Many people will look at this devastating sunlight upon the U.S Intel Community as a political embarrassment for the Obama administration.  However, I would disagree. 
This entire exposition smells more like a deflective shield targeted to give the White House an excuse for terrible Mid-East policy.   This “revelation” protects the White House more than it causes embarrassment; it gives Obama excuses for his failures…. and you’ll note this is surfacing at a time when Russia is entering Syria under the auspices of needing to fight ISIS, because the U.S. has failed.  There’s an obvious transparency to the timing…
(Via Daily Beast) More than 50 intelligence analysts working out of the U.S. military’s Central Command have formally complained that their reports on ISIS and al Qaeda’s branch in Syria were being inappropriately altered by senior officials, The Daily Beast has learned.
The complaints spurred the Pentagon’s inspector general to open an investigation into the alleged manipulation of intelligence. The fact that so many people complained suggests there are deep-rooted, systemic problems in how the U.S. military command charged with the war against the self-proclaimed Islamic State assesses intelligence. (more…)

It has recently been reported that a Russian computer geek was able to crack the encryption code used by Edward Snowden to protect his massive cache’ of U.S. NSA files.  According to reports both Russia and China had been working for a long time to break the encryption and discover the full scope of the data Snowden removed from the NSA downloads.

(Via Daily Mail) MI6 has pulled its spies out of ‘hostile countries’ and America’s intelligence agencies are on high alert after Russia and China cracked encrypted files leaked by fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The top-secret documents contain information that could lead to the identification of British and American spies, according to senior officials in Downing Street, the Home Office and the security services.

A senior Home Office official accused Snowden – the former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor responsible for the biggest confidential information leak in US history – of having ‘blood on his hands’ after they gained access to over one million files. (more…)

An underreported story today comes amid the resignation of Stacia Hylton, the head of the U.S. Marshals Service.  The timing of the resignation could not be more transparently tied to a growing investigation into domestic surveillance programs operated without oversight, and potentially unconstitutional.

For the past several years stories have been quietly surfacing about the USMS using stealth cell phone captures via drone and fixed unit operations known as “Stingray Devices”.

Stingray technology secretly captures cell phone communication, data, voice and text from users without their knowledge.

In addition the USMS has recently been outlined using Automatic License Plate Reading (ALPR) technology to track movements of people driving. Both programs track every American and are not related specifically to investigative foundations.  (more…)

The debate is being carried on CSPAN2 – CLICK HERE However, Mitch McConnell is doing everything in his power to stop discussion of the matter.

Senate votes to limit debate on Patriot Act extension.

— TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2) May 31, 2015

Does anyone really believe the programs will cease merely because they are no longer authorized by law?  Really?
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration warned Friday that a bundle of terror-fighting surveillance tools will expire at midnight Sunday unless Congress acts to renew Patriot Act provisions — putting pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to break the impasse over the issue.
The Senate deadlocked last weekend on a string of proposals meant to keep the provisions running past the end-of-the-month deadline. McConnell is calling the Senate back into session on Sunday, “to make every effort to provide the intelligence community with the tools it needs to combat terror,” spokesman Don Stewart said Friday.
But that session leaves just hours until the deadline, and it’s not clear whether any solution is in reach.  (read more)

McConnell (majority leader), and Cornyn (majority whip), lost this one.

(Via The Hill) Mitch McConnell staged an epic gamble over U.S. spying powers — and lost.
The Republican leader pledged to keep senators in Washington through the weekend to finish work on expiring provisions of the Patriot Act, but Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called his bluff.
Instead, when the smoke cleared in the early hours of Saturday morning, the 2016 presidential contender was the one with bragging rights.
The battle between the two Kentucky Republicans spilled over on the Senate floor, with Paul using procedural tactics to force the chamber into an early Saturday vote. He then used his leverage to kill off McConnell’s repeated attempts to reauthorize the expiring National Security Agency (NSA) programs — first for two months, then for eight days, then for five, then three, then two. (more…)

Bulk data collection too excessive to be legal.

NEW YORK – The National Security Agency’s bulk phone record collection program was dealt a blow Thursday as a federal appeals court said the controversial program exceeds what Congress has allowed and urged lawmakers to step in.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan permitted the National Security Agency program to continue temporarily as it exists, and all but pleaded for Congress to better define where the boundaries exist.
“In light of the asserted national security interests at stake, we deem it prudent to pause to allow an opportunity for debate in Congress that may (or may not) profoundly alter the legal landscape,” the opinion written by Circuit Judge Gerald Lynch said. (more…)

Developing:

#BREAKINGNEWS officer involved crash/shooting #FortMeade appears at least one fatality #breaking pic.twitter.com/tBqM5ZOZjL

— Brad Freitas (@NewsChopperBrad) March 30, 2015

UPDATE:

FORT MEADE, Md. (WUSA9), March 30th, 2015 at 10:44 am EDT

— We’re learning more about the incident that brought police to the gates of NSA headquarters at Fort Meade in Maryland for an ongoing situation.

Sources tell CBS that the vehicle attempted to ram the gate, and guards there shot at the vehicle. At least one person was shot, according to sources.

A spokesman at Fort Meade says two people are being treated for injuries but doesn’t know how the injuries occurred, reports the Associated Press.

Chopper video showed two damaged vehicles outside of the gates and at least one person in a uniform being wheeled on a stretcher to an ambulance.

One of the vehicles has the word “police” on the side and its hood up. The other vehicle is dark in color and also has some front end damage.

(more…)

The Democrat Senate committee reviewed more than 6 million pages of top-secret CIA documents and found that the architect of the interrogation program was a retired Air Force psychologist named James Mitchell, an agency contractor who — according to news reports — personally waterboarded alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The Senate report does not identify Mitchell by name.
Mitchell has a signed a non-disclosure agreement with the CIA and was unable to discuss his alleged role in the agency’s enhanced interrogation program, but VICE News met up with him in suburban Florida to discuss the Senate’s report and one of the darkest chapters of the war on terror. This is the first time Mitchell has ever appeared on camera:

Yeah, apparently Congress is well, not too terribly concerned about the missing AUMF.   Either that, or, well, they were quite comfortable relying on Hank “Tippy Guam” Johnson to ask all of the insightful questions….

If you were to review the participation at today’s House Armed Services Committee for the testimony and Q&A of Defense Secretary Hagel or Joint Chief’s Martin Dempsey, you might walk away thinking our military were not in combat in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and dealing with Ebola in West Africa.  Russia invading Ukraine, Iran getting nuclear weapons, Libya in a state of civil war, U.S. Embassy evacuated in Yemen, terrorists on the border…..
…Yeah, three effen’ hours of their time is just too much to ask for.  Oh, but they’ll parade around the military like some kind of optical pawn of patriotism.  And, yet people wonder why events like Benghazi and operation zero footprint are possible.  Seriously.