Another Blackberry Lost, Cheryl Mills Worried

Posted on by

Clinton Chief Of Staff Lost Her Personal Blackberry, Which Contained Classified Emails

 Ross/DailyCaller: While working as Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff at the State Department, Cheryl Mills lost her personal Blackberry, on which she sent emails that the State Department has determined contain classified information. Records obtained by The Daily Caller through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit show Mills revealed that she lost her Blackberry in a March 20, 2010 email she sent to Bryan Pagliano, the State Department IT staffer who managed Clinton’s private email server.
“Somewhere b/w my house and the plane to nyc yesterday my personal bb got misplaced; no on [sic] is answering it thought [sic] I have called,” Mills wrote from her personal email account to the address Pagliano used when he worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Other State Department records indicate that Mills’ personal Blackberry appears to have been synced with her Gmail account. Many of the emails she sent from the personal account include footers which show they were sent from a Blackberry powered by AT&T.

Some of the emails Mills sent and received on the account contain information that the State Department has retroactively determined to have classified information.

In one such email, from Dec. 24, 2009, Clinton forwarded Mills a message she had received from Johnnie Carson, then the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, who provided details from a conversation he had with French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner about a situation in Guinea.

“Pls review so we can discuss,” Clinton wrote to Mills and Jake Sullivan, her foreign policy aide.

In a Jan. 14, 2014 email, Rajiv Shah, who was in charge of U.S. Agency for International Development, emailed Clinton and Mills about Haiti. The email is heavily redacted because it contains now-classified information. The State Department has retroactively classified more than 1,300 emails housed on Clinton’s private server, though Clinton and the State Department maintain that the information was not considered classified when it was originated.

It is unclear if Mills recovered her Blackberry after first losing it. Her attorney did not return a request for comment. It is also unclear what other sensitive, government-related information Mills sent on her Blackberry and personal email account to other federal officials.

Blackberry usage by Clinton and her inner circle has been a growing area of focus in the ongoing scandal involving the Democratic presidential candidate’s use of a personal email account and a private server.

The Daily Caller reported earlier this month that in Aug. 2011, a top State Department official offered to provide Clinton with a government-issued Blackberry equipped with a state.gov email account after her personal Blackberry went on the blink. But Clinton aide Huma Abedin rejected the offer, claiming that the idea “doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

And on Monday, Fox News reported a video from 2013 in which Wendy Sherman, who served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs under Clinton, admitted that Clinton and other State Department officials frequently used their Blackberries to send information that “would never be on an unclassified system.”

Clinton used only a personal Blackberry throughout her tenure at the State Department. Mills and Abedin used both personal and government-issued Blackberries.

There is some evidence that the State Department was concerned with the use of personal Blackberries separate and apart from the risk posed by losing them.

“I cannot stress too strongly… that any unclassified BlackBerry is highly vulnerable in any setting to remotely and covertly monitoring conversations, retrieving emails, and exploring calendars,” wrote Eric Boswell, then the head of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, in a March 2009 memo.

Boswell also warned that the bureau had intelligence concerning “vulnerability” to Clinton’s Blackberry during her Feb. 9, 2009 trip to China. He also issued a warning about using Blackberries on “Mahogany Row,” the floor that houses the offices of top State Department officials at headquarters in Foggy Bottom.

In Feb. 2014, well before the Clinton email scandal broke, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki spoke to the issue using personal digital assistants (PDA) — such as Blackberries — that were not government issued.

“Classified processing and classified conversation on a personal digital assisted device is prohibited,” she told reporters.

 

Cheryl Mills Loses Personal Blackberry

Wounded Warriors Project Investigation, Just Wow

Posted on by

I knew this three years ago but never knew the depths of the malfeasance. Imagine how much good the charity good deliver if egos and spending were guided and managed. The salaries at the top have always been outrageous.

Wounded Warrior Project Survey Video included in link

Action News Jax Investigates: Wounded Warrior Project under fire, accused of lavish spending on parties and salaries

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —

On Tuesday, a CBS News investigation revealed lavish spending by a nationally recognized charity based in Jacksonville.

Wounded Warrior Project is under fire by former employees who say the group wastes millions in donor dollars on five-star hotels and booze.

“I’ll be damned if I let them drink away the hard earned spending of Americans,” Erick Millette told CBS News.

Action News Jax’s Catherine Varnum spoke with that whistleblower and he showed pictures of some of that lavish spending.

That evidence includes a video of a man identified as the CEO of Wounded Warrior Project, rappelling down the side of a five-star hotel during a conference paid for by the charity.

The whistle blower, who is a decorated veteran, told Action News Jax there were bar tabs of $2,500 dollars all paid for using money meant to help wounded veterans.

The television ads are well known: Veterans, heroes speaking on behalf of locally based Wounded Warrior Project, telling stories of wounded vets needing help.

“I was in a bad place. I was drinking myself to death. I was literally putting a gun in my mouth,” Millette said.

Millette served 2 tours in Iraq, earning a bronze star and Purple Heart. But the Army veteran also came home with a brain injury and PTSD. He turned to the Wounded Warrior Project for help.

“I thought it was the greatest thing. I really did,” Millette said.

After going on a retreat, he got a job as a spokesperson for Wounded Warrior Project, talking up the organization, even getting recognition from the president. But after two years, Millette quit.

“I started to notice just how the donor money was being spent and I became more uncomfortable,” Millette said.

He showed us pictures of a Mexican mariachi band brought in for a party. In one video, Millette said CEO Steven Nardizzi can be seen rappelling down side of the Broadmore hotel in Colorado during an all-expenses paid conference for employees.

Millette said despite living just miles away, he attended mandatory training at One Ocean in Atlantic Beach four separate times.

Catherine Varnum: “You live in Jacksonville?”

Millette: “I live in Jacksonville”

Varnum: “And they made you stay?”

Millette: “I was required to stay in a hotel on site,” Millette said.

Varnum: “Do you have any idea how much money is being spent on what you called the glitz and glamour versus going to warriors?

Millette: “No I don’t.”

“I think it’s an organization that’s saying one thing and doing another. I think they’re preying off the brave men and women who served this country,” Millette said.

Millette said he’s not speaking out as a disgruntled former employee but as a voice for so many others afraid to speak up about out of control spending.

“There’s a saying at Wounded Warrior Project, warriors call us, we don’t call warriors,” Millette said.

According to tax records obtained by CBS News, spending on conferences and meetings went from $1.7 million in 2010 to $26 million in 2014. That’s about the same amount of money the group spends on its combat stress recovery program.

Records on the organization’s own website show salaries for the top 12 employees totaled more than $2.7 million.

The group also posted on its Facebook page, saying in part, “Our salaries are consistent with industry standards and, rather than being excessive, have often fallen at the lower end of compensation paid at comparable organizations.”

According to Charity Navigator, which tracks charitable giving, Wounded Warrior Project spent 60 percent of its donations on veterans. Other veteran organizations average 90 percent. On Facebook, the group responded to several people who commented on their page, saying that number is false.

We reached out to Wounded Warrior Project and received the following statement:

“The CBS News piece had numerous factual errors and misrepresented the good work Wounded Warrior Project does on behalf of this nation’s injured veterans.

“Wounded Warrior Project leads the industry in transparency and reporting publicly our independently audited financial documents. Separate from our financials, we also make public all of our program information and impact metrics. These are readily available on our website for anyone to view.

“Based on our most recently independently audited financial statements, 80.6 percent of total expenditures went to provide 20 services and programs for Wounded Warriors and their families.

“Wounded Warrior Project is a Gold Standard Better Business Bureau accredited charity.

“We provide programs and services to more than 83,000 wounded veterans. Wounded Warrior Project works every day to ensure our programs meet the needs of our wounded veterans. We just launched our Warrior Care Network to help provide world-class mental health care for wounded veterans. Warrior Care Network represents a $100 million investment to ensure warriors struggling with the hidden wounds of war get the help they need. We will commit $500 million to our Independence Program and Long-Term Support Trust – two programs that directly help the most severely injured veterans.”

 

Militia, Burns, Oregon: Several Arrested, One Dead

Posted on by

Embedded image permalink

LaVoy Finicum Dead: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Heavy: Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum was killed on the night of January 26 as the militia standoff near Burns, Oregon, appeared to come to an end. Famously, Finicum, 55, had told the media on January 6 that he would choose death over surrender in the case. His death was confirmed by Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore. She wrote on Twitter:

 

My heart & prays go out to LaVoy Finicum’s family he was just murdered with his hands up in Burns OR.Ryan Bundy has been shot in the arm

— Michele Fiore (@VoteFiore) January 27, 2016

Finicum was killed during a traffic stop, reports CNN. He died one day before his 56th birthday.

Oregon Public Radio reports that Finicum and some of his comrades were pulled over between the towns of Burns and John Day at around 4:30 p.m. local time.

Since January 2, activists have been occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. Those armed protesters, led in-part by Ammon Bundy, were protesting the sentence of Dwight and Steve Hammond. They were found guilty of committing arson on federal land.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Cliven Bundy Said Finicum Was Sacrificed ‘For a Good Purpose’

LaVoy Finicum Funeral

His full name was Robert LaVoy Finicum. He was a neighbor of Cliven Bundy’s ranch, where the infamous 2014 ranch standoff occurred. They were neighbors despite Finicum living in Arizona and Bundy living in Nevada. On January 5, 2016, Finicum told NBC News that he may want to go home to Arizona soon saying, “I need to get home. I got cows that are scattered and lost.”

When he heard about the arrests and death, Cliven Bundy told Los Angeles Times reporter Matt Pearce, “Isn’t this a wonderful country we live in?” He added, “We believe those federal people shouldn’t even be there in that state, and be in that county and have anything to do with This issue. … I have some sons and other people there trying to protect our rights and liberties and freedoms, and now we’ve got one killed, and I can say is, he’s sacrificed for a good purpose.”

LaVoy Finicum funeral

(Getty)

Bundy later confirmed Finicum’s death to CBS Las Vegas reporter Patranya Bhoolsuwan. In a statement on his Facebook page, Bundy wrote:

The resolve for principled liberty must go on. It appears that America was fired upon by our government. One of liberty’s finest patriots is fallen. He will not go silent into eternity. Our appeal is to heaven.

2. During the Standoff in Oregon, He Had Become Known as ‘Tarp Man’

 

During his involvement in the Malheur standoff, the 11 foster children that were in the care of Finicum have been taken away. Finicum complained that those children were he and his wife’s major source of labor and money on their ranch, reported Time Magazine. An MSNBC report on the standoff dubbed Finicum “Tarp Man” as he could be seen covered in a blue tarp with a rocking chair during the incident.

When asked by NBC News why he chose to sit out in such a visible position, he said that he wanted officers to be able to find him. Finicum said, “I do not want the FBI federal agents to have to go running around in the dark, kicking in doors looking for me, OK? I want them to know exactly where I’m at.” He added, chillingly, “I’m telling them right now — don’t point guns at me.”

3. He Posted a Video of His Family Singing ‘Amazing Grace’ Just Hours Before His Death

 

On his Twitter page, Finicum goes by the moniker “@OneCowboysStand.” His bio on the page reads, “Rancher, Loves Freedom and willing to fight and die defending it.” His last post on the site was a video of a group of children singing “Amazing Grace.” His Twitter pseudonym is taken from his book title, One Cowboy’s Last Stand for Freedom. In an interview with NBC News, Finicum said that he would rather be killed than arrested saying, “I have no intention of spending any of my days in a concrete box. There are things more important than your life and freedom is one of them. I’m prepared to defend freedom.”

According to Mormon tradition, cremation is not encourage and a proper funeral burial is preferred.

4. He Was a Man Who Loved ‘Nothing More in Life Than God, Family & Freedom’

Lavoy Finicum Dead Dies

(Getty)

On his official website, Finicum wrote:

As he has watched the ever increasing encroachment of government into the lives of the American people he has felt to make a stand for freedom. He has drawn a line in the sand and that line is the Constitution in its original intent.

The Constitution of the United States of America is a charter to protect the freedom of man by putting strict limits on government. We are living in a day when that supreme law of the land has been shredded by the very government that took an oath to uphold it. By their actions the Federal Government has become lawless and stalks the liberties of this land under the guise of social justice.

Shown below are LaVoy and Jeanette’s 11 children. This is why freedom is so important!

He also describes himself as a rancher who “loves nothing more in life than God, family, and freedom.”

Meanwhile on his wife, Jeanette’s LinkedIn page, she lists foster care provider as her full time job.

One of the couple’s daughters, Arianna Finicum Brown, 26, told the Oregonian that she wasn’t worried for her father’s safety during the standoff. She said, “I talked to him, and he said they were telling people to go if they weren’t there for the right reasons, they didn’t want anyone there who could make everything go bad. He had no plans to be violent. My dad was a really good guy.”

5. Ammon Bundy Has Been Arrested in Oregon

Ammon Bundy

Ammon Bundy pictured on his Facebook page.

KATU reports that Ammon Bundy and other members of the militia, including Ryan Payne, were arrested by the FBI and Oregon State Police on the night of January 26 during the traffic stop where Finicum was killed.

It’s unclear who shot first but one person was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Michele Fiore said that person was Ryan Bundy, another son of Cliven, who was shot in the arm.

Iran and Russia Getting Cozier with Visa Waiver

Posted on by

Primer: Due to the lifted sanctions on Iran and the billions flowing into Tehran’s economy, those Russian missiles are now paid for that are bound for Iran and then there is the matter of a stealth bomber manufactured by Russia.

When it comes to global isolation, it is Kerry isolating the West and the United States, there is a new power ranking worldwide underway.

Iran’s Embassy Confirms Visa-Free Regime with Russia

TEHRAN (Tasnim)– The Iranian embassy in Moscow confirmed on Tuesday that an agreement between Iran and Russia, endorsed by presidents of the two countries, is going to simplify visa requirements for certain nationals from the two nations.

According to a statement released by the embassy’s media diplomacy department, the agreement will ease visa restrictions for the Iranian and Russian merchants, students, and participants in the scientific and cultural programs.

In a statement on Monday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the agreement, which was signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Tehran in November 2015, will take effect on February 6.

“The document is aimed at simplifying on reciprocal basis conditions for the trips of the two countries’ nationals,” the statement said.

It would relax visa rules for Russian and Iranian business people, people participating in scientific, cultural and creative activity, for students and teachers, tourists and other categories, it added.

The announcement came a week after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a lasting nuclear deal between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), came into force.

Based on the nuclear deal, reached in July 2015, all nuclear-related anti-Iran sanctions have been removed.

***

Back in 2014, the outset of the P5+1 Iranian nuclear talks, Russia took real notice for the sake of oil.

OilPrice: The recent breakdown in cooperation between Russia and the West has seen Russia trying to rebuild its economic relationship with Iran after a dry spell brought about by Moscow’s cooperation on international sanctions. The Wall Street Journal reports that Russian and Iranian officials met on April 27 to discuss deals on electricity worth over $10 billion.

In recent years, the U.S. has gone to great lengths to keep Russia in the international fold as it confronted Iran over its suspect nuclear program. Despite having a long history of economic partnership with Tehran, the Kremlin cooperated with the other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany (the P5+1) to enact painful sanctions on Iran.

Now, with U.S.-Russian relations hitting a multi-decade low, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears less inclined to keep up the pressure on the Islamic republic. Russia and Iran are in talks over swapping Iranian oil for goods and food supplies, which could be worth up to an estimated $20 billion. The deal would see Iran exporting 500,000 barrels of oil per day to Russia, a move that U.S. officials have said would violate sanctions. The two countries are also discussing power deals, including the construction of hydroelectric dams and the export of Russian electricity to Iran.

The pending deals are being seen as potentially undermining to the carefully structured sanctions that have been widely credited with forcing Iran to the negotiating table. If the Iranian economy gets a lifeline from Russia, the U.S. could lose leverage in talks with Iran over a final resolution to its nuclear program.

The P5+1 nations agreed to a six-month temporary deal that relieved some pressure on Iran in exchange for a freeze of the Iranian nuclear program. The two sides have set a July deadline for a longer-term deal.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials are quietly cautioning Russia against dismissing how damaging sanctions can be, as Russia itself becomes the recipient of economic sanctions from the West over its role in Ukraine. The Wall Street Journal reports that many top Iranian officials and businessmen have been surprised to realize just how devastating sanctions have been on their own country.

Today, John Kerry is in talks with several other countries for a peace agreement on Syria. It has come out in the first days that Iran and Russia are leading the talks and Kerry is nothing more than the monkey in the middle. All the while, not only is there no accepted robust strategy for Islamic State, but all the while, it appears that John Kerry is prepared to accept fully al Nusra (al Qaeda) as the emir and or power in Syria. This will not play out well as they is also no sign that Kerry is demanding Bashir al Assad step down, in fact quite the opposite, he can be on the next elections ballot.

Under Barack Obama and John Kerry, the stance on addressing Syria, al Nusra and Islamic State will continue to grow and fester. At least Russia is appearing to be aggressive in ensuring the Kurds, our allies are represented in the talks, while John Kerry is quite dismissive of them

ISIS has a New Industry, Stolen Passports

Posted on by

ISIS Has Whole Fake Passport ‘Industry,’ Official Says

ABC: The terror group ISIS has created a whole “industry” out of the production of fake passports, a high-level French official said today.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters that through ISIS’s operations in Syria, Iraq and Libya, the group has acquired blank passports and has now set up a “real fake document industry.” Cazeneuve made the statement following a meeting with top European officials where he proposed setting up a new task force to help nab people attempting to come into the European Union with fake papers.

Last month ABC News reported that U.S. intelligence suspected ISIS had acquired thousands of blank Syrian passports and at least one passport printing machine after taking over government offices in Syria. Officials from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) said in a 17-page report that the terror group has likely been able to print legitimate-looking Syrian passports since at least last summer – and raised the possibility that people using the forged documents have snuck into America.

“Since more than 17 months [have] passed since Raqqa and Deir ez-Zour fell to ISIS, it is possible that individuals from Syria with passports ‘issued’ in these ISIS-controlled cities or who had passport blanks, may have traveled to the U.S.,” the HSI report says.

The report notes that the primary source for the information was rated at “moderate confidence,” the second-highest rating given for source assessments. Testifying before lawmakers days after the HSI report was circulated to American authorities, FBI Director James Comey first publicly revealed the nation’s top security officials’ very real anxiety over the problem.

“The intelligence community is concerned that they [ISIS] have the ability, the capability to manufacture fraudulent passports, which is a concern in any setting,” Comey said.

PHOTO: A passport that law enforcement says was issued from ISIS-controlled territory in 2015, obtained in Istanbul.Homeland Security Investigations Intelligence Report
A passport that law enforcement says was issued from ISIS-controlled territory in 2015, obtained in Istanbul.

Former Department of Homeland Security intelligence official and ABC News consultant John Cohen said in December, “If ISIS has been able to acquire legitimate passports or machines that create legitimate passports, this would represent a major security risk in the United States.”

Fake Syrian passports have already been discovered in Europe, most notably two used by suicide bombers in the horrific terrorist attack on Paris in November. The two men are believed to have slipped into Europe with a flood of Syrian refugees fleeing the violence in their homeland.

According to the source that provided the passport information to HSI, Syria is awash in fake documents.

“The source further stated that fake Syrian passports are so prevalent in Syria that Syrians do not even view possessing them as illegal,” the report says. “The source stated fake Syrian passports can be obtained in Syria for $200 to $400 and that backdated passport stamps to be placed in the passport cost the same.”

***

Meanwhile it is quite effective in Europe

ISIS ALREADY ESTABLISHED IN EU STATES, EUROPOL WARNS

Newsweek: Europe faces a greater militant threat from within its borders than from foreign fighters posing as refugees, the EU’s law enforcement agency has said.

“There is no concrete evidence that terrorist travelers systematically use the flow of refugees to enter Europe unnoticed,” according to research published on Monday by Europol, which also warned that domestic cells belonging to the Islamic State militant group (ISIS or IS) were operating within EU states and that the group has training camps within Europe in addition to its facilities in Syria.

The research says that “IS is preparing more terrorist attacks, including more ‘Mumbai-style’ attacks, to be executed in member states of the EU,” and adds that the group has developed an “external actions command” trained for “special forces-style” attacks worldwide. Speaking to reporters at the launch of the agency’s new European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC), Europol director Rob Wainwright said “the so-called Islamic State had developed a new combat-style capability to carry out a campaign of large-scale terrorist attacks on a global stage, with a particular focus in Europe,” AFP reports.

Europol also says that “IS-incited attacks do not necessarily have to be coordinated from Syria. Central command in Syria is believed to map out a general strategy, but leaves tactical freedom to local leaders to adapt their actions to circumstances on the spot.”

But it warns that the refugee crisis does bring new threats: “A real and imminent danger…is the possibility of elements of the (Sunni Muslim) Syrian refugee diaspora becoming vulnerable to radicalization once in Europe.”

The ECTC is designed to act as an information hub, helping EU states to share information on counter-terrorism and coordinate joint operations.

“The wide range of possible targets in combination with an opportunistic approach of locally based groups creates a huge variety of possible scenarios for future terrorist events,” Europol says. “A regular exchange of strategic intelligence is essential to any up-to-date assessment of the situation to be shared amongst Member States.”