Bait and smuggle: Mexican cartels divert border cops with migrant surges and ferry drugs where the coast is clear

A northern Texas sheriff says his county has seen a big uptick in methamphetamine and heroin seizures since October, saying Mexican drug smugglers are using large groups of migrants to divert Border Patrol’s attention while they run narcotics over the border in nearby areas. Tarrant County Sheriff Bill E. Waybourn told the Washington Examiner drug seizures have picked up since 2016 and spiked “tremendously” in the past six months just as groups of 100 or more people began showing up at the border.

Data from the county, which includes Forth Worth, shows nine pounds of meth was seized in 2016. In 2018, that figure jumped to 22 pounds. In the past six months, 110 pounds of meth have been discovered by the sheriff’s department. Heroin busts followed a similar trajectory. Less than one pound of heroin was found by the department in 2016, but last year more than 61 pounds were confiscated. Since October, 20 pounds have been seized. “We’re several hundred miles away from the border, however, the border does impact us,” he said. In that six-month time frame, the number of people apprehended while illegally crossing the southern border also increased. Last month, 92,000 people were taken into custody. Since then, more than 100 large groups of 100 or more people have been encountered between ports of entry. Only two large groups were documented in fiscal 2017.

Waybourn said he learned during a recent visit to McAllen, Texas, that cartels control the Mexico side of the border and migrants who want to illegally enter the U.S. must go through them to do so. “Interesting thing I found: The cartel owns that border on the other side. Part of their strategic plan is they release and let these over to surrender at certain times. They overwhelm our Border Patrol resources. It gives cartels the ability to move drugs [and] other people that we probably would have never let in,” said Waybourn. “They’re coming in on the flanks.” The large groups typically arrive in remote spots on the border where agents are far and few between and can take an hour to get reinforcements to the location. While they are overwhelmed with a group, cartels can run other people or products through a nearby area where agents have just come from.

He said drugs are also passing through ports of entry. Once smugglers have gotten narcotics into the country, they use I-35 to get them north to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Waybourn said. The heroin and methamphetamine seizures indicate the region is seeing more drugs trafficked through the city, while law enforcement also makes more busts, he said. The sheriff said a gram of meth has gone from around $90 to $100 in 2016 to $20 nowadays. “The abundance of dope that is coming across that border is the reason for that, and it’s truly supply and demand, and there’s a lot of supply out there,” he said. “The Mexican cartel is pushing it over in incredible amounts … We know the drugs come here, and so are the people,” he said. Waybourn said 8% of his jail population are illegally in the country and are in custody for allegedly committing an additional crime beyond illegal entry.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/bait-and-smuggle-mexican-cartels-divert-border-cops-with-migrant-surges-and-ferry-drugs-where-the-coast-is-clear

Intel Officials Fear China Will Target Globe's Underwater Internet Cables

A new op-ed in Bloomberg Quint has noted what the United States should really be worried about regarding Beijing's intentions after a year of tense China-US Navy encounters in the South China Sea. This potential threat, which is "far harder to discern," involves the world's some 380 underwater cables carrying more than 95% of all data and voice traffic between the continents. Could China be stealthily hacking them? It is certainly now in a better position to do so. The piece details how the Chinese conglomerate Huawei Technologies — already at the center of a broader US-China dispute over theft of trade secrets and unlawful dealings with sanctioned regimes like Iran — now has contracts to construct or improve nearly 100 submarine cables globally. In what sounds like a quick pivot away from now deflated 'Russiagate' (which seemed to also involve bi-monthly articles suggesting Putin was ever ready to cut the world's submerged internet cables), western intelligence officials are now sounding the alarm over Beijing's increased access and influence over such key global communications infrastructure.

The report summarizes the view of "Western intelligence professionals" in the following: ''Just as the experts are justifiably concerned about the inclusion of espionage “back doors" in Huawei’s 5G technology, Western intelligence professionals oppose the company’s engagement in the undersea version, which provides a much bigger bang for the buck because so much data rides on so few cables.'' The report notes further that last year Huawei Marine Networks in a joint project with China Unicorn, a state-controlled telecom operator, successfully laid a cable running nearly 4,000 miles from Brazil to Cameroon, and there's plans for greater involvement in global internet traffic cables which would necessitate cooperating and in some case competing with US internet giants such as Google and Facebook, who lease or buy vast cable networks from companies that constructed them, whether private or state-owned. The WSJ observed last month, "Chinese company Huawei is embedding itself into cable systems that ferry nearly all of the world’s internet data."

Amidst the debate and resulting US official restriction on federal agencies using Huawai's 5G equipment for fear of vulnerability to Chinese hacking, underwater internet infrastructure constructed by Huawai could prove the most sensitive global backdoor. The report continues: ''Naturally, Huawei denies any manipulation of the cable sets it is constructing, even though the US and other nations say it is obligated by Chinese law to hand over network data to the government. A similar dynamic is playing out underwater. How can the US address the security of undersea cables? There is no way to stop Huawei from building them, or to keep private owners from contracting with Chinese firms on modernizing them, based purely on suspicions. Rather, the US must use its cyber- and intelligence-gathering capability to gather hard evidence of back doors and other security risks. This will be challenging — the Chinese firms are technologically sophisticated and entwined with a virtual police state.''

One of the more bizarre scenarios that the report floats is the possibility of submarines to "tap" the cables externally. This has long been discussed among military and intelligence analysts regarding Russia, but increasingly Beijing will come under scrutiny. One of those analysts, US Admiral Jamie Foggo, identified as a career submariner, told Bloomberg Quint: “Underwater cables are part of our critical infrastructure and essential to the global economy. The US must protect the integrity and security of them as surely as we provide international freedom of the high seas."

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-09/intelligence-officials-fear-china-hack-globes-underwater-internet-cables

Second Hassan Staffer Allegedly Helped Aide Steal Massive Amounts Of Senate Data

A former Senate IT aide to Sen. Maggie Hassan, Jackson Cosko, admitted he stole tens of thousands of documents, credit card numbers, Social Security numbers and the contents of the entire network drive from the New Hampshire Democrat.

Cosko allegedly used stolen private data about senators to “doxx” Republicans during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings.

In a plea deal, Cosko — whom Hassan had fired for other misconduct before the theft — said he worked with an accomplice who helped him gain access and wiped his fingerprints.

A court case has been opened against Samantha DeForest-Davis, a former Hassan aide who a source with knowledge of the situation said is the alleged accomplice.

A second onetime aide to Sen. Maggie Hassan is implicated in former IT staffer Jackson Cosko’s massive data-theft scheme that was ultimately used to “intimidate” Republican senators by “doxxing” them during a confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, prosecutors said.

Samantha G. DeForest-Davis, at the time a staff assistant to Hassan, was the aide who allegedly helped Cosko conduct his scheme, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Daily Caller News Foundation. Court records show a case naming her has been opened, and the source confirmed it relates to her alleged role in the data theft. She filed an affidavit that can be used to assess her eligibility for a public defender, but she has not been charged with any crimes, court records show.

Cosko pleaded guilty April 5 to masterminding what prosecutors said was “an extraordinarily extensive data-theft scheme, copying entire network drives, sorting and organizing sensitive data, and exploring ways to use that data to his benefit.” He admitted to stealing tens of thousands of documents and emails from Hassan’s office, in addition to credit card information and Social Security numbers belonging to Senate employees. The data also included a master list of senators’ private information that Cosko posted to Wikipedia out of “anger” at Republicans during the Supreme Court nomination hearings, prosecutors said. Cosko’s lawyer said drugs contributed to his admitted crimes. But a statement of facts prosecutors filed as part of Cosko’s plea agreement describes an elaborate, months-long scheme involving two people. The data was stolen from Hassan’s office in months of late-night burglaries between July and October 2018 after Cosko was fired that May for different misconduct that Hassan, a New Hampshire Democrat, has declined to explain, according to the statement.

DeForest-Davis — identified in court documents only as SUBJECT A — allegedly repeatedly provided Cosko a key that he used to enter the office at night and install tiny devices that capture every keystroke, including passwords that were then used to access further materials, according to the statement. After Cosko was caught in the act by a Hassan staffer in October 2018, the accomplice went to the office and wiped down keyboards and mice to erase any fingerprints, prosecutors said. On Jan. 24, prosecutors said “the defendant is cooperating,” though they noted “the government isn’t convinced that he is fully cooperative.” Six days earlier, a case called USA vs. DeForest-Davis was opened in D.C. federal court. Cosko was let out on bail the next month.

DeForest-Davis has not been charged with any crimes, but the court records show she filed a CJA 23 Financial Affidavit. Court records in unrelated cases show that a CJA 23 Financial Affidavit can serve two purposes: to establish whether someone facing or expecting to face charges qualifies for a public defender, and — since it is an outlining of one’s finances submitted under penalty of perjury — to prosecute the person for lying in order to hide money he or she had received. DeForest-Davis did not respond to a request for comment.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/04/09/hassan-staffer-doxx-kavanaugh/

Cosko, Jackson Statement of Offense April 2019

https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5796490/Cosko-Jackson-Statement-of-Offense-April-2019.pdf

>>6117340

So they were able to get away with it?.. Seems to me that these cartel's are getting anxious that their money stream will drying up, quickly, so they are ramping it up to get everything they can, before they can't.