WikiLeaks publishes CIA director John Brennan’s emails

Personal correspondence acquired during a hack posted online

By Ken Dilanian and Stephen Braun 22 October 2015, 5:52 am 1

https://www.timesofisrael.com/wikileaks-publishes-cia-director-john-brennans-emails/

WASHINGTON (AP) — The WikiLeaks organization posted material Wednesday from what appears to be CIA Director John Brennan’s personal email account, including a draft security clearance application containing personal information.

The material presumably was taken in a compromise of Brennan’s email account by a hacker who told The New York Post he is a high school student protesting American foreign policy. The hacker claimed he posed as a Verizon employee and tricked another employee into revealing Brennan’s personal information.

Brennan was seeking a security clearance while applying for a job as White House counterterrorism adviser. It was not immediately clear whether any national security information was compromised in the release of the clearance application, which includes his wife’s Social Security number and the names of people Brennan worked with over a long prior career at the CIA.

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A CIA statement called the postings a “crime.”

“The Brennan family is the victim,” the agency said in an unattributed statement, in keeping with agency policy. “This attack is something that could happen to anyone and should be condemned, not promoted. There is no indication that any the documents released thus far are classified. In fact, they appear to be documents that a private citizen with national security interests and expertise would be expected to possess.”

The documents all date from before 2009, when Brennan joined the White House staff; before that, he was working in the private sector. Aside from the partially completed clearance application, none of the documents appears to be sensitive.

In a section of his security clearance application covering foreign contacts, Brennan writes that in August 2007: “I have had lunch twice and dinner once with Alan Lovell, a UK colleague with whom I worked closely during the last three years of my government career. Alan is currently posted at the UK Embassy in Washington.”

Brennan’s “government career” to that point consisted of decades at the CIA. It’s not clear what Lovell’s role was at the British Embassy. The State Department in 2009 listed Lovell as a “counselor” in the British Embassy. His LinkedIn profile currently lists him as working at the British Ministry of Defense.

The documents include a partially written position paper on the future of intelligence, a memo on Iran, a paper from a Republican lawmaker on CIA interrogations and a summary of a contract dispute between the CIA and Brennan’s private company, the Analysis Corporation, which had filed a formal protest after losing a contract dealing with terrorist watch lists.

In a post-election memo, purportedly written to Obama, Brennan laid out a pragmatic roadmap on dealings with Iran. His suggestions are similar to the carrot-and-stick approach the administration would eventually use in nudging Tehran toward joining negotiations over slowing the momentum of its growing nuclear reactor program.

“The United States has no choice but to find ways to coexist — and to come to terms — with whatever government holds power in Tehran,” Brennan said in the three-page memo. He added that Iran would have to “come to terms” with the US and that “Tehran’s ability to advance its political and economic interests rests on a non-hostile relationship with the United States and the West.”

In the memo, Brennan advised Obama to “tone down” rhetoric with Iran, and swiped at former President George W. Bush for his “gratuitous” labeling of Iran as part of a worldwide “axis of evil.” Brennan also said the US should establish a direct dialogue with Tehran and “seek realistic, measurable steps.” Although he didn’t specifically call for the regime of financial sanctions that the Obama administration, along with Europe, Russia and China, pushed against Iran, Brennan told the president-elect to “hold out meaningful carrots as well as sticks.

Should CIA Director John Brennan Resign?

A new report says, yes, the CIA did spy on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

By Rachel Brody, Associate Editor for Opinion July 31, 2014, at 5:40 p.m.

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/07/31/should-cia-director-john-brennan-resign-after-the-senate-spying-scandal

Despite CIA Director John Brennan’s repeated denials of wrongdoing, an internal report released Thursday confirmed the agency had hacked Senate Intelligence Committee computers used to produce a reportedly damning review of the CIA’s former detention and interrogation program.

Brennan apologized in person to committee Chairwoman Diane Feinstein, D-Calif, and Vice Chairman Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and said he plans to submit the review to an accountability board for advice on how best to proceed. “This board will review the OIG report, conduct interviews as needed, and provide the director with recommendations that, depending on its findings, could include potential disciplinary measures and/or steps to address systemic issues,” CIA spokesman Dean Boyd told McClatchy.

For some, that doesn’t cut it. After a briefing on the CIA's report, Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., says he has "no choice" but to call for Brennan's resignation. "The CIA unconstitutionally spied on Congress by hacking into Senate Intelligence Committee computers," said Udall. "This grave misconduct not only is illegal, but it violates the U.S. Constitution’s requirement of separation of powers." Udall said the offenses by Brennan and others at the CIA amounted to "a tremendous failure of leadership" that merits "consequences."

Committee member Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., stopped short of calling for Brennan's resignation, but demanded further action, including “a full accounting of how this occurred and a commitment there will be no further attempts to undermine Congressional oversight of CIA activities."

[MORE: Cartoons on the NSA]

Feinstein, who brought the allegations against the CIA, seemed somewhat satisfied with Brennan’s apology and his decision to submit the report for further inspection, calling them “positive first steps.” But in a statement, the senator said the investigation confirmed her statements in March, and she believes the CIA's actions are "in violation of the constitutional separation of powers.”

The American Civil Liberties Union is asking the Justice Department to open a full criminal investigation into the matter. "An apology is not enough," said ACLU senior legislative counsel Christopher Anders. "It is hard to imagine a greater threat to the Constitution's system of checks and balances than having the CIA spy on the computers used by the very Senate staff carrying out the Senate's constitutional duty of oversight over the executive branch."

The Justice Department was already asked to review whether the CIA or Senate had engaged in criminal activity but declined to do so three weeks ago. “The department carefully reviewed the matters referred to us and did not find sufficient evidence to warrant a criminal investigation,” said spokesman Peter Carr.

[MORE: Cartoons about Congress]

The White House has stood behind Brennan throughout the dispute and said today that they have “great confidence” in the CIA director. Press secretary Josh Earnest added that Brennan had “been candid about the inconsistencies the [inspector general’s] report found,” indicating the Obama administration’s support isn’t waning anytime soon.

So far, the Senate panel hasn’t broached the topic of resignation. But when asked in March whether he’d consider resigning over the spying allegations, Brennan responded, “If I did something wrong, I will go to the president, and I will explain to him exactly what I did, and what the findings were. And he is the one who can ask me to stay or to go.”

>>5627957

CIA spokesman Dean Boyd acknowledged that agency staff had improperly monitored the computers of committee staff members, who were using a network the agency had set up, called RDINet. “Some CIA employees acted in a manner inconsistent with the common understanding reached between [the committee] and the CIA in 2009 regarding access to the RDINet,” he said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/31/cia-admits-spying-senate-staffers

>>5628136

https://www.lawfareblog.com/cia-inspector-generals-findings

On the CIA Inspector General's Findings

By Benjamin Wittes

Friday, August 1, 2014, 7:12 AM

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I have largely refrained, until now, from wading into the dispute between the Senate Intelligence Committee and the CIA over the mutual hacking allegations, on the theory that the facts were all contested and I couldn't make heads or tails of what had really happened. That changed yesterday with the release of a summary of the CIA inspector general's findings in the matter. There's no getting around it: it's a very upsetting read. The document is brief—one page—and reads in its entirety as follows:

31 July 2014

SUMMARY OF REPORT

Prepared at the request of the Congressional Intelligence Committees

On 30 January 2014, the CIA Office of Inspector General (OIG) opened an investigation into allegations that Agency personnel improperly accessed Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) staff files and records on the CIA-operated and maintained Rendition, Detention, and Interrogation network (RDINet). Potential violations included Title 18 U.S.C.§ 2511 (Wiretap Act) and 18 U.S.C.§ 1030 (Computer Fraud and AbuseAct). On 30 January 2014, the matter was referred to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and, after review, on 8 July 2014, Justice declined to open a criminal investigation.

RDINet was installed at an Agency facility in June 2009, to support a SSCI review of the Agency’s rendition, detention, and interrogation activities. RDINet was created to allow Agency staff to review documents for production to the SSCI, and to provide appropriate documents to the SSCI staff. Separate electronic shared drives were created on RDINet for use by several entities, including the SSCI Majority and Minority staffs and Agency personnel supporting the review and redaction of documents provided to the SSCI review teams. Following review of relevant documents by the RDI team, responsive documents were then made available to SSCI staff members on their respective shared drives. On 18 July 2014, the OIG completed its administrative investigation and issued a classified report to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA). The OIG investigation determined essentially as follows:

Agency Access to Files on the SSCI RDINet

Five Agency employees, two attorneys and three information technology (IT) staff members, improperly accessed or caused access to the SSCI Majority staff shared drives on the RDINet.

Agency Crimes Report on Alleged Misconduct by SSCI Staff

The Agency filed a crimes report with the DOJ, as required by Executive Order 12333 and the 1995 Crimes Reporting Memorandum between the DOJ and the Intelligence Community, reporting that SSCI staff members may have improperly accessed Agency information on the RDINet. However, the factual basis for the referral was not supported, as the author of the referral had been provided inaccurate information on which the letter was based. After review, the DOJ declined to open a criminal investigation of the matter alleged in the crimes report.

Office of Security Review of SSCI Staff Activity

Subsequent to directive by the D/CIA to halt the Agency review of SSCI staff access to the RDINet, and unaware of the D/CIA’s direction, the Office of Security conducted a limited investigation of SSCI activities on the RDINet. That effort included a keyword search of all and a review of some of the emails of SSCI Majority staff members on theRDINet system.

Lack of Candor

The three IT staff members demonstrated a lack of candor about their activities during interviews by the OIG. The OIG investigation was limited in scope to review the conduct of Agency officials, and did not examine the conduct of SSCI staff members.

>>5628195

>Agency Access to Files on the SSCI RDINet

>

> Five Agency employees, two attorneys and three information technology (IT) staff members, improperly accessed or caused access to the SSCI Majority staff shared drives on the RDINet.

Could this have been the Awans??

1. Imran, Abid, and Jamal Awan, three brothers, and two of their wives, Hina Alvi and Natalia Sova, collected over $4 million on the House payroll from July 2009 until last month. House payroll records for employees are publicly available. This is not fake news and it can’t be faked. (Source) https://ivn.us/2017/08/07/20-facts-need-know-about-dc-blackmail-scandal/

Notice July 2009