

You can't make any money in the war business unless you have a war and blow things up...and no armed enemy no war.

[Harmony Blue]

36. This is true

the War or Terror scheme was running out of steam so they needed to fuel the flame once more.

[montanacowboy]

10. Ah - Transparency

Hope, Change blah blah

Who IS this guy

[warrprayer]

11. Jeebus.

I guess some people didn't get the memo....

[karmalk]

16. all of these so called 'scandals' are played up by GOP opperatives

if you got to the bottom of it, that's what you would find, IMO

[limpyhobbler]

17. Thanks for the info! I will look into that. nt

[truedelphi]

18. Once you realize that almost half the states have privatized their prison

System, and in many cases signed contracts that they will keep those prisons filled to 98% capacity, then it stands to reason that somebody has to be put behind bars.

Might as well be us keyboard warriors. I mean, this Administration is certainly not gonna go after the Bankers or other Folks that actually are the criminals.

[Cali_Democrat]

19. And Snowden's disclosure will only cause this administration to be even more heavy handed

when it comes to leaks.

[Rex]

20. Ya guy works on contract for the NSA for 15 months, has a GED

and nothing else and just happens to get buy without anyone noticing. I still don't buy that one. It is funny that they think we can be fooled into thinking it is about national security. NO, it is more like national embarrassment.

[RobertEarl]

21. I'd be running scared too

Knowing that the NSA has been tapping everyone's phones and emails, the ONLY way to put any kind of lid on it is to cover the whole govt.

There is no telling what Cheney has on everyone in the Obama administration.

[99Forever]

22. You always hated Obama!

And racist racist racist...

(you know which smilie goes here, I hope)

[WillyT]

23. Didn't The NAZI's Use This Tactic ???

Next up... children reporting on their parents.



& Rec !!!

[Warren DeMontague]

25. His Atty. General views a wheelchair-bound granny smoking a joint as an enemy of the state.

So, surprised? No.

[ProSense]

26. Why is this

"Obama’s crackdown views leaks as aiding enemies of U.S. "

...being reported as if it's a secret or as if the documents aren't widely available?

In a separate piece, McClatchy printed the two agencies' responses.

Questions and answers from the government on the 'insider threat program'
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/06/20/194535/questions-and-answers-from-the.html

Here is the DoD directive: https://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/d5240_06.pdf

The piece pertains to the following Executive Order:

Executive Order 13587 -- Structural Reforms to Improve the Security of Classified Networks and the Responsible Sharing and Safeguarding of Classified Information
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/10/07/executive-order-structural-reforms-improve-security-classified-networks-

From the OP article:

There are, however, signs of problems with the program. Even though it severely restricts the use of removable storage devices on classified networks, Snowden, the former NSA contractor who revealed the agency’s telephone data collection operations, used a thumb drive to acquire the documents he leaked to two newspapers.

“Nothing that’s been done in the past two years stopped Snowden, and so that fact alone casts a shadow over this whole endeavor,” said Steven Aftergood, director of the non-profit Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy. “Whatever they’ve done is apparently inadequate.”

Yeah, it isn't working, and the fact that outside contractors are in the mix likely has a lot to do with it.

[limpyhobbler]

28. Probably McClatchy News service is motivated by racism, bigotry, hatred and envy.

that's the only reason I can think of.

Anyways there's nothing in the story that implies the "Insider Threat Program" is a secret program.

[ProSense]

29. No, that's not it. Maybe it's

a trojan horse for the corporate establishment.

Could be anything.

[pscot]

32. You are busier than a one-armed shortstop.

[ProSense]

37. I'm having fun.

You?

[pscot]

38. Always

I hope you aren't taking all the crap personally. Everyone seems a little overwrought right now.

[ProSense]

40. Nah,

"I hope you aren't taking all the crap personally. Everyone seems a little overwrought right now."

...I love a good debate. Optimism and laughter works.

[GeorgeGist]

27. Outsourcing proves the reason is otherwise.

[zeemike]

33. And shows the merger of government and the corporation

Which is the definition of Fascism.

[Progressive dog]

34. That is not the definition of fascism

Try a dictionary or even wikipedia.

[zeemike]

48. I was referring to the original version...

"Similarly, fascism as an ideology is also hard to define. Originally, "fascism" referred to a political movement that was linked with Corporatism that existed in a single country (Italy) for less than 30 years and ruled the country from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini."

[snappyturtle]

39. OMG! One of the scariest articles I've ever read. This is not the

America I grew up in. Here's a tidbit:

Employees must turn themselves and others in for failing to report breaches. “Penalize clearly identifiable failures to report security infractions and violations, including any lack of self-reporting,” the strategic plan says.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/06/20/194513/obamas-crackdown-views-leaks-as.html#storylink=cpy

[nadinbrzezinski]

41. But, but people objected when I call this country a dictablanda.

We are quickly crossing to full blown dictadura. (Dictartorhip)

[snappyturtle]

42. Well, don't count me as one of those people. I have been

worried since the original Patriot Act was spawned within what seemed like milliseconds of the attack on 9/11. This is very bad.

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. I know.

I guess I am your talking of the cool kids.

[Cromwell]

44. Nothing new here...

http://www.cert.org/insider_threat/

You'll perhaps note that work on this topic started in 2001.

[blackspade]

45. This is fucking crazy.

We have all stepped through a portal into the twilight zone.

[Cromwell]

46. No, not really.

Consider the cases at the link I provided above - they range all the way from employees of trading companies taking information out to 'favored' clients (insider trading) to DoD 'leaks' to foreign governments (do we want the Chinese to know the vulnerabilities of an F-32?). Let's just pause and think for a moment, before responding with panic; if you work for a large corporation, you've probably been 'scanned' already - the computer at work is not your property, and you should have no expectation of 'privacy' on a company computer.

[nadinbrzezinski]

47. Yes dear, we have.

My last address to you on this thread.

[Cromwell]

49. LOL - you have what?

Absolutely nothing, really. Sorry to see you give up on rational discussion.

[Blue_In_AK]

50. This is not going to end well.

How can you whistle blow through proper channels if it's the " proper channels" you're blowing the whistle on?

[backscatter712]

52. So who are enemies of the state now?

Let me guess: The ACLU, EFF, Occupy.

Am I on the mark or what?

[limpyhobbler]

58. Sorry that's Top Secret info you're asking for there. nt

[WillyT]

59. K & R !!!

[BOG PERSON]

60. thats f'd up

guess we're all "Agent Mike" now