Category Archives: DOJ, DC and inside the Beltway

Iran’s Boiling Point, About to Get Worse

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For 6 days in a row, demonstrators against the Iran regime are demanding regime change. There is hardly any gas for 6000 bus drivers in Tehran. There are curfews, people being shot while others are being arrested. The country currency, the rial has continued to plunge in value and food is being rationed.

After passing a 90-day mark on Aug. 6, the following sanctions will snap back on Iran, according to the Treasury Department:

  • Sanctions on Iran buying or acquiring U.S. dollars
  • Sanctions on Iran trading gold and other precious metals
  • Sanctions on Iran’s sale, supply or trade of metals such as aluminum and steel, as well as graphite, coal and certain software for “integrating industrial processes”
  • Sanctions on “significant” sales or purchases of Iranian rials, or the maintenance of significant funds or accounts outside the country using Iranian rials
  • Sanctions on issuing Iranian debt
  • Iranian auto sanctions

The U.S. will also revoke certain permissions, granted to Iran under the deal, on Aug. 6. These include halting Iran’s ability to export its carpets and foods into the U.S., as well as ending certain licensing-related transactions.

At the end of the 180-day interval on Nov. 4, another set of sanctions will once again be clamped down on Iran:

  • Sanctions on Iran’s ports, as well as the country’s shipping and shipping sectors
  • Sanctions on buying petroleum and petrochemical products with a number of Iranian oil companies
  • Sanctions on foreign financial institutions transacting with the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian financial institutions
  • Sanctions on the provision of certain financial messaging services to Iran’s central bank and other Iranian financial institutions
  • Sanctions on the provision of underwriting services, insurance, or reinsurance
  • Sanctions on Iran’s energy sector

The following day, on Nov. 5, the Trump administration will disallow U.S.-owned foreign entities from being allowed to engage in certain transactions with Iran. Sanctions on certain Iranian individuals will also be re-imposed on Nov. 5.

Read the Treasury’s full guide to the re-imposition of Iran nuclear deal sanctions here.

Meanwhile:

LONDON/ANKARA(Reuters) – An English court has cleared the way to consider whether it will allow the families of some of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States to make a claim on Iranian assets in Britain.

The relatives want the English High Court to enforce a 2012 decision by a U.S. court which found there was evidence to show that Iran provided “material support and resources to al Qaeda for acts of terrorism”. The militant group carried out the attacks.

The New York court awarded the plaintiffs damages of over $7 billion. Iran denies any links to Al Qaeda or any involvement in the 9/11 attacks.

If the English court agrees to enforce the ruling, it could clear the way for assets in England and Wales to be frozen or seized. Iranian assets in England include a central London building and funds held by two subsidiaries of state-owned banks. This could add to Tehran’s troubles as it tries to stave off a financial crisis.

The June 8 ruling by a judge after a hearing in the English High Court removed an obstacle that was holding up the process.

The law requires the UK’s Foreign Office (FCO) to formally serve the legal papers to Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) before the enforcement proceedings can begin. A British official said it was routinely difficult to deliver papers to the MFA, according to FCO correspondence seen by Reuters. An FCO official declined to comment.

The judge ruled it was sufficient to try to notify them through other communication such as email or post.

That decision has unblocked the process. The plaintiffs will now ask a judge at the High Court in the next few months to consider whether the New York ruling can be entered as a judgment in English law, said their lawyer Natasha Harrison, a partner at the London office of Boies Schiller Flexner. The judgment could then be enforced, she said. This would mean assets could be frozen or seized.

An Iranian official said: “Iran will take all the necessary measures to stop it.”

An Iranian foreign ministry official said the June ruling was “fabricated” and “politically motivated”.

Racketeering and the Bloody Streets of Chicago

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The news reports, the headlines and numbers are head-shaking. It has to be difficult to listen to the police radios calling due to emergencies all over the city. The reporters are tasked with getting names, ages, locations and getting interviews and responses from law enforcement.

Merely reading the article from the Chicago Tribune from a very bloody weekend in Chicago was hard to finish. Getting crime statistics from the Windy City is one thing, believing them is another.

Is crime just part of Chicago’s DNA, a permanent condition given those like Dillinger, Capone or Durkin? From the earliest days of the Bureau, it was clear that agents were permanently needed in two cities—New York and Chicago. By July 21, 1908, several days before the FBI’s official birthday, the Department of Justice had assigned four special agents to Chicago.

The FBI Chicago Field Office grew larger.

On August 27, 1964, the Chicago Division moved into new space located in the just completed E.M. Dirksen Federal Building and Courthouse. Located at 219 South Dearborn Street in Chicago’s “Loop,” the Chicago FBI occupied the entire ninth floor of the building. Marlin W. Johnson was the special agent in charge, and the office included 281 special agents and 185 support employees. The Dirksen building remained the home of the division for the next 42 years. During that time, the office expanded to occupy the entire eighth and 10th floors and part of the 11th floor.

In October 1969, violent members of a radical group known as the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) bombed a Chicago police memorial and fomented the “Days of Rage” riot in Chicago. An offshoot of SDS called the Weathermen—later the Weather Underground Organization—which evolved into a domestic terrorist group that used bombings, robberies, arson, and other illegal acts to further its radical political agenda. Chicago agents, along with other field offices across the country, thoroughly investigated this organization and its activities. In 1974, the Chicago Division produced an extensive summary of the group’s motivations and activities.

The FALN (Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación National/Armed Forces of National Liberation)—which advocated Puerto Rican Independence—was another 1970s terrorist group subject to intense investigation by the Chicago Division. In the early morning hours of October 27, 1975, bombs exploded outside three Chicago Loop office buildings, including the Sears Tower. A fourth device was found outside the Standard Oil building, but was disarmed before detonating.

In the late 1970s, the division opened what ended up being the FBI’s longest-running domestic terrorism investigation. On May 28, 1978, a bomb exploded at the University of Illinois at Chicago, injuring one individual. In 1979, an FBI-led task force that included the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service was formed to investigate the “UNABOM” case—code-named for the UNiversity and Airline BOMbing targets involved. Sixteen more bombings took place over the next 17 years, killing three and injuring more than 20 people. FBI Chicago, along with nearly all of the FBI’s 56 field offices, pursued this terrorist throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. After an extensive investigation—and a tip from the bomber’s brother—the FBI arrested Theodore Kaczynski in April 1996. Kaczynski ultimately pled guilty and was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes.

Operation Family Secrets—began in 1999 and culminated in 2005 with the indictment and arrest of 14 known or suspected members of a Chicago organized crime group for 18 unsolved mob hits. A Chicago policeman and Cook County sheriff’s deputy were also charged. The defendants all either pled guilty, were convicted in court, or died prior to trial. Read more detail here.

So, now we have a sanctuary city where gangs and illegals own the streets. Mayor Rahm Emanuel either cant get control of the city or refuses to do so. So, the people of Chicago are protesting, demanding he resign. While there is clearly political corruption in the Mayor’s office, racketeering is nothing new in Chicago. Remember Tony Rezko? He was a former fundraiser for Obama and close friend. Then there was the mortgage scandal for the land slated to be part of the Olympic Park in 2009. Moving forward to 2018, there are shady operations going on with the Obama Presidential Library.

But is there corruption within the ranks of Chicago law enforcement? Appears so.

Just this part February, multiple members of a Chicago Police Department anti-gang unit have been stripped of their authority following a federal probe into allegations that they robbed drug dealers.

In 2016, 762 homicides last year and more than 4,000 people wounded—has been described as an epidemic. Primarily gang-related, the shootings are often spontaneous and unpredictable, and the toll on victims, families, and entire communities cannot be overstated. That’s why the FBI’s Chicago Division, working with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and other agencies, has undertaken significant measures to address the problem.

Flowers, candles, and a t-shirt that says “Justice for Marc” mark the spot where an individual was killed in Chicago.  photo

The tasks appear to be too daunting for the FBI in Chicago as they work with law enforcement officials.

That effort involves three major areas:

  • The creation in 2016 of a homicide task force—in addition to the FBI’s existing violent crimes squad—in which agents work alongside CPD detectives and other law enforcement officers to assist in solving the city’s murder cases;
  • Increased intelligence-gathering efforts to identify shooters and “directors of violence,” which includes embedding FBI analysts at CPD headquarters; and
  • Stepping up community outreach efforts to gain the public’s trust and enlist their help in solving crimes and making communities safer.

U.S. is on the Offensive, Espionage and Cyber

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In the last few weeks, there was the Aspen Security Forum, a 3 day event. Then there was a DNI report. Then came 2 separate nationwide conference calls hosted by CERT, the cyber division of DHS.

A remarkable White House press briefing included the heads of intelligence agencies explaining the condition of cyber/espionage and the countermeasures against Russia.

Then there is the military side, a division frankly not well known, the Defense Security Services.

 

See the whole 2 page release here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there is more:

FBI Releases Article on Securing the Internet of Things

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released an article on the risks associated with internet-connected devices, commonly referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT). FBI warns that cyber threat actors can use unsecured IoT devices as proxies to anonymously pursue malicious cyber activities.

As our reliance on IoT becomes an important part of everyday life, being aware of the associated risks is a key part of keeping your information and devices secure. NCCIC encourages users and administrators to review the FBI article for more information and refer to the NCCIC Tip Securing the Internet of Things.

*** IOT?

The internet of things, at its simplest level, is a network of smart devices – from refrigerators that warn you when you’re out of milk to industrial sensors – that are connected to the internet so they can share data, but IoT is far from a simple challenge for IT departments.

Related reading: Five IoT Predictions For 2019

For many companies, it represents a vast influx of new devices, many of which are difficult to secure and manage. It’s comparable to the advent of BYOD, except the new gizmos are potentially more difficult to secure, aren’t all running one of three or four basic operating systems, and there are already more of them.

A lot more, in fact – IDC research says that there are around 13 billion connected devices in use worldwide already, and that that number could expand to 30 billion within the next three years. (There were less than 4 billion smartphone subscriptions active around the world in Ericsson’s most recent Mobility Report.)

With a huge number of companies “doing IoT” – most big-name tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, Apple, Cisco, Intel, and IBM have various types of IoT play – all working to bring as many users as possible into their respective ecosystems, motivation to make sure IoT systems and devices from different companies all work with each other is sometimes lacking.

Internet of Things photo

The problem, of course, is that nobody’s willing to give up on the idea of their own ecosystem becoming a widely accepted standard – think of the benefits to the company whose system wins out! – and so the biggest players in the space focus on their own systems and development of more open technologies lags behind. More here.

Night Wolves, Putin’s Hells Angels

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The Slovak foreign ministry says it is “disturbing” that the Night Wolves – a Russian nationalist biker gang close to President Vladimir Putin – now have a base in Slovakia.

The base has old military vehicles and lies in Dolna Krupa, a village 70km (44 miles) from the capital Bratislava.

The Russian government calls it the Night Wolves’ “European headquarters”.

The bikers are under US sanctions, accused of providing military help for the pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine.

Russian Nationalist biker gang Night Wolves set up base in ...  story/photo

 

So close in fact, Putin rode with them and endorses the group.

Earlier this year, the Night Wolves did a 9 day tour. Bosnia? Yes.  Members of the Night Wolves motorcycle gang visiting a monastery in Serbia. The gang’s tour, funded with a grant from the Kremlin, was billed as a “pilgrimage” meant to showcase the shared Orthodox faith of Russia and the region.CreditLaura Boushnak for The New York Times

Heck, the rode through the Balkins.

The Night Wolves billed their tour, funded with a $41,000 grant from the Kremlin, as a “pilgrimage” meant to showcase the shared Orthodox faith of Russia and the region, at least the bits of it inhabited by ethnic Serbs like Republika Srpska, which is legally part of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

***

Performances organized by the Russian hyper-patriotic biker club Night Wolves stand as prime examples of the Kremlin’s new take on old propaganda efforts. Their spectacles tend to display the full gamut of the Kremlin’s imagery and messaging, from the evil of the United States and Ukrainians to the glorification of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian military.

An analysis of Night Wolves spectacles reveals how the Kremlin’s agent provocateurs make use of the fuzzy lines between patriotism, pro-Putinism, Russian Orthodoxy, civic/national duty, and militarism. The purposes of these anti-American scripts are many, not least of which is to garner psychological and physical support for the motherland one way or the other, especially during the Euromaidan era, but also to create a sense of Russian identity, which has been vacuous since the early 1990s. The alarming aspect is that these types of fantastical attractions can transform patriotic attendees into actual networks of gun-toting Russian combatants, which may be part of the government’s objective. Read more here, chilling operation concocted by the Kremlin.

Rock videos supporting the Night Wolves? Yes, glad you asked.

 

Did they have some role in Crimea and Ukraine? Yup. In 2014:

As night fell on Friday , there were signs that the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea was slipping beyond Kiev’s reach. The parliament remained under siege by pro-Russian protesters, armed men of unknown allegiance were guarding the airports and the Night Wolves, a biker gang with close ties to the Kremlin, blockaded the roads.

Three hundred men in military uniforms with no identifying insignia had entered the Sevastopol airport compound on Thursday night, witnesses said, in what Ukraine’s new interior minister, Arsen Avakov, described as a “military invasion and occupation”.

***

In 2014, the U.S. Treasury added the Night Wolves to the sanctions list due to Crimea and in violation of the Minsk Agreement.

The Night Wolves biker group had its members serve in the Crimean self-defense forces as early as February 2014, which supported local Crimeans against the Government of Ukraine. In March 2014, the Night Wolves conducted intimidation and criminal activities within Ukraine and also abducted and subsequently assaulted a Ukrainian Border Guard official. This biker group also participated in the storming of the gas distribution station in Strikolkove and the storming of the Ukrainian Naval Forces Headquarters in Sevastopol. In early-April 2014, the Night Wolves helped smuggle a former senior Ukrainian official out of Ukraine and also helped obtain Russian passports for another larger group of senior Ukrainian officials that they helped get into Russia. The Night Wolves have been closely connected to the Russian special services, have helped to recruit separatist fighters for Donetsk and Luhansk, Ukraine, and were deployed to the cities of Luhansk and Kharkiv. The Night Wolves group is being designated because it is an entity that is responsible for or complicit in, or has engaged in, directly or indirectly, actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, stability, sovereignty, or territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Aleksandr Zaldostanov, also known as “the Surgeon,” is the leader of the Night Wolves. Zaldostanov chairs the overall Night Wolves organization, and some of his responsibilities include the punishing of chapter groups and members for disloyalty to the Night Wolves organization. During the late-March storming of the Ukrainian Naval Forces Headquarters in Sevastopol, he coordinated the confiscation of Ukrainian weapons with the Russian forces. Zaldostanov is being designated for being a leader of a group, the Night Wolves, that is engaging in, directly or indirectly, actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, stability, sovereignty, or territorial integrity of Ukraine.

 

 

Fugitive Extradited in Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry Murder

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border.jpg Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, left, and Border Agent Brian Terry FBI/ATF

SAN DIEGO, CA – Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, who is charged with the first-degree murder of U.nited S.tates Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, was extradited from Mexico to the United States today, announced Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Southern District of California U.S. Attorney Adam Braverman for the Southern District of California.  He will be arraigned in U.nited S.tates District Court in, Tucson, Arizona, Wednesday tomorrow afternoon.  Osorio-Arellanes has been in custody awaiting extradition since his arrest by Mexican authorities on April 12, 2017.

Agent Terry was fatally shot on Dec.ember 14, 2010, when he and other U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered Osorio-Arellanes and four other members of a “rip crew” (a criminal gang that attempts to steal from drug and alien smugglers) operating in a rural area north of Nogales, Arizona.  Of the six defendants charged along with Osorio-Arellanes in the case, three have pleaded guilty, two were convicted following a jury trial, and one other defendant – Jesus Rosario Favela Astorga (arrested by Mexican authorities in October, 2017) – has not yet been tried. is pending extradition to the United States.

“The Department of Justice is pleased that the suspected killer of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry has been successfully extradited to the United States and will now face justice for this terrible crime,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “We are grateful for the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection as well as our law enforcement partners in Mexico. To anyone who would take the life of an American citizen, in particular an American law enforcement officer, this action sends a clear message: Working closely with our international partners, we will hunt you down, we will find you, and we will bring you to justice.”

“The arrest and extradition of Osorio-Arellanes reflects the steadfast commitment and tireless work of the United States and our law enforcement partners in Mexico, who shared the common goal of seeking justice for the murder of Agent Brian Terry,” said U.nited S.tates Attorney Adam Braverman.  “When an agent makes the ultimate sacrifice while serving his country, we must hold all the individuals who played a part in this tragic outcome accountable for their actions.  This extradition moves that important goal forward.”

The indictment charges the defendants with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, attempted interference with commerce by robbery, use and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer.  In addition to the murder of Agent Terry, the indictment alleges that the defendants assaulted U.S. Border Patrol Agents William Castano, Gabriel Fragoza and Timothy Keller, who were with Agent Terry during the firefight with the “rip crew.”

This case is being prosecuted in federal court in Tucson by attorneys from the Southern District of California, Special Attorneys Todd W. Robinson and David D. Leshner.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona is recused.  The case is being investigated by the FBI.  The Government of Mexico assisted in the apprehension and extradition.  The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance with the extradition of defendant Osorio-Arellanes.

The public is reminded that an indictment is a formal charging document and defendants are presumed innocent until the government meets its burden in court of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

DEFENDANT                                                                        Case No. 11-CR-00150-TUC-DCB (BPV)     

Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes

AGENCIES

Federal Bureau of Investigation

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

United States Border Patrol

DOJ Office of International Affairs         

***

 Federal authorities said Tuesday that Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes will be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Tucson on Wednesday.               

 Osorio-Arellanes had been in custody awaiting extradition since being arrested by Mexican authorities on April 12, 2017. Osorio-Arellanes is charged in the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, who was shot and killed Dec. 14, 2010 when he and other agents encountered a gang preying on smugglers north of Nogales, Arizona.

Terry was part of a four-man team in an elite Border Patrol unit staking out the southern Arizona desert on a mission to find “rip-off” crew members who rob drug smugglers.

They encountered a five-man group of suspected marijuana bandits and identified themselves as police in trying to arrest them.

A jury in Tucson in October 2015 found two men, Jesus Leonel Sanchez-Meza and Ivan Soto-Barraza, guilty on murder and other charges. Another man, Manual Osorio-Arellanes, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2014.

A fourth man, Rosario Rafael Burboa-Alvarez, pleaded guilty to murder. He was not present during the shooting but is accused of assembling the rip crew.

Authorities are still looking for Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga, who’s wanted on murder, conspiracy, robbery, assault and firearm charges, reports CBS affiliate KOLD.