Bernie Kerik: FBI Agents ‘Scared to Death’ of Speaking Against Mueller Probe — Even Privately

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik told Breitbart News that FBI agents are “scared to death” to criticize political corruption and abuses of power at the bureau and broader Department of Justice (DOJ). Kirk offered his analysis on Wednesday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight in an interview with hosts Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak.

Kerik reflected on partisan and political corruption at the FBI and DOJ: “Not one of these people has been brought up on criminal charges, or even ethical charges. McCabe was terminated. Comey was fired. Page is gone. But at the end of the day, there are Americans all over this country that would be sitting in prison right now if they made the same decisions, if they violated the law the way these people did.” Kerik continued, “I’ve been targeted by this government. I’ve seen what they can do and why they do it, and when I see this it sickens me, because it impugns the integrity of the FBI and the Justice Department. It impugns the integrity and honesty of the line agents that are in the field who every day put their lives on the line, and it also sends a message to the American people: There is a two-tier system of criminal justice in this country; one for the normal people and one for them, and that they can do anything they want. They’re basically above the law. Because they violated the law, they violated ethics rules, and they violated DOJ and FBI department policy, and nothing happened to them. I think it’s disgusting.” Kerik went on, “Until the attorney general takes some real action, one in holding them accountable and then going back to look at Hillary Clinton and that entire debacle of the breach of security with the emails, the destruction of evidence, obstruction, [and] conspiracy. Until the attorney general goes back to investigate and prosecute those crimes, there isn’t an American in this country that will ever believe the FBI or the Justice Department again.”

https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2019/03/14/bernie-kerik-fbi-agents-scared-to-death-of-speaking-against-mueller-probe-even-privately/

Democrats dominate artificial intelligence commission

A new federal commission on artificial intelligence is being led by Democrats. The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (AI), a federally appointed commission, held its first meeting Monday chaired by former Google executive and billionaire Eric Schmidt, a major donor and informal adviser to former President Barack Obama. The commission’s vice chairman is Robert Work, who was deputy defense secretary in the Obama administration.

Additionally, the AI commission has hired as a staff member Ylli Bajraktari, a former National Security Council staff member under Mr. Obama. Mr. Bajraktari also was a former aide to Obama Defense Secretary Ash Carter. He and his brother, Ylber Bajraktari, raised concerns about political reliability from some conservatives who questioned why they were kept on in senior positions at the NSC by President Trump’s second national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster. A Pentagon spokeswoman had no immediate comment.

Mr. Trump’s new defense budget is seeking $927 million for the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center and an advanced image recognition capability. The Pentagon said in a statement that the commission was set up under last year’s defense authorization act.

Its mission is to review and advise the federal government on artificial intelligence, machine learning and other associated technologies and issues related to national security, defense, public-private partnerships and investments. “I’m honored to lead this talented group of commissioners as we take on this important effort,” said Mr. Schmidt. “We have a tremendous opportunity to help our government understand the state of artificial intelligence and offer ideas on how to harness this transformative technology to benefit both our economic and national security interests.” The 15 members of the commission were briefed during the Monday meeting on AI efforts by the Pentagon, the Commerce Department, the intelligence community and members of Congress. The statement said commissioners were appointed by the secretaries of defense and commerce and Republicans and Democrats in Congress. Mr. Schmidt is listed as a technical adviser to Alphabet, Google’s parent company.

Google came under fire from Vice President Mike Pence in October for the company’s work with China in developing a censored search engine for the Chinese government that would allow blocking search terms such as “Tiananmen” — the Beijing square where hundreds of pro-democracy protesters were massacred by Chinese troops in 1989. Google executives later said the search engine, called Dragonfly, is a research project and would not be sold to the Chinese. However, insiders from Google recently reported that work on the Chinese censorship software was continuing.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/mar/13/democrats-dominate-artificial-intelligence-commiss/

The Intercept Bars Co-Founder From Meeting After Snowden Archive Shutdown

The meeting featured written questions to permit frank talk without reprisal, a remarkable development for a company built on aggressive journalism and defense of free speech.

Laura Poitras, one of the founding editors of The Intercept, was barred from attending a company meeting on Thursday following a decision by First Look Media to discontinue managing The Intercept’s archive of leaked documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Poitras was the initial recipient of Snowden’s trove of secret NSA documents and a driving journalistic force behind the bombshell stories they yielded beginning in 2013. Since 2014, Poitras and Intercept co-founder Glenn Greenwald have entrusted The Intercept, which is owned by First Look Media, to maintain the voluminous archive. The trove of information includes millions of files that have been the basis for major stories worldwide concerning the growth and reach of 21st-century mass digital surveillance. Multiple sources told The Daily Beast on Thursday that Poitras was invited by staff to a meeting following the company’s announcement that it was cutting four percent of staff and ending its maintenance of the archive. But according to two sources, David Bralow, the company’s general counsel, blocked Poitras, who co-founded the site but now works for a different arm of First Look Media, from attending.

Part of the agenda for the meeting was to permit staff to query management about the staff cuts. The mood was said to be tense, featuring written questions to permit a frank discussion. A First Look spokesperson did not respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment. In a series of notes shared among staff on Wednesday evening and obtained by The Daily Beast, Poitras criticized First Look Media CEO Michael Bloom for the decision to lay off research staff and discontinue management of the archive, and called on the board of directors to reconsider the decision. “This decision and the way it was handled would be a disservice to our source, the risks we’ve all taken, and most importantly, to the public for whom Edward Snowden blew the whistle,” she wrote in an email shared with staff.

Bloom responded in a company-wide memo on Wednesday evening, saying that while company leadership had decided to “focus on other editorial priorities” after combing through the archives for five years. “The Intercept is proud of its reporting on the Snowden archive, and we are thankful to Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald for making it available to us,” Bloom wrote.He added: “It is our hope that Glenn and Laura are able to find a new partner—such as an academic institution or research facility—that will continue to report on and publish the documents in the archive consistent with the public interest.

Greenwald pointed out in a statement on Thursday that other media outlets with access to the files had ceased reporting on the archive, and acknowledged that The Intercept’s financial constraints were the primary reason that the company was halting its reporting on the archive. He also said he is working to secure a new permanent home for the archives. “I have spent the last several months seeking to ensure that publication of these materials continues under the auspices of experts most competent to do this work, and who work with institutions that have the ample funds required to do so robustly, quickly, and responsibly,” Greenwald wrote.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/laura-poitras-co-founder-of-the-intercept-barred-from-company-meeting-after-snowden-archive-shutdown?source=email&via=desktop