Update no.618

Update from the Heartland

No.618

14.10.13 – 20.10.13

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

To all,

The follow-up news items:

-- At 00:30 [R] EDT, Thursday, 17.October.2013, President Obama signed into law the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014 [PL 113-046; H.R.2775; House: 285-144-0-3(3); Senate: 81-18-0-1(0); 127 Stat. xxxx] just in the nick of time [615-17].  The law kicks the can down the road, since once again Congress proved unable to perform its constitutional duty on time, and extends the previously extended funding for a few months until 15.January.2014 and the debt limit until 7.February.2014, when we get to go through these convulsions all over again.

            The current Members of Congress being what they are – flawed men – could not resist spending (borrowing) even more money.  Buried in the legal language of PL 113-046 is §123 of Division A – Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014, which states in full,  “Section 3(a)(6) of Public Law 100-676 is amended by striking both occurrences of `$775,000,000' and inserting in lieu thereof, `$2,918,000,000'.”  Now, if I did not have the voracious curiosity of which I am plagued, I probably would not have thought much about §123.  This single line item adds US$2+B of NEW spending for which the federal government apparently has insufficient revenue, i.e., more borrowing, more debt.  Now, given the financial situation created by Congress, you would think this has to be really important, a near life-or-death matter.  Well, not so fast Kemosabe.  The amended law referred to in the §123 line item is the Water Resources Development Act of 1988 [PL 100-676; 102 Stat. 4012; 17.November.1988], §3(a)(6) of which authorizes dam and lock construction by the Army Corps of Engineers on the Lower Ohio River, between Illinois and Kentucky.  Now, who would be so interested and driven during this time of fiscal struggles to spend US$2+B more of precious, borrowed, Treasury funds?  Wait for it . . . wait for it . . . let’s see, isn’t Senate Minority Leader Addison Mitchell "Mitch" McConnell, Jr. from Kentucky?  What a coincidence!  McConnell’s office says the senator knew nothing of the funding increase for these water works.  Well, if not McConnell, could it be the junior Senator Randal Howard "Rand" Paul of Kentucky?  Likewise, his office says, “I know nut-ting!”  It seems no one wants to own up to spending two billion more new dollars.  What is worse, these two Republican senators love to throw crap at President Obama for his out of control spending.  In all fairness, the two senators from Kentucky may not have known that someone placed the two billion of unspecified funding in the continuing appropriations bill, and the assumed Dam & Lock, 52 & 53, Project may be a very worthy and necessary construction project for Ohio River commerce.  However, the timing of such spending has to be absolutely abysmal and an affront to all good citizens.  McConnell voted for the bill; Paul voted against it.  Both Senators Durbin and Kirk of Illinois voted for the bill.  As often attributed to the late Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen of Illinois, “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you're talking real money.”  Oh what the hell, it is only another two billion dollars to feed the pork barrel of corrupt insanity that has become Congress.

-- The latest dribble from the Snowden betrayal [599] raises another interesting question. 

“Documents reveal NSA’s extensive involvement in targeted killing program”

by Greg Miller, Julie Tate and Barton Gellman

Washington Post

Published: October 16 [2013]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/documents-reveal-nsas-extensive-involvement-in-targeted-killing-program/2013/10/16/29775278-3674-11e3-8a0e-4e2cf80831fc_story.html

What purpose is served in such Press articles regarding stolen material that illuminates intelligence means and methods?

            “The Post is withholding many details about those missions, at the request of U.S. intelligence officials who cited potential damage to ongoing operations and national security.”  I laud the Post’s restraint, however I think the newspaper went too far, even in their withholding position.

            For those who understand and appreciate history, what do you think would have happened to a guy like Snowden, who betrayed the United States decryption of the Japanese JN-25 naval code (Purple) and the MAGIC signals intelligence program, or the decryption success of the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS AKA Station X or Bletchley Park) [the forerunner of the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)] with the German Enigma codes and the ULTRA signals intelligence program, 71 years ago?  For those who do not or cannot appreciate the consequences of such a disclosure during the dark days of World War II, I cannot possibly explain it in this humble forum.  MAGIC was the decisive difference in the Battle of Midway (4.June.1942).  ULTRA was the decisive difference in the 2nd Battle of El Alamein (23.October.1942).  Snowden’s treason has given al-Qa’ida and their affiliates extraordinary insight into how we wage war against them.  I suspect we will be less successful in the future.  I hope Snowden never gets a good night’s sleep until he is tried, convicted and punished for his crimes; he will never know when a bunch of men in black attire will visit him in the middle of the night.  He has betrayed today’s MAGIC and ULTRA programs; he must suffer the consequences of that treason.

            Would our military and political leaders 71 years ago felt better if it was only the messages that were disclosed?  Any modestly intelligent person can quickly deduce that certain messages had to come from decryption of the intercepted messages.  Both the Japanese and the Germans believed their codes were unbreakable.  Just a hint of possible compromise would have resulted in changes to the codes and a total loss of an incalculably valuable intelligence source.

            I am just as curious as the next guy.  I read the Miller article with attentive interest.  However, there are some things the public simply does not have a right to know . . . until the intelligence value of such information has evaporated.  Frankly, I think responsible members of the Press should quietly and anonymously assist the government when individuals seek to disclose highly classified intelligence material.  On the flip side, the Press cannot be an agent of the government.  The Press is a necessary check on government power and authority.  Yet, they are also citizens of this Grand Republic and freedom-loving peoples.

            The sad reality of Snowden’s treason remains the scale and depth of his betrayal, which means we are likely to suffer these dribbled disclosures for painfully extended time of highly classified material meant only to harm the government of this Grand Republic and our Allies.  Sure enough, Snowden was able to do what he did directly because of a stark failure of the intelligence and counter-intelligence apparati of the United States; they bear ultimate responsibility.

This whole World War II Memorial farce was political theater in the same vein as Senator’s Cruz’s lame filibuster demonstration.  The reason the Memorial was closed and fenced off was the park rangers who are tasked with protecting the solemnity of the site were on furlough because of Cruz and his ilk; those old veterans should be criticizing Cruz & his cronies rather than the park rangers or the administration.  What would folks say if the site was vandalized while unmanned; who would they blame for the senseless destruction?  Oh yeah, I forgot, everything is President Obama’s fault.  It is sad and unfortunate that some veterans succumb to the Siren’s Song, but I guess that is life.  Likewise, it is tragic to see a noble political party being held hostage by a radical minority faction.  And so it goes!

News from the economic front:

-- Fitch Ratings placed the AAA credit rating of the United States of America on watch for a downgrade, as Congress played Russian roulette with this Grand Republic's debt limit.  Congress pulled the trigger as noted above and the happenstance chamber was empty; lucky for us . . . this time.  This action comes after the Standard & Poor’s rating agency downgraded the U.S. sovereign debt from AAA to AA+ on 5.August.2011 [503] the last time we played this game.  Just an historic exclamation point to this nonsense: Congress also created this so-called debt limit with passage of the Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917 [PL 65-I-043; 40 Stat. 288; 24.September.1917] [502, 580], which imposed a debt limit of US$7.539B.  You know, now that I think of it, if I was a conspiracist, using the nation’s debt limit and consequent strength of the country’s currency would be a great way to seriously reduce our ability to protect our national interests worldwide.  A far more effective tool than the isolationist America Firsters used 75 years ago.  Perhaps that is what the Tea Party Republicans are really after.

-- The Labor Department said it would release September's employment report next week and the October employment report will be delayed one week due to the government shutdown.

-- The Wall Street Journal reported J.P. Morgan Chase has reached a tentative agreement of roughly US$4B to settle claims the bank misled mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about the quality of mortgages it sold to them during the housing boom.  According to the WSJ report, the amount is less than the US$6B initially sought by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

-- Various news sources also reported J.P. Morgan Chase has reached a tentative US$13B deal with the Justice Department to settle a number of outstanding probes of its residential mortgage-backed securities business.  It is not clear whether this out-of –court settlement is in addition to or inclusive of the FHFA deal noted above.  The sad reality is even if the former, the total amount must be a mere fraction of the profits the bank made and more significantly the destruction wrought upon this Grand Republic and the world economy as a consequence of their greed.  This is hardly punishment, but it is better than nothing.

Comments and contributions from Update no.617:

“I was somewhat alarmed reading your account of 'so called whistle blowers' you have added FBI/CIA/NSA/DoJ after their names. Are you in fact saying that these individuals are or were former employees of your government?

“If this is indeed the case isn't there a fundamental issue with selection and continuous loyalty assessment of such personnel? I've always had the view that such incidents must be the responsibility not just of the character concerned but of those above him, the senior management. A case in question is the wrecking of the Costa Concordia. Plainly such a tragic breach in the Captain' responsibilities to his passengers crew and company made him an unacceptable risk to employ in such a job. Why wasn't these traits spotted earlier, in the selection process possibly? Do we in fact look deep enough into these people's mind set? Should we be doing a continuous 'risk assessment' on their attitudes to authority and government?”

My response:

            Yes, they were USG employees.  In American parlance, a whistleblower is a person that exposes criminal or unethical conduct by a government employee or agency, or within industry.  Drake violated the law and went to prison for his crimes.  Crowley and Radack did not handle their revelations well, but I’m not aware of any law-breaking.  I don’t know that much about McGovern; however, his endorsement of Assange pretty well says it for me.  None of them even came close to the scale and depth of betrayal as Snowden.  I doubt convicted traitors like Hanssen, Ames, Walker, or even Fuchs, Hall or the Rosenbergs disclosed as much classified material as Snowden has done.

            Back in my day, the FBI did the background checks for security clearances.  Post-9/11, I guess the FBI agents are too busy tracking down terrorists to do such mundane tasks as background checks.  Reliance on for-profit contractors as was the case with Snowden, it is recipe for what happened with Snowden.

            Yes, there are failures at many levels with guys like Snowden.  There are signs, if we just paid attention to them.  It is one of the traits I think MI5 does quite well . . . look for signs and quietly & gradually focus on bad apples.  We need an agency with the capabilities of MI5 and we also need an Official Secrets Act [2 & 3 Geo. 6 c. 121].  Yes, I think we should be doing constant risk assessments and we need an intelligence apparatus like MI5 to develop the picture from the dots hopefully before a guy like Snowden can do what he did.  I’m convinced there were signs; the supposedly cognizant people did not look or did not note the signs.

 . . . a follow-up comment:

“I wasn't aware that you didn't have an equivalent to the Official Secrets Act. My limited knowledge of your history tells me that the Rosenbergs went to the gallows for their crime as indeed we would in times of war. However if your justice system gets a hand on Snowden I assume 30 years would be about right.

“Even now after 17 years since my discharge I'm careful just what I can say. And that my friend is how it must be.  Loyalty to one's country and to the democratic system we both have defended demand it.”

 . . . and my follow-up response:

            Nope; I wish.  The key difference is the OSA enjoins the Press from knowingly publishing classified material.  Our classification systems work primarily at the source; once the information gets to the Press, all bets are off -- the Daniel Ellsberg case being a notorious example.

            The figurative gallows for the Rosenbergs; I think they were executed by electrocution, not that it really matters.  They were just as much traitors as Lord Haw-Haw.  I think Snowden has done far more damage to the national security of this Grand Republic as well as the United Kingdom and Germany than anyone else I can think of or know about.  In that context, 30 years confinement is not enough.  We don’t execute traitors these days but we should.  I think someone is going to get him, just as I have confidence someone will get Assange; it is only a matter of time.

            I share your sense of loyalty.  I was given the privilege of access to highly sensitive material for which I am grateful.  I’ll be damned if I will be a source for anyone, at any time.

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                        :-)