Free Republic

Defeated generals are sent home in disgrace, but it is most unusual to dismiss victorious ones. Kosovo: NATO’s war against Serbia ended in victory. Gen. Wesley K. Clark, was very much the victorious general of that war. So why was Clark fired? Officially, he wasn’t fired, but merely asked to step aside early. Clark was caught. The entire structure of the U.S. armed forces is built on: classic war, fought by Army infantry, Marines storming ashore, armored forces, artillery, attack helicopters, fighter-bombers that dive low to attack the enemy, as well as strike aircraft and bombers that operate more safely...

The keynote speaker of the World Economic Forum’s 2024 annual conference in Davos was Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President. She stated the top global risk for the EU is disinformation and misinformation, declaring disinformation destroys trust and limits the ability to “tackle the big global challenges.” In plain English, trust can only be restored by censoring inconvenient facts and evidence. Below is a short clip (1:39) highlighting her disinformation sermon. The top risk in the WEF’s 2024 Global Risk Report is disinformation. If not controlled, societies will be polarized, elections will be disrupted, and there will be mistrust...

Here is a disturbing story. It demonstrates intrigue, corruption and disdain for American principles at the highest level. Perhaps the saddest thing about this story is that you probably won’t be surprised. Especially if you’ve been paying attention for the past few years. The story is this: Twitter and other social media platforms have been cozy with the Department of Homeland Security ... But you knew that. And maybe Elon Musk did in his purchase of Twitter last week. ... Job one for Musk was to not only fire CEO Parag Agrawal but also Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s top lawyer and...

Members of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) advisory committee on combating “misinformation” privately cast critics of their work, including those who raised the alarm over government censorship of free speech, as malign actors, according to documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. An advisory panel under the Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA), called the Protecting Critical Infrastructure from Misinformation and Disinformation Subcommittee, issued recommendations to CISA in June on how to address threats to “critical functions” of democracy, including public health measures, the financial system, elections and the court system. The subcommittee recommended CISA detect “informational threats,”...

Jankowicz was scrutinized for her history of spreading misinformation, such as a story denying the existence of the Hunter Biden laptop. According to critics, DHS’ new board resembled George Orwell’s ‘Ministry of Truth’ from 1984 and was designed to silence conservative voices. It is clear from the novel that the ministry was used to spread information – and that it was able to rewrite the history of a fictional world in order to change the facts. After just a few weeks, the DHS shut down the board for a “pause”, and its head, Jankowicz, resigned.

he Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency outsourced its "censorship operation" to a nonprofit it funded following a First Amendment lawsuit by Louisiana and Missouri attorneys general, "implicitly admitting that its censorship activities are unconstitutional," according to an interim staff report by House Judiciary Committee Republicans shared with Just the News. CISA also wanted to use the Center for Internet Security, which operates the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) and Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), as its "mouthpiece" to obfuscate its own role in censorship, the report says. It cites spring 2022...

WASHINGTON ― The U.S. defense-industrial base is not ready for a battle over Taiwan, as it would run out of key long-range, precision-guided munitions in less than one week, according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.U.S. military aid to Ukraine has helped prevent a Russian victory against the neighboring nation, but that assistance has depleted Pentagon stockpiles and shown that the American defense industry cannot surge for a major war, the think tank found.“As the war in Ukraine illustrates, a war between major powers is likely to be a protracted, industrial-style conflict that needs...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) met weekly with large social media platforms to collaborate on moderating content, according to a deposition this week from FBI Supervisory Special Agent Elvis Chan. Chan, who was one of the two FBI agents who contacted Facebook ahead of its censoring of the Hunter Biden laptop warning of potential Russian disinformation operations, said that the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) officials met weekly with social media companies to remove specific accounts ahead of the 2020 presidential election, according to his deposition cited by Missouri Attorney General...

China is losing its influence; it’s in decline. At the same time, however, China, ruled by a despotic regime, is responsible for 28.7 percent of global manufacturing output (more than 10 percentage points ahead of its No. 1 rival, the United States). This utter dependence on China for manufacturing must be stopped. As I write this, three countries are working to siphon customers away from China. Will their efforts prove to be successful?I speak from experience when I say the following: communist China is not a fun place to live in. Moreover, with its frequent power cuts and the Chinese...

Canada’s federal government admitted to secretly surveilling its population’s movements during the COVID-19 lockdown by tracking 33 million phones.The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) clandestinely tracked the devices to assess “the public’s responsiveness during lockdown measures,” the agency acknowledged last week, according to Blacklock’s Reporter, which first reported the disclosure.Canada’s entire population totals 38 million, according to Statistics Canada.“Evidence is coming in from many sources, from countries around the world, that what was seen as a huge surveillance surge — post 9/11 — is now completely upstaged by pandemic surveillance,” David Lyon, author of “Pandemic Surveillance” and the former...

OTTAWA---Canada's spy service said on Friday it was increasingly concerned about the rise of violent ideologically motivated online rhetoric, which it blamed in part on tensions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) said since the start of the pandemic, threats posed by extremists had "evolved with unprecedented multiplicity and fluidity." COVID-19 it said, has worsened existing strains of xenophobia and anti-authoritarianism. Violent extremists were exploiting the pandemic by amplifying false informaton about government measures and the virus, it said. Protesters opposed to mandatory vaccinations have blocked access to hospitals across Canada and abused medical staff,...

The CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security will host a fireside chat with Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Advisor to the President and Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Moderated by J. Stephen Morrison, Senior Vice President and Director of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, the discussion will examine the administration’s signature initiative, The Antiviral Program for Pandemics, which dedicates $3.2 billion to speed development of antivirals for COVID-19 and other viruses with the potential to become pandemics. Expanding the repertoire of widely available, effective drug therapies for COVID-19 is critical for minimizing the...

#BREAKING: DHS' Cyber Security Agency Releases Statement on Presidential Election: “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history. -- There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”

As supporters of President Donald Trump continue to spread baseless allegations of voter fraud, a new theme is emerging in their attacks on the election's legitimacy. Widespread allegations that President-elect Joe Biden "stole" the election are now tinged with unfounded claims that media outlets are rescinding their calls of certain states or are changing their projections in ways that disfavor Biden. These claims are untrue. But they continue to circulate virally on social media and show how, for online platforms, the problem of misinformation is as serious as ever. Misinformation and security researchers warn of the long-term consequences of allowing...

The New York prosecutors didn’t take action after reading a newspaper article about a game-changing piece of evidence. Compare the 2007 non-prosecution agreement with the new indictment. Both address sex trafficking of children. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has been sitting on mountains of evidence confirming Epstein’s abuse of young girls for more than 10 years. ... What did the Justice Department have on Epstein? The answers can be found in a 2008 lawsuit in which two of Epstein’s alleged victims in Doe v. U.S. sued the United States for violating their rights under the federal Crime Victims’ Rights Act....

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) appeared on Fox News’ “Hannity” this week to discuss the origins of the Steele dossier. He said it should really be called the “Simpson” dossier. Although Christopher Steele likely contributed “stories” to the dossier, and his years of experience in British intelligence lent credence to the document, Nunes believes that Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson may actually have written the majority of it. In his book “Spygate,” journalist Dan Bongino makes the same case. He points out the striking similarities between articles Simpson and his wife, Mary Jacoby wrote for the Wall Street Journal in 2007...

Special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly investigating Dick Cheney's former top national security aide, according to the Daily Beast. John Hannah, who worked on Trump's State Department transition team, has not been accused of any wrongdoing at this point, but he is affiliated with two men who are already being questioned by Mueller.

North Korea is conning the United States, building up secret, smaller missile bases even after publicly touting the dismantling of its main launch site, according to a new review of satellite images by a top think tank. Citing new satellite pictures, the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Beyond Parallel program identified what appears to be missile operating bases that have never been acknowledged by North Korean officials. CSIS' conclusions were not immediately independently confirmed. The report identified about 15 to 20 bases being operated by the Korean People’s Army's Strategic Force, based on information from officials in the government, defense...

“All warfare is based on deception,” Sun Tzu wrote 2,500 years ago. It’s a lesson the US military largely forgot after the Cold War, when we got in the habit of building huge, easily targeted bases. Now we must relearn deception as Russia, China, and other adversaries field, not only their own precision weapons, but the satellites, drones, and other sensors to find targets for them. But what does deception mean in the 21st century? Once it required recruiting courtesans as spies and camouflaging troops with tree branches and green facepaint. Now it involves putting out fake news on Facebook...

Retired Marine Gen. James "Hoss" Cartwright has reportedly lost his security clearance as an investigation into his involvement in national security leaks continues, Foreign Policy reports. Cartwright, a retired four-star general who served for 40 years and last served on the Joint Chiefs, has been the subject of an ongoing investigation into an alleged leak of classified information of the "Stuxnet" virus that targeted and temporarily disabled Iran's nuclear facilities in 2010. The general's legal team has called that assertion "preposterous." Gordon Lubold of FP reports that multiple current and former administration sources said Cartwright lost his clearance earlier this...