Handwritten: bin Ladin’s Last Will

Posted on March 1, 2016March 1, 2016 by Denise Simon

Bin Laden’s Bookshelf: Bequeathing Millions for Jihad, Exposing Rifts with al-Qa’ida in Iraq, and Planning a 9/11 Tenth Anniversary Media Blitz

ODNI: Osama bin Laden’s handwritten will left millions for jihad. But even in the period shortly before his death, bin Laden placed the utmost importance on portraying his fraying organization as a united enterprise-while his lieutenants privately wrestled with their growing schism from al- Qa’ida in Iraq. As the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approached, bin Laden envisioned a worldwide media campaign, suggesting his media team work with specific news outlets.

This emergent portrait of bin Laden comes together today via documents from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released in the second batch of media recovered during the 2011 raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, at the compound used to hide Osama bin Laden.

UBL1

An intelligence officer reviews a copy of Osama Bin Laden’s will, released along with other
documents by ODNI on March 1, 2016 (Photo by Brian Murphy, ODNI Public Affairs)The release aligns with the president’s call for increased transparency-consistent with national security prerogatives-and the 2014 Intelligence Authorization Act, which required the ODNI to conduct a review of the documents for release.




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Osama bin Laden’s Will “In regard to the money that is in Sudan”Beginning last summer and with DNI approval, the CIA spearheaded a rigorous interagency review of the classified documents under the auspices of the White House’s National Security Council staff. Representatives from seven agencies combed through the documents-with the goals of increasing transparency and responding to the congressionally-directed action.




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“It’s important that the documents collected at bin Laden’s compound be made available to the public. This was no easy feat as members of the task force dedicated themselves over a long period of time working in an Intelligence Community facility to review and declassify as many documents as possible,” said Brian Hale, ODNI Director of Public Affairs.




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Given the large number of documents to review, and the increasing public demand to see them, the White House asked ODNI to declassify and release the documents as they were ready. This is the second tranche to be released. The first tranche was released May 20, 2015. This initial posting contained two sections, a list of non-classified, English-language material found in and around the compound and a selection of now-declassified documents.




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Those documents, as well as the additional declassified material released today, reflect on a range of topics, including reporting fissures between AQ and AQ in Iraq and bin Laden’s concern about AQ’s public image-and his desire to depict AQ as a united organization.




	Scan of Original Document		English Translation

Since the first release, the Intelligence Community has reviewed hundreds of additional documents for possible declassification and release. The document-review process can be time consuming because-once a document is declassified-it cannot be reclassified. The IC needs to ensure no declassified document will directly injure efforts to keep the nation secure. With that in mind, the review is ongoing, with the next release expected later this year.

Pentagon’s Plan to Close Gitmo

Posted on March 1, 2016March 1, 2016 by Denise Simon

Read it and permission granted to shake your head.

DOD Releases Plan to Close GTMO

02/23/2016

FAS: Conceding that “the politics of this are tough,” President Obama announced this morning the release of the Department

of Defense (DoD) plan to close the prison facility at the U.S. Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The document

reiterates current procedures for transferring detainees to their home countries or other countries abroad, but perhaps

more controversially, promises to “work with Congress to relocate [certain detainees] from the Guantanamo Bay

detention facility to a secure detention facility in the United States, while continuing to identify other non-U.S.

dispositions.” The plan does not specify a particular location within the United States where detainees would be housed

(although it states 13 possible sites have been identified), but emphasizes the Attorney General’s 2014 conclusion that

relocation to the United States would not risk ascribing to transferees additional rights under the U.S. Constitution or

immigration laws. (This analysis, required by section 1039 of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2014, is

attached as an appendix to the plan).

Predicting that the closure of the detention facility will save between $140 million and $180 million over FY 2015

operating costs, the plan lays out how the Administration hopes to resolve the disposition of the 91 detainees remaining

at Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. Government, it says, is pursuing three lines of effort:

1. identifying transfer opportunities for detainees designated for transfer;

2. continuing to review the threat posed by those detainees who are not currently eligible for transfer and who are

not currently facing military commission charges; and

3. continuing with ongoing military commissions prosecutions and, for those detainees who remain designated for

continued law of war detention, identifying individualized dispositions where available, including military

commission prosecution, transfer to third countries, foreign prosecutions or, should Congress lift the ban on

transfers to the United States, transfer to the United States for prosecution in Article III courts and to serve

sentences.

The plan acknowledges that current law prohibits the transfer of detainees into the United States. Current legislative

barriers to the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States include two provisions in the 2016 NDAA (P.L.

114-92). Like previous provisions in national defense authorization and appropriations legislation (beginning with

section 14103 of the 2009 Supplemental Appropriations Act (P.L. 111-32)) section 1031 of the 2016 NDAA prohibits

the use of funds for transfer or release of individuals detained at United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,

to the United States. This prohibition expires on December 31, 2016. Section 1032, also reiterating prohibitions from

previous years, prohibits until December 31, 2016, the use of funds to construct or modify facilities in the United States

to house detainees transferred from Guantanamo Bay.

These provisions are also carried over in the 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act (Omnibus) (P.L. 114-113), Division

B, Title V (Commerce, Justice and Science) sections 527 and 528, and Division C, Title VIII (Department of Defense)

sections 8103-8104, except that the prohibitions cover funds appropriated in “this or any other Act.” The transfer

provision is repeated in Division F, Title V (Homeland Security) section 532. Title IV, section 412 of Division J

(Military Construction and Veterans Affairs) repeats the prohibition on building modifications or construction in the

United States to house Guantanamo detainees. Title VI of Division M (Intelligence) repeats the prohibitions with

respect to the Intelligence Community.

The plan appears to be a response to a 2016 NDAA provision that directed DOD to submit a comprehensive detention

strategy, which included such elements as an assessment of possible detention sites within the United States. Some

have criticized the DoD plan as failing to address sufficiently the required elements of the report. Additionally,

although nothing in the DoD plan suggests that the White House is considering using an executive order to bypass the

statutory restrictions and transfer detainees into the United States, it has been suggested that the President has

constitutional authority to close the detention facility despite legislative prohibitions currently in force. Others,

however, disagree, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff have denied in a recent letter to certain Members of Congress that there

is any intent to take actions contrary to statutory restrictions.

Prediction: An Extraordinary Plea Deal for Hillary et.al

Posted on February 29, 2016February 29, 2016 by Denise Simon

Will a plea deal be enough to stop the formal Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States for Hillary? Understanding the waivers, the dismissiveness and the constant ‘witch-hunt’ diatribe, likely not. Hillary is not qualified to be president and should have her own security clearance stripped and permanently.

Yet, the political machinery is always running on 12 cylinders.

The lead person at the Department of Justice assigned to the Hillary servergate case is Richard S. Scott, whom by the way was the exact lawyer assigned to the General David Petraeus case. It is unknown who is leading the other investigations concerning Hillary’s circle of people that were her firewalls much less her email forwarding clerical types like Jake Sullivan, Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills.

It should also be noted that David Petraeus hired David E. Kendall to represent him, a lawyer whom by the way has been Hillary’s lawyer for decades.

When one examines the investigation and full case of David Petraeus, there are some, only some similarities to Hillary’s investigation. Yet, Petraeus did plea to one count, a violation of 18 U.S.C.{} 1924, which held a maximum term of one year in prison, $100,000 fine or both and no more than 5 years probation.

In the matter of Hillary Clinton, she never had a dot gov email while one was in fact offered to her and further, an exclusive computer was also offered to her to transmit any material, classified, secret or top secret, which was turned down. Instead, Hillary and her team chose to use an unencrypted server for countless email accounts to perform diplomatic government business as well as personal business and for sure business related to the Clinton Foundation.

The final release of emails belonging to Hillary of which the State Department was charged by a court to release is complete as of February 29, 2016.

State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday that one email was being withheld at the request of an unnamed law enforcement agency, but that no other emails were classified Secret or Top Secret. He noted that one email, previously classified Top Secret by the Intelligence Community Inspector General, was downgraded to Secret. The email pertains to North Korea’s nuclear program. But Kirby said 261 other emails released Monday were marked Secret and “confidential,” bringing the total to 2,050 emails that contain classified information. Two are being withheld as one deals directly with Barack Obama and the other was over intent of the use of the server itself and the FBI has taken ownership of that email.

***

In part from CNN: The State Department is furthermore being sued for the emails of top aides, and for the tens of thousands of emails Clinton deemed personal and didn’t turn over for review.

Clinton and her aides insist none of the emails she sent or received were marked as classified at the time they were sent, but over 1,800 have been retroactively classified during the State Department-ledpre-release review process.

This includes 22 emails upgraded to Top Secret — the highest level — and withheld by the State Department in full.

On a separate occasion, Clinton and Sullivan exchange emails on a set of “tps” — presumably talking points, which he’s trying to send to her on a secure fax line.

“If they can’t,” Clinton replies, “turn into nonpaper w no identifying heading and send nonsecure.”

There’s no indication whether the talking point were classified, but the exchange led to criticism from Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, a frequent Clinton critic, who called the chain “disturbing” and asked the former secretary to “come clean.”

Additional emails, on which Clinton was not copied, also shed light on how her email set-up was viewed at the State Department. Important to read the full CNN summary here.

***

What is most remarkable is this email from Hillary’s secret confidant Sidney Blumenthal to Hillary on Benghazi, Libya. It is exceptional the depth of his knowledge and control over events in Benghazi.

The January 25, 2013 email is here.

For: Hillary

From: Sid

Re: Libya security internal deliberations

SOURCE: Sources with direct access to the Libyan National Government, as well as the

highest levels of European Governments, and Western Intelligence and security services.

As of January 24, 2013, while reviewing the decisions that are leading to the departure

of Western diplomatic and business personnel from Benghazi, Libyan Interior Minister Ashour

Shuwail informed Prime Minister Ali Zidan that national intelligence commander General Salim

Hassi and National Libyan Army (NLA) Chief bf Staff General Yousef Mangoush report that the

fighters of Ansar al sharia and their allied eastern militias located in the region between

Benghazi and the Egyptian border are gaining strength steadily. According to an individual with

excellent access to the new Libyan security services, Hassi’s officers believe that these

opposition militias have recovered from the government inspired popular attacks aimed at them

following the destruction of the United States Consulate in Benghazi on September 11, 2013. At

the same time Mangoush believes that the opposition militias have made real use of the time that

has past, and Ansar al sharia is stronger now than before the consulate attack with their

infrastructure enhanced by support from Islamist groups in the Sahel, including al Qa’ida in the

Maghreb (AQIM). The full 4 page email.

In summary, the matter of Hillary’s countless communications violations of U.S. code as well as the 2009 Barack Obama Executive Order is far and beyond that of General Petraeus, but the political machine is spinning. The FBI will turn in a criminal referral to the Department of Justice, yet the powers at Justice will plea it for the sake of the Democrat party nominee Hillary Clinton.

Disgusting for sure.

More Benghazi Witnesses and Emails

Posted on February 29, 2016February 29, 2016 by Denise Simon

Select Committee Announces Scheduled Testimony of Additional Witnesses

February 25, 2016

Press Release

Washington, D.C. — Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy (SC-04) released the following statement announcing the upcoming private testimony of additional witnesses:

“Our committee continues to break an immense amount of new ground as we compile the most comprehensive accounting of what happened before, during and after the terrorist attacks in Benghazi. As we approach our 80th witness interview and work to release our report and recommendations before summer, it’s time for the administration to turn over the records this committee requested nearly a year ago. The American people and the families of the victims deserve the truth, and I’m confident that the value and fairness of our investigation will be abundantly clear to everyone when they see the report for themselves.”

The following witnesses will be questioned in private and bring the total number of witnesses interviewed to 79, including 62 who had never before been interviewed by a congressional committee (these are denoted with asterisks). This schedule is not comprehensive and is subject to change.

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Witness: Gentry Smith, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Countermeasures within the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security*

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Witness: An eyewitness to the attacks from the national security community

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Witness: James “Sandy” Winnefeld, Jr., former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff*

Friday, March 4, 2016

Witness: Susan Curley, Managing Director of the State Department’s Office of Management Policy, Rightsizing and Innovation*

***

Reminder: Just last week ~

State Department Turns Over 1,600 Newly-Discovered Clinton Documents to Benghazi Committee

Existence of documents was revealed in unrelated lawsuit

FreeBeacon: The State Department turned over 1,600 pages of previously undisclosed documents related to Hillary Clinton and Libya to the House Benghazi committee on Friday, a month after it revealed the existence of the documents in an unrelated court case.

The House Select Committee on Benghazi announced it received the records on Friday, adding that the State Department has yet to fully comply with document requests the committee made nearly a year ago.

“Today the State Department turned over more than 1,600 pages of new documents related to former Secretary Clinton and Libya,” the committee said. “The State [Department] claimed in a January 8th court filing that it only recently discovered these new documents from the Office of the Secretary.”

In January, the State Department disclosed in a court filing that it had recently discovered “thousands” of new documents related to Clinton’s tenure and the Benghazi attack. The filing was in response to a lawsuit by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, which has been seeking records from Clinton’s time at the State Department.

The documents may be released in response to public records requests, but the copies received by the Benghazi committee are not redacted in regard to Libya and Benghazi issues.

The records come from the Office of the Secretary, which would likely include Clinton’s Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills, top aide Huma Abedin, and Clinton’s deputy chief of staff and scheduler.

The Benghazi committee announced last week that it had conducted its 75th interview as part of its investigation into the 2012 Benghazi attack, interviewing former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Matt Olsen. The committee recently interviewed Patrick Kennedy, the under secretary of state and a key member of Clinton’s inner circle. Most of the committee’s interviews have been conducted privately.

“While there are still witnesses to talk to and documents to review, these significant breakthroughs are big wins that will help the committee complete the most comprehensive investigation into what happened before, during and after the Benghazi terrorist attacks, and release a report as soon as possible,” committee chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R., S.C.) said in a statement announcing the panel’s progress last week.

Iran Denies U.S. Travel Visas

Posted on February 29, 2016February 29, 2016 by Denise Simon

Oh, but wait to whom exactly? Investors? Nah…to members of Congress…..uh huh But we normalized relations right?

Iran Denies Travel Visas to U.S. Lawmakers

Congressman sought to observe Iranian elections

FreeBeacon: Iran has denied travel documents to three U.S. lawmakers who sought to observe the country’s Friday elections and ensure that they were carried out fairly, according to information provided to the Washington Free Beacon.

The Iranian regime delayed for weeks and ultimately ignored multiple visa requests by three House lawmakers who sought permission to travel to the country in order to monitor the elections held last Friday. Observers say the elections ushered in another crop of hardline, anti-American officials.

The congressmen, including Reps. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.), Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.), and Frank LoBiondo (R., N.J.), personally delivered their visa applications to the Iranian Interests Section of the Pakistani embassy in Washington, D.C., several weeks ago.

The lawmakers sought to observe the recent elections, as well as visit the country’s nuclear sites and meet with American hostages currently being held in Iran. While at the embassy, they provided Iranian diplomats with a list of their priorities for the visit.

The Iranian government failed to respond to these requests despite assurances from officials that the matter would be dealt with in a timely fashion. Iran has yet to explain why it did not respond to the congressmen.

Pompeo and the other lawmakers said Iran’s behavior indicates that it has something to hide from the United States and that the country cannot be trusted to uphold promises made under the recent nuclear agreement. They also criticized the Obama administration for not advocating on their behalf.

“Our straightforward and sincere visa applications have been met with mockery and delay from Iran, revealing this regime’s desire to hide from the American public,” Pompeo, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee of Intelligence, told the Free Beacon on Monday. “I am hopeful that the next U.S. president will critically examine the utility of President Obama’s nuclear deal and put America’s interests ahead of political legacy.”

Pompeo further described Friday’s election in Iran as a “sham” that served to enable the country’s hardline government.

“Because the fanatical Ayatollah holds ultimate power, February 26 was more of a selection of the next group of radicals by the current radicals, than a true election by the people,” he said. “Iranian state television has declared a national victory for the hardliners—politicians who declared that Israelis ‘aren’t human’ and who called for the execution of the pro-democracy Green Movement leaders were selected.”

Early election results indicate the hardliner candidates dominated the election, in part because most moderates were disqualified from participating in advance.

Iran’s Guardian Council, which is controlled by the Supreme Leader, is believed to have disqualified around 60 percent of the potential candidates, including around 99 percent of those viewed as reformists.

“The bulk of the disqualified candidates represent comparatively pragmatic elements of the ruling elite,” Saeed Ghasseminejad, an Iran expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, explained in a policy briefing last week. “On the other hand, most of the approved contenders are radical revolutionaries—devotees of the supreme leader with close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It is mathematically impossible for the less-hardline factions to win at the ballot box.”

“As a result, those supposed ‘moderates’ who were approved have been forced to round off their party lists with hardline candidates,” Ghasseminejad said.

LoBiondo and Zelden said that Iran’s refusal to grant them travel documents is a sign that the country is not seeking to boost ties with the U.S. as a result of the nuclear deal.

“In this supposed ‘new era of openness and cooperation,’ it is disappointing—but not surprising—that our request to visit Iran and monitor these elections was met with a closed door,” said LoBiondo, chair of the House’s CIA subcommittee.

“Furthermore, with the implementation of the nuclear deal and with Americans still detained in Tehran, it is perplexing why the Obama administration refuses to advocate on behalf of our official Congressional visit to Iran on such critical national security issues.”

“It’s unfortunate that Iran has not yet granted our request for visas to observe Iran’s election and for other productive purposes. The American people and rest of the free world still deserve first hand confirmation of what present day reality is in Iran. I look forward to Iran showing that it is a partner in peace by issuing our visas so that we can meet with Iranian leadership, visit nuclear sites, and meet with American hostages,” said Zeldin, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

*** Western corporations have been doing business in Iran for decades despite sanctions, especially so since 2013;

US-listed companies doing business in Iran: $540 million in revenue and counting

QZ: Economic sanctions on Iran have been getting tougher in recent years, and the United States tightened the screws a little more last summer with the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act (PDF).
One unusual aspect of that law is that it started requiring companies traded on US stock exchanges to disclose more about the business they’re doing with Iran, and the Securities and Exchange Commission created the clunkily named IRANNOTICE filing to help them do it.
Companies were already beginning to disclose more about their ties to Iran, Syria, Cuba and other countries non grata (at least in US eyes) under pressure from the SEC. Now they must be systematic about it—and disclose gross revenue and net profits wherever possible.
Quartz’s partial tally: more than $540 million in gross revenue and $15.5 million in profits for US-listed companies from their business with Iran in 2012—and that’s just from 30 or so large companies that have made the disclosures since mid-February.
The numbers underscore the difficulty of maintaining tight sanctions in a global economy. But they also hide a lot of nuance and variation.
Companies based outside the US accounted for 99% of the revenue and three-quarters of the profit. (They made the disclosures because they list shares or American Depository Receipts on US markets.)
In fact, a big chunk of the total came from one company: $414 million in revenue for Statoil ASA, the Norwegian oil and gas company, from Statoil’s contracts with the National Iranian Oil Co.
Statoil also said it has terminated its agreements with Iran, abandoned it licenses there, and “will not make any investments in Iran under present circumstances.”
That’s a common refrain in the disclosures we saw: Many, though not all, of the disclosed transactions reflected companies wrapping up old business en route to cutting most or all ties with the Islamic republic. Typically, the transactions hadn’t been prohibited before the new rules kicked in.
Among the other noteworthy disclosures:
ING Groep said it collected €58 million in revenue and €395,000 in profits from repayment of old loans and a collection of frozen Iranian bank accounts. (Of course, in June, ING also settled allegations by the US Treasury and federal prosecutors that it hid transactions with Cuba and helped finance some sales to Iran, by agreeing to pay $619 million in penalties. It if keeps its nose clean for 18 months, the prosecutors will drop their charges.)
The biggest disclosure by a US company came from auto-parts maker TRW Automotive Holdings, which said it collected $8.3 million in revenue and $377,000 in profits from non-US subsidiaries that “sold products to customers that could be affiliated with, or deemed to be acting on behalf of, the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization” — one of the Iranian entities on the federal government’s massive list.
Under broad rules defining corporate “affiliates,” TRW’s transactions forced investor Blackstone Group to file its own disclosure. And Carlyle Group disclosed that a European portfolio company, Applus Servicios Technologicos, collected €1.19 million in revenue (and €200,000 in profits) from Iranian customers “that could be affiliated with the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization.” Similarly, Hertz had to report that a French affiliate of investor Clayton, Dubilier & Rice had received €2.5 million in payments from Iranian interests to an account at Bank Melli last year. And Apollo Global Management disclosed that portfolio company LyondellBasell Industries (Apollo funds owned 19.6%) reported collecting €4.2 million in revenue and €2.4 million in profit last year from Iranian entities.
Thomson Reuters reported $2.4 million in revenue and $426,000 in profits from selling news and intellectual-property and financial data to Iran-linked entities.

Other big Iran-related disclosures included GlaxoSmithKline at £19.7 million in revenue and £2.8 million in profits, and AstraZeneca at $14 million in revenue and $6 million in profits, both through distributors. Glaxo said that, after a review of the business, it “intends to supply only products of high medical/public health need (as determined using criteria set by the World Health Organization) from its Pharmaceuticals and Vaccines businesses.” AstraZeneca says it has a US license to do some business with Iran, but so far has sold only drugs from outside the US to distributors there.
Amusingly, at least for observers, there doesn’t seem to be a lower threshold to the disclosure requirement. So Dell, the Texas computer company, disclosed a whopping £106.13 ($169.90 at the time) in revenue from Iran, collected by a United Kingdom subsidiary to Quest Software, which Dell said last year it would acquire. The fees were paid by a unit of Bank Melli, which the US government links to Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, for maintenance licenses on software that helps search email and other communications. Drafting Dell’s 374-word disclosure probably cost the company more than the licenses brought in. (Dell says it canceled the service contract and won’t do further business with Bank Melli.)
Other picayune disclosures include Hyatt Hotels, which said the Park Hyatt Hamburg collected $9,300 for 33 room nights under a preferred-rate arrangement with Europaeisch-Iranische Handelsbank, which is on the US Treasury’s Blocked Persons List. And CME Group said it received $3,150 in revenue for selling market data to Iran’s Government Trading Group and a European subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company.