Author Archives: Denise Simon

Nunes Should Subpoena General Abizaid

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So much was been said in testimonies on The Hill during the impeachment inquiries about President Trump placing a hold on military assistance to Ukraine for various reasons as asserted by Democrats. President Trump has questioned foreign funding going all the way back to his campaign days and still he continues to question the investment(s) and use of that aid not only for Ukraine but for Lebanon, Pakistan and Afghanistan. IN 2018, Trump delivered a speech at the United Nations on this very issue that for some countries and non-government agencies caused some panic and rightly so.

But for Ukraine we need to travel back in time, a short time, in 2016 when Defense Secretary Ashton Carter along with his Ukrainian counterpart Stepan Poltorak signed a partnership agreement in London that would increase the defense capability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, promote the defense sector and strengthen military-technical cooperation. This was all in an effort to further Ukraine’s ability to protect its territory. It was during this time that Secretary Carter assigned then retired General Abizaid to be the manager of Ukraine with his counterpart to bring reforms, meet new standards, strengthen democratic civilian control over the armed forces and transition personnel structure making it compatible with NATO standards including corruption.

Now, 3 years prior to this, the Obama White House provided a FACT SHEET detailing support for Ukraine. In the fact sheet, there are some key items:

1. The U.S. government has provided $291 in assistance as well as a $1 billion loan guarantee. The breakdown is described as $7 million in humanitarian aid for those affected by the conflict. $46 million in security assistance for Ukraine’s military and border guards.  This assistance includes the provision of body armor, helmets, vehicles, night and thermal vision devices, heavy engineering equipment, advanced radios, patrol boats, rations, tents, counter-mortar radars, uniforms, and other related items.

2. Obama assigned Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker to lead the US delegation for Ukrainian government and business leaders to discuss economic reforms to attract foreign investment capital.

3. Obama instructed continued work at the congressional level to seek other opportunities of assistance including other defense and interoperability initiatives with Western forces.

4. The Obama administration was also seeking coordination with Ukraine to strengthen election integrity and security, an inclusive Constitutional reform, public outreach, defend human rights, social protection programs, energy subsidies to increase use among households but most of all technical assistance to restructure Ukraine’s national oil and gas company Naftogaz. (Naftogaz is a subsidiary of Burisma)

5. Retool media and expand the reach. The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) will launch a daily, 30-minute Russian language television news program that will be a joint production of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Voice of America. The program will be shown on television affiliates in Ukraine, as well as in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Georgia, and possibly other countries. BBG will seek to make the program available to Russian-speaking news-seekers worldwide via digital platforms.

6. Obama directed U.S. authorities to work closely with Ukrainian authorities to help recover stolen assets, processing activities and evidence collection. Additionally, the Obama administration directed U.S. agencies to aid Ukraine officials to develop laws and regulations to establish anti-corruption institutions to combat corruption more effectively. Further, the United States was directed by Obama to contribute to international efforts including through the OECD and the EBRD to deter bribery and improve the Ukraine business climate. (The OECD = the French based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the EBRD = European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)

So, what do we have, the Obama admin plan, read Marshall plan for Ukraine failed. Then they had to rethink it all and send in other plan that sought to bolster military assistance for Ukraine using Secretary Carter and General Abizaid. Still, the military conflict manifested in Ukraine due to Russian forces. Interesting none of the witnesses expressed Obama failures.

Looking at Ukraine through President Trump’s view says he was proceeding with cooperation but wanted more reviews given the exceptional events since 2016 and rightly so including all things Biden, Burisma, corruption, theft, money-laundering and especially the change in the country’s leadership.

This brings us to NATO. Yes, President Trump did have some contempt for NATO not so much because it has been somewhat ineffective with regard to Russia but more due to NATO members not only not paying their mandated dues but member countries were not offering like assistance of that of the United States then or now. In 2018, President Trump with this envoy had a presentation in part dealing with Ukraine in the regard to the Nord Stram 11 gas pipeline.

Nord Stream II could cost Ukraine up to $2 billion annually in transit revenues, severely undermining our efforts to help secure an independent and economically sustainable Ukraine.

Ukraine continues its long journey to reforming its economy and achieving faster growth. Progress has been made on improving the governance and profitability of Naftogaz, the state-owned gas company, and improving oversight and resilience of the financial sector. Just last week, the Rada strengthened the anti-corruption process. But, Ukraine’s work – and the work of the U.S. and the EU in supporting reform efforts – is not complete. To grow, further progress is needed, including land reform, de-monopolization, natural gas price reforms, and further measures to counter corruption in the lending system.

Included in the remarks again was Naftogaz, once again it is a subsidiary of Burisma. Lots of corruption within Naftogaz as noted here. It is no wonder VP Biden was assigned the Ukraine portfolio and took advantage of circumstances.

In part from 2016:

“Russia criticizes our support of Ukraine. But Ukraine is an independent state and it asked for support. This is absolutely the legitimate right of every country, to ask for support and receive it. So there is no reason for criticism of the fact that we support a democratic government,” said Stoltenberg.

He recalled that NATO is providing support to Ukraine through a number of trust funds in the fields of logistics, management and reform of the military sector.

“We established a Commission Ukraine-NATO, which is a platform for our political and practical cooperation. But, of course, you can always do more. We work with the Ukrainians [to determine] what kind of support we can provide, policy and practice,” he added.

Stoltenberg noted that one of the biggest achievements of the summit in Warsaw was the fact that NATO formulated its policy towards Russia: a military fortification but also political dialogue.

So, to those Republicans on the Schiff Intelligence Committee, how about calling in General Abizaid for perspective and background to diffuse those Democrats that omit other Ukraine facts. Perhaps that would explain why poor Ukraine has lost 14,000 lives in the hot war with Russia. Add to the list of witnesses, Victoria Nuland, Susan Rice, Tom Donnilon, Ben Rhodes and Goesta Ljungman the onsite IMF representative in Ukraine. The investigations in Ukraine go way beyond Burisma and the Bidens.

 

 

Trump Should Eliminate 2 Agencies

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Formed in 1947, The National Security Council  is the President’s in house forum for national security and foreign policy matters. The President also has the ‘President’s Intelligence Advisory Board which is to assess intelligence collection and activities. The operating budget is unknown but it is estimated to be in the range of $18 billion.

The 1947 National Security Act established the NSC in order to “advise the President with respect to the integration of domestic, foreign, and military policies relating to the national security so as to enable the military services and the other departments and agencies of the government to cooperate more effectively in matters involving the national security.” Presidents have latitude to structure and use the NSC as they see fit. In practice, the NSC staff’s activities now extend somewhat beyond providing policy advice. First, as one former NSC official notes, “White House involvement is often needed for precise execution of policy, especially when secrecy is required to perform delicate tasks.” Second, the rise in strategic importance of transnational threats such as terrorism and narco-trafficking, along with post-Cold War military campaigns in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, have increasingly necessitated “whole of government” responses that leverage diplomatic, military, and development tools from a variety of different U.S. government agencies. The NSC often coordinates such responses, and as the international security environment has become more complex, whole-of-government responses to individual crises have become more frequent, translating into even greater NSC involvement. This is leading many scholars and practitioners to question the appropriate size, scope and role for the NSC.

Much has changed since 1947 especially under the GW Bush administration and then later under the Obama administration where the size of the NSC grew dramatically with approved appropriations from Congress. The NSC appears to have an estimated 400-500 people assigned. With this size of agency heads on the Council, staffers, lawyers and rotations, how can there be any real control? Are there misguided agendas inside the Council? For sure. What about leaks? Oh yes. At least 3 people assigned to the NSC have been fingered as leakers or whistle-blowers since Trump became President. An estimated 80% of the NSC staff comes from the CIA, the State Department and the Pentagon.

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There are competing agencies inside the Federal government, think tanks, non-government agencies and the entire diplomatic wing as well as the agencies operating under what is commonly referred to as the IC= intelligence community. This agency is simply redundant and has overlapping policies.

Speaking of redundant, the next agency that should be eliminated is the DNI, know as the Director of National Intelligence, created in 2004. It is currently headed by Joseph Maguire. It oversees 16 other intelligence agencies, advises the President and produces the PDB, the Presidential Daily Briefing which is also shared with several other officials that are cleared to receive it. DNI was recommended by the 9/11 Commission report due to intelligence failures leading up to the attack on the United States. The annual budget for DNI is estimated to be in the range of $90 billion and there are over 2000 employees. There are 6 centers and 15 offices where the NIP, National Intelligence Program resides.

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There are four directorates, each led by a deputy director of national intelligence:

Enterprise Capacity Directorate
Mission Integration Directorate
National Intelligence Council
National Security Partnerships Directorate
Strategy & Engagement Directorate
Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity

There are four mission centers, each led by a director of that center:

Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center
National Counterproliferation Center
National Counterterrorism Center
National Counterintelligence and Security Center

There are also four oversight offices:

Office of Civil Liberties, Privacy and Transparency
Office of Equal Employment Opportunity & Diversity
Office of the Intelligence Community Inspector General
Office of General Counsel

For sure many things have changed with regard to national security and foreign relations since 1947 but it can be argued that confusion ensues with all the competing departments. There is the matter of the ongoing Overseas Contingency Operation, Cyber wars and now the military frontier of Space.

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So the solution is to eliminate these two agencies and concentrate the work on the DIA, Defense Intelligence Agency. The DIA is in fact an intersection of the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, mobilized warfighters, policy-makers and force-planners including weapons systems acquisitions. DIA also covers, history, doctrine, economics, chemistry, asymetrical capabilities, cyber and political science.

Do you see the need for streamlining, control, management, and eliminating competing challenges? Perhaps this is but one solution to stopping leaks, draining more of the swamp, achieving concise intelligence and policy.

 

Schiff/Pelosi Protecting Hillary’s Channel to Ukraine Inquiry?

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How would Nellie Ohr be able to connect with Yulia Tymoshenko, the former Ukrainian Prime Minister that was in prison? This was a woman that had one charge of many that she ordered the contact killing of a parliamentary deputy and businessman in 1996. During the time that Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, 2013, she was in support of Tymonshenko and working to get her released from prison.Maybe those missing emails have some clues…gotta wonder.

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Tymoshenko, the heroine of street protests in 2004 called the “Orange Revolution” which overturned the old post-Soviet order, is serving a jail sentence for abuse of office as prime minister.

That charge relates to a 2009 deal with Russia which the present government says saddled the Ukrainian economy with an exorbitant price for imports of Russian gas. She has denied any wrongdoing and says she is the victim of a political vendetta. More here from the Huffington Post.

Perhaps releasing communications between VP Biden and Ukraine are in order as well.

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During her testimony, Nellie Ohr while working for Fusion GPS on two research project said she got most of her information from open sources. Could it be that since Fusion GPS was hired by Hillary that Hillary was calling in a favor and helped Nellie connect with Yulia? Or did the connection betwee Nellie Ohr and Yulia Tymoshenko have coordination at the hands of Bruce Ohr her husband and other operatives at the time at the Department of Justice?

Yulia was released from prison and then filed a lawsuit against Paul Manafort.

A collection of open source information all compiled and with strategic intelligence and thinking can make and often does for a classifed report. So, if you so inclined, much can be gained from the Bruce Ohr 302’s found here.

The House also hosted Nellie Ohr for testimony and at the time, little was either known or ask of her about Ukraine. Towards the end of the interview, Nellie was asked about whether she was asked by Fusion GPS to research all things Paul Manafort. She responded with yes stipulating emphasis regarding Manafort and Russia/Ukraine. Fusion GPS suggested Nellie Ohr research Serhiy Leshenko, a Ukrainian. Knowing where the impeachment inquiry has centered the Trump phone call scandal with the Ukrainian President Zalensky, perhaps it would be good for the Republicans to request witness testimony from Bruce Ohr and his wife Nellie, since Nellie’s testimony did not zero in on Ukraine at the time. You can be assured the questions of both of the Ohr’s would be very different with all that has since transpired but….Chairman Schiff would turn down that request for sure wanting to protect the other Ukraine channel that would snare Hillary Clinton.

Additionally, the Republicans should also request other Obama State Department holdovers that include: Alec Ross, Victoria Nuland. Jonathan Winer, Steven Schrage, Susan Rice, Abigail Grace and Sean Misko. The last two, Grace and Misko were previously assigned to the White House National Security Council team and have been hired by Adam Schiff to work alongside the whistle-blower.

 

 

Hong Kong is Facing Recession due to Protests

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5 months of protests, fighting for real freedom has Hong Kong facing recession. Asian Airlines has cut flights due in part to cancellations by passengers for several airline carriers of up to 13%.

(UPI) — A government report last week projected a recession for the Hong Kong economy in 2019, which would be its first in a decade.

The forecast said the Hong Kong economy will have contracted by 1.3 percent by the end of the year, in no small part due to ongoing political protests that began to reject a proposed extradition law but have grown to include numerous issues.

Meanwhile, at the Polytechnic University where students and protestors were trapped, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to keep the protestors from fleeing.

Police say 4,491 people, aged from 11 to 83, have been arrested since protests began in June.

Demonstrators are angry at what they see as Chinese meddling in Hong Kong’s promised freedoms when the then British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. They say they are responding to excessive use of force by police.

China says it is committed to the “one country, two systems” formula granting Hong Kong autonomy. The city’s police deny accusations of brutality and say they show restraint. More here.

The European Union and the United States have condemned the escalating violence in Hong Kong amid fears of a bloody crackdown as authorities laid siege to a university campus occupied by pro-democracy demonstrators.

Hundreds of anti-government protesters armed with petrol bombs and other homemade weapons had retreated to the Polytechnic University after a weekend of mayhem, which saw roads blocked, a bridge set alight and a police officer shot with a bow and arrow.

Protesters who tried to make a run for freedom were met with volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets.

‘Unacceptable’

A spokeswoman for foreign affairs at the European Commission expressed “deep concern” on Monday over reports that Hong Kong first responders and medical staff were being detained by law enforcement forces, preventing them from providing assistance to injured people.

“Any violence is of course unacceptable and any action by the law enforcement authorities must remain strictly proportionate and fundamental freedoms, including in particular the right of peaceful assembly and expression, must be upheld,” Maja Kocijancic told reporters.

Britain also described itself as “seriously concerned” over the violence on Monday with a spokesperson for Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying London continues to urge “restraint on all sides and support the right to peaceful protest.”

The Foreign Office added that “it is vital that those who are injured are able to receive appropriate medical treatment, and that safe passage is made available for all those who wish to leave the area.”

The United States had earlier condemned the “unjustified use of force” in Hong Kong and called on Beijing to protect Hong Kong’s freedom, a senior official in President Donald Trump’s administration said.

‘We need help’

According to Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority, 38 people were wounded during the night of Sunday to Monday.

Dan, a 19-year-old protester on the Polytechnic University campus, said protesters may need international help.”

“We’ve been trapped here for too long. We need all Hong Kongers to know we need help,” he added, bursting into tears. “I don’t know how much longer we can go on like this.”

Police, who have faced an array of weapons including petrol bombs, bow and arrows and catapults, urged protesters to leave.

“Police appeal to everyone inside the Polytechnic University to drop their weapons and dangerous items, remove their gas masks and leave via the top level of Cheong Wan Road South Bridge in an orderly manner,” they said in a statement.

One country, two systems

Recent days have seen a dramatic escalation of the unrest that has plunged the Asian financial hub into chaos for almost six months.

Demonstrators angry at what they see as Chinese meddling in Hong Kong’s promised freedoms when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997. They say they are responding to excessive use of force by police.

China says it is committed to the “one country, two systems” formula granting Hong Kong autonomy, with the city’s police accusations they use undue violence.

Chinese soldiers in a base close to the university were seen on Sunday monitoring developments at the university with binoculars, some dressed in riot gear.

Separately, Hong Kong’s High Court ruled on Monday that a British colonial-era emergency law revived by the government to ban protesters wearing face masks was unconstitutional.

It said the law was “incompatible with the Basic Law”, the mini-constitution under which Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Appeal Brings Details of 2011 Murders

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The man who implicated Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev in a 2011 triple murder in Waltham said he and Tsarnaev took thousands of dollars from the victims and spent more than an hour trying to clean up the crime scene, law enforcement officials said.

The details were contained in a search warrant affidavit partially unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Boston in connection with the pending appeal of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, now 26, the younger brother of Tamerlan and his coconspirator in the bombings.

Who's Who in the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial. (Photo composite Zeninjor Enwemeka/WBUR) Who are these people, click here.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is challenging his conviction and death sentence in the Marathon case. He is claiming that he acted under the sway of a violent, domineering older brother. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died days after the Marathon attack during a confrontation with police in Watertown.

While Tamerlan Tsarnaev and a friend, Ibragim Todashev, were suspected in the Waltham killings previously, this week’s filing offers new details into the actions of the elder Tsarnaev in the years leading up to the 2013 Marathon bombings.

The search warrant affidavit, filed in the bombing case, recounted statements that Todashev made to investigators in a May 2013 interview. Shortly after making the statements, officials say, Todashev was fatally shot by a Boston FBI agent when he allegedly lunged at the agent with a metal broomstick.

Officials also alleged Todashev hurled a coffee table at the agent, striking him in the head. Authorities ruled that the FBI agent who shot Todashev had acted in self-defense.

“Todashev confessed that he and Tamerlan participated in the Waltham murders” on Sept. 11, 2011, of Brendan Mess, 25, Erik H. Weissman, 31, and Raphael M. Teken, 37, the affidavit said. The victims were killed in Mess’s apartment on Harding Avenue in Waltham.

The Middlesex district attorney’s office said Friday the investigation into the Waltham triple slaying was still open.

One of the Waltham victims, Mess, had formerly been a close friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev. But Tsarnaev did not attend Mess’s funeral, a friend of Mess’s told the Globe in 2013, saying it raised suspicions.

The affidavit said Todashev indicated “he and Tamerlan had agreed initially just to rob the victims, whom they knew to be drug dealers who sold marijuana. Todashev said that he and Tamerlan took several thousand dollars from the residence and split the money. Todashev said that Tamerlan had a gun, which he brandished to enter the residence.”

Todashev indicated that Tamerlan Tsarnaev chose to escalate the crime from robbery to murder.

“Tamerlan decided that they should eliminate any witnesses to the crime, and then Todashev and Tamerlan bound the victims, who were ultimately murdered,” the affidavit said. “Todashev said that they spent over an hour cleaning the scene.”

According to this week’s filing, Todashev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev wanted to remove “traces of their fingerprints and other identifying details” from the scene.

The two traveled to the scene of the murders together in a gray, 1999 Honda CR-V and left the scene together in that same vehicle, according to the filing.

The victims were discovered in Mess’s apartment with their throats slit and their bodies sprinkled with marijuana.

The search warrant was for Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s Honda CR-V. Investigators were seeking “blood, DNA, trace evidence, and other items” in the vehicle that may have linked him and Todashev to the Waltham slaying, according to the affidavit.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether any physical evidence was recovered.

The Tsarnaev siblings carried out the April 15, 2013, bombings, which killed three people, including an 8-year-old Dorchester boy, and wounded more than 260 others. The brothers also killed an MIT police officer while they were on the run.

State and federal investigators first contacted Todashev, who was a gym buddy of Tamerlan Tsarnaev before he moved to Florida, six days after the Marathon bombings.

Todashev spoke to investigators several times in the weeks after the bombings. But, after Todashev booked a ticket home to Russia in May, an FBI agent and two state troopers traveled to Orlando to interview him.

At his apartment in May 2013, the three law enforcement officers interviewed Todashev starting around 7:30 p.m. and stretching past midnight. Another officer stood guard outside.

At first Todashev denied involvement in the Waltham murders: “Like I said, I didn’t kill nobody and I need your help.” But eventually, he confessed that he was involved in it, officials said.

Shortly after midnight, the apartment erupted in violence. A coffee table was hurled in the air, opening a gash on the FBI agent’s head that would require nine staples. Todashev then brandished a metal broomstick and charged. The bleeding agent shouted at Todashev to stop, then fired his gun three or four times. Todashev fell, but sprang up and lunged again, and the agent shot him several more times. Todashev fell again, face down, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted and sentenced to death in 2015 for his admitted role in the Marathon bombings.

The heavily redacted warrant was unsealed Wednesday at the request of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s lawyers.

The attorneys maintain the trial judge erred when he barred the defense from telling jurors about Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s suspected involvement in the Waltham case.

Federal prosecutors have responded that the Waltham evidence doesn’t “show that Tamerlan ‘influenced’ or ‘intimidated’ him into committing the crimes in this case or that [Dzhokhar] Tsarnaev played a lesser role in the bombing.”

Oral arguments in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s appeal are slated for Dec. 12 before the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He’s currently incarcerated at a federal supermax facility in Colorado.