Posted on 01/17/2017 5:22:57 AM PST by VitacoreVision
America is in the beginning stages of a new Cold War with Russia. And China. This time around, though, most of the Cold War will be fought along digital, technological lines, with each nation hacking the other for the purposes of espionage and sabotage. In the situation in which the American people and the incoming president find themselves, trusting the intelligence community has never mattered more. Unfortunately, trust must not only be needed; it must be earned. In that area, the intelligence community comes up short.
As The New American has recently reported, the intelligence community’s inclusion of a spurious “dossier” on Trump’s alleged ties to and control by Russia in its equally spurious assessment on an alleged plot by the Kremlin to influence recent elections shows just how loose a grasp the agencies involved have on the truth. Having declared war on President-elect Trump, the intelligence community followed the adage that the first casualty of war is the truth. Unfortunately, intel’s war with Trump coincides with Cold War 2.0 and distracts from the real issues needing attention, while also undermining any reasonable desire to trust the assessments of the intelligence community.
Case in point: Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (shown) — who is known for famously lying under oath and on camera in testimony before the Senate in March 2013 about NSA surveillance programs — provided false information to the Senate again earlier this month while testifying (again under oath and on camera) about Russian hacking of the DNC and Clinton campaign.
During Clapper’s testimony, Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) asked him about whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has “any credibility.” Clapper replied, “Not in my view.” Later in the exchange, Clapper bolstered his previous statement by saying Assange is “holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London because he’s under indictment — I believe by the Swedish government — for a sexual crime.”
McCain and Clapper Go After Julian Assange at Intel Hearing: "No Credibility"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkEClQ1vgo8
US Intelligence Director James Clapper Describes Wikileaks Boss Julian Assange
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8powSKwsbqI
There are a couple things in this exchange that need to be unpacked a bit.
First, this Senate hearing was just before Senator McCain admitted to being one of the intelligence community’s sources in acquiring the “dossier” on Trump. He told CNN that while he did not know "if it [the “dossier”] is credible or not,” “I thought [the information] deserved to be delivered to the FBI, the appropriate agency of government,” adding, “It doesn't trouble me because I don't know if it is accurate or not. I have no way of corroborating that. The individual gave me the information. I looked at it. After receiving that information I took it to the FBI.” So the loaded question that was used to undermine Assange’s credibility in regard to statements by Assange and WikiLeaks that the source of the leaked DNC and Clinton campaign e-mails was neither Russian nor part of any government, was asked by the senator who provided the intelligence community with the “dossier” claiming otherwise.
This looks for all the world like a staged question-and-answer session masquerading as a Senate hearing.
Second, Clapper — who elected to include the unsubstantiated “dossier” (provided by McCain) in the intelligence community’s assessment of Russian hacking to influence the election — said in sworn testimony that Julian Assange is “under indictment — I believe by the Swedish government — for a sexual crime.”
In reality, Assange has never been indicted in connection with those allegations. Instead, he was questioned in August 2010 in Sweden, the case was closed, and he was told he was free to leave the country. Three months later, a special prosecutor reopened the case and said she wanted to question Assange again. Assange, fearing that this was a plot to extradite him to the United States to face possible charges of espionage for publishing documents showing illegal activities by the U.S. government, took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and said he would agree to answer questions there. The prosecutor at first refused to interrogate him either via video link or in person at the embassy, demanding that he come to Sweden. In November 2016, she changed her mind and began questioning Assange at the embassy. In the meantime, the statute of limitations expired on all but one charge — an allegation of "lesser degree rape” — for which he has been questioned, but never indicted.
So in an exchange between two surveillance hawks, who are both involved to one degree or another in having a fake document added to an intelligence report, the conversation conveniently turned to whether Julian Assange — and by extension, WikiLeaks — has any credibility. And Clapper, in an apparent effort to undermine the credibility of Assange, makes yet another false statement under oath.
Given that the intelligence community — Clapper certainly included — is, as this writer said in a previous article, a dysfunctional group of liars and manipulators, it hardly seems that Clapper would be the one to talk about Assange’s credibility.
Any objective comparison between the trustworthiness of the intelligence community (which habitually lies and propagandizes for the purposes of its own political agenda) and WikiLeaks (which has published millions of documents over the last decade and has never been found to fabricate anything) would lead to the conclusion that WikiLeaks is the only organization in that comparison with any credibility. If WikiLeaks said it was raining outside and the intelligence community said it was fair, this writer would pack an umbrella before going out.
The obvious smokescreen about Assange’s alleged sexual crimes seems clearly intended to get the focus off the failures and lies of the intelligence community and on to something more salacious.
Of course the real issue here is not about Assange. This exchange — and the broader story of the fake “dossier” — merely go to show that at a time when America needs to know the truth about foreign powers hacking U.S. systems, as both Russia and China have both done, the intelligence community has shown itself an unreliable source of information. As Cold War 2.0 heats up, that lack of reliability runs the very real risk of costing America plenty.
One word answer,”NO!”
NO!
The “intelligence community” has shown itself to not be very intelligent and not on the side of the citizens.
Prior to restoring trust and effectiveness, there must be a comprehensive purge that will cause the Left to howl. However the Obama commissars and their acolytes must be removed. John Brennan should be arrested.
If all that can be changed for the better, President Trump will be the catalyst for it.
If he can’t/won’t do it, nobody else could have either.
Right now my money is on that man, Donald J. Trump.
Unfortunately, I must agree with you. I don’t think I’ll ever gain a sense of real trust in our INTEL until every last stinking socialist, Democrat Clinton/Obama/Muslim/Foreign Agent head of these agencies (along with their lieutenants) are expunged.
First, this Senate hearing was just before Senator McCain admitted to being one of the intelligence community’s sources in acquiring the “dossier” on Trump.
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And anybody with any intelligence knows that McCain has not been on the side of the citizens and the rule of law for a very long time. They don’t call him McAmnesty for nothing.
Why are Arizona voters so stupid they continually elect Cheap Labor Express stooges like McCain, Flake and McSally?
I do not trust President Trump very much. I trust every other part of what is supposed to be our federal government far less. As for the CIA/NSA/DIA/etc, I don’t trust them at all. And the remaining democrats in office and on welfare? They are America’s enemies, far lower than Putin (who may at least share interests with our country).
Duuuuuuuuh.....................
Ours has certainly been taken over by....
MUSLIMS.
LEFTIST DHIMMOCRATIC PARTY HACKS (I repeat myself).
Purge, then restock the place with humans.
“Can the American People Trust the Intelligence Community”?
After having been lied to by every facet of the federal gub mint for years, the American people have no confidence in any aspect of the federal gubmint.
Other than the gubmint is there to screw you./
It’s just another conglomeration of bureaucratic fiefdoms.
The well being and survival of the bureaucracy itself becomes their primary concern.
We can trust them to protect themselves and advance their own interests, not the nations.
The nation’s agenda is not necessarily their agenda.
Speaking as a 40-year intelligence veteran, in a word - NO. Intelligence has become a poor metaphor for statistics:
“Like dreams, statistics are a form of wish fulfillment.” Jean Baudrillard
“Be able to analyze statistics, which can be used to support or undercut almost any argument.” Marilyn vos Savant
“Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.” Mark Twain
...and there are many others.
Irrespective of political parties, as long as appointments to the highest offices in the IC - and that includes ALL 17 component agencies - are made on the sole basis of politics, the IC will continue to be driven by political considerations and not sound analytic reasoning.
Well they did miss every important development in the world for the past eight years.
To echo other comments posted here..NO , not with the staff that currently are at or near the to[p...A purge and prosecution is needed that goes way deep...and all must be exposed and punished with extreme and shocking ways to prove that treason in any form will be met with death...otherwise we just finance a relapse of what it is right now. Read my profile....and you’ll see what I really think.
Sure...at least as much as we could trust them in Cold War 1.0. Missile gap anyone?
If Clapper truly lied under oath, he should be in prison. Congress must assert it’s coequal position.
Uh, no.
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