Posted originally on Oct 8, 2025 by Martin Armstrong |
The latest from the Neocon Fake News, ISW (Institute for the Study of War) started by Victoria Nuland’s sister-in-law, is always the same. Russia is weak; it is about to collapse, but at the same time, they are about to attack NATO, so we should invade now. The new line is “ISW specialists suggest Moscow is now likely conducting ‘coordinated preparatory actions as part of a phase aimed at creating physical and psychological conditions’ for possible military emergencies.”
When I examine the sources promoting World War III, it comes down to three, and none is trustworthy, to say the least. All three put out “opinion” based analysis that is by no means objective.
A Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) report prepared for the EU finance ministers argued that Russia’s economy is “only superficially resilient” and that underlying imbalances and structural weaknesses make continued large-scale war spending unsustainable.
Then there is Victoria Nuland’s family venture, the ISW.
Analysts and institutions associated with the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) have noted that weak growth, dwindling reserves, and the strain of sanctions give leverage to Russia’s opponents.
The think tank Bruegel claims its mission is to improve the quality of economic policy with open and fact-based research, analysis, and debate. Bruegel’s membership includes EU Member State governments, international corporations, and institutions. Brugel has argued that Russia’s economic model is “no longer delivering,” citing rising costs of sanctions evasion, loss of export markets, and labor constraints.
Everything these pretend think tanks put out is so one-sided, and it is clearly meant to promote war. Why? This is simply about conquest at this point to strip mine Russia to resurrect and save the crumbling EU. The ISW are just warmongers, and what will they do without Russia to hate? When we look at the economic data, Unemployment has declined for 26 years during Putin’s Administration.
They will never tell the truth because the attempted regime change of Russia that I was asked to fund and refused back in 1998, will NEVER be investigated because it would expose Hillary and why she even started RussiaGate. It was James Comey who kept me in prison on civil contempt for 7 years with no charges whatsoever. He is the one at the FBI to whom John McCain handed Hillary’s fake dossier to start Russiagate. The people in the deep state will NEVER allow anything to rise to the top, fearing that if they ever did investigate my case, it might expose this whole drive for WWIII and prevent it.
Let’s look at the GDP. This clearly indicates that 2025 is a turning point, and we then observe a sharp rise into 2027, accompanied by very high volatility. This is likely a reflection of a war economy.
When we turn to the Ruble, we see a Panic Cycle in 2027, and this year is a Directional Change. These fake pretend THINK TANKS who are warmongers through and through, will get their way because the press always takes their BS and tells the world Russia is weak, it is a “paper tiger”, and we can walk in and Putin will fall to his knees and the Russian people will cheer and thank them for saving them.
Trump should send the troops into these Tink Tanks and arrest all of them for treason against humanity.
Posted originally on CTH on October 6, 2025 | Sundance
Friend of the Treehouse John Spiropoulos has put together a series of videos explaining how President Obama, FBI Director James Comey and CIA Director John Brennan constructed a coverup to hide their political surveillance operation. Today there are two video segments that deserve focus.
From the perspective of Obama, Comey and Brennan, expanding Hillary Clinton’s Trump-Russia collusion narrative was the key element to hide the activity of the administration prior to the November 2016 election. That’s the motive for the FBI and CIA to collaborate on the agenda after the shocking outcome of the 2016 election result; but pay close attention to the activity of the primary “at risk” official, James Comey.
The December ’16 Joint Analysis Report (JAR), and the January ’17 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), were fabricated to enhance a spying coverup. Spiropoulos has taken the time to put the deconstruction of the ICA into a simple to follow video format. Two parts below:
The next segment is below. Pay particular attention to the person who actually triggered the cancellation of the December 9, 2016, Presidential Daily Brief. It wasn’t Obama, it was James Comey.
From a risk management perspective, initially the surveillance and spying operation was a low-risk endeavor. Obama held power and was going to hand off operations to Hillary. The Clinton administration would retain the officials who were doing the surveillance/spying, and no one would ever know.
Donald Trump was not expected to win the election. When he did, all of the participants were suddenly at risk. President Obama and every member of his cabinet involved in the spying operations, then used Clinton’s “Russiagate” smear to cover up Obama’s “Spygate” activity.
The IRS was used to identify targets 2010 through 2012, until discovered in April ’12. Suddenly, President Obama has a problem. President Obama then sends his Chief of Staff, Jack Lew, to run the IRS and block discoveries around the IRS weaponization.
From 2012 through April 2016, the Obama administration was spying on their political opposition using the FBI to conduct surveillance through their access to the NSA database.
In April 2016, NSA Admiral Mike Rogers was alerted by the NSA compliance officer who noted the uptick in database access activity by the FBI searching the Republican primary candidate field.
Post April 2016, the Obama administration had a problem. Enter FBI operation “Crossfire Hurricane,” July 2016, in an effort to remove the political risk.
October 2016, the FBI rushes a FISA application through the FISC, circumventing the missing ‘Woods File’, with the Chris Steele dossier as evidence.
October 2016, NSA Director Rogers sends the first official notification of the FBI using the NSA database to the oversight body, the FISA Court.
December 2016, worried about Trump now discovering the NSA database spying, the Obama administration wraps the Clinton smear into official policy, blaming the Russians and validating Crossfire Hurricane. That’s where the Intelligence Community Assessment becomes critical.
May 2017, needing to extend the coverup of the FBI activity, special counsel Robert Mueller then takes over Crossfire Hurricane. All FBI evidence and personnel transfers to Mueller.
April 2019, Robert Mueller operation wraps up, prior activity coverup shifts to Impeachment process.
July 2019, John Durham kicks in extending DOJ/FBI control through 2020 election.
Fall 2020, mail-in ballots triggered to facilitate 2020 election outcome.
January 2021, FBI triggers Operation Arctic Frost, targeting Trump supporters and 2020 election researchers. FBI again using NSA database search queries to identify targeting.
March 2021, FBI Arctic Frost results fed to J6 Committee and DHS. TSA trigger “Quiet Skies” targeting via results from Arctic Frost.
It’s one long continuum of coverup activity within Main Justice and the FBI, supported by all other various agencies who operate in support. What are they covering up? The 2012 through 2016 political spying operation within the Obama administration, as carried out by the same Main Justice and FBI operations.
Posted originally on CTH on September 11, 2025 | Sundance
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend a 911 remembrance event at the Pentagon. President Trump delivers powerful remarks below. WATCH:
Posted originally on CTH on September 7, 2025 | Sundance
SSCI Vice Chairman Mark Warner is not happy the Trump administration is subverting the oversight authorities of the SSCI and Gang-of-Eight. If you know the background of the SSCI and Warner, his frustration is a positive indication.
I’ll have much more to say about the ramifications of his anxiety and the background therein, but here’s the raw interview as broadcast for context of what will follow.
Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, told “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that the committee was not briefed ahead of President Trump’s deadly Venezuelan boat strike that was allegedly carrying drugs. The mission was a military operation, but Warner said, “This kind of action should be briefed to the intelligence community.” WATCH:
Shortly after the video was released, the ODNI released the transcript. Ultimately one of the big questions surrounding Mrs. Gabbard in the role of Director of National Intelligence, is motive. Is she genuinely willing to confront the unconstitutional construct of the intelligence branch?
We can never truly understand what lies in the heart; intent is a very challenging aspect to discern, because the best intentions of people can often be impacted by the severity of the opposition they face. However, we can gauge the best likelihood for resolve based on the expressed intentions as the battle plans are developed.
[TRANSCRIPT] – “It’s so great to be able to join all of you here today. This is an event I am grateful to have been invited to, year after year, the scheduling just never worked out. So, I’m so glad to be able to come and to be able to greet you in person and just talk a little bit about the grave challenges that we face.
Yes, in the work that we’re doing on a daily basis, it’s very appropriate that I’m following Mike Benz in this, because he’s focused on a lot of the same things that we are focused on investigating and uncovering. But really, the challenges that he is talking about are challenges that every one of us as Americans are facing. And the task is not just for a Mike Benz or for a certain agency to take on.
This is a moment of opportunity in our country where we have to be very clear-eyed about the direct threats and challenges to our fundamental rights and liberties, and freedoms, and what we, the people, are going to do about it.
When we look at how it came to be for me and for others who I serve alongside to be here and to be a part of this change, we go back to the 2024 election and look at how President Trump was reelected and sent back to the White House by a truly unique cross-partisan coalition of Americans who looked beyond labels, and really were attracted to his message of putting the American people first.
It was a resounding statement in his win of that election by a significant and historic margin, and it was a clear rejection of the status quo of the Washington elite, of political leaders who put their own self-interest ahead of the interests of the American people. And it was a demand for a government of, by, and for the people.
So here we are, about seven, eight months into this administration. President Trump has wasted no time in challenging this system, this broken system, in Washington and striking at its very root, delivering results for the American people to make our nation more safe, secure, prosperous, and free.
I have the privilege of serving as America’s eighth Director of National Intelligence. And President Trump has entrusted in me the mission and responsibility of overseeing the intelligence community, this sprawling network of agencies and entities that are charged with the task of providing timely and objective intelligence to the president and policymakers, free from politicization.
Unfortunately, in my short tenure here so far, we have already seen too many examples of politicization and weaponization of intelligence throughout our country’s history.
We look at where we are now over the last several weeks, we’ve declassified and released documents that exposed how President Obama and leaders in the intelligence community knowingly manufactured a false intelligence document after the 2016 election was done, after the American people said no, we want Donald Trump to go and be our commander in chief, not Hillary Clinton. And this manufactured document alleged that Russia aspired to help President Trump win the election, with the aim of undermining his presidency and usurping the will and the voices of the American people who sent Trump to the White House.
When you look at some of the very same leaders who led this manufactured intelligence document, like James Clapper, also had a very direct hand in manufacturing intelligence on the weapons of mass destruction, the alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, to support George W. Bush’s regime change war in Iraq.
For me to be here as the eighth Director of National Intelligence and uncover how James Clapper and others like John Brennan manufactured intelligence to try to undermine President Trump’s administration and presidency and the voices of the American people, and then go back to the founding of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that came about as a result of the terrorist attack on 9/11, and the manufacturing of intelligence to support the regime change war in Iraq that George Bush led, is an interesting bookend where we find ourselves still dealing with these same issues of politicization and weaponization of intelligence.
James Clapper at that time was the director of the agency that is now called the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, or NGA. And he wrote in his book about how Vice President Dick Cheney was pushing for intelligence, pushing for intelligence to support the invasion of Iraq, to support the narrative of Iraq’s alleged WMDs, and to support the narrative of Iraq’s alleged ties to Al-Qaeda, neither of which actually existed.
So in response to this, James Clapper ordered his agency to create images that Colin Powell then went on to use to support their alleged WMDs narrative. And in James Clapper’s words, we were, quote, “so eager to help that we found what wasn’t really there.” End of quote.
We’ve seen other examples—those that we know of. There are many others that I believe we don’t yet know of—how leaders in the intelligence community, in the FBI, knowingly used false information to gain FISA warrants to illegally spy on American citizens. These are just a few of, unfortunately, what is a long list of known examples of politicization and weaponization that all point to the truth that many of us here in this room know, which is that the rot runs deep, and it’s not just in the intelligence community. I’ve seen examples of this across almost every federal agency.
And so it requires us all to confront the uncomfortable truth that we have these conspirators, these traitors to the Constitution, who are working within our government, who dangerously believe that they are not only above the law, but that they are above the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. People who believe that they have the right to undermine the duly elected president of the United States because they disagree with his positions or his policies, and that they know better.
We go back to the first Trump administration and a prominent example of then former Lieutenant Colonel Vindman. And I remember being in Congress as a Democrat at the time, seeing his testimony and the testimony of others, basically saying, well, we have to protect the country from Donald Trump, the person the American people elected to be the president of the United States. Whether we agree or disagree on policy is not the point. If you disagree on policy, go run for president and market your policies to the American people. It undermines our Constitution, our democratic republic, and we have people within our government who are not the President of the United States, who are not elected by the American people, taking it upon themselves to undermine, ultimately, the American people and the Constitution.
These people have gotten away with these kinds of activities for so long, because they’re protected by an entire system that is built to shield their nefarious activities. And they do this with the assistance and the protection of the deep state and the propaganda media. And those of us who have been targeted by this deep state are very familiar with the tactics.
Keep this in mind. This happens frequently in real time, as we gather here today, where someone in the intelligence community leaks classified intelligence to their friends in the propaganda media. Those individuals in the propaganda media eagerly print this classified intelligence from unnamed sources. Then we see other people in the media talk about this classified intelligence. No one’s verified it. No one’s done any kind of vetting, no one has done any basic journalistic work. And then we see politicians repeating and talking about this thing that was leaked to the media. And we’ve seen how this tried-and-true playbook that is used over and over again to either smear their opponents to, in President Trump’s case, to be used as a basis for FBI raids on his home, lawfare, impeachments, endless investigations, and so forth.
So I get asked oftentimes by people who don’t come to events like this, who are just working hard and trying to raise a family and trying to get by, when they say, what is the deep state? People talk about the deep state. What is it? This is what we’re talking about. It’s not some grand conspiracy theory. It is a conspiracy to undermine the Constitution.
But this is the reality that we are operating in, and it’s important for us to talk about it, to be very clear-eyed about it so that we can combat it with the truth. And this is why exposing the truth is so important, to bring about that real transparency and that accountability, ensuring that our Constitution and Bill of Rights—and this is something that I’m focused on in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and pushing throughout the intelligence community—is actually focusing on the Constitution, making it an event when new people are brought in to any of these organizations.
Every one of them has to swear an oath, as many here did if you served in the military, if you’ve served in different positions in government, to support and defend the Constitution, to talk about it, have a discussion. What does this actually mean and how do we apply it in the work that is done every single day? Because it must be our North Star every day. It must be that guiding principle that serves as our foundation and the left and right limits in the decisions that are being made within our work.
Those who serve in government in any position at the very top, or those who may be coming in brand new, our sole focus must be on serving the American people and upholding the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
It’s very, I feel, appropriate that I’m coming and speaking to you after Mike Benz and hearing at least some of the things he talked about at the end, about the various attacks on our fundamental rights, freedoms, and liberties that are occurring not only here in the United States, but how these threats are coming from policies and agreements that are being talked about in multinational organizations and settings. Our founding documents were based on our inalienable rights and freedoms that are granted to us by God and no one else. And it’s up to us to continue to speak that truth and stand up against those who seek to take them away, no matter where they are or who they are.
We have a lot of work to do. We are working hard every day towards this end, when you look at how deeply entrenched the deep state is, those who believe they are more powerful than the Constitution, you can understand the work that we have ahead of us. But I’m grateful to serve in this position, grateful to President Trump for entrusting me with this mission, to truly seek the truth, find the truth, and tell the truth to the American people, so that true accountability and true change, lasting change, can come about.
You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. This change will only be possible if every one of us, as Americans, stands together and fights for it. The future of our country as a free nation is truly in our hands, and we cannot be complacent. We cannot fall asleep at the wheel and allow anyone to sneak in the back door and take it from us, literally and figuratively.
So this movement for positive change, institutional and historic change, is about more than one person or one organization. It’s about all of us, and it’s about restoring the promise of America and the vision that our founders had for our country. And as we go back and look at their courage and their strength and the threats that were laid on them as they worked to write these founding documents, I hope that that gives us inspiration and courage and strength to fight the battles that we have before us, because we are the ones that they were referring to when they talked about a government of, by, and for the people. We’re the only ones who can make it happen.
Thank you for standing for freedom and liberty and truth. Aloha.
Posted originally on CTH on September 4, 2025 | Sundance
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard delivered a speech at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington, D.C. where she gave specific citations for previous weaponization of intelligence.
DNI Gabbard walks through a timeline of intelligence manipulation, and points to the system within Washington DC that supports the manipulation because it bolsters a political agenda. Gabbard notes that exposing the truth is the ultimate countermeasure to reveal the deception and stop the false constructs. WATCH:
Due to the venue and audio, the speech has an echo. However, I would request those who are pondering the intent of Tulsi Gabbard to stay with it and listen carefully to how she outlines the importance of the current objective. The bill of rights must be defended, she says…. and she is deliberate in understanding the big picture implications.
Posted originally on CTH on August 28, 2025 | Sundance
The Wall Street Journal wrote the hit piece against DNI Tulsi Gabbard, sourced to two “people familiar with the matter,” and “three other people with knowledge of the situation.” They all needed to coordinate with the WSJ. Think about it.
The substance of the story is that among the 37 current and former Intelligence Community officials Tulsi Gabbard recently stripped of their security clearances, was an “undercover CIA agent” located within one of those agencies.
The story is written to say DNI Tulsi Gabbard should have vetted the list with the CIA for a longer period of time before she took action. Therefore, she is not doing her job correctly, or something. The CIA was compromised by Tulsi Gabbard removing the security clearance of one of their hidden agents within the U.S. Government.
Before getting to the story at hand, just stop and think of what the story is selling. The article says the placement of CIA agents throughout the administration’s agencies is commonplace. The CIA Director is not necessarily aware of these CIA operatives or operations that are taking place within the government. That point is one well worth thinking about.
However, there’s another larger point that will fly past most casual observers. The Intelligence Community (IC), and let’s accept this one is likely the CIA (directorate of analysis) from the structure of the political hit, is leaking against DNI Tulsi Gabbard. Again, think. The issue at the heart of the CIA complaint is null and void unless the CIA publicly complains about it.
If there was a valid, genuine, legitimate and valuable CIA asset within the 37 names who lost their security clearances, the issue would be quickly and quietly resolved by just not taking the action against that person. Saying nothing, doing nothing, makes the “mistake” (if that’s what it was) disappear.
The CIA complaining about it to the Wall Street Journal is what makes the issue a problem. That’s how you can identify this story as an organized Intelligence Community political hit against Tulsi Gabbard.
Increasingly, it is becoming more and more clear that Tulsi Gabbard is factually doing what the Intelligence Community feared she would be doing.
DNI Gabbard is targeting all of the political weaponization within the Intelligence Community, and she is methodically removing the corrupt people within the system who participate. In short, she’s doing the thing we wanted her to do – and that’s a problem for the system.
Wall Street Journal– Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, surprised Central Intelligence Agency officials last week when she included an undercover senior CIA officer on a roster of 37 current and former officials she stripped of security clearances.
Most of the 37 people had either participated in intelligence assessments related to Russia’s attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election or had signed a 2019 letter calling for President Trump’s impeachment.
Gabbard didn’t know the CIA officer had been working undercover, according to a person familiar with the fallout from the list’s release. Three other people with knowledge of the situation said that Gabbard’s office didn’t meaningfully consult with the CIA before releasing the list.
Gabbard’s office delivered the list of 37 people to the CIA the evening before the list’s release, according to three people familiar with the communications and emails read to The Wall Street Journal.
The national intelligence office didn’t seek the CIA’s input about the composition of the list, and the CIA had no foreknowledge of Gabbard’s posting on X the following day that revealed the names, including that of the covered CIA officer, according to two of the people familiar with the events.
In a memo announcing the revocations, Gabbard said she had acted on Trump’s orders.
“Director of National Intelligence Gabbard directed the revocations to ensure individuals who have violated the trust placed in them by weaponizing, politicizing, manipulating, or leaking classified intelligence are no longer allowed to do so,” a spokeswoman in Gabbard’s office said.
[…]The CIA official whose clearance was revoked last week is a longtime Russia hand at the agency. The officer has held intelligence posts for more than 20 years and worked from 2014 to 2017 as an expert on Russia and Eurasia on the National Intelligence Council, according to a publicly listed biography.
Earlier this year, the CIA officer spoke at a classified intelligence conference and was described as a senior executive manager in the CIA’s Europe and Eurasia mission center.
[…] It is a felony to reveal the identity of a covert intelligence officer or agent, though it is unclear if the statute could be applied to a government disclosure, or if including her on the list constitutes a disclosure. (read more)
Did ya’ll catch that little slip-up “her” inside the last sentence?
Apparently, the person on the list, the hidden CIA operative that lost their security clearance, was a “her.”
I watch the minutia closely, and this is one of those very rare instances where I can say, I find zero reason to doubt the intents and integrity goals of DNI Tulsi Gabbard.
FTA: “The CIA officer spoke at a classified intelligence conference and was described as a senior executive manager in the CIA’s Europe and Eurasia mission center”… AFCEA Spring Intelligence Symposium: Ms. Julia Gurganus, Senior Executive Manager – Europe and Eurasia Mission Center, Central Intelligence Agency. [LINK]
Posted originally on CTH on August 26, 2025 | Sundance
Continuing the record of being the most transparent administration in history, President Trump will be holding a cabinet meeting today at 11:00am and the media is invited to participate in the first part of the event.
Posted originally on CTH on August 26, 2025 | Sundance
Was NSA Director Mike Rogers aware that political spying was conducted through the use of searches on the NSA database? Yes. Did NSA Director Mike Rogers take action in April 2016 to stop the searches within the NSA database that were entirely due to political surveillance? Yes.
Six months later, October 20, 2016, the extensive review of all the political surveillance searches done from November of 2015 to April of 2016 was completed; the NSA compliance officer briefed Director Rogers. Six days later on October 26, 2016, NSA Director Mike Rogers then informed the FISA court of the unlawful searches and his action to address the issue.
One month later on November 17th, 2016, NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers went to see President-Elect Donald Trump in Trump Tower, New York. –SEE HERE– Director Rogers never told his boss DNI, James Clapper. The very next day, Friday November 18, 2016, The Washington Post reported on a recommendation in “October” that Mike Rogers be removed from his NSA position.
“The heads of the Pentagon and the nation’s intelligence community have recommended to President Obama that the director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, be removed. The recommendation, delivered to the White House last month, was made by Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., according to several U.S. officials familiar with the matter. […] In a move apparently unprecedented for a military officer, Rogers, without notifying superiors, traveled to New York to meet with Trump on Thursday at Trump Tower. That caused consternation at senior levels of the administration, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel matters.”
Notice how the WaPo conflates the two issues. (1) Meeting with Trump (Nov), and (2) the recommendation to fire him (Oct). The October recommendation to fire Rogers was likely based on the outcome of his decision to fully stop “about queries” of the NSA database and speak to the FISA court.
The recommendation to fire Rogers preceded his visit to Donald Trump, though the IC effort may have provided some additional motivation for the Rogers visit itself.
NSA Director Mike Rogers traveled to New York November 17, 2016, when a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) was set up for President-elect Trump to use following the November 8, 2016, election.
The next day, November 18, 2016, the Trump Transition Team announced they were moving all transition activity to Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. –SEE HERE– Where they interviewed and discussed the most sensitive positions to fill. Specifically, Defense, State, CIA and ODNI.
There was a great deal of speculation at the time surrounding the visit by Director Rogers and the move from Trump Tower to New Jersey. Did Rogers tell President Trump about the political surveillance from November 2015 to April 2016? We now know the answer is no, he did not.
Director Rogers did recommend an easier venue for the SCIF to operate with secured communication channels; but Rogers did not notify President Trump about the use of the NSA database for political spying.
It is worth noting other events in/around this timeline. The NSA compliance officer did not brief Admiral Rogers until 20th Oct 2016. The next day, October 21 the FISA application against Carter Page was approved by the FISA Court; Rogers would be unaware of this submission and issuance. Admiral Rogers then notified the FISC Oct 26, 2016, about the NSA database issue. [In October of 2016 James Clapper and Ash Carter were recommending Rogers’s firing.]
The issue of the “FBI Contractors” having access to the NSA database for political spying was stopped by Director Mike Rogers on April 18, 2016.
NSA Director Mike Rogers shut down FBI contractor access to the NSA database April 18, 2016, the very next day what happens? On April 19, 2016, Perkins Coie hires Fusion GPS Glenn Simpson to conduct research on Donald Trump.
♦ Now, fast forward to Devin Nunes in March of 2017, two similar but importantly different issues surface. (#1) The collection of information from within the NSA database; and (#2) the unmasking of names within intelligence community communication.
These are two distinctly separate issues.
In February and March 2017 HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes, a gang of eight member, reviewed intelligence reports that were assembled exclusively for the office of the former President (Obama). That is why he went to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) Information Facility to review.
After Devin Nunes review the information March 22nd, 2017, Nunes stated the intelligence product he reviewed was “not related to Russia, or the FBI Russian counter-intelligence investigation”.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Devin Nunes, then held a brief press conference and stated he had been provided intelligence reports brought to him by unnamed sources that include ‘significant information’ about President-Elect Trump and his transition team. [WATCH]
Quotes from the presser:
1.) …”On numerous occasions the [Obama] intelligence community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition.”
2.) “Details about U.S. persons associated with the incoming administration; details with little or no apparent foreign intelligence value were widely disseminated in intelligence community reporting.”
3.) “Third, I have confirmed that additional names of Trump transition members were unmasked.”
4.) “Fourth and finally, I want to be clear; none of this surveillance was related to Russia, or the investigation of Russian activities.
“The House Intelligence Committee will thoroughly investigate surveillance and its subsequent dissemination, to determine a few things here that I want to read off:”
•“Who was aware of it?” •“Why was it not disclosed to congress?” •“Who requested and authorized the additional unmasking?” •“Whether anyone directed the intelligence community to focus on Trump associates?” •“And whether any laws, regulations or procedures were violated?”
“I have asked the Directors of the FBI, NSA and CIA to expeditiously comply with my March 15th [2017] letter -that you all received a couple of weeks ago- and to provide a full account of these surveillance activities.”
Remember, the issue of the November ’15 to April ’16 exploitation of the NSA database did not involve “unmasking.”
“UNMASKING” is an entirely different issue from the problem identified in March 2016 by the NSA compliance officer.
The NSA and FISC directly noted there was “no attempt at minimization” for the results that came from the unauthorized searches of the database. That “FBI Contractor” activity didn’t require any unmasking because nothing they did was masked (minimized).
The outcomes of the FBI contractors were “raw FISA information on FBI storage systems.”
Also important, “the [XXX] contractors had access to raw FISA information that went well beyond what was necessary to respond to the FBI’s requests.”
♦ Then we get to the question of who exactly was doing these searches?
Now, we can overlay that Daniel Richman was hired by FBI Director James Comey as a “special government employee.” Richman given TSCI clearance and top-level access to FBI activity.
Has Daniel Richman ever been asked if he searched the NSA database?
“Sources familiar with Richman’s status at the FBI told Fox News that he was assigned to “special projects” by Comey and had a security clearance as well as badge access to the building. Richman’s status was the subject of a Memorandum of Understanding.” […] “Richman’s portfolio included the use of encrypted communications.” {SOURCE}
Then we jump to the question of the FBI workstation at Perkins Coie; justified, they claimed, because the DC law firm was a “contractor” for legal analysis on behalf of the FBI.
So, the Clinton Campaign law firm, Perkins Coie, was an FBI contractor, with a designated workstation within it. And when NSA Director Mike Rogers shut down FBI contractor access to the NSA database April 18, 2016, the very next day what happens? On April 19, 2016, Perkins Coie hires Fusion GPS Glenn Simpson to conduct research on Donald Trump.
Private contractors with access to “raw FISA information that went well beyond what was necessary to respond to FBI’s requests.” The Perkins Coie arrangement was in place since 2012.
[…] Sec. 2. Security Clearance Review. (a) The Attorney General, the Director of National Intelligence, and all other relevant heads of executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall immediately take steps consistent with applicable law to suspend any active security clearances held by individuals at Perkins Coie, pending a review of whether such clearances are consistent with the national interest.
(b) The Office of Management and Budget shall identify all Government goods, property, material, and services, including Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities, provided for the benefit of Perkins Coie. The heads of all agencies providing such material or services shall, to the extent permitted by law, expeditiously cease such provision. (LINK)
♦ Back to Devin Nunes presser in 2017. There are two issues: the use of the NSA database to conduct political spying, and the unmasking of U.S. persons within intelligence products created by the intelligence community. Two separate issues.
HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes was alarmed at how the “spying” or “surveillance” of President Trump was conducted.
As noted by Nunes, nothing about the issue of concern was related in any way to Trump-Russia, the Russian interference issue or any context surrounding Russia.
The issue at the heart of the matter was how the surveillance was conducted. The exploitation of the NSA metadata storage base, the NSA database containing the electronic communication of every American. That was the issue, not Russiagate.
Later, Nunes shared his concern with a letter to DNI Dan Coats as an outcome of what he saw first-hand.
In Nunes outlook -along with the outlook of every single govt official that I have ever had contact with- retention of the FISA(702) tools must be maintained at all costs.
Not a single member of government is against the system, which is, entirely based on a library of information that captures the electronic data of every American.
Another way to look at it is that the process of retaining the NSA database must be defended, and in the larger of the BIG PICTURES, the FISA process is simply a legislatively authorized tool to engage with that captured information.
This is why FISA(702) becomes so absolutely critical for the interests of the National Security Apparatus.
Just as Astronaut David Bowman was told in 2010 A Space Odyssey, “all these worlds are yours -except Europa- attempt no landings here.” So too, is the NSA database and the FISA exploitation therein, completely off limits to discussion or elimination.
There isn’t a single govt official who would dare step forth to challenge the baseline of the FISA process, because the FISA process is simply the tool that permits the legal exploitation of the NSA Database.
Think about the more recent example of Tulsi Gabbard being nominated to the position of Director of National Intelligence.
There was no way for Tulsi to get beyond the block of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), the group that held control of her nomination, while she retained a public opinion that the FISA tool was an unconstitutional exploit that violated the 4th Amendment.
What did Tulsi Gabbard have to do to get through that “advise and consent” process?
She had to accept and affirm that she would never seek to limit, restrict or substantively alter the Intelligence Community access to the NSA database. She had to acquiesce to never blocking or impeding FISA(702) as constructed as a tool to engage the database.
So, even a staunch critic for the abuses within the system, had to take a position that she would never attack the tools that permit the abuse to exist. To get confirmed Tulsi Gabbard reversed her position and told the SSCI she would support FISA (702) if confirmed as DNI.
The “Russiagate” story is being pushed, promoted and advanced by every interest aligned with the retention of FISA(702), and every element of the sexy Clinton Trump-Russia storyline is being used as a distraction to stop people from looking back on the issue of where this spying and surveillance originated.
I am increasingly convinced that DC wants people to chase Russiagate, because DC doesn’t want people looking at the Obama exploitation of the NSA database; because every single entity in DC wants to keep people away from contemplating the U.S. metadata capture of all electronic information that now forms the baseline for the national security state.
President Obama supported FISA. Devin Nunes supported the FISA exploit. Kash Patel supports the FISA exploit. Pam Bondi supports the FISA exploit. James Comey supported the FISA exploit. Every corrupt and non-corrupt govt official alike supports FISA. We are told that without it there are great national security threats.
It was the very existence of the NSA database that provided the Obama administration the ability to weaponize it.
In 2015 Sally Yates blocked any inspector general oversight of the DOJ National Security Division (SEE Pdf HERE). The Office of Inspector General. Michael Horowitz, requested oversight over the DOJ National Security Division and it was Sally Yates who responded with a lengthy 58-page legal explanation saying, essentially, ‘nope – not allowed.’ (PDF HERE) All of the DOJ is subject to oversight, except the NSD.
The Obama people, under the auspices of FBI “contractors” didn’t use valid FISA authorities to conduct the political surveillance or spying operation, they just used “about” searches of the NSA database itself.
The contractors didn’t mask (minimize) any search result because the only thing they cared about was getting the information. The people doing the searches were not operating to discover valid information of a national security interest. These were not defective search efforts done by persons or interests with valid intentions.
This was political spying.
This kind of unlawful activity, if exposed, threatens the core validity of the system they weaponized.
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This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America