Iranian Refugee Caused Sydney Seige

Authorities in Australia knew very well about the gunman who held several holiday shoppers in a store in Sydney, Australia but little was done to watch him over political correctness. C’mon America, don’t think the same ignorance in not going on around our own homeland.

Back in 2013, a Sydney man admits sending abusive letters to dead Afghanistan veterans’ families

A man accused of sending abusive letters to the families of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan has formally pleaded guilty in a Sydney court.

Man Monis, who also uses the name Sheik Haron, sent the letters between November 2007 and August 2009.

A court has previously heard the letters criticised Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan and labelled the soldiers murderers.

Monis sent letters to the families of seven soldiers killed in action, as well as one man who died in the 2009 Marriott Hotel bombing in Indonesia.

Bree Till received a letter in March 2009, less than a fortnight after her husband Brett died in Southern Afghanistan. It opened with condolences, before becoming abusive.

“This man accusing my husband of being a child killer whilst dictating how I should raise my children,” she said outside court today. “The fact that there was any question as to whether this was right or wrong, that was difficult.”

Monis has pleaded guilty to 12 counts of using a postal service to offend on the grounds of recklessness. His co-accused, Amirah Droudis, has also pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting Monis, after she sent an item of mail in May 2008.

Monis gained notoriety by chaining himself to a railing outside a Sydney court in 2009 in protest against the charges he was facing. In February, he also lost a High Court challenge to the charges, after claiming they were unconstitutional.

The case had been seen as an important test of the implied right to freedom of political speech in the Constitution. Monis left court today with two fingers in the air, signifying the peace sign.

So what more was there to know about Monis? Well his own website explained everything.

This is an evidence for the terrorism of America and its allies including Australia. The result of their airstrikes:

Note, there is supposed to be photo below, it is of bloody dead children that was on the gunman’s website. It is apparent that WordPress is not allowing the photos. What is worse is the actual website by the Sydney gunman has also been taken down. He is dead.

Islam is the religion of peace, that’s why Muslims fight against the oppression and terrorism of USA and its allies including UK and Australia. If we stay silent towards the criminals we cannot have a peaceful society. The more you fight with crime, the more peaceful you are. Islam wants peace on the Earth, that’s why Muslims want to stop terrorism of America and its allies. When you speak out against crime you have taken one step towards peace.

(14 December 2014)

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I used to be a Rafidi, but not anymore. Now I am a Muslim, Alhamdu Lillah

(December 2014)

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باقية و تتمدد بإذن الله

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مبايعة الشيخ هارون

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

أطيعوا الله و أطيعوا الرسول و أولي الأمر منكم
البيعة مع الله و رسوله و أمير المؤمنين – أبايع الله و رسوله و خليفة المسلمين

الحمد لله رب العالمين و الصلاة و السلام على نبينا محمد و على اله و أصحابه أجمعين و التابعين منهم والسلام على أمير المؤمنين خليفة المسلمين إمام عصرنا الحاضر و الحمد لله الذي جعل لنا خليفة في الأرض و إماما يدعونا إلى الإسلام و الإعتصام بحبل الله سبحانه و تعالى. و الحمد لله الذي شرّفني ببيعة إمام زماننا . إنّ الذين يبايعون خليفة المسلمين فإنما يبايعون الله و رسوله يد الله فوق أيديهم . و قال رسول الله صلى عليه و سلم من مات و لم يعرف إمام زمانه مات ميتة جاهلية . والحمد لله الذي لم يجعلني من الذين ماتوا و لم يعرفوا إمام زمانهم . و الحمد لله على نعمة الإيمان و كفى بها نعمة و أفوض أمري إلى الله إنّ الله بصير بالعباد
والسلام على من اتبع الهدى

هارون – سيدني أستراليا
الإثنين 24 محرم 1436

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في الزمن السابق قد رفعت راية غير راية الإسلام فأستغفر الله و أتوب اليه و أقسم بالله العظيم أن لا أرفع راية غير راية رسول الله صل الله عليه و سلم

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Click here to read about Sheikh Haron

Sheikh Haron’s Statement dated 6 October 2014 to the Muslim Community:

Read the statement

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Letter of Sheikh Haron to Ayatollah Sistani: The conflict in Iraq is not between “two Muslim groups”, it is between “Muslims” and “Munafiqeen”.

ليست الحرب في العراق بين الفريقين من المسلمين بل الحرب هي بين المسلمين و المنافقين

Letter of Sheikh Haron to Prime Minister Tony Abbott 1 November 2013

Anyone Paying Attention to Putin?

The domestic scandals continue to mount while the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and even Yemen seem to be dismissed. Why no attention to Ukraine or the Baltic States? Ah, leaving that to NATO leadership is the solution, but NATO leadership is the United States.

(Reuters) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday it would not follow “American diktat” over the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Treaty between the two countries.

The ministry said in a statement that the United States continues to follow a logic of confrontation in its dealings with Russia and referred to accusations made recently in the U.S. Congress that Russia had violated the missile treaty.

What does need to be understood? Russia is a nuclear weapons state and in violation of treaties. Then Putin has a very aggressive operation underway against the West. America has an outgoing Secretary of Defense and his replacement has not been confirmed. So? Well consider countermeasures…

Pentagon Planning Military Counter to Russia’s Treaty-Prohibited Cruise Missiles

Russian violation of an arms control agreement poses a threat to U.S. and its allies’ security interests, leading the Joint Staff to conduct a military assessment of its threat, a senior defense official said here today.

Brian P. McKeon, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, testified alongside Rose Gottemoeller, undersecretary of state for international security, in a joint hearing before the House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on strategic forces, and the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s subcommittee on terrorism, nonproliferation and trade regarding Russian noncompliance with the Intermediate Nuclear-Range Forces treaty.

In the course of “closely” monitoring compliance of arms control treaties, McKeon said, it was determined that Russia was in violation of the INF treaty. . . .

“As a result of Russia’s actions,” McKeon said, “the Joint Staff has conducted a military assessment of the threat were Russia to deploy an INF treaty-range ground-launch cruise missile in Europe or the Asia-Pacific region.

“This assessment has led us to review a broad range of military response options,” he said, “and to consider the effect each option could have on convincing Russian leadership to return to compliance with the INF treaty, as well as countering the capability of a Russian INF treaty-prohibited system.”

McKeon emphasized that the department doesn’t want to engage in an “escalatory cycle” of action and reaction.”

However, Russia’s lack of meaningful engagement on this issue — if it persists — will ultimately require the United States to take actions to protect its interests and security along with those of its allies and partners,” he added. “Those actions will make Russia less secure.”

Treaty Importance, Steps Taken

“We believe the INF treaty contributes to not only U.S. and Russian security,” McKeon said, “but also to that of our allies and partners. For that reason, Russian possession, development or deployment of a weapons system in violation of the treaty will not be ignored. . . .”

“Such a violation threatens our security and the collective security of many allies and partners,” he added. “This violation will not go unanswered, because there is too much at stake”

Former Commander Urges NATO to Send Arms to Ukraine  

Full text of requirements is here.

A former commander of Nato in Europe has called for the alliance to send arms and military advisers to Ukraine to help it fight Moscow-backed separatists.

James Stavridis said during a visit to London: “I think we should provide significant military assistance to the Ukrainian military. I don’t think we should limit ourselves to, non-lethal aid. I think we should provide ammunition, fuel, logistics. I think cyber-assistance would be very significant and helpful, as well as advice and potentially advisers.

“I don’t think there needs to be huge numbers of Nato troops on the ground. The Ukrainian military can resist what’s happening, but they need some assistance in order to do that.”

Ukraine announced on Friday that it would conscript 40,000 more soldiers next year and double its military budget, in an attempt to counter the separatist threat in the east. . . .

Bob Corker, the senior Republican member of the Senate foreign relations committee, said: “The hesitant US response to Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine threatens to escalate this conflict even further. Unanimous support for our bill demonstrates a firm commitment to Ukrainian sovereignty and to making sure [Vladimir] Putin pays for his assault on freedom and security in Europe.”

 

Egyptian Steals Carrier Secrets

Clear and present dangers…

Under construction in Virginia, USS Ford is the lead ship in the Navy’s new class of carriers. The Ford stands 25 stories high and is three football fields long. Scheduled for delivery to the Navy in 2016, it is believed to be almost impossible to hurt.  However, every system has its weak spot and Awwad thought he had found one.
To sink an aircraft carrier is extremely hard. To sink it with one missile is believed to be impossible. On Oct. 9 FBI’s affidavit says, Awwad gave the undercover drawings of the aircraft carrier that he said were top secret. During the meeting, “Awwad discussed where to strike the vessel with a missile in order to sink it,” the affidavit says.

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The question remains who vets and clears the background checks of those with foreign passports for domestic sensitive jobs within intelligence or the military? Short answer is no one doing it correctly or at all for the sake of political correctness. Where is the FBI? How many more moles or infiltrators do we have in America?

In the recordings, for example, Awwad spoke of the critical parts of an aircraft carrier that could cause the ship to sink if they were struck.

“Even if we are not able to make the carrier, you will be able to see how it can be hit and drowned,” Awwad told the FBI agent, according to DePadilla. “The bomb bay. The bomb storage area. That’s it. Bye-bye.”

Prosecutors: Egyptian took Navy job to steal secrets

By Scott Daugherty
The Virginian-Pilot
©

NORFOLK

A former Egyptian citizen told an undercover FBI agent earlier this year that he took a job with the Navy for the sole purpose of stealing military secrets and providing them to the Egyptian government, according to federal prosecutors.

Mostafa Ahmed Awwad – who worked as a civilian engineer at Norfolk Naval Shipyard until last week – told the undercover agent that it didn’t matter that he had surrendered his Egyptian passport. He said he still viewed himself as an Egyptian citizen and would do whatever he could to help his country: even hand over schematics to the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford and hide homing beacons on U.S. submarines.

“I went to this place just for this reason,” Awwad told the agent, who posed as an Egyptian intelligence officer.

According to prosecutors, Awwad said he turned down a job with Lockheed Martin because the lower-paying Navy job allowed easier access to classified information.

“I don’t know what is wrong with this government. They hire the Chinese. They hire the Russians. They hire us,” Awwad said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph DePadilla argued in federal court Wednesday that Awwad should remain in jail pending trial.

“The evidence shows this man is a patriot for Egypt,” DePadilla told the court.

Magistrate Judge Douglas Miller ordered Awwad held, noting the strength of the government’s case.

Awwad – who received his security clearance four months ago – was arrested Friday on two counts of attempted exportation of defense articles and technical data.

The charges stemmed from a “false flag” operation orchestrated by the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. According to an FBI affidavit that at times reads like a Tom Clancy novel, Awwad handed over 10 computer-aided-design drawings of the Ford.

During one of their conversations, Awwad told the agent where to strike the vessel with a missile to sink it.

“I want to give this technology to my country,” Awwad told the agent, the prosecutor said.

DePadilla told the court that Awwad had given instructions to his mother in Egypt to kidnap his two sons, ages 2 and 11 months, and raise them there if anything happened to him. Awwad described his wife as a “problem” because she did not know about his desire to help Egypt and would not support it.

During the hearing, his wife sat a few feet behind him. Awwad did not look at her before leaving the courtroom, a sharp contrast to his tearful pleas to her on Friday when he asked her to call his mother.

The wife declined to comment before leaving the courthouse with her mother and a friend.

DePadilla said Wednesday that the FBI contacted Awwad after he approached the Egyptian embassy and offered his assistance to their government. He described Awwad as an “accomplished hacker” and said he told the agent during their first encounter that he had been secretly collecting classified information from his work computer for months.

Prosecutors filed a notice Wednesday morning that said federal agents sought help from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court for unspecified electronic surveillance and physical searches in the investigation.

DePadilla said investigators recorded all of Awwad’s conversations with the undercover agent, as well as some conversations with his mother in Egypt.

The FBI affidavit also describes some of Awwad’s background. He was born in 1979 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He married his wife, a U.S. citizen, in 2007 in Cairo. After that, he moved to the United States.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Keith Kimball, Awwad’s defense attorney, said his client became a citizen in June 2012.

Awwad attended Old Dominion University from August 2010 to December 2013, according to the school’s registrar. He graduated last year with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering.

The affidavit said Awwad was hired in February to work as a civilian engineer at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in the nuclear engineering and planning department. His security clearance, received in August, gave him access to classified information up to the level of “secret.”

Awwad had access to information concerning the design, arrangement, development, maintenance and repair of the propulsion plants the Navy uses on nuclear-powered ships and prototypes, the affidavit said.

Kimball argued Wednesday for his client to be released to the custody of his wife, who has lived in Canada and the United States since she was 1. He added that while his client allegedly said a lot of things to the undercover agent, the veracity of many of the comments remains in question. Kimball pointed to Awwad’s false claim of “top secret” clearance.

“There seems to be a lot of exaggeration,” he said.

Know Someone That Went Missing? Check North Korea

The decision by a U.N. General Assembly committee to condemn North Korea for crimes against humanity this week is historic. It could well lead to North Korean leaders facing trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), forcing them to confront the numerous accusations made against their isolated regime.

There is still a long way to go, however. The resolution must pass the Security Council, where Russia and China — two important allies of North Korea — hold veto power. Also, the ICC itself has struggled with problems of legitimacy since it was established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes.

Even so, North Korea seems worried, and after Tuesday’s decision it offered a belligerent warning that it would conduct further nuclear tests. The reaction reflects a broader trend: In the past few months, the country has used crude insults and a curious charm offensive to try to deflect the U.N. criticism of its human rights offenses. At one point, it even released a list of the alleged U.S. human rights abuses, in a clear moment of “Whataboutism.”

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It gets worse:

Inside the Ring: North Korean document alleges Kim role in kidnapping program to create spies

By Bill Gertz

A secret North Korean document obtained by Western intelligence states the late dictator Kim Jong-Il conceived and directed a program to kidnap foreigners and bring them back to his communist country to force them to become spies against their home countries, The Washington Times has learned.

Diplomatic sources familiar with the discovery, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said the recently obtained document for the first time provides details on how and why Kim, who died in 2012, directed a covert spy unit in the 1970s called the Investigation Department that kidnapped foreign nationals and brought them to North Korea.

The Investigative Department, part of the ruling communist Korean Workers Party Central Committee, carried out several dozen selective kidnappings and used the abducted foreigners for training its intelligence operatives, and to be dispatched overseas in foreign spy operations and propaganda activities, including film production, the document indicates.

The document, believed to have been produced within the past several years as part of a historical archive, is regarded by authorities as a classified North Korean government report, the sources said.

It is considered authoritative because of its origin and the importance within the North Korean system of precisely recording the words of supreme leaders, they added.

One source familiar with the document said there are no indications the report is a forgery.

According to translated portions obtained by Inside the Ring, Kim met with the chief of the Investigation Department, which is known by its Korean acronym “Josabu,” on Sept. 29, 1977, and Oct. 7, 1977. During the meeting he spelled out plans to use people from overseas in intelligence work.

Kim, who was succeeded in power by his son Kim Jong Un, told the intelligence chief and a group of party officials that forcibly training foreign nationals in their 20s for five to seven years in North Korea would produce valuable intelligence agents who would be useful until the age of 60, the document stated.

He then ordered spy teams dispatched to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe to secretly lure young men and women into supporting the regime. A special focus was placed on targeting attractive women.

Kim stated that targets of those brought to North Korea should include people who were loners or orphans. The abductions were to be carried out secretly using methods that could not be traced to Pyongyang’s agents, according to the document.

Among those kidnapped by the North Koreans after the 1977 orders was 13-year-old Japanese schoolgirl Megumi Yakota, who disappeared from Japan in 1977. She was taken to North Korea where she spent the rest of her life in captivity, and, according to the North Korean government, eventually died in the communist state.

On Aug. 25, 1977, Kim then ordered the Investigation Department to set up a covert Hong Kong unit devoted to inviting South Korean film actresses and the offspring of high-ranking South Korean officials to visit Hong Kong, the document states.

The objective of the covert group was to befriend selected people as targets and use them to obtain invitations to South Korea, where North Korean agents could produce films under cover.

That appears to be the motive behind the kidnapping in 1978 of South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee and her director husband Shin Sang-ok. The couple was taken to North Korea where it was hoped they would help the regime produce propaganda films. They escaped in 1986 during a visit to Vienna.

In October 1978, according to the document, Kim ordered his intelligence operatives to persuade the abducted foreign nationals to settle in North Korea. The Investigative Department arranged for the abductees to live in special guest houses where it was hoped they would reside comfortably, in contrast to the harsh living conditions faced by most North Koreans.

The kidnappings have long been known, but Kim’s role in the program has been unclear.

On Sept. 17, 2002, after then-Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met Kim in Pyongyang, the North Korean leader admitted that his intelligence services has carried out the abduction of 11 Japanese. The admission and apology was part of a bid to obtain Japanese aid.

But according to North Korea’s official statement at the time, Pyongyang asserted the kidnappings were carried out without Kim’s knowledge or approval.

The recently-obtained document contradicts that statement.

Ambassador Jang Il Hun, deputy chief of North Korea’s mission to the United Nations, denied the late leader was involved in the kidnapping operations.

“The abduction of Japanese nationals in 1970s was an act of individual heroism conducted by some people in the intelligence community who sought fame and reputation by such acts,” Mr. Jang told Inside the Ring.

Mr. Jang said the rogue operatives were motivated by “indignation” over Japan’s refusal to apologize for abuses during Tokyo’s rule over the Korean peninsula in the early 1900s.

“In no way was the government of the DPRK involved in the abduction case, to say nothing of our respected Supreme Leader Chairman Kim Jong Il,” he said in a statement, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “This is the truth.”

Mr. Jang added that “we had so many Koreans who were repatriated from Japan, there was no need for our government to use the Japanese nationals for any government purpose.”

The total number of foreigners abducted during the intelligence operations of the 1970s and 1980s is not known but has been estimated to be several dozen people. They included nationals from China, Malaysia, Lebanon, France and Italy, in addition to those from Japan and South Korea.

In Japan, the government has elevated the issue of resolving past cases of at least 17 missing Japanese to a national priority.

Talks between Japanese and North Korean officials on the issue were held in October, and Japan earlier agreed to lift some sanctions on Pyongyang if the regime fully investigates outstanding cases of the missing nationals.

Bruce Bechtol, a North Korea specialist formerly with the Defense Intelligence Agency, said he doubts the North will investigate the cases of the missing.

“The whole idea of an ‘investigation’ is a sham,” Mr. Bechtol, a professor at Angelo State University, said in an email.

“The North Koreans obviously kidnapped several Japanese nationals,” he said. “Now I believe the debate in the North Korean ruling infrastructure will be whether or not to execute them and send the remains back, or to simply send those who are still alive back. Of course, all of this will depend on how much money the Japanese government offers to the government of the DPRK.”

Disclosures in the document bolsters the findings of a United Nations human rights report based on testimony of defectors and issued in February. The U.N. report found widespread “crimes against humanity” committed by the North Korean regime, including abductions linked to the country’s supreme leader.

North Korea “used its land, naval and intelligence forces to conduct abductions and arrests,” the report said. “Operations were approved at the level of the supreme leader. The vast majority of victims were forcibly disappeared to gain labor and other skills for the state.”

The issue of North Korea’s human rights abuses was discussed in a letter signed by 10 nations’ representatives on the 15-member U.N. Security Council last week. The letter urged the council to include the issue on its agenda. China and Russia in the past have vetoed measures for council meetings that were opposed by North Korea.

The U.N. General Assembly will vote later this month on a resolution that calls for referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court over the rights abuses.

Further evidence of North Korean interest in western films also surfaced recently. Hackers using techniques linked to North Korean cyberattacks on South Korea hacked Sony Pictures networks and stole large amounts of data, Reuters reported last week.

The cyberattack was carried out Nov. 24 and came one month before the release of Sony’s film “The Interview,” a comedy that has two American journalists tasked by the CIA to kill current leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea has said release of the film would be an “act of war.”

 

 

 

 

Covering for Hillary and the Shame of Hillary

State Department delays turning over files on Hillary Clinton requested by media outlets  

The State Department has failed to turn over government documents covering Hillary Rodham Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state that The Associated Press and others requested under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act ahead of her presumptive presidential campaign. They include one request AP made four years ago and others pending for more than one year.

The agency already has missed deadlines it set for itself to turn over the material.

The State Department denied the AP’s requests, and rejected the AP’s subsequent appeals, to release the records sought quickly under a provision in the law reserved for journalists requesting federal records about especially newsworthy topics.

In its requests, the AP cited the likely prospect of Clinton entering the 2016 race. The former first lady is widely considered the leading Democratic contender hoping to succeed President Barack Obama. She has made scores of recent high-profile speeches and public appearances.

On Wednesday, the conservative political advocacy group Citizens United sued the State Department for failing to disclose flight records showing who accompanied Clinton on overseas trips.

Citizens United, which in 2009 mounted a legal battle that led to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning campaign finance limits, said the department unlawfully was withholding the records it sought nearly five months ago.

The State Department is among the U.S. government’s worst-performing federal agencies under the Freedom of Information Act. There is no direct evidence that political considerations in a Democratic presidential administration have delayed the release of files about the party’s leading contender for 2016. But the agency’s delays, unusual even by government standards, have stoked perceptions about what could be taking so long.

“There may not necessarily be political interference, but if the department went out of its way to speed these documents there would be no way for people to accuse them of it,” said Thomas Blanton, who has previously sued the State Department for access to records as director of George Washington University’s National Security Archive, a research organization.

The department “is stonewalling us,” said Citizen United’s president, David Bossie. He asserted that “these decisions are being made with Hillary Clinton’s intentions at heart,” but acknowledged he could provide no evidence of political interference.

Bossie, a former Republican congressional investigator who researched figures in the Clinton administration, said his group’s film unit wants the records for a sequel to its documentary about Clinton, which spurred the Citizens United court decision.

The group first asked Air Force officials for passenger lists from Clinton’s overseas trips but was told all flight records were under the State Department’s control. “These were Air Force flights and crews but State has the records?” he said, adding that his group has submitted 15 Clinton-related requests in the past six months.

The AP’s requests go further back.

The AP requested copies of Clinton’s full schedules and calendars from her four years as secretary of state; her department’s decision to grant a special position for longtime aide Huma Abedin; Clinton’s and the agency’s roles in the Osama bin Laden raid and National Security Agency surveillance practices; and her role overseeing a major Defense Department contractor. The AP made most of its requests last summer, although one was filed in March 2010.

State Department spokesman Alec Gerlach cited the department’s heavy annual load of FOIA requests _ 19,000 last year _ in saying that the department “does its best to meet its FOIA responsibilities.” He said the department takes requests “first in, first out,” but noted that timing depends on “the complexity of the request.” He declined to comment on Citizen United’s suit.

In a previous communication, a State Department official apologized for its own delays responding to AP’s records requests without offering any explanation for the delays.

“We sincerely regret the delay,” said Lela H. Ross of the Office of Information Programs and Services, which administers the agency’s requests. The official did not explain the delays but cited the agency’s “complex and lengthy administrative FOIA process.”

Last May, the State Department told the AP that its search for records pertaining to Clinton and the defense contractor would be completed by August. The agency said it now expects the files to be available later this month. Similarly, the agency said the Clinton and Abedin records would likely be completed in September. Now it says it will not finish until next April. The 4-year-old FOIA request still has no estimated completion date.

The agency’s pace responding to requests for Clinton-related files has frustrated news organizations, archivists and political groups trying to research her role at the State Department in the months before Clinton decides whether to formally enter the 2016 race.

At stake is the public’s access to thousands of documents that could help understand and define her activities as the nation’s chief diplomat under Obama.

Other major document repositories have released thousands of pages of files about Clinton’s private and public life.

Since February, lots of previously restricted records from her years as first lady to President Bill Clinton have been made public by the Clinton Presidential Library. Last month, the University of Virginia’s Miller Center presidential oral history collection unveiled dozens of interviews with key players from the Clinton White House.

The State Department generally takes about 450 days to turn over records it considers to be part of complex requests under the Freedom of Information Act. That is seven times longer than the Justice Department and CIA, and 30 times longer than the Treasury Department.

An inspector general’s report in 2012 criticized the State Department’s practices as “inefficient and ineffective,” citing a heavy workload, small staff and interagency problems. A study in March by the nonpartisan Center for Effective Government said the State Department was the worst-performing agency because of its delays and frequent failure to deliver the full number of files that people requested.

***

Meanwhile another Benghazi hearing occurred today 12/10/14.

Of particular note, the February 17 Brigade hired for supplemental security at the mission post were not only fully vetted, some members were on strike over pay disputes and even worse, the organization did not have a license to operate in Libya.

When asked by Congressman Jim Jordan why we were in Libya in the first place, he was told that the single point of contact for that question and decision to be in Libya was between Hillary Clinton and Ann Patterson. Not only was Patterson a major part of the failure during the Arab Spring in Egypt, but she was Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.

The witnesses included Greg Starr, Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, left, and Steve Linick, State Department Inspector General and the questioning was narrowed to pre-attack security violations. The Inspector General delivered oral and written testimony stating that the Accountability Review Board recommendations have yet to be fully implemented after two years and waiver are often signed for non-compliance.

Recent Significant OIG Findings Concerning Security Issues
In addition to the ARB process review, OIG has issued a variety of reports covering significant security matters. I take this opportunity to highlight four areas of concern: (1) physical security deficiencies; (2) exceptions and waivers; (3) “stovepiping” of security issues within the Department; and (4) vetting of local guard forces protecting overseas facilities and personnel. P hysical S ecurity D eficiencies
Making Department personnel and facilities safe depends in large part on understanding and closing the gaps between established physical security requirements and the real world situations found at each post around the world. Recent OIG reports demonstrate that the Department is at increased risk because it lacks sufficient processes, planning, and procedures to ensure that the Department understands the security needs at posts around the world. For example, in March 2014, OIG reported, in its audit on requesting and prioritizing physical-security activities, that the Department lacked a comprehensive list of physical security deficiencies and funding requests at overseas posts.8 As a result, the Department could not ensure that the highest priority physical security needs at overseas posts were addressed and that the posts’ vulnerabilities to threats had therefore been reduced sufficiently.9 If the Department cannot identify security vulnerabilities, it cannot adequately implement or fund solutions.  In 2012, OIG conducted a series of audits and reviews of posts located in Europe, Latin America, and Africa, which identified physical security deficiencies at nine embassies and one consulate that required immediate attention.10 OIG auditors found that the posts were generally not in compliance with the Department’s physical and procedural security standards. Security deficiencies common among the posts included the failure to meet minimum compound perimeter requirements; to properly conduct inspections of vehicles before entering posts; to maintain functioning anti-ram barriers, as required; and to install and/or maintain functioning forced-entry/ballistic-resistant doors, as required. Some regional security officers (RSOs) at the audited posts stated that they were not aware of the security requirements, and one RSO explained that the deficiency in question was in place prior to the RSO’s arrival at post; however, no action had been initiated to remedy the security deficiency.  Exceptions and Waivers
Exceptions and waivers granted from compliance requirements of the Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act11 (SECCA) or the security standards established by the Overseas Security Policy Board (OSPB) also contribute to increased security risks at posts.
8 Audit of the Process To Request and Prioritize Physical Security – Related Activities at Overseas Posts (AUD-FM-14-17, March 2014). 9 Ibid. 10 AUD-SI-13-32, June 2013, and AUD-HCI-13-40, September 2013. 11 Sec. 606(a) of H.R. 3427 of the 106th Congress (113 Stat. 1501A-454-255) (22 U.S.C. § 4865), incorporated by reference pursuant to sec. 1000(a)(7) of Pub. L. 106-113 as Appendix G (1999).
4
OIG has found conditions of non-compliance with security standards for which posts had not sought exceptions or waivers.12 A common example is the use of warehouse space for offices. Under the Department’s security rules, office space must meet more stringent physical security standards than warehouse space; Department employees who work in warehouse spaces, which do not meet required physical security standards for offices, are at risk.  OIG also found that a number of overseas posts had not maintained accurate exception and waiver records.13 In some cases, OIG inspectors found that RSOs were unable to locate an exception or waiver approval or denial that was on file with DS. When a new RSO, chief of mission, or deputy chief of mission arrives at post, accurate, up-to-date records can help ensure that the RSO and senior management have current knowledge of outstanding exception and waiver requests. Only in this manner can the RSO ensure that mitigating steps are understood and completed and that restrictions, such as building use, are enforced. To address these issues, OIG recommended that DS require overseas posts to: (1) submit an annual written certification that exceptions and waivers have been requested for all circumstances where standards cannot be met and (2) provide a statement of assurance signed by the chief of mission certifying that post is adhering to all stipulations in existing waivers and exceptions. To date, this recommendation remains unresolved.

But the U.S. State Department was much worse under Hillary Clinton than is reported.

CBS News’ John Miller reports that according to an internal State Department Inspector General’s memo, several recent investigations were influenced, manipulated, or simply called off. The memo obtained by CBS News cited eight specific examples. Among them: allegations that a State Department security official in Beirut “engaged in sexual assaults” on foreign nationals hired as embassy guards and the charge and that members of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s security detail “engaged prostitutes while on official trips in foreign countries” — a problem the report says was “endemic.”

The memo also reveals details about an “underground drug ring” was operating near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and supplied State Department security contractors with drugs.