New York Post — "Former top intel chiefs silent after Musk Twitter disclosures"
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Featured Perspective from nypost.com:
"Former top intel chiefs silent after Musk Twitter disclosures"
by Jon Levine (December 3, 2022)
America's top former intelligence officials were mostly mum Saturday after the release of internal Twitter documents detailing how The Post's bombshell revelations were censored by the social media company.
Leon Panetta, a former CIA director and defense secretary, John Brennan a former CIA director, Mike Hayden, a former CIA director, and Jim Clapper, a former director of national intelligence — who all once said The Post’s reporting had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation," — declined or did not respond to request for comment about whether the latest disclosures had changed their opinion.
Public Statement on the Hunter Biden Emails
October 19, 2020
We are all individuals who devoted significant portions of our lives to national security. Some of us served in senior positions in policy departments and agencies, and some of us served in senior positions in the Intelligence Community. Some of us were political appointees, and some were career officials. Many of us worked for presidents of both political parties.
We are all also individuals who see Russia as one of our nation's primary adversaries. All of us have an understanding of the wide range of Russian overt and covert activities that undermine US national security, with some of us knowing Russian behavior intimately, as we worked to defend our nation against it for a career. A few of us worked against Russian information operations in the United States in the last several years.
Perhaps most important, each of us believes deeply that American citizens should determine the outcome of elections, not foreign governments. All of us agree with the founding fathers’ concern about the damage that foreign interference in our politics can do to our democracy.
It is for all these reasons that we write to say that the arrival on the US political scene of emails purportedly belonging to Vice President Biden's son Hunter, much of it related to his time serving on the Board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.
We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement -- just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.
If we are right, this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this.
There are a number of factors that make us suspicious of Russian involvement.
Such an operation would be consistent with Russian objectives, as outlined publicly and recently by the Intelligence Community, to create political chaos in the United States and to deepen political divisions here but also to undermine the candidacy of former Vice President Biden and thereby help the candidacy of President Trump. For the Russians at this point, with Trump down in the polls, there is incentive for Moscow to pull out the stops to do anything possible to help Trump win and/or to weaken Biden should he win. A "laptop op" fits the bill, as the publication of the emails are clearly designed to discredit Biden.
Such an operation would be consistent with some of the key methods Russia has used in its now multi-year operation to interfere in our democracy – the hacking (via cyber operations) and the dumping of accurate information or the distribution of inaccurate or misinformation. Russia did both of these during the 2016 presidential election – judgments shared by the US Intelligence Community, the investigation into Russian activities by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and the entirety (all Republicans and Democrats) on the current Senate Intelligence Committee.
Such an operation is also consistent with several data points. The Russians, according to media reports and cybersecurity experts, targeted Burisma late last year for cyber collection and gained access to its emails. And Ukrainian politician and businessman Adriy Derkach, identified and sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for being a 10-year Russian agent interfering in the 2020 election, passed purported materials on Burisma and Hunter Biden to Giuliani.
Our view that the Russians are involved in the Hunter Biden email issue is consistent with two other significant data points as well. According to the Washington Post, citing four sources, "U.S. intelligence agencies warned the White House last year that Giuliani was the target of an
influence operation by Russian intelligence."
In addition, media reports say that the FBI has now opened an investigation into Russian involvement in this case. According to USA Today, ". . . federal authorities are investigating whether the material supplied to the New York Post by Rudy Giuliani . . . is part of a smoke bomb of disinformation pushed by Russia."
We do not know whether these press reports are accurate, but they do suggest concern within Executive Branch departments and agencies that mirrors ours. It is high time that Russia stops interfering in our democracy.
Signed by,
Jim Clapper
Former Director of National Intelligence
Former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence
Former Director of the National Geospacial Intelligence Agency
Former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency
Mike Hayden
Former Director, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Director, National Security Agency
Former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence
Leon Panetta
Former Director, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Secretary of Defense
John Brennan
Former Director, Central Intelligence Agency
Former White House Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor
Former Director, Terrorism Threat Integration Center
Former Analyst and Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
Thomas Finger
Former Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis
Former Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research, Department of State
Former Chair, National Intelligence Council
Rick Ledgett
Former Deputy Director, National Security Agency
John McLaughlin
Former Acting Director, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Deputy Director, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Director of Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Director, Slavic and Eurasian Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency
Michael Morell
Former Acting Director, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Deputy Director, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Director of Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency
Mike Vickers
Former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence
Former Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
Doug Wise
Former Deputy Director, Defense Intelligence Agency
Former Senior CIA Operations Officer
Nick Rasmussen
Former Director, National Counterterrorism Center
Russ Travers
Former Acting Director, National Counterterrorism Center
Former Deputy Director, National Counterterrorism Center
Former Analyst of the Soviet Union and Russia, Defense Intelligence Agency
Andy Liepman
Former Deputy Director, National Counterterrorism Center
Former Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
John Moseman
Former Chief of Staff, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Director of Congressional Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Minority Staff Director, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Larry Pfeiffer
Former Chief of Staff, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Director, White House Situation Room
Jeremy Bash
Former Chief of Staff, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Chief of Staff, Department of Defense
Former Chief Counsel, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Rodney Snyder
Former Chief of Staff, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Director of Intelligence Programs, National Security Council
Chief of Station, Central Intelligence Agency
Glenn Gerstell
Former General Counsel, National Security Agency
David B. Buckley
Former Inspector General, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Democratic Staff Director, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Former Counterespionage Case Officer, United States Air Force
Nada Bakos
Former Analyst and Targeting Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
Patty Brandmaier
Former Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Deputy Associate Director for Military Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Deputy Director of Congressional Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency
James B. Bruce
Former Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Senior Intelligence Officer, National Intelligence Council
Considerable work related to Russia
David Cariens
Former Intelligence Analyst, Central Intelligence Agency
50+ Years Working in the Intelligence Community
Janice Cariens
Former Operational Support Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
Paul Kolbe
Former Senior Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Chief, Central Eurasia Division, Central Intelligence Agency
Peter Corsell
Former Analyst, Central Intelligence Agency
Brett Davis
Former Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Deputy Director of the Special Activities Center for Expeditionary Operations, CIA
Roger Zane George
Former National Intelligence Officer
Steven L. Hall
Former Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Chief of Russian Operations, Central Intelligence Agency
Kent Harrington
Former National Intelligence Officer for East Asia, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Director of Public Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Chief of Station, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Analyst, Central Intelligence Agency
Don Hepburn
Former Senior National Security Executive
Timothy D. Kilbourn
Former Dean, Sherman Kent School of Intelligence Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency
Former PDB Briefer to President George W. Bush, Central Intelligence Agency
Ron Marks
Former Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
Twice former staff of the Republican Majority Leader
Jonna Hiestand Mendez
Technical Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
Emile Nakhleh
Former Director of the Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Senior Intelligence Analyst, Central Intelligence Agency
Gerald A. O'Shea
Senior Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
Served four tours as Chief of Station, Central Intelligence Agency
David Priess
Former Analyst and Manager, Central Intelligence Agency
Former PDB Briefer, Central Intelligence Agency
Pam Purcilly
Former Deputy Director of Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Director of the Office of Russian and European Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency
Former PDB Briefer to President George W. Bush, Central Intelligence Agency
Marc Polymeropoulos
Former Senior Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Acting Chief of Operations for Europe and Eurasia, Central Intelligence Agency
Chris Savos
Former Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Officer
Nick Shapiro
Former Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the Director, Central Intelligence Agency
John Sipher
Former Senior Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Deputy Chief of Russian Operations, Central Intelligence Agency
Stephen Slick
Former Senior Director for Intelligence Programs, National Security Council
Former Senior Operations Office, Central Intelligence Agency
Cynthia Strand
Former Deputy Assistant Director for Global Issues, Central Intelligence Agency
Greg Tarbell
Former Deputy Executive Director, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Analyst of the Soviet Union and Russia, Central Intelligence Agency
David Terry
Former Chairman of the National Intelligence Collection Board
Former Chief of the PDB, Central Intelligence Agency
Former PDB Briefer to Vice President Dick Cheney, Central Intelligence Agency
Greg Treverton
Former Chair, National Intelligence Council
John Tullius
Former Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
David A. Vanell
Former Senior Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
Winston Wiley
Former Director of Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Chief, Counterterrorism Center, Central Intelligence Agency
Kristin Wood
Former Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency
Former PDB Briefer, Central Intelligence Agency
In addition, nine additional former IC officers who cannot be named publicly also support the arguments in this letter.
*
[Featured article continues:]
The quartet made their allegations as part of an open letter denigrating The Post's reporting as Russian misinformation which was signed by dozens of other longtime intelligence hands.
"Our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case," the letter read. "If we are right, this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this."
Of the four, only Clapper has ever publicly addressed the letter, offering a vigorous defense to The Post in March.
[photo caption] James Clapper and other former intelligence officials were silent after the release of internal Twitter documents detailing how The Post's bombshell revelations were censored.
"Yes, I stand by the statement made AT THE TIME, and would call attention to its 5th paragraph," he said referring to an area of the letter where the signatories admit they do not have any material evidence of Russian involvement. "I think sounding such a cautionary note AT THE TIME was appropriate."
Another letter signer, John Sipher, former CIA senior operations officer, responded on Twitter by retweeting a post from NBC reporter Ben Collins, dismissing the significance of the files.
"What Elon Musk's Twitter files have revealed so far is that content moderation at Twitter WAS being decided by a team of people with differing viewpoints. Now it's being decided by the richest man on Earth with an axe to grind against one political party — a true scandal," Collins mocked.
[photo caption] Leon Panetta, a former CIA director, and defense secretary declined to respond about whether the latest disclosures changed his mind.
[photo caption] John Brennan, a former CIA director, once said The Post's reporting had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation."
[photo caption] Mike Hayden, a former CIA director, has not commented on the latest disclosures.
Other letter signatories The Post reached out to including Douglas Wise, a former Defense Intelligence Agency deputy director, Nicholas Rasmussen, a former National Counterterrorism Center director and Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA senior operations officer did not respond to request for comment.
Steven L. Hall, a former CIA senior intelligence officer and Don Hepburn, a former national security executive also did not respond to a request for comment.
a newspaper headline displayed in the article about the 'vigorous defense'
12/6/22 Update: Below are shown some of the mainstream news headlines following the Musk Twitter disclosures.
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FBI paid Twitter $3.4M for doing its dirty work on users, damning email shows
by Victor Nava (December 19, 2022)
In an email dated Feb. 10, 2021, an unidentified Twitter employee told then-deputy general counsel Jim Baker and then-general counsel Sean Edgett that “we have collected $3,415,323 since October 2019!”
The email, published by independent journalist Michael Shellenberger, explained that Twitter’s Safety, Content & Law Enforcement (SCALE) division had instituted a “reimbursement program” in exchange for devoting staff hours to “processing requests from the FBI.”
The message added that Twitter had opted not to exercise its right of reimbursement prior to October 2019, though it did not say why.
The email notes that the funds will be used by Twitter on “[law enforcement]-related projects” including “LE training, tooling, etc.”
The reports by Shellenberger and fellow independent journalists Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss, have revealed extensive collaboration and employee overlap between Twitter and the FBI, who Taibbi reported last week treated the social media company as a “subsidiary” and repeatedly reported supposed “misinformation.”
In the sixth installment of the Twitter Files, published Friday, Taibbi revealed that the bureau was so aggressive in sending Twitter “possible violative content” to review that an employee described one set of materials as a “monumental undertaking” that required several colleagues to pitch in and help.
On Monday, Shellenberger reported that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies repeatedly primed Twitter’s former head of trust and safety Yoel Roth to dismiss The Post’s bombshell October 2020 report on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop as a Russian “hack and leak” operation.
The files reveal the FBI could communicate with top Twitter executives through multiple channels, including email accounts and specially built encrypted portals.
The bureau would often send the company lists of users they wanted investigated for terms of use violations.
In some cases, Shellenberger noted, Twitter would probe cases presented by the bureau but come up empty, not finding evidence of a foreign influence campaign.
“[W]e haven’t yet identified activity that we’d typically refer to you (or even flag as interesting in the foreign influence context),” Roth informed FBI San Francisco Special Agent Elvis Chan in one email from May 31, 2020.
The FBI would also flag media articles on alleged foreign influence campaigns that Twitter would have to look into and debunk, “repeatedly” reporting “very little Russian activity,” according to Shellenberger.
“Time and again, FBI asks Twitter for evidence of foreign influence & Twitter responds that they aren’t finding anything worth reporting,” Shellenberger writes.
The FBI also made repeated requests for internal data from Twitter that the social media company refused to send over, citing privacy concerns.
As recently as August 2022, Twitter continued to work with the FBI, which pressured the company to disclose more sensitive information.
Baker and Edgett were fired after billionaire Elon Musk bought the social network in October.
FOX News Article #1
"Twitter Files part 9: Vast web of coordination between tech giant and CIA, State Department, other agencies"
by Scott Whitlock (December 24)
Substack writer Matt Taibbi released the latest installment of the "Twitter Files" on Christmas Eve, detailing that coordination between the tech giant and government agencies went way beyond the FBI. In a massive series of tweets, Taibbi insisted that the FBI was simply the "doorman to a vast program of social media surveillance and censorship, encompassing agencies across the federal government – from the State Department to the Pentagon to the CIA."
The journalist explained that Twitter had so many interactions with OGAs (or "other government agencies" as they are called in the tweets), the company couldn’t keep them all straight: He explained, "Twitter had so much contact with so many agencies that executives lost track. Is today the DOD, and tomorrow the FBI? Is it the weekly call, or the monthly meeting? It was dizzying."
He explained how some of the coordination developed, specifically growing out of FBI connections: "On June 29th, 2020, San Francisco FBI agent Elvis Chan wrote to [a] pair of Twitter execs asking if he could invite an "OGA" to an upcoming conference:"
Taibbi noted that it was an "open secret at Twitter that one of its executives was ex-CIA, which is why Chan referred to that executive’s ‘former employer.’" He added that "one of the most common forums was a regular meeting of the multi-agency Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), attended by spates of executives, FBI personnel, and – nearly always – one or two attendees marked ‘OGA.’"
What was discussed in these meetings? Usually "foreign matters."
But Taibbi added, "Despite its official remit being ‘Foreign Influence,’ the FITF and the SF FBI office became conduit for mountains of domestic moderation requests, from state governments, even local police:"
Just as Twitter was having so many meetings with governmental agencies that it couldn’t keep them straight, the company was also inundated with FBI requests on "problem accounts."
Less than six weeks before the 2020 election, FBI agent Chan contacted Twitter exec Stacia Cardille about having identified more "Twitter handles which appear to provide misleading information" in them.
Noting how unusual it all seemed, Taibbi remarked of what the latest batch of Twitter files uncovered: "It seemed to strike no one as strange that a ‘Foreign Influence’ task force was forwarding thousands of mostly domestic reports, along with the DHS, about the fringiest material."
Taibbi revealed an October 1, 2020, e-mail, just over a month before the presidential election, an unnamed Twitter exec described being left "waiting for more evidence" when it came to Russian influence claims from the State Department. This person admitted, "Our window on that is closing, given that government partners are becoming more aggressive on attribution.
Taibbi offered his own paraphrase of what this could mean: "Translation: ‘more aggressive’ ‘government partners’ had closed Twitter’s ‘window’ of independence."
The journalist concluded the latest edition of the Twitter Files by noting, "The CIA has yet to comment on the nature of its relationship to tech companies like Twitter. Twitter had no input into anything I did or wrote. The searches were carried out by third parties, so what I saw could be limited."
Part eight of the Twitter Files showed how the platform "directly assisted the U.S. military’s influence operations. Part seven showcased the FBI’s attempts to discredit information about Hunter Biden and his foreign business dealings.
FOX News Article #2
"Twitter Files author Taibbi slams Dem congressman after accusation of 'gaslighting' Americans"
by Adam Sabes (December 24)
Substack writer and journalist Matt Taibbi responded to Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., after he accused the Twitter Files author of "gaslighting" Americans by tweeting emails detailing the Federal Bureau of Investigation's communication with the social media giant.
".@elonmusk @mtaibbi @ShellenbergerMD are gaslighting you with their misleading "Twitter Files" posts. Here’s the truth: 1. FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force does threat indicator sharing with companies. That’s a good thing. 2. Companies decide what to do with that information," Lieu said on Wednesday.
"Congressman, why is a 'Foreign Influence' task force sending Excel spreadsheets full of joke tweets from low-follower accounts in Maryland, Kentucky, and Ohio? Why does the FITF spend so much time reviewing domestic speech?" Taibbi said on Saturday.
Taibbi's response comes after he released a new version of the Twitter Files, outlining Twitter's previous communication with "other government agencies."
"Other government agencies" can stand for the Central Intellegence Agency, according to Taibbi.
"The files show the FBI acting as doorman to a vast program of social media surveillance and censorship, encompassing agencies across the federal government – from the State Department to the Pentagon to the CIA," Taibbi said in a tweet.
Previously, Taibbi tweeted multiple internal files between Twitter workers and FBI employees as part of the sixth installment of the Twitter Files.
"Hello Twitter contacts, FBI San Francisco is notifying you of the below accounts which may potentially constitute violations of Twitter's Terms of Service for any action or inaction deemed appropriate within Twitter policy," one email FBI employee wrote in an email on Nov. 10.
In the email, an FBI employee listed several Twitter accounts which might violate the social media company's terms of service.
A Twitter employee responded that three of the four accounts were suspended, and asked someone else at the company to review the fourth account flagged by the FBI for "possible civic misinformation."
Taibbi said that one of the accounts tweeted on Nov. 8, "I want to remind republicans to vote tomorrow, Wednesday November 9."
One of the emails shared by Taibbi shows the "Public Sector Engagement Squad" at FBI's San Francisco office notifying Twitter employees of "account activities" that "potentially constitute violations of Twitter's Terms of Service."
Another tweet flagged by the FBI states, "Americans, Vote today. Democrats you vote Wednesday 9th."
FBI officials told Fox News that the agency didn't ask Twitter employees to "take action" based on the information provided, and said the information was provided so that Twitter employees can make a determination on whether to take action.
"We are providing it so that they can take whatever action they deem appropriate under their terms of service to protect their platform and protect their customers, but we never direct or ask them to take action," the FBI officials said.
In a statement shared with Fox News, an FBI spokesperson said, "The correspondence between the FBI and Twitter show nothing more than examples of our traditional, longstanding and ongoing federal government and private sector engagements, which involve numerous companies over multiple sectors and industries. As evidenced in the correspondence, the FBI provides critical information to the private sector in an effort to allow them to protect themselves and their customers."
"The men and women of the FBI work every day to protect the American public. It is unfortunate that conspiracy theorists and others are feeding the American public misinformation with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the agency," the spokesperson added.
Fox News' Jake Gibson contributed to this report.
Note from MRB:
This year I've been campaigning for a return to international diplomacy and for citizens to express themselves to stop national leaders from opting to carry out deluded military agendas that they estimate will enhance their personal prestige. Right now throughout the world there are horrible conditions resulting from the breakdown of international diplomacy. For many decades it has been culturally traditional for countless people to rely on military-industrial complex-controlled mainstream news and also give their attention to entertainment, instead of developing their metaphysical, spiritual and cosmological understanding of life. Considering the many billions of dollars used for military aid to Ukraine, the money would have been better used in support of America's homeless and disenfranchised along with finding ways to help improve the lives of people internationally, in particular Russia to evade nuclear war that will destroy the environment of our planet. Proxy war is also war against man and God. When contemporary world leaders plainly state ultimatums to one another, only someone with a mentality indoctrinated to be passive to the mindset of 'military programming' would fail to advocate diplomatic ways of resolving problems. Recent blog articles have focused on the circumstances related to the reasons that 'those who live as sheeple will perish as sheeple' unless collectively we may through working together express enough love and respect to our fellow humans to take society beyond illusionary devotion to nationalism-oriented paperwork principalities. Providing intellectual and spiritual insights for us are what may be learned from being attentive to documented Divine Dispensations that have been subjects for reporting at this blog for many years. (Metaphysical Articles Index) Warnings for mankind have included apparitions of the blessed virgin Mary and contemporary correlations with the life of Bel-Marduk, the ancient god-king-priest who wasn't able to prevent a holocaust in the ancient world.
October 2, 1990 newsletter edition
