NSA Contractor charged for leaking secret report on Russian Hacking efforts!

[Caolela]

Here's a question for you: ...

I haven't said this was the only "leak" or manufactured hype about Russia. That's your invention. Of course we've seen this kind of movie before and I've pointed that out, but I've said this particular bullshit skullduggery is not coincidental that it comes when it does.

About the only thing you're correct about now is that your attempts to spin here are indeed falling on deaf ears at this point, because you're simply repeating "what ifs" and assuming things to me that I've never said or implied, or many things that you wouldn't know specifically how I came to know them ("everything you said has been said by many others on this forum"; "the conclusion you have been led to believe is nothing but something you had your hand held to get to"; "And you think you walked all on your own.").

Just like your attempt at labeling me a Trump groupie fell flat, so does your latest vacuous post.

Move along, JB, there are other fish to fry. This one has been cooked well enough.

[Cthulhu 2020]

I haven't said this was the only "leak" or manufactured hype about Russia. That's your invention. Of course we've seen this kind of movie before and I've pointed that out, but I've said this particular bullshit skullduggery is not coincidental that it comes when it does.

About the only thing you're correct about now is that your attempts to spin here are indeed falling on deaf ears at this point, because you're simply repeating "what ifs" and assuming things to me that I've never said or implied, or many things that you wouldn't know specifically how I came to know them ("everything you said has been said by many others on this forum"; "the conclusion you have been led to believe is nothing but something you had your hand held to get to"; "And you think you walked all on your own.").

Just like your attempt at labeling me a Trump groupie fell flat, so does your latest vacuous post.

Move along, JB, there are other fish to fry. This one has been cooked well enough.

I do love it when people who fancy themselves independent thinkers and everyone else sheeple ignore the most important questions asked of their own flimsy world view. Yes, what I am saying is falling on deaf ears since you'd rather sit in your bunker than attempt to tackle questions that bring your whole reality tumbling down.

Your avatar seems incredibly appropriate right about now. The sheep with his ears plugged accusing others of being unthinking. How humorously ironic.

[Caolela]

You haven't posted anything that would bring anyone's "world tumbling down". You're only shilling desperately as an anti-Trumper now.

I'd like to see the half-wit out of the White House as much as anyone, but not in this way. There's something called the rule of law and due process. This continuing NSA/CIA/FBI absurdity backed by the usual suspects is not that.

Done here.

[Sky High]

You haven't posted anything that would bring anyone's "world tumbling down". You're only shilling desperately as an anti-Trumper now.

I'd like to see the half-wit out of the White House as much as anyone, but not in this way. There's something called the rule of law and due process. This continuing NSA/CIA/FBI absurdity backed by the usual suspects is not that.

Done here.

oh, please share for all of us how YOU would be conducting an investigation of this scale and potential magnitude. all you're hammering home here is how little you trust our intelligence apparatus which is fine (whatever) but I fail to see how the process thus far isn't following the rule of law.

[Cthulhu 2020]

You haven't posted anything that would bring anyone's "world tumbling down". You're only shilling desperately as an anti-Trumper now.

I'd like to see the half-wit out of the White House as much as anyone, but not in this way. There's something called the rule of law and due process. This continuing NSA/CIA/FBI absurdity backed by the usual suspects is not that.

Done here.

I've only said numerous times that I'm waiting to see how the investigation goes. I have no life-and-death attachment to the idea that Trump was in collusion with Russia. But you either have to have been living under a rock OR believe that the thousands of people in the CIA, NSA and FBI are all colluding in one massive conspiracy to make Trump look bad to believe that the Russian collusion thing is "highly unlikely".

Everyone in his administration lying about Russian contacts? Lying about trying to create back channels that couldn't be monitored? Lying about past connections? Lying about meetings? Trump trying to force the investigations to end? Trump trying to quietly get Russian sanctions removed? Trump will be live tweeting during the Comey testimonies? Sounds like he's scared of the narrative if he doesn't say something. Why would he be afraid of what Comey is going to say, if there's nothing there? Why does he feel this need to control the narrative?

And going back to him quietly trying to get Russian sanctions removed - Trump never does anything quietly. He's always grand and loud and seems to have fits and seizures if he doesn't get public recognition for his actions. So why try and hide that he wanted Russian sanctions removed?

As I said, in the face of everything, believing all of this to be nothing means you've exempted yourself from participating in reality for the last year.

[Karfal]

It's always a young contractor that keeps leaking all this stuff, hasn't the government learn not to trust these kids!?

Hope she enjoys wearing Jumpsuits and spending lots of quality time in an 8x6!

Wow a bernie sanders supporter that hates america. Im surprised.

[Caolela]

This has all been discussed previously. As I've plainly said, there may or may not have been Trump campaign contact with various Russian officials. It is very doubtful in regards to hacking or attempting to tilt the election but if untoward comms did occur, it likely would be on oil and other financial/profit issues.

This election hacking/fixing thing is obviously, as I also mentioned earlier, a projection by the NSA of what the DNC has been accused of onto their political enemies.

You're beating a horse that you hope will somehow take wing and magically oust Orange Furor from his perch. Talk about exempting yourself from reality...

I will leave you with a couple of articles that, while a bit of reading, shouldn't take long and will give you a better perspective than what you're laboring under now:

Top DHS official announces retirement amid IG investigation
POSTED 9:24 PM, MAY 1, 2017, BY CNN WIRE

http://wtvr.com/2017/05/01/top-dhs-o...investigation/

In early April, the chairs of the Senate Homeland Security Committee and the House Oversight Committee sent the inspector general a letter requesting more information about the probe. In the letter, the chairs — Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz and Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson — wrote: “Whistleblowers have expressed concern to us regarding the OIG’s responsiveness to these allegations.”

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=georgia+dh...v56-6_d&ia=web

Georgia Secretary of State, Brian Kemp, to the Department of Homeland Security questioning why someone with a DHS IP address (216.81.81.80) had attempted to hack into his state’s election database on November 15, 2016 at 8:43AM. Now, according to WSB-TV in Atlanta, we learn that Georgia’s election systems were actually the target of hacking by DHS on 10 separate occasions.

The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office now confirms 10 separate cyberattacks on its network were all traced back to U.S. Department of Homeland Security addresses.

In an exclusive interview, a visibly frustrated Secretary of State Brian Kemp confirmed the attacks of different levels on his agency’s network over the last 10 months. He says they all traced back to DHS internet provider addresses.

“We’re being told something that they think they have it figured out, yet nobody’s really showed us how this happened,” Kemp said. “We need to know…”

…The first one happened on Feb. 2, the day after Georgia’s voter registration deadline. The next one took place just days before the SEC primary. Another occurred in May, the day before the general primary, and then two more took place in November, the day before and the day of the presidential election.

Kemp has now written a letter to the Trump administration asking for a formal review after his inauguration next month.

Last week, the DHS confirmed the large Nov. 15 attack traced back to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection internet gateway. But Kemp says the DHS’ story about its source KEEPS CHANGING.

“First it was an employee in Corpus Christi, and now it’s a contractor in Georgia,” Kemp said.

Unsatisfied with the response he got from DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson this week, Kemp fired off a letter Wednesday to loop in President-elect Donald Trump.

“We just need to ask the new administration to take a look at this and make sure that we get the truth the people of Georgia are deserving to know that and really demanding it,” Kemp said.

Kemp says several of those scans came around the same time he testified before Congress about his opposition to a federal plan to classify election systems as “critical infrastructure,” like power plants and financial systems.

As we’ve said before, despite all the media attention on “Russian hackers,” this cyberattack, originated from within our own Department of Homeland Security, is the only actual confirmed case of hacking related to the 2016 election.

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp is anxiously wondering, as are we, why someone with a Department Of Homeland Security IP address would try to hack into his State’s voter registration database. Even though DHS offered cyber security help to states prior to the election, the Wall Street Journal notes that Georgia was one of the states that specifically denied assistance.

The secretary of state of Georgia is asking the Department of Homeland Security to explain what appears to be an attempted breach of the state’s voter registration database by someone in the federal government.

In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson dated Thursday, Georgia’s Secretary of State Brian Kemp said the state had discovered an unsuccessful attempt to breach the firewall of state computer systems. That attempt was linked to an IP address associated with DHS, he said.

“At no time has my office agreed to or permitted DHS to conduct penetration testing or security scans of our network,” wrote Mr. Kemp, a Republican. “Moreover, your department has not contacted my office since this unsuccessful incident to alert us of any security event that would require testing or scanning of our network.”

The alleged attempted intrusion by the federal government on a state computer system responsible for election security was detected by a third-party security firm working for the state of Georgia. The attempt was unsuccessful, according to the state. The computers also house information about company incorporations.
According to a letter written by Kemp to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, the attempted intrusion occurred 1 week after the election on November 15, 2016 at 8:43AM and came from an IP address associated with DHS (216.81.81.80).

Of course, since the hacking a state’s election database it technically illegal, even for DHS, Kemp had some fairly pointed questions for Johnson on who authorized the scan and how many other states were scanned without authorization.

Meanwhile, the potential hacking followed threats from Jeh Johnson leading up to election day to declare election systems “critical infrastructure” which would have given the federal government more authority over state databases.

The Department of Homeland Security made a major push in advance of November’s elections to help states secure election systems against possible hacking, as fears of foreign interference in the U.S. election process reached a fever pitch in the months leading up to Election Day.

The department also considered declaring election systems “critical infrastructure,” which would have given the federal government additional authority to protect the systems. DHS didn’t take that step, however, as many states expressed concern about additional federal authority over their election systems and said the constitution provided states the right to run their own elections.

As a result of some of the concerns, the department clarified that assistance on election-related security matters was voluntary and encouraged states to take advantage of DHS resources and expertise to help secure state election systems.

“DHS assistance is strictly voluntary and does not entail regulation, binding directives, and is not offered to supersede state and local control over the process,” Mr. Johnson, the DHS chief, said in September.

Georgia was one of the states that had declined the federal government’s assistance for election security, citing state sovereignty. “Right now, we’re just demanding answers,” said David Dove, a top aide to the Georgia secretary of state. “My boss, Secretary Kemp, has been a very vocal critic of the Department of Homeland Security declaring election systems critical infrastructure.”

After all the talk about Russian hackers, wouldn’t it be just perfect if it turns out that the Obama administration was the only group to actually attempt to illegally hack into a state election database? That said, we won’t hold our breath waiting for Jill Stein and disaffected Hillary supporters to express their outrage over this incident.

...and:

NSA contractor charged with leaking report on alleged Russian election hacking

By Patrick Martin
7 June 2017


A 25-year-old contractor for the National Security Agency, Reality Leigh Winner, was arrested Monday and charged with leaking a top-secret NSA document to the Intercept. The arrest came barely an hour after the on-line publication posted an account of an NSA report sent in anonymously, summarizing NSA findings about alleged Russian hacking during the 2016 US elections.

The circumstances of the document being leaked to the Intercept and the leaker being arrested on the day of publication are extremely murky, even suspicious. Press accounts suggest that efforts by Intercept reporters to confirm the authenticity of the document in effect tipped off the FBI and NSA to the fact of the leak, and they quickly traced it to Winner, who had made little effort at concealment.

Intercept reporters told an intelligence contact that the document had been mailed with an Augusta, Georgia postmark and asked him to verify it was genuine. The publication also submitted a copy of the document to the office of the Director of National Intelligence, announcing the intention to make it public. The DNI asked for redactions—in effect, confirming the document was genuine—and the Intercept agreed to make some of the requested cuts.

Subsequently, the FBI had little difficulty tracing Winner, who had worked at Pluribus International, an NSA contractor in Augusta, since leaving the US military in December 2016. She was one of six employees at the Augusta facility who had printed out the document, and the only one who had been in email contact with the Intercept from her own computer. The document posted by the Intercept also apparently had a barely visible marker that indicated the time when and location where it was printed.

The entire investigation lasted only five days: the FBI received the document on June 1, interviewed Winner on June 3, when she admitted leaking the report, and arrested her on June 5. She is now held in the county jail in Lincolnton, Georgia, charged with “removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet,” in violation of the Espionage Act. She faces a prison term of as much as 10 years.

According to several press accounts, Winner was a linguist in the Air Force for six years, trained in the main languages of Afghanistan and Iran, Pashto, Dari and Farsi, and had held a top-secret security clearance. Her most recent deployment was at Ft. Meade, Maryland, where the NSA headquarters is located. Her exact work is undisclosed, but likely involved monitoring telecommunications and Internet intercepts from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.

Winner was reportedly upset over the election of Donald Trump and had vented her outrage on Twitter as recently as mid-March. She had subscribed to a podcast from the Intercept where founder Glenn Greenwald expressed skepticism about US intelligence agency claims that the Russian government carried out the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, in an effort to help Trump win the election.

The document Winner leaked adds nothing probative to the campaign waged by the Democratic Party and a section of the military-intelligence apparatus over alleged Russian hacking.

Like previous public “findings” by the intelligence agencies, released in October and January, the NSA document only summarizes conclusions reached by NSA analysts, with varying levels of “confidence,” but does not include any of the raw intelligence that would constitute actual evidence.

Nevertheless, the Intercept’s article, co-written by Matthew Cole, Richard Esposito, Sam Biddle and Ryan Grim, begins with the provocative statement, “Russian military intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before last November’s presidential election,” according to the document.

The Intercept has published a number of articles in recent weeks generally supportive of the Democratic Party’s Russia-centered campaign against the Trump administration.

The NSA document claims that Russian military intelligence probed a US vendor of software used by voter registration agencies in eight states, using a hacking method of little sophistication, to gain information needed to send spear-phishing emails to dozens of local election agencies, most of them at the county level.

These emails purported to come from the vendor, identified in press reports as VR Systems of Florida, and sought to trick employees of the election agencies to click on a word document infected with malware. How many such emails were successful was not clear.

The Intercept article, published June 5, acknowledges the absence of actual documentation to support the conclusions of the NSA analysis, adding, “A U.S. intelligence officer who declined to be identified cautioned against drawing too big a conclusion from the document because a single analysis is not necessarily definitive.”

The bulk of the article rehashes the unsupported assertions by the NSA while noting that none of the alleged hacking targeted facilities where votes were tabulated or had any effect on the outcome of the election. The eight states included California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New York, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia, but none of the three industrial states that gave Trump his Electoral College victory, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

In only one of the states using VR Systems software, North Carolina, was there any software malfunction on Election Day. The registration system failed in Durham, forcing local officials to switch to paper ballots and extend voting hours to accommodate long lines. State election officials said the VR Systems software was not responsible for the problems, which they attributed to user errors, adding that there was no evidence of “any suspicious activity during the 2016 election.”

While the substance of Winner’s leak seems less than compelling, the Democratic Party and pro-Democratic media outlets immediately seized on this supposed confirmation of the allegations of Russian hacking in the 2016 elections.

The ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, declared Tuesday that the report in the Intercept meant that “we now have verified information” of Russian intervention. “In any other circumstances this would be an earthquake,” she said at the beginning of a committee hearing where Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly was the main witness. McCaskill pressed Kelly to take steps to protect voting systems in the future.

...

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017.../leak-j07.html

It is a tempest in a teapot. Another garden path conjured and peddled for public consumption to those ignorant and eager enough to believe Trump's enemies' hype that "the Russians did it!"

Because?

The deep state that opposes Trump has zero else of any substance at the moment to go after him with. If there was actual evidence of impeachable offenses like there was during Watergate, all hell would break loose in the media and Congress. So it's revert to Plan B for now: innuendo, obfuscation, disinformation.

[Nadiru]

Didn't the NSA leak about the Russian haxxors go at odds with the Trump-Russia narrative anyway, by saying that the two events were unrelated?

[Rukh]

No. They would have no idea whether it was related or not.

[Garnier Fructis]

The deep state that opposes Trump has zero else of any substance at the moment to go after him with. If there was actual evidence of impeachable offenses like there was during Watergate, all hell would break loose in the media and Congress. So it's revert to Plan B for now: innuendo, obfuscation, disinformation.

You bring up Watergate but fail to note that all hell took years to break lose.

[Rukh]

The deep state that opposes Trump has zero else of any substance at the moment to go after him with. If there was actual evidence of impeachable offenses like there was during Watergate, all hell would break loose in the media and Congress. So it's revert to Plan B for now: innuendo, obfuscation, disinformation.

oooor the "deep state" is nothing but a bogeyman in your head and republicans control congress.

[Nadiru]

You bring up Watergate but fail to note that all hell took years to break lose.

It was also uncertain as to what had gone on in the first place. With Trump-Russia, the Dems have already figured out what they want to be the outcome, so I'm going to guess it's full speed ahead, be it into a utopia where Trump goes to jail or into a brick wall which may or may not have "lack of evidence" drawn on it like a political cartoonist might.

- - - Updated - - -

oooor the "deep state" is nothing but a bogeyman in your head and republicans control congress.

Congress isn't the deep state. If you're going to invoke the "it's a fake bogeyman" argument then at least get your target right. The deep state refers to the myriad unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats in various organizations - especially intelligence organizations - which undermines radical institutional shifts.

[Caolela]

You bring up Watergate but fail to note that all hell took years to break lose.

There was no reason to note it, because it's well known that they had better substance to go on - within hours after the burglary the FBI knew who Hunt was and the "White House Plumbers" and days later, discovery that at least one was a GOP aide; within 2 months the $25.k check for Nixon's re-election campaign was found in the bank account of one of the burglars, etc.

None of it was manufactured "evidence", or really non-evidence, by rogue, deep state agencies as we have now. Nixon was gone by Aug. 1974, and would have been much sooner had he not tried to extend the cover-up as long as he could.

It was an entirely different situation AND we had a press that were actually doing their jobs.

[Cthulhu 2020]

This has all been discussed previously. As I've plainly said, there may or may not have been Trump campaign contact with various Russian officials. It is very doubtful in regards to hacking or attempting to tilt the election but if untoward comms did occur, it likely would be on oil and other financial/profit issues.

This election hacking/fixing thing is obviously, as I also mentioned earlier, a projection by the NSA of what the DNC has been accused of onto their political enemies.

You're beating a horse that you hope will somehow take wing and magically oust Orange Furor from his perch. Talk about exempting yourself from reality...

I will leave you with a couple of articles that, while a bit of reading, shouldn't take long and will give you a better perspective than what you're laboring under now:

It tends to go the other direction my friend. Republicans are accused of fuckery, then they turn it around and blame the same on the Democrats. In this case, the poll rigging theory started off as just that, with not much credence. It's the Trump campaign and Russia that have been lending it credency, as well as this released report about Russia... actually attempting to hack into the polling booths.

As I said, you must have been living under a rock for the last year, that's the only reasonable explanation for how you're this uninformed on the issues and dismissive of allegations against Trump that are turning more and more real every day.

- - - Updated - - -

There was no reason to note it, because it's well known that they had better substance to go on - within hours after the burglary the FBI knew who Hunt was and the "White House Plumbers" and days later, discovery that at least one was a GOP aide; within 2 months the $25.k check for Nixon's re-election campaign was found in the bank account of one of the burglars, etc.

None of it was manufactured "evidence", or really non-evidence, by rogue, deep state agencies as we have now. Nixon was gone by Aug. 1974, and would have been much sooner had he not tried to extend the cover-up as long as he could.

It was an entirely different situation AND we had a press that were actually doing their jobs.

We have similar paper trails and bread crumbs leading us in directions on this Trump investigation.

Plus the media is sticking firmly to it rather than getting distracted.

Let me as you one more time: Why are so many people and organizations trying to distract us from the Trump investigation? If nothing is there then why is everyone so desperate to declare it was "nothing" or in your case, almost assuredly nothing.

[Mayhem]

(Not many people know that Exxon owns some 63 million acres of land in Russia that is largely unexplored for fossil fuels. Rex and his pals can't wait to get their hands on whatever may lie under that land, and that's THE main reason he was made Sec'y of State for the Orange Scamster.)

Hum, makes little sense then that he will not lift sanctions on Russia unless Crimea is returned...

[Orbitus]

This has all been discussed previously. As I've plainly said, there may or may not have been Trump campaign contact with various Russian officials. It is very doubtful in regards to hacking or attempting to tilt the election but if untoward comms did occur, it likely would be on oil and other financial/profit issues.

This election hacking/fixing thing is obviously, as I also mentioned earlier, a projection by the NSA of what the DNC has been accused of onto their political enemies.

You're beating a horse that you hope will somehow take wing and magically oust Orange Furor from his perch. Talk about exempting yourself from reality...

I will leave you with a couple of articles that, while a bit of reading, shouldn't take long and will give you a better perspective than what you're laboring under now:




...and:



It is a tempest in a teapot. Another garden path conjured and peddled for public consumption to those ignorant and eager enough to believe Trump's enemies' hype that "the Russians did it!"

Because?

The deep state that opposes Trump has zero else of any substance at the moment to go after him with. If there was actual evidence of impeachable offenses like there was during Watergate, all hell would break loose in the media and Congress. So it's revert to Plan B for now: innuendo, obfuscation, disinformation.

When you talk about bullshit like the "deep state" bullshit, you pretty much lost any and all credibility you have. Only conspiracy theorists believe that shit.

[Caolela]

Hum, makes little sense then that he will not lift sanctions on Russia unless Crimea is returned...

Another pipe dream. Crimea will not leave Russian Fed. since they did after all vote freely to join it by a large majority (don't rattle on about "at gunpoint" because that argument is another canard). However, there can be various ways to get around sanctions depending on how they're set up. Also, Trump/Rex could be waiting for a more politically opportune time.

Doesn't change the fact that Rex & Exxon were already into Russia up to their knees way before the election.

- - - Updated - - -

When you talk about bullshit like the "deep state" bullshit, you pretty much lost any and all credibility you have. Only conspiracy theorists believe that shit.

Only the very gullible and non-informed hermits don't realize it.

[Haven]

The biggest question I'm asking myself, is why are all the Russians, Trumpkins, and "independents" (lololololol) trying so hard to distract everyone else from Trump's failings and the Russian connections? Why is Trump acting like the guiltiest person in the world? Why are all of his advisers being caught having very cozy ties with Russia, and lying about them?

Yes, us thinking people are asking ourselves, "Why are they so desperate to distract us from all of the bombshells dropping about Trump?"

If you want to find the people trying to create distractions, look no further than The_Donald and its loyalists who are always trying to push some conspiracy or another.

So yes, we'll continue to ask, "Why are you trying so hard to distract everyone from Trump's weekly bombshells?"

You don't even know what a distraction is and how it works. To deny and to distract are different things.

[Orbitus]

Another pipe dream. Crimea will not leave Russian Fed. since they did after all vote freely to join it by a large majority (don't rattle on about "at gunpoint" because that argument is another canard). However, there can be various ways to get around sanctions depending on how they're set up. Also, Trump/Rex could be waiting for a more politically opportune time.

Doesn't change the fact that Rex & Exxon were already into Russia up to their knees way before the election.

- - - Updated - - -



Only the very gullible and non-informed hermits don't realize it.

First off, I will respond to both points you tried to make. Crimea didn't vote whether or not to join Russia. They had 2 options on the ballot when they voted in 2014, one said yes to join Russia, another wasn't the option to put no. The other option was to have basically a free Crimea. It is no wonder that most of the vote went to join Russia, simply because the ballots didn't have the option to go back to Ukraine.

And your 2nd point about the "deep state", the only morons I EVER see say this, are Fox News and conspiracy theorists. Are you either of them? Because no one has proven that there is anything of a "deep state".

[Mayhem]

Another pipe dream. Crimea will not leave Russian Fed. since they did after all vote freely to join it by a large majority (don't rattle on about "at gunpoint" because that argument is another canard). However, there can be various ways to get around sanctions depending on how they're set up. Also, Trump/Rex could be waiting for a more politically opportune time.

Doesn't change the fact that Rex & Exxon were already into Russia up to their knees way before the election.

You mean a time when the administration doesn't look like they are directed by Russia? I'm not going to defend Tillerson here, but saying, he was put in place to lift the sanctions while he himself is saying they will stay, is a bit stupid.