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Category Archives: Department of Homeland Security
At issue here is why stop with declassifying these 28 pages, why no declassify the complicity of Iran and a few of the 9/11 attackers? One thing leads to another.
Kroft/CBS: In 10 days, President Obama will visit Saudi Arabia at a time of deep mistrust between the two allies, and lingering doubts about the Saudi commitment to fighting violent Islamic extremism.
It also comes at a time when the White House and intelligence officials are reviewing whether to declassify one of the country’s most sensitive documents — known as the “28 pages.” They have to do with 9/11 and the possible existence of a Saudi support network for the hijackers while they were in the U.S.
For 13 years, the 28 pages have been locked away in a secret vault. Only a small group of people have ever seen them. Tonight, you will hear from some of the people who have read them and believe, along with the families of 9/11 victims that they should be declassified.
Bob Graham: I think it is implausible to believe that 19 people, most of whom didn’t speak English, most of whom had never been in the United States before, many of whom didn’t have a high school education– could’ve carried out such a complicated task without some support from within the United States.
Steve Kroft: And you believe that the 28 pages are crucial to this? Understand…
Bob Graham: I think they are a key part.
Former U.S. Senator Bob Graham has been trying to get the 28 pages released since the day they were classified back in 2003, when he played a major role in the first government investigation into 9/11.
Bob Graham: I remain deeply disturbed by the amount of material that has been censored from this report.
At the time, Graham was chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and co-chair of the bipartisan joint congressional inquiry into intelligence failures surrounding the attacks. The Joint Inquiry reviewed a half a million documents, interviewed hundreds of witnesses and produced an 838 page report — minus the final chapter which was blanked out — excised by the Bush administration for reasons of national security.
“I remain deeply disturbed by the amount of material that has been censored from this report.”
Bob Graham won’t discuss the classified information in the 28 pages, he will say only that they outline a network of people that he believes supported the hijackers while they were in the U.S.
Steve Kroft: You believe that support came from Saudi Arabia?
Bob Graham: Substantially.
Steve Kroft: And when we say, “The Saudis,” you mean the government, the–
Bob Graham: I mean–
Steve Kroft: –rich people in the country? Charities–
Bob Graham: All of the above.
Graham and others believe the Saudi role has been soft-pedaled to protect a delicate relationship with a complicated kingdom where the rulers, royalty, riches and religion are all deeply intertwined in its institutions.
Bob Graham
CBS News
Porter Goss, who was Graham’s Republican co-chairman on the House side of the Joint Inquiry, and later director of the CIA, also felt strongly that an uncensored version of the 28 pages should be included in the final report. The two men made their case to the FBI and its then–director Robert Mueller in a face-to-face meeting.
Porter Goss: And they pushed back very hard on the 28 pages and they said, “No, that cannot be unclassified at this time.”
Steve Kroft: Did you happen to ask the FBI director why it was classified?
Porter Goss: We did, in a general way, and the answer was because, “We said so and it needs to be classified.”
Goss says he knew of no reason then and knows of no reason now why the pages need to be classified. They are locked away under the capital in guarded vaults called Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities, or SCIFs in government jargon. This is as close as we could get with our cameras — a highly restricted area where members of Congress with the proper clearances can read the documents under close supervision. No note-taking allowed.
Tim Roemer: It’s all gotta go up here, Steve.
Tim Roemer, a former Democratic congressman and U.S. ambassador to India, has read the 28 pages multiple times. First as a member of the Joint Inquiry and later as a member of the blue-ribbon 9/11 Commission which picked up where Congress’ investigation left off.
Steve Kroft: How hard is it to actually read these 28 pages?
Tim Roemer: Very hard. These are tough documents to get your eyes on.
Roemer and others who have actually read the 28 pages, describe them as a working draft similar to a grand jury or police report that includes provocative evidence — some verified, and some not. They lay out the possibility of official Saudi assistance for two of the hijackers who settled in Southern California. That information from the 28-pages was turned over to the 9/11 Commission for further investigation. Some of the questions raised were answered in the commission’s final report. Others were not.
Steve Kroft: Is there information in the 28 pages that, if they were declassified, would surprise people?
Tim Roemer: Sure, you’re gonna be surprised by it. And, you’re going to be surprised by some of the answers that are sitting there today in the 9/11 Commission report about what happened in San Diego, and what happened in Los Angeles. And what was the Saudi involvement.
Much of that surprising information is buried in footnotes and appendices of the 9/11 report — part of the official public record, but most of it unknown to the general public. These are some, but not all of the facts:
In January of 2000, the first of the hijackers landed in Los Angeles after attending an al Qaeda summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The two Saudi nationals, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, arrived with extremely limited language skills and no experience with Western culture. Yet, through an incredible series of circumstances, they managed to get everything they needed, from housing to flight lessons.
Tim Roemer: L.A., San Diego, that’s really you know, the hornet’s nest. That’s really the one that I continue to think about almost on a daily basis.
During their first days in L.A., witnesses place the two future hijackers at the King Fahd mosque in the company of Fahad al-Thumairy, a diplomat at the Saudi consulate known to hold extremist views. Later, 9/11 investigators would find him deceptive and suspicious and in 2003, he would be denied reentry to the United States for having suspected ties to terrorist activity.
Tim Roemer: This is a very interesting person in the whole 9/11 episode of who might’ve helped whom– in Los Angeles and San Diego, with two terrorists who didn’t know their way around.
Phone records show that Thumairy was also in regular contact with this man: Omar al-Bayoumi, a mysterious Saudi who became the hijackers biggest benefactor. He was a ghost employee with a no-show job at a Saudi aviation contractor outside Los Angeles while drawing a paycheck from the Saudi government.
Steve Kroft: You believe Bayoumi was a Saudi agent?
Bob Graham: Yes, and–
Steve Kroft: What makes you believe that?
Bob Graham: –well, for one thing, he’d been listed even before 9/11 in FBI files as being a Saudi agent.
On the morning of February 1, 2000, Bayoumi went to the office of the Saudi consulate where Thumairy worked. He then proceeded to have lunch at a Middle Eastern restaurant on Venice Boulevard where he later claimed he just happened to make the acquaintance of the two future hijackers.
Tim Roemer: Hazmi and Mihdhar magically run into Bayoumi in a restaurant that Bayoumi claims is a coincidence and in one of the biggest cities in the United States.
Steve Kroft: And he decides to befriend them.
Tim Roemer: He decides to not only befriend them but then to help them move to San Diego and get residence.
In San Diego, Bayoumi found them a place to live in his own apartment complex, advanced them the security deposit and cosigned the lease. He even threw them a party and introduced them to other Muslims who would help the hijackers obtain government IDs and enroll in English classes and flight schools. There’s no evidence that Bayoumi or Thumairy knew what the future hijackers were up to, and it is possible that they were just trying to help fellow Muslims.
The very day Bayoumi welcomed the hijackers to San Diego, there were four calls between his cell phone and the imam at a San Diego mosque, Anwar al-Awlaki, a name that should sound familiar.
The American-born Awlaki would be infamous a decade later as al Qaeda’s chief propagandist and top operative in Yemen until he was taken out by a CIA drone. But in January 2001, a year after becoming the hijackers’ spiritual adviser, he left San Diego for Falls Church, Virginia. Months later Hazmi, Mihdhar and three more hijackers would join him there.
Tim Roemer: Those are a lot of coincidences, and that’s a lot of smoke. Is that enough to make you squirm and uncomfortable, and dig harder– and declassify these 28 pages? Absolutely.
Perhaps, no one is more interested in reading the 28 pages than attorneys Jim Kreindler and Sean Carter who represent family members of the 9/11 victims in their lawsuit against the kingdom. Alleging that its’ institutions provided money to al Qaeda knowing that it was waging war against the United States.
Jim Kreindler: What we’re doing in court is developing the story that has to come out. But it’s been difficult for us because for many years, we weren’t getting the kind of openness and cooperation that we think our government owes to the American people, particularly the families of people who were murdered.
The U.S. government has even backed the Saudi position in court–that it can’t be sued because it enjoys sovereign immunity. The 9/11 Commission report says that Saudi Arabia has long been considered the primary source of al Qaeda funding through its’ wealthy citizens and charities with significant government sponsorship. But the sentence that got the most attention when the report came out is this:
“We have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization.”
Attorney Sean carter says it’s the most carefully crafted line in the 9/11 Commission report and the most misunderstood.
Sean Carter: When they say they found no evidence that senior Saudi officials individually funded al Qaeda, they conspicuously leave open the potential that they found evidence that people who were officials that they did not regard as senior officials had done so. That is the essence of the families’ lawsuit. That elements of the government and lower level officials sympathetic to bin Laden’s cause helped al Qaeda carry out the attacks and help sustain the al Qaeda network.
Yet, for more than a decade, the kingdom has maintained that that one sentence exonerated it of any responsibility for 9/11 regardless of what might be in the 28 pages.
Bob Kerrey: It’s not an exoneration. What we said–we did not, with this report, exonerate the Saudis.
Former U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey is another of the 10-member 9/11 Commission who has read the 28 pages and believes they should be declassified. He filed an affidavit in support of the 9/11 families’ lawsuit.
Bob Kerrey: You can’t provide the money for terrorists and then say, “I don’t have anything to do with what they’re doing.”
Steve Kroft: Do you believe that all of the leads that were developed in the 28 pages were answered in the 9/11 report? All the questions?
Bob Kerrey: No. No. In general, the 9/11 Commission did not get every single detail of the conspiracy. We didn’t. We didn’t have the time, we didn’t have the resources. We certainly didn’t pursue the entire line of inquiry in regard to Saudi Arabia.
Steve Kroft: Do you think all of these things in San Diego can be explained as coincidence?
John Lehman: I don’t believe in coincidences.
John Lehman, who was secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration, says that he and the others make up a solid majority of former 9/11 commissioners who think the 28 pages should be made public.
John Lehman: We’re not a bunch of rubes that rode into Washington for this commission. I mean, we, you know, we’ve seen fire and we’ve seen rain and the politics of national security. We all have dealt for our careers in highly classified and compartmentalized in every aspect of security. We know when something shouldn’t be declassified. An the, this, those 28 pages in no way fall into that category.
Lehman has no doubt that some high Saudi officials knew that assistance was being provided to al Qaeda, but he doesn’t think it was ever official policy. He also doesn’t think that it absolves the Saudis of responsibility.
John Lehman: It was no accident that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. They all went to Saudi schools. They learned from the time they were first able to go to school of this intolerant brand of Islam.
Lehman is talking about Wahhabism, the ultra conservative, puritanical form of Islam that is rooted here and permeates every facet of society. There is no separation of church and state. After, oil, Wahhabism is one of the kingdom’s biggest exports. Saudi clerics, entrusted with Islam’s holiest shrines have immense power and billions of dollars to spread the faith. Building mosques and religious schools all over the world that have become recruiting grounds for violent extremists. 9/11 Commissioner John Lehman says all of this comes across in the 28 pages.
John Lehman: This is not going to be a smoking gun that is going to cause a huge furor. But it does give a very compact illustration of the kinds of things that went on that would really help the American people to understand why, what, how, how is it that these people are springing up all over the world to go to jihad?
Tim Roemer: Look, the Saudis have even said they’re for declassifying it. We should declassify it. Is it sensitive, Steve? Might it involve opening– a bit, a can of worms, or some snakes crawling out of there? Yes. But I think we need a relationship with the Saudis where both countries are working together to fight against terrorism. And that’s not always been the case.
We have been enduring the misguided mission by the White House to release criminals early from their prison sentences ah…you know those that were based on drugs but non-violent. Pssst, the last jail break included 1/3 of them that were in prison for life sentences. Anyway, now the White House is becoming their advisors and promoters to get jobs for them, almost by force. Check this out. The corporations also have to take a pledge?
If employers spent more time implementing better hiring practices, then perhaps this wouldn’t be necessary. There are now more and more ways to find out if your new employee has a criminal record, for example, using something like https://www.nationalcrimecheck.com.au/. But, albeit, we live in a world where not everything is so straight forward.
Is this really the best use of time by the White House?
FACT SHEET: White House Launches the Fair Chance Business Pledge
“Now, a lot of time, [a] record disqualifies you from being a full participant in our society — even if you’ve already paid your debt to society. It means millions of Americans have difficulty even getting their foot in the door to try to get a job much less actually hang on to that job. That’s bad for not only those individuals, it’s bad for our economy. It’s bad for the communities that desperately need more role models who are gainfully employed. So we’ve got to make sure Americans who’ve paid their debt to society can earn their second chance.
– President Barack Obama, Rutgers University, November 2, 2015
Today at the White House, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, and other White House officials hosted 19 companies from across the American economy who are standing with the Obama Administration as founding pledge takers to launch the Fair Chance Business Pledge. The pledge represents a call-to-action for all members of the private sector to improve their communities by eliminating barriers for those with a criminal record and creating a pathway for a second chance.
Companies signing the pledge today include: American Airlines, Busboys and Poets, The Coca-Cola Company, Facebook, Georgia Pacific, Google, Greyston Bakery, The Hershey Company, The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System, Koch Industries, Libra Group, PepsiCo, Prudential, Starbucks, Uber, Under Amour/Plank Industries, Unilever and Xerox.
Right now, there are approximately 2.2 million Americans behind bars. The United States accounts for 5 percent of the world’s population, and 25 percent of its inmates. Each year, more than 600,000 inmates are released from federal and state prisons, and another 11.4 million individuals cycle through local jails. Around 70 million Americans have some sort of criminal record — almost one in three Americans of working age.
Too often, that record disqualifies individuals from being a full participant in their communities — even if they’ve already paid their debt to society. As a result, millions of Americans have difficulty finding employment.
Since President Obama took office, this Administration has been committed to reforming America’s criminal justice system. Last summer, the President spoke about the importance of reducing barriers facing people who have been in contact with the criminal justice system and are trying to put their lives back on track. He then became the first President to visit a federal prison where he sat down with individuals who would be returning to their communities. In November, he visited with formerly incarcerated individuals and emphasized that a smarter approach to reducing crime and enhancing public safety must begin with investing in all of our communities. He also announced new efforts by this Administration to help formerly incarcerated individuals to rehabilitate and reintegrate back into their communities, including an upcoming rule from the Office of Personnel Management that will “ban the box,” delaying inquiries into criminal history until later in the federal hiring process. One way to prevent criminals in the workplace may be to use pre-employment tests (as found at https://www.berkeassessment.com/solutions) in order to find out more about your candidates before you accept their application for the role. Berke has many options available.
Building on these efforts, the White House issued a challenge to businesses to take on the Fair Chance Business Pledge. A broad array of businesses have come together to support the reforms needed to bring about this change.
By signing the Fair Chance Business Pledge, these companies are:
Voicing strong support for economic opportunity for all, including the approximately 70 million Americans who have some form of a criminal record.
Demonstrating an ongoing commitment to take action to reduce barriers to a fair shot at a second chance, including practices like “banning the box” by delaying criminal history questions until later in the hiring process; ensuring that information regarding an applicant’s criminal record is considered in proper context; and engaging in hiring practices that do not unnecessarily place jobs out of reach for those with criminal records.
Setting an example for their peers. Today’s announcement is only the beginning. Later this year, the Obama Administration will release a second round of pledges, with a goal of mobilizing more companies and organizations to join the Fair Chance Business Pledge.
Companies and organizations interested in joining the Fair Chance Business Pledge can so do by signing up HERE.
Building on today’s announcement, in the coming weeks, the White House and the Department of Justice will host events in Washington, D.C. and across the country to amplify leaders taking steps to provide fair chance opportunities:
The Justice Department has designated the week of April 24-30, 2016, as National Reentry Week and is coordinating reentry events across the country – from job fairs, to practice interviews, to mentorship programs, to events for children of incarcerated parents – designed to help prepare inmates for release. To learn more, click HERE.
In the coming weeks, the White House will host a Champions of Change event to honor individuals expanding fair chance opportunities. The event will highlight local leaders and programs that are improving their communities by partnering with the philanthropic and private sectors to help those who have been incarcerated rehabilitate and reintegrate. To learn more, click HERE.
THE FAIR CHANCE BUSINESS PLEDGE
We applaud the growing number of public and private sector organizations nationwide who are taking action to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to succeed, including individuals who have had contact with the criminal justice system. When around 70 million Americans – nearly one in three adults – have a criminal record, it is important to remove unnecessary barriers that may prevent these individuals from gaining access to employment, training, education and other basic tools required for success in life. We are committed to providing individuals with criminal records, including formerly incarcerated individuals, a fair chance to participate in the American economy.
These companies put forth their pledges as follows:
AMERICAN AIRLINES: At American Airlines, our employees are the source of our success, with a clear connection between the quality of our team and the quality of the experience we can provide our customers. American is working hard to recruit, develop, retain and engage the very best people – those with unique perspectives and ways of thinking that will position us as a global leader – while recognizing the importance, in appropriate circumstances, of giving people a second chance.
To ensure we aren’t removing qualified individuals from employment consideration, we have banned the box and we don’t ask criminal history questions until someone accepts an offer. We are also conducting consistent, reliable, and fair-minded background checks as part of our hiring process.
We commend the Administration and applaud the many corporations and organizations that are taking similar actions to give all Americans a fair chance to succeed and enjoy everything our country has to offer. American Airlines is proud to take the Fair Chance Business Pledge.
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY: Fair chance policies and programs not only enhance the likelihood of success for the more than 600,000 individuals who are released annually from state and federal prisons – they also help to reknit families and rebuild communities. For these and other reasons as outlined below, The Coca-Cola Company is pleased to join the Fair Chance Business Pledge as a signatory.
The Coca-Cola Company has a long-standing commitment to equal opportunity. This spans our employment practices and development of existing employees. We are dedicated to maintaining workplaces that are free from discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, pregnancy, veteran status, genetic information, citizenship status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, or any other reason prohibited by law. The basis for recruitment, hiring, placement, training, compensation and advancement at the Company is qualifications, performance, skills and experience.
We are particularly proud to share that The Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola Refreshments do not engage in background screening related to criminal history until after a decision to hire has been made. When there is a successful applicant who has a criminal history, our talent acquisition team has in place a process to review the relevancy of the history to make an informed decision. We recognize that creating a pathway for a second chance is an important first step in creating successful, sustained re-entry into mainstream society.
FACEBOOK: Facebook is a vocal supporter of equality and we are proud to stand with a growing number of companies who have chosen to ban the box. We strongly oppose hiring practices that discriminate against qualified applicants on the basis of criminal record.
Recently, Facebook collaborated with the California Department of Justice on the agency’s OpenJustice initiative, a program that promotes transparency in the criminal justice system to strengthen the public trust, enhance government accountability, and inform public policy development.
Signing the Fair Chance Hiring pledge allows us to reaffirm our commitment to find ways that our company can create opportunities for all to succeed. And we encourage other organizations and employers to do the same.
GOOGLE: Google has banned the box in its hiring process since 2011. In the last year alone, Google has advanced racial justice and criminal justice reform with grants to organizations and leaders totaling over $5 million. Google will continue its commitment to criminal justice reform and creating opportunities for formerly incarcerated Americans by:
Convening other leading technology companies to recruit more companies to ban the box and go beyond the box to support formerly incarcerated Americans re-entering the job market.
Conducting listening sessions with criminal justice organizations and formerly incarcerated leaders to understand what specific supports are needed and consider how Google products can be used to raise awareness of the issue of mass incarceration in America.
Hosting a series of regional forums on criminal justice reform with formerly incarcerated women and men.
GREYSTON BAKERY: As part of our Fair Chance Pledge, we commit to:
Banning the Box – by delaying criminal history questions until later in the hiring process, or not asking them at all and giving individuals a chance to prove themselves through hard work regardless of background;
Training human resources staff on making fair decisions regarding applicants with criminal records, and other employment barriers, and reporting data on the number of applicants through Open Hiring;
Ensuring jobs, internships, apprenticeships, and regular and progressive job trainings are available to individuals with criminal records and other employment barriers;
Keeping an open door policy for Open Hiring for anyone to sign up for a chance at a job, when one becomes available; in the meantime, accessing workforce development trainings for employment readiness;
Providing mentorship and “soft-skills” support once on the job to ensure retention and readiness, particularly through the apprenticeship/internship period;
Supporting with placement to area employers from workforce development training programs whenever possible, through matching services and providing trainings in demand;
Providing key worker benefits past the apprenticeship period including: subsidized childcare, access to lower-cost nutritious food, and access to affordable housing, to address the highest risk factors of low-income workers and previously incarcerated individuals in sustaining employment;
Working to provide a “living wage” to all our workers in addition to subsidized worker benefits, to help those with employment barriers sustainably break the cycle of poverty.
Greyston also takes action in our local community of Yonkers, NY by supporting other employers in considering Open Hiring in their businesses, de-risking fair chance employment for them by investing in workforce development and job training programs, to increase overall regional employability and job readiness, including in “soft skills” such as literacy and numeracy, mentorship, etc.
Greyston also provides other community programs such as an early childcare center, community gardens, and housing supports for both worker benefit as well as community health and well-being, to truly contribute to sustained Fair Chance employment.
THE JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL AND HEALTH SYSTEM: The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System’s (JHHS) practice of providing access and opportunity to the returning citizens of Baltimore is not a charitable endeavor, but a strategic part of the way we conduct our business. We are not just an organization that conducts business in Baltimore, but an integral part of the community — interwoven and connected for 126 years and counting.
When Mr. Hopkins endowed the Hospital, he recognized that the service we provide can only have a positive lasting impact if all members of the community are a part of JHHS mission. We have made sure to keep Mr. Hopkins’ directives, which in many ways mirror the Fair Chance Business Pledge, at the forefront of all that we do. This is evidenced in our hiring practice, which embraces our community’s citizens who meet our hiring requirements — including returning citizens.
We have banned the box in our hiring process and have an established practice of individually reviewing applicants that have criminal background. This thoughtful, detailed process has enabled us to have a strong returning citizen hire rate over the years.
Our long standing partnerships with community based partners, particularly those that serve returning citizens, and understand our organization and the work we do, provides us with a pipeline of talented applicants. We share our practices with other Baltimore City companies and encourage dialogue on the importance of engaging all of our citizens in the employment process.
Lastly, our organizations unwavering commitment to Baltimore City and Maryland is reflected in our Institution’s leadership, managerial and supervisory staff, who understand that we have a lot of talented people in our community. We recognize that we cannot afford to let good talent get away — especially talent that might need a second chance.
KOCH INDUSTRIES AND GEORGIA PACIFIC: Koch Industries and Georgia-Pacific support the Fair Chance Business Pledge and applaud the leadership of the White House on this critically important issue. The Pledge is consistent with Koch and Georgia-Pacific’s mission to help people improve their lives and remove barriers to opportunity for all Americans, especially the least advantaged.
We believe that we shouldn’t be rejecting people at the very start of the hiring process who may otherwise be capable and qualified, and want an opportunity to work hard.
LIBRA GROUP: The Libra Group believes strongly in the twin values of hope and opportunity. Investing in the community isn’t just a matter of ‘paying back’ with the fruits of commerce; it is good business in its own right. A community with hope and opportunity is one better equipped to contribute in tomorrow’s world. Part of our responsibility in running an international business is to actively give something back. We do this through a series of 10 managed programs and initiatives which are broadly linked to the themes of community support and assisting people who have been denied or have limited opportunity, including the formerly incarcerated. Some of these initiatives include:
Drive Change: Libra Group supports Drive Change and its mission to use the food truck workplace to run a 1-year Fellowship for young people returning home from prison so they can obtain preferred employment and educational opportunities. Our monetary and in-kind support, in the form of essential skills trainings have allowed Drive Change to:
Hire a part-time “Truck Coach” who will empower the young people in the program to gain the most from their entire Drive Change experience;
Host hospitality trainings to make sure the Fellows are receiving quality instruction that can drive their future career opportunities;
Support instructors in developing courses in work-place readiness, social media, marketing, money management and small business development;
Provide management training for Executive Staff.
Defy Ventures: Libra Group provides funding to Defy Ventures to support its mission of harnessing the natural talents of formerly incarcerated individuals and redirecting them towards the creation of profitable and legal business ventures.
Libra Internship Program: Libra Group Internships are a unique opportunity for bright, talented young people with proven leadership potential to undertake a paid placement of up to six months’ duration with the Libra Group and its subsidiaries around the world. We work with organizations such as LEDA (Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America), SEO, Prep for Prep, Harlem Children’s Zone, Miami Dade College, Olivier Scholars and CUNY, who are dedicated to provide educational opportunities to students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Through Libra’s Internship Program, we support the children of formerly incarcerated parents. We have hosted a number of students who have grown up with either one or both parents in the criminal justice system.
PEPSICO: We all have a vested interest in creating conditions that allow individuals with criminal convictions to succeed. Finding a job is often one of the biggest barriers to a second chance; that’s why PepsiCo is proud to sign the Fair Chance Business Pledge. A fair chance at a good job significantly increases an individual’s chances of successfully re-entering society while strengthening the communities we all share.
We already “ban the box” by eliminating criminal history questions on our employment applications and delaying a background check until after a conditional offer of employment has been made. In cases of a criminal background, we individually review each case to understand the relevancy of the conviction, time passed, evidence of rehabilitation and other factors. All candidates have the opportunity to tell their unique story and will not be eliminated from consideration based solely on the fact of a criminal conviction.
PepsiCo has a long history of promoting equal opportunity. We evaluate current and prospective employees solely on their qualifications, experience and performance – and we have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind.
We will continue our efforts to create opportunities for formerly incarcerated Americans by working with community partners to provide job readiness training and support, such as Stanford Law School’s Justice Advocacy Project, an effort to assist individuals with navigating the challenges of reentry.
PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL: Prudential Financial is proud to take the White House Fair Chance Business Pledge, building upon our long-standing commitment to equal opportunity. Our efforts to date have focused on establishing internal policies and supporting programs that rebuild communities and provide second chances to individuals and families.
Internally, Prudential is committed to inclusive hiring practices when it comes to recruiting and retaining the best talent. We post our open roles publicly and do not inquire about an individual’s criminal history until after an offer of employment is extended. If it is revealed that a candidate does have a criminal record, that does not in and of itself necessarily disqualify him/her.
Additionally, Prudential has provided nearly $50 million to support fair chance hiring policies by investing in businesses and organizations who have demonstrated a commitment to inclusive hiring practices. These practices include assisting individuals with criminal backgrounds through workforce training, which includes occupational skills training and workplace soft skills training, so that they can successfully re-enter the workforce.
STARBUCKS: Starbucks continues to encourage its partners (employees) and others to recognize the choices we, as organizations and as citizens, can each can make every day to see a different story for America. The Company believes that equal access to opportunities, for those willing to work hard and play fair, continues to be the promise of our country. In many ways, Starbucks is demonstrating responsible, compassionate ways to provide more individuals a second chance:
Ban the Box: Starbucks does not inquire about criminal histories on initial job applications and runs background checks only after a conditional offer of employment. The intent is to provide applicants with a criminal history the chance to be evaluated as a whole person by having their circumstances considered on a case-by-case basis.
Access to Opportunity: In partnership with like-minded organizations, Starbucks has come up with creative solutions to open doors for transitioning veterans, aspiring students seeking debt-free college degrees, and Opportunity Youth- 16-24 year olds who face systemic barriers to jobs and education.
100,000 Opportunities Initiative: Supported by many of the country’s youth and opportunity-focused nonprofit organizations, local governments, and participating funders, the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative is an employer led coalition of over 30 companies committed to engaging at least 100,000 opportunity youth by 2018 through experiential job fairs, apprenticeships, internships, and both part-time and full-time jobs. Since August, Starbucks has already hired over 7,000 opportunity youth, and plans to host its next hiring fair in its hometown of Seattle in May.
UBER: Providing economic opportunities to those with certain offenses on their records is a way for Uber to help reentering citizens find a way to earn a living. Driving for the Uber platform is a great option for someone looking to get back on their feet: it’s easy to get started and completely flexible.
We believe that the right path forward is to tailor our driver screening process to focus on issues that are directly relevant to providing a safe and reliable ride. We also conduct a transparent, up-to-date, and fair assessment of who should be on the Uber platform and who shouldn’t. This ensures rider safety without excluding people who deserve a fair shot at work opportunities.
To that end, in California—where more than 100,000 people drive with Uber—we’ve committed to:
Notifying people who don’t pass Uber’s pre-screening process that they could be eligible for getting felonies on their records adjusted under Proposition 47 (which they only have until November 2017 to do) and pointing them to resources to help them do that.
Aligning our pre-screening process with Proposition 47 to give people with low-level, nonviolent convictions on their records the same economic opportunities as everyone else.
Referring people who still don’t qualify to Defy Ventures to get work and entrepreneurship training as well as mentoring and job placement assistance.
We look forward to making similar commitments across the country, and we’re pleased that already, our technology and our background check processes—which include screening through national, state, and local databases—are reliable and accurate without unnecessarily discriminating against minorities as fingerprint-based checks do. We’re excited to continue working with community groups and reentry organizations across the country to explore ways our policies and technology can make our screening process fair for everyone.
UNDER ARMOUR AND PLANK INDUSTRIES: Under Amour and Plank Industries want to commend the Administration for their leadership in promoting the Fair Business Pledge with employers across this country and we are proud to take the pledge across all of our businesses. This initiative serves as an important reminder that while we all seek to improve our economy and create jobs, we must also consider the barriers that prevent qualified individuals from joining the workforce.
Under Armour comes from very humble beginnings in Baltimore, Maryland. Today, we are a global brand in performance footwear, apparel and technology with nearly $4 billion in annual revenue employing 12,000 teammates in 28 offices across 18 countries. Baltimore is home to Under Armour, and as we grow, so will the opportunities in this great city.
While Under Armour continues to be a catalyst for economic activity in Baltimore, we believe there is even more we can do to grow the economy. Taking the Fair Business Pledge is just one example of how we can make our hiring practices more inclusive for some in our community. Through the Blocal initiative, we have also pledged to work with other business leaders in Baltimore to promote locally owned businesses, hire more from the local community, buy from local suppliers and continue to give back to our local communities.
As leaders in business, we all focus on creating economic opportunity. As leaders in our community, we should also consider how everyone can participate in the opportunities we create.
UNILEVER: Through the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, Unilever is committed to enhancing livelihoods and creating a brighter future for all. We believe that businesses like ours can and should play an important role in generating wealth and jobs around the world, improving skills and offering access to markets. Fairness in the workplace is about respecting the rights of all those who work with us. Furthermore, business can only truly flourish in societies and economies where human rights are respected and upheld.
Several years ago, Unilever was one of the first companies to implement the “banning the box” policy, meaning that we no longer ask applicants to declare a criminal record prior to being invited to interview for a position. More recently, we decided that we will not conduct criminal background checks until a contingent offer has been made to a potential applicant. By taking these actions, Unilever is proud to be a signatory of the Fair Chance Business Pledge. We are committed to providing equal opportunities to individuals with criminal records a fair chance to participate in the American economy.
XEROX: Xerox is proud to join other corporate leaders in “banning the box.” Xerox is committed to fostering an environment where everyone can contribute and succeed at every level of the corporation.
Our outreach into diverse and broad employment markets for qualified individuals results in hiring our talented workforce and allows us to build and maintain an inclusive corporate culture. We strive continually to strengthen our work environment on an ongoing basis by valuing employees with different backgrounds and perspectives.
We often wonder just what kind of work the Department of Justice is doing if so many of the cases and crimes in the news never seem to have real consequences for the criminal…ahem Holder and Hillary.
Anyway, we will never know the scope of crimes that really do occur across the country and for sure those against the homeland from a foreign power or rogue actors.
WASHINGTON – Charles Harvey Eccleston, 62, a former employee of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), was sentenced today to 18 months in prison on a federal charge stemming from an attempted e-mail “spear-phishing” attack in January 2015 that targeted dozens of DOE employee e-mail accounts.
The sentencing was announced by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips of the District of Columbia, and Assistant Director in Charge Paul M. Abbate of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
Eccleston pleaded guilty on Feb. 2, 2016, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to one count of attempted unauthorized access and intentional damage to a protected computer. In his guilty plea, Eccleston admitted scheming to cause damage to the computer network of the DOE through e-mails that he believed would deliver a computer virus to particular employees. An e-mail spear-phishing attack involves crafting a convincing e-mail for selected recipients that appears to be from a trusted source and that, when opened, infects the recipient’s computer with a virus.
In addition to the prison time, U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss ordered Eccleston to forfeit $9,000, an amount equal to the sum the FBI provided to Eccleston during the course of the undercover investigation. Following his prison term, Eccleston will be placed on three years of supervised release.
“Eccleston’s sentence holds him accountable for his attempt to compromise, exploit and damage U.S. government computer systems that contained sensitive nuclear weapon-related information with the intent of allowing foreign nations to gain access to that information or to damage essential systems,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin. “One of our highest priorities in the National Security Division remains protecting our national assets from cyber intrusions. We must continue to evolve and remain vigilant in our efforts and capabilities to confront cyber-enabled threats and aggressively detect, disrupt and deter them.”
“Charles Harvey Eccleston is a scientist and former government employee who was willing to betray his country and his former employer out of spite,” said U.S. Attorney Phillips. “His attempts to sell access to sensitive computer networks demonstrate why the government must be so vigilant to prevent cyber-attacks. Thanks to the FBI, this defendant was apprehended before he could do any damage. Together with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to make the detection and prevention of cyber-crimes a top priority.”
“Today’s sentencing sends a powerful message that no one will be allowed to sabotage the U.S. Government’s cyber infrastructure or threaten our national security through the illicit sale of information to a foreign intelligence service,” said Assistant Director in Charge Abbate. “The FBI will continue to investigate and pursue those who attempt to disclose sensitive knowledge about our nation’s information systems and bring them to justice.”
Eccleston, a U.S. citizen who had been living in Davao City in the Philippines since 2011, was terminated from his employment at the NRC in 2010. He was detained by Philippine authorities in Manila, Philippines, on March 27, 2015, and deported to the United States to face U.S. criminal charges. He has been in custody ever since.
According to court documents, Eccleston initially came to the attention of the FBI in 2013 after he entered a foreign embassy in Manila and offered to sell a list of over 5,000 e-mail accounts of all officials, engineers and employees of a U.S. government energy agency. He said that he was able to retrieve this information because he was an employee of a U.S. government agency, held a top secret security clearance and had access to the agency’s network. He asked for $18,800 for the accounts, stating they were “top secret.” When asked what he would do if that foreign country was not interested in obtaining the U.S. government information the defendant was offering, the defendant stated he would offer the information to China, Iran or Venezuela, as he believed these countries would be interested in the information.
Thereafter, Eccleston met and corresponded with FBI undercover employees who were posing as representatives of the foreign country. During a meeting on Nov. 7, 2013, he showed one of the undercover employees a list of approximately 5,000 e-mail addresses that he said belonged to NRC employees. He offered to sell the information for $23,000 and said it could be used to insert a virus onto NRC computers, which could allow the foreign country access to agency information or could be used to otherwise shut down the NRC’s servers. The undercover employee agreed to purchase a thumb drive containing approximately 1,200 e-mail addresses of NRC employees; an analysis later determined that these e-mail addresses were publicly available. The undercover employee provided Eccleston with $5,000 in exchange for the e-mail addresses and an additional $2,000 for travel expenses.
Over the next several months, Eccleston corresponded regularly by e-mail with the undercover employees. A follow-up meeting with a second undercover employee took place on June 24, 2014, in which Eccleston was paid $2,000 to cover travel-related expenses. During this meeting, Eccleston discussed having a list of 30,000 e-mail accounts of DOE employees. He offered to design and send spear-phishing e-mails that could be used in a cyber-attack to damage the computer systems used by his former employer.
Over the next several months, the defendant identified specific conferences related to nuclear energy to use as a lure for the cyber-attack, then drafted emails advertising the conference. The emails were designed to induce the recipients to click on a link which the defendant believed contained a computer virus that would allow the foreign government to infiltrate or damage the computers of the recipients. The defendant identified several dozen DOE employees whom he claimed had access to information related to nuclear weapons or nuclear materials as targets for the attack.
On Jan. 15, 2015, Eccleston sent the e-mails he drafted to the targets he had identified. The e-mail contained the link supplied by the FBI undercover employee which Eccleston believed contained a computer virus, but was, in fact, inert. Altogether, the defendant sent the e-mail he believed to be infected to approximately 80 DOE employees located at various facilities throughout the country, including laboratories associated with nuclear materials.
Eccleston was detained after a meeting with the FBI undercover employee, during which Eccleston believed he would be paid approximately $80,000 for sending the e-mails.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Washington Field Office with assistance from the NRC and DOE. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas A. Gillice of the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney Julie A. Edelstein of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section. Trial Attorney Scott Ferber of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section assisted in the investigation of this matter. The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and the government of the Philippines also provided significant assistance.
ARLINGTON, Iowa (Reuters) – Tim Burrack, a northern Iowa farmer in his 44th growing season, has taken to keeping a wary eye out for unfamiliar vehicles around his 300 acres of genetically modified corn seeds.
Along with other farmers in this vast agricultural region, he has upped his vigilance ever since Mo Hailong and six other Chinese nationals were accused by U.S. authorities in 2013 of digging up seeds from Iowa farms and planning to send them back to China.
The case, in which Mo pleaded guilty in January, has laid bare the value — and vulnerability — of advanced food technology in a world with 7 billion mouths to feed, 1.36 billion of them Chinese.
Citing that case and others as evidence of a growing economic and national security threat to America’s farm sector, U.S. law enforcement officials are urging agriculture executives and security officers to increase their vigilance and report any suspicious activity.
But on a March 30 visit to Iowa, Justice Department officials could offer little advice to ensure against similar thefts, underlining how agricultural technology lying in open fields can be more vulnerable than a computer network or a factory floor.
“It may range down to traditional barriers like a fence and doing human patrols to making sure you get good visuals on what’s occurring,” Assistant Attorney General John Carlin, head of the Justice Department’s national security division, said when touring Iowa State University.
But agriculture sector executives say fences and guards are not feasible, due to the high cost and impracticality of guarding hundreds of thousands of acres.
Tom McBride, intellectual property attorney at Monsanto — one of the firms whose seeds were targeted by Mo — said it safeguards its genetically modified organism (GMO) technology by protecting its computers, patenting seeds and keeping fields like Burrack’s unmarked. Monsanto says it is not considering physical barriers like fences or guards.
The FBI and the U.S. Justice Department say cases of espionage in the agriculture sector have been growing since Mo was first discovered digging in an Iowan field in May 2011. Over the past two years, U.S. companies, government research facilities and universities have all been targeted, according to the FBI.
Although prosecutors were unable to establish a Chinese government link to Mo’s group, the case adds to U.S.-China frictions over what Washington says is increasing economic espionage and trade secret theft by Beijing and its proxies.
A U.S. law enforcement official told Reuters the agency looked for a connection between the Chinese government and the conspiracy carried out by Mo.
“In cases like this, we can see connections, but proving to the threshold needed in court requires that we have documents that the government has directed this,” the official said. “It’s almost impossible to get.”
A Chinese embassy spokesman in Washington, Zhu Haiquan, said he did not have detailed information on the Mo case but that China “stands firm” on the protection of intellectual property and maintains “constant communication and cooperation” with the U.S. government on the issue.
On his visit to Washington last September, President Xi Jinping reiterated China’s denial of any government role in the hacking of U.S. corporate secrets.
Mo, an employee of Chinese firm Kings Nower Seed, pleaded guilty to stealing seed grown by U.S. firms Monsanto, Dupont Pioneer and LG Seeds.
Prosecutors say he specifically targeted fields that grow the parent seeds needed to replicate GMO corn. The FBI says it suspects he was given the location by workers for the seed companies, but did not charge any employees.
DuPont Pioneer and LG Seeds declined to comment for this story.
Mo, whose case was prosecuted by the Justice Department as a national security matter rather than a simple criminal case, now faces a sentence of up to five years in prison. Five others charged in the case are still wanted by the FBI and are believed to have fled to China or Argentina. Charges were dropped against a sixth Chinese suspect.
NATIONAL SECURITY
The number of international economic espionage cases referred to the FBI is rising, up 15 percent each year between 2009 and 2014 and up 53 percent in 2015. The majority of cases reported involve Chinese nationals, the U.S. law enforcement official told Reuters. In the agriculture sector, organic insecticide, irrigation equipment and rice, along with corn, are all suspected to have been targeted, including by Chinese nationals, the official said.
Mo Hongjian, vice president of Kings Nower Seed’s parent company, Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group, declined to comment on the case or on the company’s connection with the Chinese government.
The parent firm is privately owned, but says it receives government money for research in “science and technology.”
China bans commercial growing of GMO grains due to public opposition to the technology and imports of GMO corn have to be approved by the agriculture ministry. Still, President Xi called in 2014 for China to innovate and dominate the technique, which promises high yields through resistance to drought, pests and disease.
In January, a Greenpeace report found some Chinese farmers are illegally growing GMO corn whose strains belong to companies including Monsanto, Syngenta and DuPont Pioneer.
Monsanto, which supplies Burrack’s seed, said it can block foreign groups who request to tour their lab and learning center in Huxley, Iowa. For the past few years, Monsanto says it has run its own background checks on Chinese delegations that ask for a tour, and, if they are approved, boosts security to be sure they do not steal anything or take pictures.
In Washington, U.S. senators have called for a review of the $43 billion deal by state-owned ChemChina to buy Swiss seed group Syngenta, which generates nearly a quarter of its revenue from North America.
Acquiring GMO seed and successfully recreating a corn plant would allow Chinese companies to skip over roughly eight years of research and $1.5 billion spent annually by Monsanto to develop the corn, the company says.
Burrack’s farm itself was not targeted by Mo, though he grows the Monsanto parent seed that the Chinese national was digging for. Burrack grows the corn in two fields in front of and behind his house where he can watch them, a small part of his 2,800-acre farm.
He said he is told by Monsanto where and when to plant the parent seed, but has never been told to keep what he is planting a secret.
“What no one seems to understand is that they’re stealing from people like me,” Burrack said. “They’re stealing the research that farmers pay for when they buy Monsanto seed.”
PARIS (AP) — The number of people linked to the Islamic State network that attacked Paris and Brussels reaches easily into the dozens, with a series of new arrests over the weekend that confirmed the cell’s toxic reach and ability to move around unnoticed in Europe’s criminal underworld.
From Belgium’s Molenbeek to Sweden’s Malmo, new names are added nearly daily to the list of hardened attackers, hangers-on, and tacit supporters of the cell that killed 130 people in Paris and 32 in Brussels. A computer abandoned by one of the Brussels suicide bombers in a trash can contained not only his will, but is beginning to give up other information as well, including an audio file indicating the cell was getting its orders directly from a French-speaking extremist in Syria, according to a police official with knowledge of the investigation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.
Ten men are known to be directly involved in the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris; others with key logistical roles then — including the bomber, a logistics handler, and a hideout scout — went on to plot the attack March 22 in Brussels. But unlike Paris, at least two people who survived the attack have been taken into custody alive, including Mohamed Abrini, the Molenbeek native who walked away from the Brussels international airport after his explosives failed to detonate.
But investigators fear it may not be enough to stave off another attack. Abdelhamid Abaaoud, another Molenbeek native whose charisma made him a natural draw to many in the Brussels neighborhood after he joined IS extremists in Syria, said before his death that he returned to Europe among a group of 90 fighters from Europe and the Mideast, according to testimony from a woman who tipped police to his location.
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In part from NYT’s: But only in the months since then has the full scale of Mr. Zerkani’s diligent work on the streets of Molenbeek and beyond become clear, as the network he helped nurture has emerged as a central element in attacks in both Paris and Brussels— as well as one in France that the authorities said last month they had foiled.
“Mr. Zerkani has perverted an entire generation of youngsters, particularly in the Molenbeek neighborhood,” the Belgian federal prosecutor, Bernard Michel, said in February.
But court documents and interviews with Molenbeek residents and activists, as well as with Belgian security officials, suggest that he had direct or indirect connections with several crucial figures who are now dead or under arrest in connection with the November massacre in Paris that killed 130 people and the bombings last month in Brussels that killed 32. Full article here.
(CNN) A top U.S. counterterrorism official in charge of ensuring terrorists do not make it into the United States said European countries can do more to screen terrorists because they don’t take full advantage of tools the U.S. has offered in the fight against terrorism.
“It’s concerning that our partners don’t use all of our data,” said Terrorist Screening Center Director Christopher Piehota in an exclusive interview with CNN. “We provide them with tools. We provide them with support, and I would find it concerning that they don’t use these tools to help screen for their own aviation security, maritime security, border screening, visas, things like that for travel.”
Piehota said the U.S. shares its watch lists with EU countries, but that EU countries don’t systematically utilize it to identify suspected terrorists or screen migrants coming.
The European Union does not utilize a central terror database; instead, each country maintains its own terrorist watch list that comes with its own unique set of standards for tracking terrorists. Further complicating matters the 26 European countries that operate inside the “Schengen zone” do not perform routine border checks.
Piehota said all European countries cooperate with the United States to varying degrees and information sharing has greatly improved in the wake of the ISIS threat.
The daunting task of guarding the United States from foreign terrorists, he says, has become more challenging with the evolving ISIS threat in Europe.
One chief concern is foreign nationals from visa-waiver countries who do not appear on any watch list could possibly slip into the U.S. to launch an attack. For example, would-be terrorists can surreptitiously travel to and from Syria from Europe and then travel to the U.S. without ever arousing the suspicion of government officials on either continent.
“There are many that we do know about. And unfortunately there are some that we do not know about,” Piehota said.
Counterterrorism officials like Piehota also worry about the ISIS terrorists believed to still be in Europe and possibly plotting future attacks. One such person is the man in the hat seen in the Brussels airport surveillance video who remains on the run.
“It’s highly concerning,” he said. “We make sure that we know as much as we can. And we take that information and we use it the best we can to minimize threats to our communities. But we can’t know everything all the time.”
European officials have acknowledged the gaps in coverage and communication in the weeks following the Brussels attacks.
“The fragmented intelligence picture around this dispersed community of suspected terrorists is very challenging for European authorities,” said Rob Wainwright, director of the European Police Agency known as Europol.
The EU’s Counter-Terrorism Chief Gilles de Kerchove told CNN that he was aware of problems in getting member states to act.
“I do my best to put pressure, to confront them with blunt figures, and we are making progress, but not quickly enough,” he said.
The European Union has been examining the sharing of passenger information for at least six years, and the European Parliament is expected to consider a measure related to that issue this month. Some members oppose the idea on privacy grounds.
“That will require difficult discussions with European Parliament, because we’re sensitive about balance between security and freedom,” de Kerchove said last month.
Piehota also echoed the sentiment from FBI Director James Comey that there’s risk with the U.S. plan of allowing 100,000 refugees into the U.S. a year by 2017 partially because of the lack of intelligence on people in Syria.
“Nothing we can guarantee is at a 100% level,” Piehota said, adding he believes the vetting process is rigorous with a layered approach of screening, evaluation and assessment for the refugees who will be cross-referenced with all the U.S. watch lists.
Piehota also addressed what he called “incorrect perceptions” about the U.S. watch lists, many that have been repeated by presidential candidates on the campaign trail claiming a majority of people on the lists are innocent Americans.
Although declined to say how many people are on the watch list, he did say Americans “comprise less than 0.5% of the total populations. Very small, controlled population,” adding that those on the list are consistently re-evaulated with 1,500 changes to the list on average per day. More here.
