Tucker Friday 7:15 am, 72,200,000
https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1651376097349578753?s=20
28 Apr, 2023 06:23
Pentagon probes how leaker passed security clearance
The recent disclosure of highly classified material blindsided the US intelligence community
US military officials are scrambling to determine how a National Guard airman who leaked a large trove of top secret documents online last month had security clearance, a Pentagon spokesman has confirmed.
During a Thursday press briefing, Pat Ryder was asked whether the military would seek to shore up its vetting for those granted clearance to access top secret information.
“Broadly speaking, the department is looking at our security process to include the process by which we vet and provide security clearances. So that is part of the ongoing review,” he said.
The inquiry comes after hundreds of pages of classified documents were posted online by Massachusetts National Guard soldier Jack Teixeira, whoaccessed the files after obtaining a high-level security clearance in 2021. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said senior officials did not become aware of the breach until weeks after the fact, noting that he was not briefed on the issue until April 6, after media outlets began reporting on the contents of the documents.
Teixeira was arrested for the leaks earlier this month and charged for unauthorized disclosure of classified material.
Ryder said the military conducts a “continuous vetting process” for personnel with security clearances, including “automated record checks” which pull data from a number of sources related to an individual’s criminal and financial history, among other things.
He could not say how Teixeira was able to receive a clearancedespite a history of personal issues, stating “this is something that the investigation will tell us… I’m just not able to comment on his particular case.”
“It’s important not necessarily to take the actions of one individual andsomehow paint a picture that indicates a systemic breakdown,”he added. “Again, this is under investigation and the investigation will tell us a lot more about this particular individual and what he did and did not do.” (That’s exactly what is happening a systemic breakdown!)
According to court filings released this week, Teixeira wasdenied a gun permitby his local police department due to a prior incident in which he made threatening comments. He had also reportedly discussedfantasies about mass shootingson the same internet forums where he allegedly leaked the classified documents. (Here you go, another crazy right winger, because all mass shooters are right wing, even leftists trans shooters.)
A 2020 report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence found thatup to 1.3 million peopleheld top secret clearances, including government officials and private sector employees. Since last month’s leaks, some lawmakers have called for the US classification system to be overhauled, urging to scale back the number of people authorized to access sensitive material.
The National Guard airman accused of one of the most significant intelligence breaches in years appeared in court on Thursday to request he be released from custody while he awaits trial; however, the judge in the case has yet to make a decision.
https://www.rt.com/news/575461-pentagon-leaker-security-clearance/
(The trans shooter’s manifesto will be manipulated to indicate a right-winger)
28 Apr, 2023 02:21
China cyber-hacker threat ‘unparalleled’ – FBI
Beijing’s digital army is bigger than all other countries combined, a senior official has insisted
FBI Director Christopher Wray has claimed that Chinese hackers outnumber US cybersecurity agents by at least “50 to 1." He alleged that the People’s Republic operates a larger cyber program than all other world powers combined.
Addressing lawmakers during a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday, Wray outlined the bureau’s recent cybersecurity efforts and its funding needs, stating the hackers are capable of inflicting “greater damage than ever before,” while placing special emphasis on the “China threat.”
“The scale of the Chinese cyber threat is unparalleled. They’ve got a bigger hacking program than every other major nation combined, and have stolen more of our personal and corporate data than all other nations, big or small, combined,” he said, adding that Washington is struggling to keep up with Beijing in the cyber realm.
To give you a sense of what we’re up against, if each one of the FBI’s cyber agents and intel analysts focused exclusively on the China threat, on nothing but China, Chinese hackers would still outnumber FBI cyber personnel by at least 50 to 1.
The bureau head went on to warn of cyber attacks conducted by other foreign states, including Russia, Iran, and North Korea, but said China poses the greatest danger to US privacy and security, pointing to its alleged “multi-pronged strategy” to surpass the US as “the global superpower.”
In addition to “nation-state actors,” Wray also noted the FBI’s concerns about private cyber criminals, saying the agency is now investigating “over 100 different ransomware variants,” referring to a common form of malware which seeks to hold user data hostage in exchange for payment.
TheFBI has requested fundingto create around 200 additional cyber positions at the bureau to address the purported threat from China, seeking just over$63 million, in addition to the $10.8 billion budget already proposed for the 2023 fiscal year.
“There’s no country that presents a more significant threat to our innovation, our ideas, our economic security, our national security than the Chinese government,” Wray continued. “And that’s why we’ve grown the number of investigations into threats from China about 1,300%.”
Chinese officials have denied US allegations of hacking and data theft, and instead leveled similar charges at Washington. Earlier this month, the Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed the US is now the “biggest threat to global cybersecurity” and seeks to “maintain its hegemony in cyberspace,” urging the US to cease its “global hacking operations.”
(Wray makes up numbers for more money, Congress will need proof, FBI has an enormous budget to use on Christians)
https://www.rt.com/news/575458-china-outnumber-fbi-hackers/
27 Apr, 2023 19:55
US opening new immirgant 'processing' centres in Latin America
The facilities in Colombia and Guatemala are meant to cut back on asylum claims
The US is setting up two new “processing centers” in Colombia and Guatemala as part of its efforts to manage the record-high number of immigrants entering the country, officials announced on Thursday.
The centers, operated by NGOs, will screen new arrivals for asylum eligibility before they reach the US border. Migrants can be granted passage into the US for family reunification, orunder labor or parole programs. Those not accepted could be redirected to third countries, including Canada and Spain, a senior administration official told reporters.
“We expect to be able to pretty dramatically increase the number of refugees we admit from the Western Hemispherehere through the regional processing centers,” a US official said. TheUS is already working with other Latin American countries to open more processing centersand is said to be streamlining the admission of migrants’ families.
The policy shift coincides with the repeal of Title 42, a Covid-19-era emergency order left over from the administration of former President Donald Trump that allowed some migrants to be turned away at the border. When that measure expires on May 11, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) expects between 10,000 and 13,000 migrants to attempt the border crossing every day. Such a number would swamp not only the CBP but the Department of Homeland Security and every agency and NGO tasked with processing and sheltering the new arrivals.
The processing centers are an attempt to avoid such a scenario, officials claimed, and should not be mistaken for an embrace of illegal immigration. Migrants approaching the southern border without having sought asylum in a country they passed through on the way or not having signed up for one of the difficult-to-get appointments in the CBP’s smartphone app will be quickly removed, the administration has promised.
“Migrants who cross the US border without authorization and who fail to qualify for protection should expect to be swiftly returned with at least a five-year bar to returning,” the State Department said in a statement. The new plan is intended to help migrants “safely enter the United States lawfully rather than paying for dubious help from migrant smugglers and criminal organizations,” an official added.
Illegal border crossings surged to a record 2.76 million last year, and last month saw nearly 25% more migrants caught attempting the crossing than usual.
https://www.rt.com/news/575450-migrant-processing-centers-border-asylum/
27 Apr, 2023 22:05
US Fed chair predicts recession in call with fake 'Zelensky'
Jerome Powell, the head of the US central bank, was pranked by the notorious Russians, Vovan and Lexus
US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell predicted a recession and acknowledged the central bank’s role in creating it in a candid conversation with celebrated Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus, whom he believed to be Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. The tricksters – whose real names are Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov – shared several clips from their January chat with Powell on Thursday.
“A recession is almost as likely as very slow growth” in 2023, Powell predicted, acknowledging, “I think that’s partly because of us having raised rates quite a bit, but this is what it takes to get inflation down.”
“What we need is a period of slower growth so that the economy can cool off, so the labor market can cool off, so that wages can cool off. That’s how inflation comes down,” the central banker continued. “It can be painful, but we don't know of any painless way for inflation to come down.”
Powell revealed thattwo more rate hikes were already baked into the market, and that even more could follow, even while admitting the Fed had raised its rates “historically sharply last year to get to the place where we are now.”
Amid last year’s punishing rate hikes, however, Powell had seemed unconcerned with skeptics’ recession predictions, insisting the markets were “well-positioned to withstand tighter monetary policy.”
Aside from inflation, the main issues imperiling the US economy were the conflict in Ukraine, instability in China, and the debt ceiling, Powell told the pranksters.
He repeatedly apologized to the fake Zelensky for being unable to do more to support the Ukrainian war effort, explaining thathe had “limited ways” to shift economic policy in Kiev’s favorand that this was the Treasury’s job.
As faux-Zelensky wrapped up the call with a request for aprinting press, Powell joked that the Fed had one (but kept it in the basement)and the pair shared a chuckle over the possibility of building a Federal Reserve bank in Kiev.
A Fed spokesperson reassured the public that “no sensitive or confidential information was discussed” with the hoaxers. “The matter has been referred to appropriate law enforcement, and out of respect for their efforts, we won’t be commenting further,” they told Axios, without elaborating on what law the fake Zelensky – or the real Powell – were supposed to have broken.
Vovan and Lexus have pranked dozens of Western politicians and celebrities in recent years, impersonating a broad range of public figures from Russian President Vladimir Putin to environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
(Mnuchin pressured & referred Powell to Trump Navarro said)
https://www.rt.com/news/575453-powell-fed-zelensky-vovan-lexus/
We have the most incompetent and useless idiots in this government.