Posted on 08/21/2017 9:02:26 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
We're not in John Walker territory yet, but the scandal engulfing up to 30 Democratic members of Congress who employed IT "expert" Imran Awan and four members of his family may turn out to be the worst breach of sensitive information in the history of the US Congress.
The New York Post is reporting that the scandal may involve the sale of sensitive information on congressmen as well as classified data to the Russians or others. The potential for blackmail is real, say authorities.
What started out 16 months ago as a scandal involving the alleged theft of computer equipment from Congress has turned into a national-security investigation involving FBI surveillance of the suspects.
Investigators now suspect that sensitive US government data possibly including classified information could have been compromised and may have been sold to hostile foreign governments that could use it to blackmail members of Congress or even put their lives at risk.
This is a massive, massive scandal, a senior US official familiar with the widening probe told The Post.
Alarm bells went off in April 2016 when computer security officials in the House reported irregularities in computer equipment purchasing. An internal investigation revealed the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars in government property, and evidence pointed to five IT staffers and the Democratic Congress members offices that employed them.
Awan and his family have been indicted on fraud charges, but that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his potential crimes. The prosecutor has charged Awan with the lesser crimes so that he can put the screws to him to divulge any espionage activity.
The Democrats who hired the five suspects apparently did a poor job vetting them. Awans brother Abid had a rap sheet with multiple offenses, including a conviction for DWI a month before he was hired, and filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
Most had relatively little IT experience. Yet they hauled in a combined $4 million-plus over the past decade. One, a former McDonalds worker, was suddenly making as much as a chief of staff.
These lawmakers allowed an insider threat to come into the House, the official charged. Computer equipment was stolen, taxpayers were robbed of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and sensitive data was compromised and possibly sold overseas.
On Thursday, a federal grand jury indicted Imran Awan on four seemingly unrelated felony counts including bank fraud, conspiracy and making false statements. They also indicted his wife, Hina Alvi. FBI agents seized hard drives and other evidence from their Virginia home.
The indictment says the couple wired close to $300,000 in fraudulently obtained funds to Pakistan in January, as the Capitol Police investigation heated up.
FBI agents last month collared Awan, 37, at the Dulles International Airport airport as he tried to board a flight to Pakistan. Alvi, 33, fled to Pakistan in March.
Now that prosecutors have Awan hung up on the fraud charges, they will try to squeeze him harder in the larger cyberespionage investigation, according to the US official, who expects additional charges and arrests in the case.
I’m sure Jeff Sessions will get right on it - as soon as someone wakes him up.
You got that right.......sucking up for votes is never far from their small minds.
DEMOCRAT DIRTY THIRTY----ALL EMPLOYED THE IMRAN CLAN
Interactive at Daily Caller web site.
====================================================
(HAT TIP IAMACONSERVATIVE): Imran had control of ALL of the
Dems' Blackberrys. If the Dems were using a Blackberry Enterprise Server
(BES), and I'm betting they did, then Awan could easily have back-doored
all the classified intel, SMS (text messaging) and Email content sent
through their Blackberry's for however long he had that access.
Definitely makes Awans' blackmailing elected members a possibility.
Bingo. You are right.
Nonsense. They knew exactly what they were getting.
GITMO? The guy’s a spy!
Spies don’t relax in country clubs like Gitmo where they have all the luxuries of a Mediterranean resort. They hang by the neck until shot by a firing squad!
In the meantime there is a complete media blackout on the scandal and even Drudge won’t mention it. Curious minds want to know more.
Its clear that large bytes of data were moved off the secure network, said another source close to the investigation, adding that Awan and the other four staffers under investigation had full and complete access to lawmakers e-mails, calendars, schedules, hearing notes, meeting notes and memos and other sensitive information.
Investigators are trying to determine if any classified information was compromised. Although the network that was breached is an unclassified system, its possible that members or staff cleared to handle classified information inadvertently sent such information in e-mails after getting classified briefings, sources believe.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
so who is allegedly investigating this espionage? comey? crowd strike? sessions? mccabe? mcmasters?
Few Details Known About Obamas Three Weeks in Pakistan
By Patrick Goodenough | November 3, 2008
(CNSNews.com) As the presidential election campaign draws to a close, unanswered questions about Barack Obamas three-week visit to Pakistan 27 years ago continue to cause unease in some quarters, but his campaign has revealed few details.
Last April during a San Francisco fundraiser, Obama referred briefly to a visit he had made to Pakistan during his college years.
Campaign press secretary Bill Burton subsequently gave inquiring journalists a few facts. Obama had visited Pakistan for about three weeks in 1981, after visiting his mother in Indonesia. He had traveled with a college friend whose family lived in Karachi. He had also visited Hyderabad in India, Burton said.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/few-details-known-about-obama-s-three-weeks-pakistan
Is a scandal still a scandal if the so-called mainstream media ignores it? Just like if a tree falls in the forest but no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound? The answer to both rhetorical questions is a resounding yes. The only problem when Dems are engulfed in scandals is that very few of them are ever held to account. This is as caustic to our Republic as lye is to a human body.
The Paki scam quickly exploded into:
<><> (A) multiple charges of conspiracy against the United States of America,
<><>(B) double-billing Congress,
<><> (C) placing ghost employees on the govt payroll,
<><> (D) stealing govt issue electronics,
<><>(E) submitting falsified documents to the US govt,
<><> (F) mortgage scams,
<><>(G) shady wire transfers to Pakistan, and,
<><>(H) Congressional bank fraud.
When is it going to burgeon over to the MSM?
A couple of words missing:
1. End with "for least 10 years"
2. Add a "Giga" in front of bytes.
,,,,,, doesn’t this MSATTER eclipse the Russia hacking fraud ???
Logic dictates that DWS colluded with the Amrans and should be executed for treason...
Americans always allow themselves to be confused by this "spy" concept. So here are a few items to clarify it.
A spy is an agent of an outside entity; e.g. foreign government. He is normally trained by the entity he is an agent for. And if detained, will normally be acknowledged and supported by that entity. A spy buys secrets from traitors.
A traitor sells secrets. A traitor may receive some training. But that is irrelevant to his status. The traitor is not an agent of an outside entity. He is a betrayer of the entity he legally owes loyalty to.
Awan is a traitor. So are those who knowingly employed him.
The extent of Wassermann-Schultz and the DNC's assistance to (a) House members of the intelligence panel, and, (b) members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, among the dozens of elected Democrats employing the Paki/suspects on a shared basis.
<><>Were govt intel computers ever transported off-premises?
<><>Did the FBI and/or Secret Service accompany and supervise the transport of the server?
<><> Did the three brothers have an active email account?
<><> Was there continuity of intel computer activity or did the intel computers ever go off-line?
<><> Who received govt intel?
<><>Did the three brother get officially qualified by Wasserman Schultz and the DNC to handle national-security-level data?
<><> Did the three brothers ever upgrade, manage, and secure the DNC server.
<><> What - specifically - did they do?
<><> Did Wasserman Schultz and the DNC vet the three brothers security clearance to handle this type of intel?
<><> What were the DNC firewall protocols in place at the time?
<><>Who, by name, had access to intel computers, and the administrative authorization to do so?
<><>When was that authorization given?
<><>Did the three brothers ever remove all data from the intel computers?
<><> Was malware or antivirus also on the server?
<><> Was the inherent firewall, virus protection, or operating system upgraded, managed, and secured by the brothers?
<><> Did Wasserman Schultz at the DNC report any incidents, such as DOS attack, hacking, etc.
<><> How were they resolved?
<><> Did the three brothers maintain the DNC intel computer?
<><> Does Wasserman Schultz and the DNC know if the House Permanent Intelligence Committee computers in functioning condition at this time?
<><> Does Wasserman Schultz and the DNC have the work schedule of the brothers just prior to being outed for security breaches?
<><> Were normal and regular backup procedures executed on the server?
<><> Where are the back-ups kept?
<><> If no backups were taken, does the DNC have a disaster recovery location?
<><> Where is that?
<><> Did the DNC have a backup plan if the House Permanent Intel Committee intel equipment failed or was found to have been compromised?
<><> Does Wasserman Schultz and the DNC have a list of other foreign nationals (from countries President Obama identified as terrorist countries) Democrats employed on Capitol Hill?
<><> The DNC should list foreign nationals by name and country on Democrats' payrolls, who currently have access to US intel and are using US govt computers.
“If a news organization exposed any of these activities or found out how many lawyers are really working on it (hint-it’s not what they say) they would have a huge scoop.”
There would have to be a news organization first. They aren’t investigating anything relating to Democrat corruption, especially involving protected species (Muslim)
I predict the Dems are going to throw one of their own under the bus, probably Schulz, and then claim the problem solved and let’s all move on.
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