Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran
May 23rd, 2007Via: abcnews:
The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert “black” operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.
The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a “nonlethal presidential finding” that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran’s currency and international financial transactions.
…
Current and former intelligence officials say the approval of the covert action means the Bush administration, for the time being, has decided not to pursue a military option against Iran.
“Vice President Cheney helped to lead the side favoring a military strike,” said former CIA official Riedel, “but I think they have come to the conclusion that a military strike has more downsides than upsides.”
Related: Commander’s Veto Sank Threatening Gulf Buildup
Related: Zbigniew Brzezinski Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
And Now: The No Work List
May 23rd, 2007Sure.
Via: cnet:
The U.S. Congress is poised to create a set of massive new government databases that all employers must use to investigate the immigration status of current and future employees or face stiff penalties.
The so-called Employment Eligibility Verification System would be established as part of a bill that senators began debating on Monday, a procedure that is likely to continue through June and would represent the most extensive rewrite of immigration and visa laws in a generation. Because anyone who fails a database check would be out of a job, the proposed database already has drawn comparisons with the “no-fly list” and is being criticized by civil libertarians and business groups.
All employers–at least 7 million, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce–would be required to verify identity documents provided by both existing employees and potential hires, the legislation says. The data, including Social Security numbers, would be provided to Homeland Security, on penalty of perjury, and the government databases would provide a work authorization confirmation within three business days.
There is no privacy requirement that the federal government delete the information after work authorization is given or denied. Employers would be required to keep all the documentation in paper or electronic form for seven years “and make it available for inspection by officers of the Department of Homeland Security” and the Department of Labor. It would also open up the IRS’ databases of confidential taxpayer information to Homeland Security and its contractors.
Health Fear Over Airport X-Ray Scanners
May 23rd, 2007Duh.
Via: thisislondon.com:
New X-Ray scanners at British airports could be exposing passengers to potentially dangerous levels of radiation, according to one senior radiologist.
The machines are designed to “strip search” passengers by using low-level X-Rays, which produce an image of their bodies, revealing whether they are secretly carrying weapons, explosives or illegal drugs.
But the scanners may not be safe for certain people, particularly children and women in the early stages of pregnancy, according to Dr Sarah Burnett, who works as an independent radiologist in London.
“It is illegal to expose people to any level of radiation without medical justification,” said Dr Burnett, who raised her concerns after being asked to undergo a full-body scan at Luton Airport.
“So how is it that the Government is allowed to irradiate us willy-nilly at airports?
“I am particularly concerned about the potential effects on women in their first trimester of pregnancy.
“That is when the risks of the baby developing genetic abnormalities are highest because radiation exposure can damage the body’s reproductive DNA.”
Called the Rapiscan Secure 1000, the device looks like a big filing cabinet and fires a low-energy X-Ray beam over the body.
Bush May Turn to UN in Search for Iraq Solution
May 23rd, 2007Ordo ab chao.
Via: Guardian:
The Bush administration is developing plans to “internationalise” the Iraq crisis, including an expanded role for the United Nations, as a way of reducing overall US responsibility for Iraq’s future and limiting domestic political fallout from the war as the 2008 election season approaches.
The move comes amid rising concern in Washington that President George Bush’s controversial Baghdad security surge, led by the US commander, General David Petraeus, is not working and that Iran is winning the clandestine battle for control of Iraq.
“Petraeus is brilliant. But he is the captain of a sinking ship,” said a former senior administration official who questioned whether Iraq’s divided political leadership could prevent a descent into chaos. “Iraq’s government is a mobile phone number that doesn’t answer. Iraq probably can’t be fixed.”
Although sectarian killings have fallen in Baghdad since the surge began in February, the level of violence across the country remains broadly unchanged. But the White House is fiercely resisting calls from Democrats and some Republicans to scrap the operation and set a timetable for a troop withdrawal.
The former official, who is familiar with administration thinking, predicted Mr Bush would instead ask Congress to agree a six-month extension of the surge after Gen Petraeus presented his “progress report” in early September.
While insisting that no decision had yet been taken on an extension, the Pentagon announced last week that 35,000 soldiers from 10 army brigades had been told they could expect to be deployed to Iraq by the end of the year. That would enable the US to maintain heightened troop levels of about 160,000 soldiers through to next spring.
According to an analysis published by Hearst Newspapers yesterday, the number of combat troops could almost double – to 98,000 – by the end of the year if arriving and departing combat brigades overlap. By the same calculation, the overall total including support troops could top 200,000 – an increase the report said amounted to a “second surge”.
Related: Bush Could Double Force by Christmas
Enemy Collaborator Democrats Drop Troop Pullout Dates from Iraq Bill
May 23rd, 2007Who told you so… / Imagine my shock…
Via: New York Times:
Congressional Democrats relented today on their insistence that a war spending measure sought by President Bush also set a date for withdrawing troops from Iraq. The decision to back down, described by senior lawmakers and aides, was a wrenching reversal for some Democrats, who saw their election triumph as a call to force an end to the war. A Democratic effort to include timelines prompted Mr. Bush’s veto of the original bill last month, producing a political impasse.
Software Can Identify You from Your Online Habits
May 23rd, 2007In a comment on The Ugly Truth About Online Anonymity, Cryptogon reader, cryingfreeman, wrote:
I’ve long been aware that I could be identified from anywhere on the globe due to my surfing pattern. Taking a fictional example derived loosely from my own:
1. Each day, citizen X visits a site for a small German soccer club – maybe 100 daily visitors.
2. Then he visits a news site covering a small town in rural Scotland from whence his parents come. Again, a limited readership.
3. After that, he checks out a blog site discussing weather forecast models.
How many people on earth would have those specialised interests? In that combination? In regard to my own surfing habits, I would have to conclude that mine are as unique as my DNA. But at least knowing this gives me some kind of advantage should things take a turn for the worst.
When I read that comment, it immediately rang true. It felt obvious. Simple. As it turns out, he was dead right.
Well done, cryingfreeman.
In my essay about online anonymity, I wrote:
All of the stuff that you do with your normal online persona, you know, online banking, checking email, discussion groups, etc: You can’t do any of that. The second you associate a user profile on a server with your behavior, you’re back to square one. The Matrix has you. You would have to create what the intelligence business calls a legend for your new anonymous online life. You may only access this persona using these extreme communications security protocols. Obviously, you can’t create an agent X persona via your anonymous connection and then log into some site using that profile on your home cable modem connection. To borrow another bit of jargon from the people who do this for real, full time, you must practice compartmentalization.
If that point didn’t sink in then, check this out.
Via: New Scientist:
IF YOU thought you could protect your privacy on the web by lying about your personal details, think again. In online communities at least, entering fake details such as a bogus name or age may no longer prevent others from working out exactly who you are.
That is the spectre raised by new research conducted by Microsoft. The computing giant is developing software that could accurately guess your name, age, gender and potentially even your location, by analysing telltale patterns in your web browsing history. But experts say the idea is a clear threat to privacy – and may be illegal in some places.
…analytical software could use a vast range of such profiles to perform a probabilistic analysis of a person’s browsing history.
…experts say the idea is a clear threat to privacy – and may be illegal in some places.
…”They are arguably committing offences in a number of countries under a number of different laws if they make available software that defeats the security procedures internet users deploy to protect their privacy – from export control laws to anti-hacking laws.”
Cryptogon Reader Contributes $15
May 22nd, 2007AH, a long time reader and contributor, sent $15. Thanks AH!
They’re Sensors in Them Thar Hills
May 22nd, 2007Heading for the hills? Planning on taking a rifle with you?
With the system described below, and currently available armed/unmanned drone technology, a lethal and autonomous response to trespassers/intruders/enemy combatants/etc. is easily possible. Right now.
Autonomous acquisition and engagement of human targets is old news. See Israel’s robotic gun turrets. Picking out individuals for termination from a crowd will take a few years (requires human middleware for now), but to have a robot autonomously kill people in a specified area is easily doable now.
Drones could orbit a huge area, looking for heat signatures on their own, or waiting to respond to a target picked up by one of these ferrous metal detecting ground sensors. If the operators wish, the weapon system could acquire and terminate the target autonomously, keep it under surveillance or have a human pull the trigger. The point is to automate the lockdown.
The military has used ground sensors for decades. I don’t follow the specifics, but I’d be surprised if they haven’t used something like this for a long, long time. I’m mentioning this because the technology is now using ubiquitous, civilian grade gear. Off the shelf. Internet based. Inexpensive. Coming to a wilderness retreat near you.
Ahhh, maybe the Blackwater boys will run some of these hunter killer networks. One merc, a few drones and a BIG area.
Via: MIT Technology Review:
The closest that park officials often get to catching poachers is stumbling across carcasses days or weeks after the culprits have fled the scene. Now a new surveillance system may help locate, track, and intercept poachers before they strike.
The system consists of a network of foot-long metal detectors similar to those used in airports. When moving metal objects such as a machete or a rifle trip the sensor, it sends a radio signal to a wireless Internet gateway camouflaged in the tree canopy as far as a kilometer away. This signal is transmitted via satellite to the Internet, where the incident is logged and messages revealing the poachers’ position and direction are sent instantly to park headquarters, where patrols can then be dispatched.
“[This system] is a force multiplier,” says Steve Gulick, an electrical engineer and director of Wildland Security, a Brooklyn-based organization that develops antipoaching technology. “It could potentially make the patrols more efficient. They would know where to go and could mount a real-time response.”
Miles to Go
May 22nd, 2007The power crisis is a purpose built crisis. That’s not the problem.
The problem is a lack of a concept of enough.
The managers of this pop stand are taking the thing down in order to monopolize what’s left of the inventory for themselves.
What we don’t know is how They’ll manage the kill off phase…
Via: PBS:
Many of the cars now on America’s roads get no better gas mileage than the ones we were driving twenty years ago. Meanwhile, other country’s cars are leaving ours in the dust in terms of fuel efficiency. How did this happen, and what are American auto manufacturers doing about it?
A former auto industry engineer and NOW correspondent Jonathan Silvers goes under the hood of the U.S. car industry to look at what’s being called a colossal failure of American engineering. Does Detroit have a secret weapon waiting in the wings?
Gasoline Price at Inflation Adjusted Peak
May 22nd, 2007Via: Reuters:
U.S. retail gasoline prices hit a record high for the second week in a row and matched the inflation-adjusted peak reached in the early 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war, the government said on Monday, as concern about low motor fuel supplies pushed up pump costs.
The average price for regular unleaded gasoline soared 11.5 cents over the last week to a fresh record of $3.22 a gallon, according to the federal Energy Information Administration’s nationwide survey of 800 service stations.
