Guest Post by Southern Sage
I got a chuckle the other day watching a noted Swamp Creature, one Phil Mudd, put on a display of outrage and indignation when a black commentator correctly pointed out that Mudd – like many former senior officials in Washington – had cashed in on his government service big time. Mudd stormed off the stage in high dudgeon. The argument started over the decision by President Trump to revoke the security clearance of John Brennan, an old friend of Mudd.
Mudd wears his CIA service on his sleeve, as well as his supposed “counter-terrorism” credentials. Just so you know, Mudd is nothing more than a desk jockey, an analyst who sat on his big behind in Washington while real CIA officers did the heavy lifting overseas. He is just another Washington bureaucrat.
Certain people in government service are issued security clearances as a requirement of their jobs because they work with classified information. The level of the clearance depends on what information you will have access to. For example, CIA officers hold a Top Secret/SCI clearance. From time to time they are given other “code word” access for particular programs. Top Secret is the highest general clearance but SCI clearance and other code word clearances are added on to a person’s file as needed. In the CIA just about everybody has to have a TS/SCI clearance, for obvious reasons. In many Federal agencies most of the clearances issued are at the Secret or Confidential level. For example, all military officers have to have a Secret clearance.
A Top Secret/SCI clearance is much less common than a Top Secret or Secret clearance and it is extremely expensive to process it. They try to keep the numbers down. Also, they try to keep the number of people with access to information compartmented, the famous “need to know” idea. For example, if I was assigned to France I would receive most of the intelligence on that country and Europe, and general intelligence analysis for other parts of the world, but I would not be privy to, say, operations in Moscow. No need to know. It should also be said that there are also various levels of highly classified material that only very small groups have access to and others that only circulate to senior government and military officials. The whole idea is to ensure that a single spy working for a foreign power can’t have access to information from across the intelligence community, the military or other parts of the government. I might have the highest clearances in the Agency but I have no need to know nuclear weapons codes.
In many government agencies, including the CIA, if you retire in good odor you are allowed to retain your clearances for a period of time, sometimes two years or more. There are good reasons for this. Many Agency officers retire and go immediately to work with government contractors or with the Agency itself. It makes no sense to make them go through the entire TS/SCI investigation process the day after they retire. Many of these guys have skills in great demand and nobody else has them.
The most senior officials are allowed to keep their clearances for a longer period of time and, in some cases, they even retain some access (a clearance and access are different things).
A valid clearance, especially at the TS/SCI level, is a valuable commodity and is always noted on your resume if you are looking for work with an agency or company that has any kind of classified work or government contacts. You can maintain your clearance for years if you are careful and make the right moves.
The key point about clearances is that nobody has a “right” to one. Nobody. They are issued for the convenience of the government and ultimately at the pleasure of the president. The only – and very narrow – exception would be if you could prove that somebody had removed your clearances out of personal spite, prejudice or some such thing. In practice, this almost never happens. The real bottom line is that the president (or the head of any Federal agency that issues clearances) can cancel them or revoke them at any time for any reason. There is no appeal. This is purely an executive decision. Having a clearance is not like the right to vote, or bear arms, or get a Social Security check.
Regarding the John Brennan hoo-hah, Trump has every right to revoke his clearances and those of any other former or serving official of the government. Full stop. Nobody else has a voice or vote on this. Trump does not have to give any reason for it, either.
In this case, however, he did. Sarah Sanders made it perfectly clear why Trump revoked Brennan’s clearance (one he should never have had in the first place, as an admitted Communist sympathizer, but that is another issue). Brennan’s outrageous public comments and his involvement in the so-called “Russiagate” canard, now being exposed in all its grisly glory, are more than enough reason to revoke his clearances. Any other former Agency officer who behaved as he has would have been immediately stripped of his clearances and Brennan knows it. The fact is that Brennan is a ring leader of an attempt to illegally remove a constitutionally-elected president from office, in effect, a coup plotter. Comey, Brennan, McCabe, Strzok, Yates, Ohr, John McCain, Rice and a host of others would face a firing squad or hangman’s noose in any country where the rule of law still ran.
As for Phil Mudd, he exploded in rage when the African-American gentleman pointed out that he himself had made a pile after his retirement from the government thanks to retaining his security clearances. The gentleman should have added that Mudd’s wealth was really due not just to his clearances but to his membership in what has become known as the Deep State. People like Mudd, who has held senior positions at the Agency and the FBI (he is a protégé of Robert Mueller, no less) are almost guaranteed huge salaries, bonuses and benefits at government contractors, think tanks, and consulting firms. They have golden parachutes for life. Mudd, with a look of injured outrage and indignation on his face, denied that he had ever made penny because of his clearances. This may or may not be true in a technical sense, but, as Mudd knows very well, his claim is bullshit. He is part of the club, he is protected from any chance of having to actually work for a living for the rest of his life. Mudd’s performance was ridiculous for anybody who knows the score.
Of course, the real reason for his hissy fit is that he suspects (correctly, I think) that Trump is planning to cancel the security clearances of the swamp creatures like Mudd who have tried to undermine his presidency and the will of the American people. The loss of the clearance may not have any direct effects on their earning power but it sends a powerful signal that they no longer are part of the inner circle. That is a fate worse than death for the men who think they know what is good for the American people.
If I was Trump, any former senior official who said a peep against me would have his clearances pulled the next day. These people are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, in or out of government. Suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome is no excuse for the behavior of people like Brennan and Mudd.
“… if you retire in good odor”
Was that a slip or a purposeful play on words?
I used to live near a big lake. When the water level dropped too far & the land side of the dock was on solid ground, the stench along the shore was pretty nasty… kinda like a swamp.
I know off topic but where else can I post this?
Fake news four year battle plan against Trump.
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/08/smells-like-tortuous-interference.html?m=1
Why conservatives will lose a civil war.
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/08/why-conservatives-will-lose-civil-war.html?m=1
America’s future?
Who needs democracy when you have data?
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611815/who-needs-democracy-when-you-have-data/
The intelligence community is one of the biggest welfare programs the government runs. Yes we need what was once termed ‘national technical means’ surveillance satellites, electronic eavesdropping capabilities and whatever the Navy needs to monitor submarine activity and personnel to monitor and analyze the data they collect. The FBI’s forensic labs are a good investment but that is about it. State and local police forces are quite capable of conducting criminal investigations.
I think ‘intelligence agencies’, aside from those the armed forces obviously must maintain, cause more trouble than they are worth. Their ‘assessments’ are often wrong, sometimes catastrophically so as with the Iraqi WMD claim, and their successes so few and far between as to make the billions we spend annually on them as to be a waste of money.
Indeed. When I read, “skills in great demand”, the question came to mind: in demand by whom? and to what good end?
I agree, Chubby Bubbles. If their skills are in such great demand, then why can’t they re-apply for clearances, if needed.
Simple answer, they do. Unfortunately it can take a year to get them and TS/SCI clearances are very expensive to processs ($50,000 or more sometimes). It makes financial sense for the government to allow you to keep them for a couple of years. After a couple of years you have to reapply and your company has to pay for it. But, of course, this does not apply to pond scum like John Brennan. His clearances were more or less forever.
Allow you to keep them until you do things that make it appropriate to revoke them. Like very publicly accusing an elected official of treason, but not meaning it. No one is advocating every clearance is automatically eliminated the day you leave gov’t service, but stating the administration can revoke them without cause, and certainly should revoke clearances when there is cause.
Not everyone who holds a clearance at the TS/SCI level works for the CIA or even likes them. The technical and trade skills you find in civilian IT markets are in particularly high demand, commanding pay equal to or above some found in the private sector.
Huh? What does liking the CIA have to do with a TS/SCI clearance? What on earth are you talking about? Of course “not everybody who holds a TS/SCI clearance” works for CIA, but a clearance is a government thing and has nothing to do with private industry, unless it is connected to a government contract. I suppose your point is that many people with TS/SCI clearances are technical and IT folks working for the government or on government projects. Well, duh!
I will not dispute that there is tremendous waste in the intelligence community or that it has made serious errors. Many of those errors were caused by direct political pressure, Iraq being one of the worst examples.
That said, let me address a few of your concerns.
Yes, technical intelligence is important but it can never and has never given us all the answers. Only human spies can do that and only the CIA is competent in recruiting foreign spies overseas. I despise much of the senior leadership of the intel community but the guys on the ground are American patriots who do an incredibly difficult job under tough and often dangerous circumstances. We will never know what our enemies are thinking and planning to do just through technical means. I might add that human intelligence – information from spies – is usually critical in allowing those technical systems to collect intelligence. The military intelligence services have very limited objectives and goals. They rarely provide strategic intelligence and often depend on the CIA for tactical intelligence in such things as counterterrorism operations. U.S. military officers in Afghanistan uniformly praise the work of the Agency.
The FBI and state and local criminal investigators have nothing to do with intelligence collection overseas (the FBI does have a limited role in this, of course, but it is not its main job).
If we want to break up Islamic terrorist groups, know what China, North Korea, Iran and Russia are up to, or find out an infinity of other vital things, we must have a foreign human intelligence service. That service is the CIA, like it or not. I would like nothing better than to be able to tell the American people of the unheralded successes of the Agency but that is not possible. Believe me when I tell you that you would understand if you knew. Agency officers serve in the most dangerous places on earth, often right alongside the military. They get no medals that anybody knows about, get no public appreciation from our leaders in most cases, and nobody “thanks them for their service”.
The truth is, those things mean nothing to the professionals of the Agency. They know the value of their service to our country and serve without complaint or whining. Their families suffer hardships most Americans can’t even imagine. They do this in the shadows, as it must be.
The John Brennan’s of the swamp can never tarnish the names of those men and women.
Depends on how you define “enemy” does it not? HMFIC decides diddly squat is the current enemy then you spy guys hop to it.
My take? End all spy guys. I agree with John Adams, don’t go searching for monsters. To do so brings tyranny to the people of the united States.
Yup. The US is not under threat from anyone. It can withdraw totally from the international stage in complete safety. In fact, it would make us a helluva lot safer. Blowback anyone?
Disband all 17 secret police agencies, plus those we don’t know about. Their enemy has clearly become the people of this once-great country.
I sure wish the world was that simple. This ain’t the 18th century. Oh, and the spy guys do not “decide” who the enemies are. The president and Congress do. That means you, Bluto.
What is this, “Ode to Spooks” day?
The CIA is a waste! There’s no reason military intelligence can’t do the job. If there’s areas that the CIA can interact that military intelligence cannot, then either they don’t need to, or they need greater authority (highly doubtful.) The CIA is not necessary for anything! Put military intelligence in their place and the government won’t skip a beat.
Hard to argue that, but rest assured MI is full of the same anti-American alcoholic wife beaters as civilian intelligence is.
I don’t recall being a drunk or beating my wife.
You have no idea what you are talking about. You know nothing about the CIA. As I said, nobody in the CIA gives a shit about such idiotic comments because they know the real score. I am the first to criticize the Agency for its failings. As for waste and turning over functions to the military, don’t make me laugh. The CIA costs a fraction of a single squadron of Air Force planes or a Navy ship. The Agency is one of the most cost effective agencies in our government. You can bet your ass Congress knows that.
After you net out all of the proceeds of the illegal black operations like Afghan poppy farming protection money, drug cartel partnerships, gun running etc, sure.
Spies and analysts are cheaper than fighter jets and submarines, but the point is whether CIA is cost effective compared to military intel. I don’t think MI gets many fighter planes or ships in their budget.
A TS/SCI can be made “inactive” and it does not erase the underlying investigation that you had that made it possible. If I recall correctly the investigation is good for ten years. So if you move from one assignment the TS/SCI access is removed but can be re-issued with an appended investigation at a later date. That investigation only covers the period from the date of your last investigation up until present day. And a temporary access may be given while the investigation is on going… Chip
In some cases, periodic updates (credit and personal background checks) would take place every five years in order to keep the clearances “active”. The updates would be done by approved DIA/FBI agents working on behalf of the government agencies. Private companies, corporations, and consultants working on secure government contracts require “cleared” people on a regular basis.
Yes! Thank God some of our TBP’ers know something about the subject.
Correct, in general. I worked in the facility (CRF) that reported the status of security investigations, BIs to NACs. to querying agencies. If I recall correctly, investigations were updated with NACs every three years and rerun every ten years. That was back in the 50s and I have no doubt that my memory is weak and that things change.
Nevertheless, in those days the investigation was a constant; access was dependent of the job.
Yes! Right again.
Right you are. I should have said that. It is a complicated process.
Then things have changed since I was a Case Officer, formerly Agent Handler, in Europe, long ago. The CIA were the amateurs; Military Intell, CIC and FOI, were the pros, backed by ‘Legmen,’ former German intelligence officers, pros who knew the ground. CIA, then known as DAD, Department of the Army Detachment, were paying sources and support people ten times what we paid and being made fools of.
However, they ran the lab up in Frankfurt, manufacturing documents and other tricky-poo stuff such as concealment devices, and used that monopoly, or tried to, to buy sources needing documentation, or whatever, from more sucessful agencies.
Rather clumsy amateurs, at least into the early 60s when I retired, but always full of themselves..
Granpa, sure. The CIA are the amateurs. MIlitary intelligence is a joke, my friend, and it was when you didn’t wear adult diapers. Those of us in the Agency in the field spent half our time controlling you Gomers. By the way, Festus, the CIA Station Chief controlled everything you did, even though you did not know it. We have the last word on ALL intelligence operations. You have no idea what the CIA was doing because you didn’t have access to it. I well remember how many times fools from these Brand B outfits showed up with some crackpot plan that I had to spike. CIC? That is criminal investigation, not intelligence. As for your Legmen, I would be a bit cautious about bragging about your work with ex-Nazis.
“The FBI’s forensic labs are a good investment…” Hmmm.
You are 100% right, Unit472.
These TREASONOUS PIECES OF SHIT are about to have MUCH bigger problems than revoked security clearances!
Q !!mG7VJxZNCI 08/19/18 (Sun) 12:05:47 No.168
[Cause]
Define ‘Subversion’.
The act of subverting : the state of being subverted; especially : a systematic attempt to overthrow or undermine a government or political system by persons working secretly from within?
[Effect]
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-blocking-property-persons-involved-serious-human-rights-abuse-corruption/
States from abuse by these same persons.”
“I therefore determine that serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.”
NATIONAL EMERGENCY.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2018-amendments-manual-courts-martial-united-states/
January 1, 2019
“Sec. 12. In accordance with Article 33 of the UCMJ, as amended by section 5204 of the MJA, the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, will issue nonbinding guidance regarding factors that commanders, convening authorities, staff judge advocates, and judge advocates should take into account when exercising their duties with respect to the disposition of charges and specifications in the interest of justice and discipline under Articles 30 and 34 of the UCMJ. That guidance will take into account, with appropriate consideration of military requirements, the principles contained in official guidance of the Attorney General to attorneys for the Federal Government with respect to the disposition of Federal criminal cases in accordance with the principle of fair and evenhanded administration of Federal criminal law.”
+ FBI personnel removal
+ DOJ personnel removal
+ C_A personnel removal
+ State personnel removal
+ WH personnel removal
+ House personnel removal
+ Senate personnel removal
+ Chair/CEO/VP removal
+ MIL budget (largest in our history).
+ MIL presence around POTUS
+ 45,000 sealed indictments
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/03/28/when-it-comes-guantanamo-trump-truly-builder-chief.html
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/23/trump-revives-private-prison-program-doj-obama-administration-end
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/03/31/turley-sessions-using-utah-federal-prosecutor-much-better-trump-2nd-special-counsel/
Nothing to See Here.
Q
Nothing to see here indeed! All for a LARP huh! Security clearances won’t do them a bit of good in prison or in Hell!
I was going to make a comment, but decided to delete it.
Apparently, to delete a comment once initiated, is not an option.
Donald Trump is a methodical man. I don’t pretend to know what he’s thinking at all times, but I know he just keeps racking up incremental wins. Like a football team that kicks a field goal every time they have the ball. They suck, but suddenly they have 18 points on the board. It seems to be taking forever, his disassembling of the deep state. But I think he’s on the 8 year plan. He’s confident he will do well in the midterms. He’s confident he’ll get reelected. And as a result, doesn’t seem to be any hurry to do a slipshod job. This is going to be epic. But he’s pulling it out by the roots. The New World Order is in his gun sights. Worldwide. And he seems like he knows what he wants instead. Time will tell.
Well I hope they put those treasonous son of bitches in jail if only for a few months just see the look on their faces. I hope Trump goes through with what he knows has to be done. So far so good but I do wish he would ban all immigration and build that damn wall . For now all I can do is hope.
HE may be on an eight-year plan, but I fear it will be ended at the two year mark.
prusmc, I hope not.
Conspiracy theory anyone? I did read a theory that the democraps have; if they win back a majority in the mid terms, a congress critter in NY will resign. The Governor will then appoint Hitlary to the post, they will choose here to be made the speaker of the house. Finally, they will impeach both the POTUS and VPOTUS, allowing Hitlary to slide right in.
Seems like a bad horror movie but it could have merit if all the pieces go that way. It is very long odds, but they do have the voter fraud down to a science so anything is possible. Maybe pigs can fly!?!
Perhaps Admin or some of you high finance geniuses can explain this to me.
If the total US debt is currently $21 Trillion dollars AND every dollar in circulation (physical & digital) is debt, HOW IN THE HELL can a team of scholars find that just the unauthorized spending alone from the Pentagram equals $21 Trillion which does not account for the authorized spending by the Pentagram nor any of the other federal spending? Is it not impossible to have an official debt of $21 Trillion when a part of just one department alone shows unauthorized spending equaling the total US debt?
MSU scholars find $21 trillion in unauthorized government spending; Defense Department to conduct first-ever audit
https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2017/msu-scholars-find-21-trillion-in-unauthorized-government-spending-defense-department-to-conduct/
https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1391471/officials-announce-first-dod-wide-audit-call-for-budget-certainty/
That’s easy, IS. Maybe the MSU “scholars” have an agenda and they’re full of shit.
I recommend that you ask Mr. Giddeon Gono, I am sure he has an answer. But my two cents is that it took Murica 219 years to accumulate $9 trillion in debt , and another $11 trillion when O bummer took office in 2008
The fact is the Fed is a disaster and, sooner or later, the U.S. has to pay the piper, because the government spending is out of control. And is won’t be pretty when the bills come due.
The simple answer is that your question is meaningless because stock and flow are different things, and you’re leaving a lot of pieces to flow out of your framing. I could have a stock of a single wampum, and have 21 trillion wampum of unauthorized spending flow passing that single wampum around 21 trillion times without authorization.
Unauthorized does not mean it was straight up stolen. It might, it might not. If I have to get the approval of the Chief of Staff for the Air Force (authorization) to sign a contract for 100 new jets, but he is on vaca, and I talk to the deputy COS, and ‘everyone knows’ the COS is supportive so I sign the contract anyway without disturbing his time with family, it was unauthorized. Or if I move the money for the fuel that was supposed to be for this tank battalion’s training over to that mech infantry battalion’s training because they have an upcoming deployment without jumping through the right hoops…unauthorized. Unauthorized means that either the controls were not in place, or were not properly followed.
The problem (actually the “elephant in the room”) is that most of our so-called “intelligence” is filtered through a certain “sh!tty little country” in the middle east. It is no secret that Tel Aviv has “dirt” on just about every American politician, as American telephone billing records are processed by an Israeli company (Amdocs). In addition, the Mossad, which s arguably the best spy network on the planet has its people within the U S government, as well as the 40 or so Congresscritters who hold “dual citizenship” with that “sh!tty little country”.
It is long overdue for the American political process to be wrested from these foreign interlopers and restored to the American people. Gallows should be erected, and mass executions (after trials, of course) should be scheduled for the traitors in our midst.
Dual citizenship must be strictly prohibited, with those possessing it should face mandatory deportation to their foreign country, with no possibility of re-entry to the United States.
Anyone with half a brain can see that our “foreign policy” has been hijacked with the USA doing the bidding of “what is good for Israel”, not the USA.
Wrong.
Israel does, however, contribute a lot of HUMINT information because WASPs don’t exactly fit the ethnic profile of a human intel asset on the ground in certain countries. Dual citizens do, though.
Israel doesn’t control the massively expensive SIGINT collection effort done by NSA and NRO. The contracts to build and control the satellites are given to our aerospace defense contractors and USAF people.
CIA has been the enemy of the people and this country since before they became the CIA. Front end operations to justify their nefarious BS and to fool the sheople and back end operations to destroy and overthrow the western world and the USA from within.
65 Years Ago Today, the CIA Conspired with the UK to Overthrow Iran on Behalf of Big Oil
Today is the anniversary of the CIA working with the UK in a conspiracy to over throw the democratically elected leader of Iran to give their oil to BP.
https://thefreethoughtproject.com/65th-anniversary-iran-big-oil/
do you walk or bike to work ,indecent?
Stupid fucking question. You can’t justify that shit.
It was/is Iran’s oil. Buying from Iran is better than buying from the british. Iran was a prosperous place prior to that coup. Became a muslim shithole thanks to the coup.
Don’t forget that at the same time CIA was overthrowing Iran’s duly elected govt, they were also preparing a coup to overthrow ours and turn the US into a turd world shithole. Still feel like justifying that shit?
Your government at work. The CIA didn’t conspire in anything. The president, good old Ike, did.
I was the unit Security Officer during several assignments and had at least eight SCI clearances myself. SS is right about: “Comey, Brennan, McCabe, Strzok, Yates, Ohr, John McCain, Rice and a host of others would face a firing squad or hangman’s noose in any country where the rule of law still ran.” The day Trump was elected, I’d have pulled their clearances; that should been the least of their problems. Dear God, please give Trump 6 more years destroying the Satanist, NeoCons, Pedophiles, Communist, etc.
I lost my clearances the day i left the service. They might have been pulled as soon as the ets process started, but i cant remember. I was MI out of ft hood, 1 cav. Why someone who isnt doing the job would keep his clearance is beyond me.
By God, I LIKE you.
You would’ve made a great SSO where I worked.
PC and liberalism has made a sham of investigatory work where hires are made. Just look at that idiot Reality Winner and you’ll understand. The PC liberal infestation has gotten into the intelligence services just as it has in the educational sector, rotting the objectivity for fact-finding from within.
This is why we have Clappers, Brennans, Winners, and degenerates like Bradley Manning. Sad.
“Comey, Brennan, McCabe, Strzok, Yates, Ohr, John McCain, Rice and a host of others would face a firing squad or hangman’s noose in any country where the rule of law still ran.”
Correct…Treason will not be tolerated in any real country, e.g.China or Russia.
Treason is not being tolerated here anymore. Problem is these assclowns put so many laws, rules, exceptions etc into place to protect themselves over the last 30 years that it all has to be dismantled before the fireworks start. Can’t be breaking laws to bring down law breakers right? Besides, it’s fun watching them shit themselves while it happens.
They never thought she would lose! Bwahahahahahaha!
It’s a fact that Democrats protect crooked Democrats but prosecute targeted Republicans on minor charges (Prosecutor: Have you ever committed any form of a tax violation, or crime, Mr Monafort?) bedamned any laws.
Paris Dennard deserves a lot of respect. He was blacklisted by CNN for a while because of what he has said in defense of Trump. Dennard handed Mudd his as&. He’s my favorite commentator on CNN, which I have to edit do for a living. He tells the truth and they don’t like it.
Bravo!!
How is it that the press is too slow to recognize what many bloggers have known for years…I personally take credit for being the first person to call Brennan a traitor over five years ago.
I once held TSSCI clearance for a temp job cleaning up old military documents. If they’re so expensive to process, no wonder there are trillion dollar deficits.
Right you are. And there are 4 million clearances floating around. I will never deny waste and bullshit in the intel community. It is everywhere.
It is simple. If they aren’t working in an official capacity that requires them to have security clearances, they shouldn’t have them. Damn, how complicated is that? As for their free speech they can say, write and broadcast whatever they want just like the rest of us.
Here’s the video…
Dennard did a great job triggering that swamp critter. The faux outrage was amazing deflection from what is really going on..Reading the comments on CuNNtv in the video thread one cannot help but be struck by the derangement so prevalent…
And the title of the video
Ex-CIA official to Trump supporter: We’re done. Get out!
That statement is a moment of honesty. Mudd knows the gig is up and the swamp is being drained. And who is the we that ole Phil is talking about..
I love both the video the the comments underneath.
Phil is correct about one thing. He’s done and he knows it..
Compliments to all on this post!
My Grunt/Business background lends nothing to the debate unless you need someone shot or blown up or apprehended for embezzlement.
Have learned much in the back and forth.
This is why I come here daily!
It’s important to remember what we are critiquing when we criticize U.S. intelligence. When it comes to signals intelligence, no one else in the world matches the United States. Where the U.S. is weak is in human intelligence gathering. There are a number of reasons for this, some of them institutional, legal and bureaucratic, but there are also cultural reasons. (Perhaps not surprisingly, then, while we all love James Bond, it needs to be said that the British aren’t really superstars in this department, either.) The best in the world for HUMINT are the French, and the Russians are probably second. Understanding this is vital to understanding why we spent so much of the Cold War tanking: Russian intelligence benefitted from effectively unlimited subsidies until the government ran out of them in the early 1980s. Only once this happened, could the United States under Reagan ramp up the sheer muscle to put the Commies out of commission – well, the Soviet Commies, at least. In typical weak American HUMINT fashion we neglected to weed out – or even to see the need to weed out – the more subtle elements infesting us at home and we now live with the consequences.
And more “education” is not the silver bullet to enlightenment, certainly not as it is called for by Dewey-eyed progressives (particularly since “education” seems to be confused in their parts with “public schooling” and more specifically with “public school subsidies”). Contrary to what is portrayed in the press in the U.S. and abroad the average blue stater, including the affluent, well-educated, well-traveled and well-connected, is in his basest sensibilities and reactions very much a naïve provincial heartlander. Beneath the veneer of cosmopolitan sophistication, the typical liberal yuppie and/or hipster (there’s a lot more overlap between the two than some people think):
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. What we are witnessing is the decadence and decay of the half-baked and over-inflated egos which comprise the movers and shakers of the upper echelons of the United States (in academia, the mass media, Hollywood and the government). As their failures become more and more manifest, they will huddle together harder and harder, attempting to blame the consequences on the current elected government rather than on the massive energy they have squandered living above and beyond their means and punching well above their intellectual weight. I’m not sure what it will take for the Brennans, Mudds and Mullers of the world (to say nothing of the Obamas, Clintons, Bushes and McCains) to receive their due blame in history for the present sorry state of affairs, but it needs to happen if we are ever to hope of recovering anything good of what we have lost.
Great comment.
Sage…if my memory is correct Carter got hammered after the Iranian Crisis because he had gotten rid of a lot of the “Boots On The Ground ” from the various intelligence agencies ?
I had a Secret Security clearance in the military due to my MOS….heck tons of guys did as well in the service…..didn’t seem all that special at the time…unless you lost it .