CIA’s Pompeo rips WikiLeaks as ‘hostile intelligence service’ abetted by Russia
CIA Director Mike Pompeo, in his first speech since taking over the agency, lambasted WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange — calling the group a “non-state hostile intelligence service” that is often abetted by “state actors like Russia.”
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Speaking Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Pompeo called Assange a “fraud,” someone with no “moral compass” and a “narcissist who has created nothing of value.”
He asserted that Assange and former National Security Agency staffer and famed leaker Edward Snowden “seek to use that information to make a name for themselves” and they “care nothing about the lives they put at risk or the damage they cause to national security.”
Asked why he would focus on WikiLeaks rather than other issues, Pompeo said he felt it was vital to inform the American people about the threat they pose.
In the case of Snowden, Pompeo said the detrimental impact of his leaks was expansive and that more than 1,000 foreign targets attempted to change their means of communication as a result of the Snowden disclosures.
“The bottom line is that it became harder for us in the intelligence community to keep Americans safe. It became harder to monitor the communications of terrorist organizations that are bent on bringing bloodshed to our shores. Snowden’s disclosures helped these groups find ways to hide themselves in the crowded digital forest,” he said.
Last week, WikiLeaks released the latest chapter in its ongoing “Vault 7” series of cyber and hacking tools that it claims were stolen from the CIA.
According to its release, the new leaked information contains 27 documents from the CIA’s Grasshopper Framework, which is allegedly the software tools used by the CIA to infiltrate Microsoft’s Windows platform. More here.
Baaghi
Enter the trolls:
The Hill reports:
WikiLeaks hit back at CIA Director Mike Pompeo on Thursday after he criticized the website.
Pompeo called WikiLeaks a “non-state hostile intelligence service” that had done “great harm to our nation’s national security.”
The site hit back by posting one of Pompeo’s now-deleted tweets from 2016 citing the group’s work publishing leaked documents from the Democratic National Committee.
“Need further proof that the fix was in from Pres. Obama on down? BUSTED: 19,252 Emails from DNC Leaked by Wikileaks,” Pompeo had tweeted.
WikiLeaks shared an image of that tweet, adding:”Tweet sent by CIA Director Mike Pompeo on 24 July 2016.” More here.
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Okay, it is popular now to dislike James Comey, the Director of the FBI. Okay, but the rank and file agents at the FBI are the ones doing the hard work on investigations.
Associated Press reports:
WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director James Comey said Americans should be aware of foreign efforts to undermine confidence in U.S. elections and mindful of the possibility that what they’re reading might be part of an organized disinformation campaign.
U.S. adversaries, including Russia last year, have “used all kinds of vectors to try and influence and undermine our own faith in our democratic processes” and have relied on increasingly sophisticated tactics, the FBI director warned.
Speaking at a Newseum event Wednesday night, he said the FBI would be transparent in publicly calling out efforts to meddle in American politics and that the public also should take steps to guard against foreign influence.
“The most important thing to be done is people need to be aware of the possibility that what they’re reading has been shaped by troll farms looking to push a message on Twitter to undermine our confidence” about the electoral process, Comey said. More here.
*** Just in case you are still not a believer, this site published a summary of a two panel hearing before the Senate regarding ‘Active Measures’ and constant KGB tactic(s) used during the Cold War and especially now with the use of the internet and social media.
When is it Enough for Putin and Russia? This describes the Russian ‘botnet’ operation with testimony from 6 experts not employed by any Federal government agency. And in case you missed it, also from this site is FBI Global Hackers Sweeping Sting Arrests where most of those arrested were…yup Russian.
A believer yet? Maybe there just was and is a reason for several government investigations into the American infrastructure……right?
