Inspiration

 

“Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or an animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”  

-Martin Luther King Jr.

So, why aren’t there more federal whistleblowers?

Here is an interesting article sent to me a while ago from a reader.  It is both fascinating and disturbing.  Enjoy.  I have left the link to Geo Engineering Watch.Org at the top of the article so you may visit their site and sign up for email updates if you like.  GFS

http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/former-prominent-cia-officer-shares-details-of-the-governments-all-out-war-against-whistleblowers-with-geoengineeringwatch-org/

Former Prominent CIA Officer Shares Details Of The Government’s All Out War Against Whistleblowers With GeoengineeringWatch.org

Contact Address                                                                                                                                      

Dane Wigington

P.O. Box-9

Bella Vista, Ca 96008

October 20, 2015

 

Many ask why there are not more whistleblowers coming forward to sound the alarm on the climate engineering insanity occurring around the globe. Many use the “lack of whistleblowers” excuse to remain in denial about the all too obvious climate engineering atrocities in our skies. Those who use this excuse to avoid facing reality clearly have no clue whatsoever about what the criminal cabal (masquerading as our government) does to anyone that dares to try and expose the truth. Veteran CIA officer, Kevin Shipp, has shown exceptional courage by openly and actively speaking out about the epidemic tyranny in the halls of our government.

Kevin Shipp, former CIA Officer and Antiterrorism expert, held several high level positions in the CIA. He was assigned as a protective agent for the Director of Central Intelligence, a counterintelligence investigator, a Counter Terrorism Center officer, and internal security investigator, supervisor of high risk protective operations and polygraph examiner. Mr. Shipp functioned as program manager for the Department of State, Diplomatic Security, Anti Terrorism Assistance global police training program. He is the recipient of two CIA Meritorious Unit Citations, three Exceptional Performance Awards and a Medallion for overseas operations. He is the author of From the Company of Shadows – CIA Operations and the War on Terrorism. Mr. Shipp has been a regular guest on The American Heroes Channel as an intelligence and terrorism expert and has been the subject of numerous radio interviews and newspaper articles. His website can be found at KevinMShipp.com.

More insight from Kevin is contained within his most recent communication with me, shown below.

Dane. Attached is an expose’ of the system classified agencies use to silence whistle blowers from revealing unconstitutional or illegal operations.   As a decorated Agency officer and internal investigator, I witnessed this mechanism being used on good, innocent employees, and their families.  That is when I decided to expose it. God speed to you in revealing the tyranny that has taken over our Constitutional system. Best, Kevin

In his book “From The Company Of Shadows”, Kevin gives a highly acclaimed account of what is happening behind the curtain of government secrecy. After some communications with Kevin, he has supplied geoengineeringwatch.org with the hard hitting statement below which outlines what is done to whistleblowers with shocking clarity. My most sincere thanks to Mr. Shipp for his uncommon and exceptional courage in the fight for the greater good.

Dane Wigington                                                                                                                            geoengineeringwatch.org

Silencing Whistleblowers

By Kevin Shipp, contributing writer for geoengineeringwatch.org

Why don’t more “whistle blowers” come out to expose illegal or unconstitutional secret government operations? If these activities are so illegal, why are people not coming forward to report them?

Over the last fifty years US government intelligence agencies have perfected a complex, sequential system to systematically silence or destroy any employee, including his or her family, who attempts to reveal illegal or unconstitutional activities conducted as part of secret government operations.

As a condition of employment, military and intelligence employees recruited for secret operations are required to sign a “secrecy agreement,” or “nondisclosure agreement,” before being given access to the position, which offers high pay and status in the organization. This agreement threatens civil and criminal penalties if the employee reveals ANY information regarding the program. Thinking the agreement will only be used for legal purposes and will get them the coveted job, all employees eagerly sign it.

This secrecy agreement was originally designed to protect legitimate classified information, to protect military personnel during wartime and protect legitimate national defense information and technology.

However, because of the binding power of the agreement, government agencies began using it as a powerful tool to silence federal employees who question the legality of certain government operations. It was the perfect tool to threaten, silence or jail any whistle blower who dared to challenge the secret operations of government.

Today, the secrecy agreement is routinely used as an efficient weapon to intimidate or silence employees. Annual refresher briefings are given to remind employees of the penalties for violating the agreement. These penalties include huge fines, termination, financial ruin and even prison – all of which mean the destruction of their lives and their families. Most will not reveal any wrongdoing, no matter how egregious, for fear of calculated, severe retribution.

Aerosol filled skies over New York City

When employees sign the secrecy agreement and are cleared for classified programs, they are not told they are giving up their right to a jury trial, or to sue the agency that hired them. If they try to do so as a whistle blower, they find they have no right to be heard in federal court. Many have found this out when their case was denied; then it was too late. That is part of the system.

If the employee attempts to contact their Congressman or Senator, their representative is blocked from receiving any information about their case, because they do not have the necessary “clearance.”

When the employee attempts to blow the whistle to the Congressional intelligence committees, their response is ignored. It is made clear to committee members that they are not to touch such cases, so they refer them back to their Senator or Congressman, who cannot access information involved in their case.

If a courageous employee continues to proceed and blow the whistle, a system of personal and career destruction follows. This begins with promotions being denied, being turned down for sensitive or career enhancing assignments, and their files being flagged, ruining their reputation inside their agency. At this point their career is over. If they go quietly, the retribution stops.

When the employee still continues their effort to report the information, their travel records, personnel records, medical records and security records are searched for mistakes or damaging information that can be used to threaten them with termination. Their telephones and computers are monitored searching for incriminating information. If no substantive information can be found, it is fabricated and placed in their file.

Employees who refuse to back down are then subjected to internal “security investigations,” multiple, hostile “interviews,” attempting to get them to recant their information, and multiple polygraph interrogations.

In many cases, the employee is commanded to report to the internal medical office for psychological evaluation. If they comply, the evaluation labels them as paranoid, unstable, or disgruntled. This information is placed in their file and is used later to justify the agency’s action in the event of outside scrutiny.

If the employee contacts a member of the news media, they are immediately cited with violating their secrecy agreement and criminal penalties are filed against them. Several news media outlets are connected to the CIA and NSA and notify them of the employee’s contact.

Finally, the employee is forced to resign after being threatened with termination in kangaroo court meetings where the information fabricated in their files is used against them.

After termination or forced resignation, interest rates on their internal credit union loans are raised to make the payments unaffordable. The release of the employee’s retirement funds needed provide for their family are blocked (a felony). The agency black lists them from gaining employment with other government agencies or contractors, further ruining them financially.

Dehumanized, financially ruined and under severe emotional and mental pressure, the employee’s family begins to break apart. If the family’s foundation is not strong, this results in alcoholism, depression and divorce. In some cases, it has resulted in the employee committing suicide, the ultimate goal of the program of destruction. This silences the employee permanently, obscuring the agency’s role in their destruction. It is the perfect crime.

Should the employee still have the resolve to endure this program of career and personal destruction and continues to press for release of the information, or if his family members attempt to sue the agency for the illegal activity, classified agencies will invoke the secretive State Secrets Privilege, which orders the employee and his family not to reveal the information or face prison. If the family’s case reaches federal court, the State Secrets Privilege is invoked and the case is shut down – and sealed. Federal judges rubber stamp the censoring of the case without reviewing the case facts.

Now that the employee’s case, and in some cases their family’s case, is shut down and under seal, citing “national security,” the process of silencing the employee is complete. Many are never heard from again, fearing prison if they talk to anyone, including an attorney.

Using attractive awards of multi-million dollar contracts, the US government military industrial complex convinces private corporations that their employees must be cleared and sign secrecy agreements. This includes employees at all levels, from secretaries to CEOs. Once they have signed the secrecy agreement, they are bound to keep all information, including potentially illegal information, quiet, being threatened with the same penalties.

To date, over five million Americans have been required to sign this secrecy agreement and now fall under the shadow of the State Secrets Privilege.

Only a few federal employees have made it through this systematic process of destruction to reveal what they know about the illegal operation they observed. Sadly, some whistle blowers have died “mysterious” deaths or committed “suicide.”

Employees in intelligence agencies are aware of penalties contained in the secrecy agreement and the huge risk in violating it, even to expose corruption. Most look the other way to protect their careers, retirements and families. Many have observed the outward signs of the system of personal and career destruction used on others and a culture of fear exists. But, they are not fully aware of all that is being done. The full scope of the system is only known at the higher levels of the organization and is hidden from employees, until its use is necessary.

This is why we do not see whistle blowers coming out and reporting what they have seen. This system has been used and perfected for over fifty years. It is being used because it works.

It works, unless the system is exposed, the whistle blower knows what is coming and prepares for it, and they are supported by private organizations and individuals dedicated to truth in government.

This support is essential, not only to protect the whistle blower and their family, but also to defend our Constitutional form of government from tyranny.

Kevin M. Shipp                                                                                                                                                   Author, From the Company of Shadows

TSA Whistleblower. Robert Maclean Wins Appeal in Conflict With TSA After 10 Years of Struggle

Another Whistleblower Supporter sent this in to me recently. This is the winning of an appeal. The MSPB still has things that must be resolved. It is rather incredible how long whistleblowers must struggle before finally getting through the legal system, if they are allowed to proceed to the legal system at all Here is the material I was sent, verbatim. Enjoy! GFS

WOW!

After a decade!

Way to go Robert!

TSA Whistleblower Robert MacLean Wins Appeal

Today the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a decision in MacLean v. Department of Homeland Security. In 2003, Robert MacLean blew the whistle on the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Agency’s (TSA) plan to remove U.S. air marshals from long distance flights during a heightened terrorist alert. Mr. MacLean was concerned that the suspension of overnight missions created a danger to the flying public. He complained to his supervisor and to the Office of Inspector General; both responded that they could do nothing.
Mr. MacLean then gave information to a MSNBC reporter about the TSA’s plan. The reporter published an article criticizing the plan. The TSA withdrew its plan after criticism from the public and members of Congress. The TSA subsequently fired Mr. MacLean.
A major issue on appeal from the Merit Systems Protection Board (“MSPB”), was whether or not Mr. MacLean was covered under the Whistleblower Protection Act (“WPA”). Specifically, the WPA prohibits individuals in positions of authority from taking a “personnel action” against a government employee when the employee makes a disclosure, which the employee reasonable believes to evidence a “substantial and specific danger to public health and safety, if such disclosure is not specifically prohibited by law.” The Court of Appeals held that MacLean’s disclosure was “not specifically prohibited by law.”
The Court vacated the MSPB decision which upheld Mr. MacLean’s termination and remanded the case back to the MSPB to determine whether MacLean’s “disclosure qualifies for WPA protection.” The MSPB must determine whether Mr. MacLean “reasonable believed” his disclosure evidenced a “substantial and specific danger to public health and safety.”

And the Corruption Goes On and On and On….

I’m back. This seems to be my time for family matters that require me to be away from home. I have not given up. I have heard some more interesting things while away. There seems to be an increasing amount of corruption coming into the light. Some of it is in the news media. Some of it is not yet.

If any of you have something to report or bring public attention to, please let me know. I believe not “going quietly into the good night” is a key to prevailing.

GFS

DSS Continues to Hold “All-Hands” Meetings, Despite OSD Policy Change

“A Rose by any other name is still a Rose”   (The same can be said for things that do not smell so sweet.)

As an update on the problem of expensive “all-hands” meetings.  I received information from several people in the DC area in answer to some questions I posed to them some time ago.  Nothing seems to have changed on that front, but the window dressing. 

Errant DSS management has continued to hold these meetings, requiring employees to travel to attend what still is the same event.  Now, however, it seems DSS management is calling them “trainings” to avoid requesting official authorization for expenditure of these funds by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, as is now required for “all-hands” meetings.

No matter what title is put on it, a lecture is a lecture is a lecture.  Even worse, sitting and watching managers argue with each other for hours is beyond the pale.

Demanding employees leave their assigned work, travel across the country, to sit in a large room for days as an audience to a group of managers, while being brow beaten by those managers (or being told things that could just have easily been sent out in an email or handled more efficiently via a teleconference), shows extreme bad judgment in this blogger’s opinion.  Their dedication to find a way to try to get around policy put into place to stop this travesty shows their astounding stubborn resolve to do as they like, not as they are told.  Why is no one holding them responsible?  It is amazing how the failures of these managers appears to have nearly totally taken down this agency in such a relatively brief amount of time.

Natural Resource Conservation Service Whistleblower Story

Here is another Whistleblower Story.  -GFS

 

From a reader:

USDA, & Vilsack fire another. This one is a US Farm Bill whistleblower.

Please read this article. I will use “hyperspectral data” to show this to the newspaper readers.

The mainstream media is not concerned about the $300 Billion 2008 US Farm Bill, and how the USDA steals your money.

Check out this link:
http://wcrecord.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=314

Front Page : Whistleblower reveals himself

on 11/10/2010 (349 reads)

Valvo accuses NRCS of betraying the public trust (The following article is part two in a series of articles dealing with the investigation of the NRCS in Pembina County.) REGION—In the first article it was introduced that the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s (NRCS) office in Cavalier is under investigation by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in regards to allegations of fraud, waste and mismanagement. These acts are violations of the public trust. They were first brought to the attention of the NRCS Cavalier Field Office and eventually to the OIG by Geo-Spatial Analyst Anthony (Tony) Valvo, who is currently employed as a soil conservationist with the NRCS and has a master’s degree from Purdue. He has been employed by the federal government for seven months in the Cavalier field office. Valvo, is not a career bureaucrat, but carries his work experience from American industry. He is also a veteran of the U.S. Navy, where he served in the engineering department aboard a fleet ballistic missile submarine. Valvo is not a disgruntled employee, but someone who tried to right wrongs that he considered violations of the public trust. The following is his story: I am an example of the great opportunity afforded our citizenry, and a testament to why government is essential to the average American. None of my accomplishments were given to me, but our government made them available to me, and many others. A few weeks ago I gave this newspaper (The Walsh County Record) permission to write a story concerning government corruption. The charges are currently under investigation by the USDA’s OIG. The original target of the investigation is the NRCS. I do not know the status of the investigation, and do not have the “need to know.” The case is under investigation and has been broken down into two components. One is criminal and ethical violations and the other is retaliation against me for reporting violations of the public trust. I did report the people in this circle for unethical practices, fraud, waste and mismanagement. I did not expect the level of retaliation I received from the NRCS Cavalier Field Office, and its Area I Office Staff. The harassment has been unrelenting, sustained and cruel. I am currently not allowed on any USDA property. On Oct. 8, I was removed from the office by the Cavalier Police Department. I was told that I had a disease and was not allowed on the property. That’s the last thing I remember. I awoke in the Pembina County Memorial Hospital in Cavalier. From there I was transported to the cardiology department at Altru Hospital in Grand Forks. Being a former resident of the State of Florida I had no friends and very few social contacts in the area, who could come and get me. Needless to say I had to call someone to make the 165 mile round trip back to Cavalier to come and pick me up after being released by the hospital. No one from NRCS office bothered to call or offer assistance. Currently, I am still employed by the NRCS, but am on administrative leave and not allowed to be near USDA terminals or USDA property. This privileged group of federal employees in Cavalier and Area I, don’t want you to know what they do with our money. When they stand accused of misappropriating taxpayer money, they become bullies that hide behind the inertia of a 100,000 person bureaucracy. This behavior is not in keeping with the traditions of the USDA, and the United States of America. These people do not own, and were not elected to run this vital federal agency. That’s Valvo’s story. This is what happens to government employees for exposing fraud, waste and mismanagement. These actions are supposed to be protected by the No-Fear Act signed into law by President Bush. The No Fear Act requires that Federal agencies be more accountable for violations of anti-discrimination and whistleblower protection laws. Valvo went to lower and middle management to get redress of these issues before filing an OIG report. Paul Sweeney, state conservationist out of Bismarck was recently asked about the investigation and confirmed the reports of an OIG probe, but refused to comment on the subject. Valvo has Type II Diabetes and Hepatitis C, which he got from his former wife who is a primary caregiver. The reasons given to keep him out of the office by NRCS officials are that he is armed and dangerous, that the NRCS couldn’t provide “reasonable accommodation” for his diabetes and that he has a blood born illness. “I have asked the proper chain of command for help. Nothing so far,” he said. “I have used my best communication skills and best deportment to bring administrative change to these issues. I met with relentless retaliation.” What’s at the core of these issues with the NRCS is it doesn’t do anything to expedite the process of the construction that is often needed to implement conservation plans and does very little to see if the plans are actually carried out or verified. This is an important point because oftentimes agri-businesses firms are paid before actual verifications are performed.

 

Link to original:   http://wcrecord.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=314

The Washington Post: Finally Taking Note of the Defense Security Service (DSS) Disaster

Use this link to read article at the post and the comments following it:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/checkpoint-washington/2010/10/can_the_pentagon_keep_classifi.html

Here are comments posted about this story as of 10-10-10:

Comments

 

DSS has long being the dumping ground for “entitled” personnel in the DOD that needed to be pushed up (promoted) but were not considered for vital national security positions. Following a push to rid the organization of the “old guard” (former DOD intelligence and security males) the Clinton Administration pushed for and got more women in upper management positions and as new hires. The old system of hiring military veterans from the intel and security arena no longer applied.

Consequently after many mishaps with the new management personnel pushing out the legacy staff, DSS went though a series of Directors, all without a clue to the actual mission of the service. The name was changed on a whim from the Defense Investigative Service to the Defense Security Service or DSS, thereby forcing the DOS’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) to change their acronym.

The dual mission of the service was never understood by management and the Industrial Security side of the service which had 15% of the service assets and its mission to protect government classified information at contractor facilities were shunted aside for the larger Investigations side of the house.

Only later when after a series of new directors (and new senior staff, usually old friends brought in) came the realization that the investigative side of the service (3,000 agents) would be going to OPM and all that would remain was the 500 or so Industrial Security Representatives. A realization was also made that the number of 500 field representatives could not justify the extremely high amount of SES, GS-15, and GS-14 positions at the headquarters of DSS.

At that point the decision was made to hire more field representatives, but instead allowed transfers from the investigative side to the industrial side.

What was not understood was that the experienced representatives had been pressured to retire early leaving only inexperienced reps and with the influx of investigative agents into the industrial side, there was no one left with any experience.

Also not understood by DSS management was that the years it takes to train a field rep. The industrial reps required years as a physical security, information security, computer security, signals or electronic security, as well as an understanding of business structures and the impact of foreign owners.This requires years of experience (think experience in military service).

What Kathleen Watson inherited was a dysfunctional agency with an inexperienced middle management and unknowing senior management.

The field reps on hand were largely inexperienced and untrained. Coupled with a management with an attitude, security issues were not recognized nor addressed, and unfortunately in many instances, ignored or covered up.

My suggestion would be to go back to the pre70’s approach to have each user agency with classified at contractor locations do their own security assessment.

Posted by: dodavatar | October 5, 2010 10:10 PM |

 

forget about classfied information, where will they get money for pens and paperclips?

Posted by: beltwaybandit2 | October 6, 2010 1:41 PM  

 

RECOMMENDATION:  A few years ago, the military departments (Army, Navy, Air Force) expressed their concerns about the performance of Defense Security Service (DSS) and proposing the disestablishment of DSS and having the military departments assume the security oversight of the contractors.The USD(I) looked at the proposal and decided to continue security oversight with DSS and to maintain the status quo. At the time, the military departments were not specific in how they would implement the security oversight.Maintaining DSS is the focus of its senior management and not the mission to protect the classified.There needs to be some consideration again to disbanding DSS and having the military administer their classified in the hands of cleared defense contractors. This may be the best alternative if DSS does not return to their stated mission and re-establish their integrity. As a veteran, taxpayer, & concerned citizen, it is recommended that DSS be disestablished and the military departments assume the functions and responsibility for the National Industrial Security Program (NISP) for these reasons:
ABUSE OF POWER:Former agency Dir. Kathleen Watson and her subordinates have successfully rid the organization of knowledgeable personnel. Watson actively participated in the ugly treatment of employees in this process. Her Director of Field Operations, Richard Lawhorn conducted the purge with malice and forethought. He doles out promotions or creates “do little” positions to keep his select employees beholden or “loyal” to him. Long time industrial security field staff or field office chiefs/middle managers with experience were shut out from promotions. Lawhorn’s management selectees have less than 2 years experience with DSS or are from the ranks of the unemployed and are desperate for a job. Once employed or promoted these persons may be called upon to lie about someone targeted for removal. Then another such beholden or “loyal” employee will swear to the lie and is subsequently rewarded with an appointment to a position such as Field Office Chief, Regional Director, or Deputy of this or that created SES position. This orchestrated duplicity is how Lawhorn has ensured the loyalty of his management staff. They are loyal to him for the sake of job retention and not mission driven. This environment is ripe for DCIPS abuse and that has already been demonstrated.
DSS has a daunting task with over 12,000 CDCs in the NISP and 400 field personnel to implement the program. There are another 400+ HQ employees and managers that never set foot in the field. The agency has been understaffed for years and minimal efforts have been made to actively recruit let alone retain qualified candidates. This has become a national security vulnerability.DSS needs to return to its mission of protecting the warfighter by securing the classified and be lead by persons with ethics and integrity; OR it needs to be dissolved and the mission returned to the military departments.

Posted by: TracyVerdi | October 6, 2010 11:15 PM

 

I agree with much of what dodavatar said. There are a couple of additions and clarifications I wish to add.

The period of time I view as the era of PSI trying to co-opt the entire agency, roughly from the early 1990’s to the mid 2000’s (reference the A-76 Studies). Even before PSI was sent off en masse to OPM, there were problems. In some cases, PSI employees with no understanding of the importance of the Industrial Security Mission were put in place as Office Chief’s of combined PSI/ISP offices.

There appeared to be some insider good old boys thing going on with at least some of those office chiefs. From what I have learned, a lot of waste, fraud, abuse and just plain arrogant irresponsible actions were committed during that time by them.

PSI managers made a run for ISP program money, and took it at will at the local/regional office level. ISP employees were left with insufficient funds to meet the requirements of their stated official mission. ISP reps were not given what they needed to do their jobs, and then were beat up by managers for not doing their jobs. There are many compelling and quite horrifying stories that employees from those years can relate.

These ISP reps suffered at the hands of these unqualified office chiefs, who made up what they did not know about the National Industrial Security Program with bullying and empire building.

This went on for some time, and no one in upper agency management did anything to address the problems, seemingly because the good old boy network extended into upper management. Richard Lawhorn was in management at that time, and was fully a part of those shenanigans. Some of the others were forced out or allowed to retire, as the corrupt and destructive management behavior continued. Richard Lawhorn is still there; it appears to me he has built himself an empire which has allowed him to remain pulling the strings and manipulating the workplace for the field offices, while directors have come and gone.

Hiring people who have the prerequisite knowledge, skills, ability and the aptitude and attitude to continue to learn new information, develop new specialized skills and expertise is extremely important in the type work that DSS ISR’s must do if they are to fulfil their real mission, as defined by Executive Order 12829 and delegated by OSD. I do not agree that military experience is necessarily the key to being a competent and skillful ISR. DSS has hired former military into ISR and other positions, but that background is not a guarantee of ability to excell in performing challenging ISR responsibilities.

The reinvention effort of the 1990’s though not all negative, opened the doors to major problems,of increasing influence of contractors on the inspection and oversight roles of DIS/DSS employees. It appeared to this observer that there was a a lot of revolving door use between DSS and defense contractors as well. Quality training in DSS has ceased to exist.

Posted by: gfs2010 | October 7, 2010 1:57 AM

 

If anyone can contribute to real factual information about past and present waste, fraud, and abuse within Defense Security Service, or other DoD agencies, please comment at the Washington Post article site, or email me at this site or you may go to Project On Government Oversight (pogo.org), and anonymously leave a message there for Nick Schwellenbach.  Ongoing investigations will be aided by additional reports of information and additional investigations could be inspired.  I believe there are a lot of you out there, including retired or former DoD employees who know a lot about these problems.   Thanks, GFS

Obama Considers Clapper for Intel Position: More Corporate Influence, Less Oversight?

Here is some information on James R. Clapper.  I asked for people to send me information about Clapper, even before it was announced he was being considered for this position.   I received two such documents recently and am posting them here for all to consider.  Clapper, I am told is a very close personal contact to Kathleen M. Watson, Director of the troubled federal oversight agency, Defense Security Service (DSS).  I understand that due to the many problems and failures of mission, DSS was nearly disbanded a year or so ago, but due primarily to Clapper championing the ailing agency, was allowed to limp onward.  GFS

AP sources: Clapper leading choice for intel job

 By Kimberly Dozier And Julie Pace, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON — The White House’s leading candidate to replace Dennis Blair as national intelligence director is James R. Clapper, the Pentagon’s top intelligence official, current and former U.S. officials said Friday.

Two current officials said another candidate is Mike Vickers, the Pentagon’s assistant secretary for special operations. But a Defense Department official said Vickers has not been contacted for an interview. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because a replacement for Blair has not been announced.

Clapper currently is defense undersecretary for intelligence.

President Barack Obama was already talking to candidates for national intelligence director’s job before Blair resigned Thursday under pressure from the White House.

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president had spoken with a number of well-qualified candidates so he could have people ready in case he decided to make a change with the intelligence post. Gibbs wouldn’t comment on what candidates the president has spoken with, but said an announcement will come soon.

Blair resigned after a tumultuous 16-month tenure that critics say underscored the disorganization inside the Obama administration’s intelligence apparatus. A spate of high-profile attempted terror attacks that revealed new national security lapses has rocked the White House over the past six months.

Gibbs was publicly supportive of Blair Friday, commending him for increasing the government’s focus on counterterrorism and radicalization, particularly in Afghanistan and Southeast Asia. Still, he said the president believed it was time to make a change.

“There is probably no harder job in Washington, besides being president, than being director of national intelligence,” he said. “The president simply believed that it was time to transition to a different director.”

Blair is the third person to hold the director of national intelligence job, which is to oversee the nation’s 16 intelligence agencies. The post was created in response to the failure to prevent the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

But Blair’s tenure highlighted the flaws that still exist in coordinating intelligence. Following an attempted bombing aboard a plane on Christmas Day, a Senate Intelligence Committee found that the National Counterterrorism Center could have prevented the incident. As director of national intelligence, Blair oversaw the center.

Gibbs said the Intelligence Advisory Board, which advises the president on the effectiveness of the intelligence community, has made recommendations for possible changes to the structure of the director of national intelligence post.

Gibbs said Blair’s resignation will be effective next Friday. Deputy National Intelligence Director David Gompert will become acting director until a permanent replacement is named.

As the Pentagon’s new intelligence chief in 2007, Clapper recommended an end to the anti-terror database TALON that had been criticized for improperly storing information on peace activists and others whose actions posed no threat. Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved Clapper’s recommendation, the Pentagon said at the time.

From 2001 to 2006, Clapper was the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the agency that analyzes imagery taken from the skies to provide information on insurgencies, nuclear sites, terror camps and troop movements.

After the U.S. began the Iraq war, Clapper suggested to reporters in 2003 that Iraqi officials, perhaps working without the knowledge of Saddam Hussein, moved evidence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programs outside the country before the war started.

Before the war, Clapper’s outfit was one of several intelligence agencies that endorsed conclusions that Iraq was working on chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. His agency analyzed satellite photos.

“We certainly feel there were indications of WMD activity,” Clapper told reporters in October 2003.

Also on Clapper’s watch, the agency expanded its mission on some domestic matters. He said in 2006 the work the agency did after hurricanes Rita and Katrina was the best he had seen an intelligence agency do in his 42 years in the spy business.

Before working at the geospatial-intelligence agency, he was an executive at defense contracting firms such as Vredenburg; Booz Allen Hamilton; and SRA International.

He retired from the military in 1995 as a lieutenant general from the Air Force. His last military assignment was as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

___

Associated Press writers Anne Gearan and Christine Simmons contributed to this report 

 Link to Original:  http://www.usatoday.com/news/topstories/2010-05-21-3256013428_x.htm?POE=click-refer

 

Continuing Fraud, Waste and Abuse and Presidential Appointees

May2,2010

A reader sent this today after  I posted a number of other things this morning.  This reader understands why I have been unrelentingly posting concerns about some of President Obama’s political appointments.  We have a real mess on our hands that is getting worse, by appointment.  GFS

————————————————————————————————————

What’s happenin’?

G. Florence-

Remember when the State Department posted export violation cases and export enforcement actions for recently closed investigations and cases?  I guess all that is no longer important.  The current Boeing Company controlled government administration doesn’t consider such information relevant.

It appears that 2007 is the last State Department posted information.

Could this be the following individuals hard at work for Boeing and the defense industry?

-Jim Jones, President’s National Security Advisor (former Boeing Director Audit and Finance Committees)

-Jim McNerney, Chairman, President’s Export Advisory Council (Boeing Company Chairman)

-Eric Holder, Attorney General (orchestrator of the Department of Justice Deferred Non-Prosecution Agreement with Boeing)

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2007/October/07_nsd_807.html

Concerned Citizen

DoD Oversight: Mission Failure

The Center for Public Integrity posted an article (Nick Schwellenbach) in October of 2008, which  exemplifies the ongoing problems within DoD regarding failed policies and management that have contributed if not caused massive fraud waste and abuse to continue unabated in government contracting and in defense into the present. 

I have written previously about the elements that have contributed to this sorry state of affairs, including undermining of federal field personnel in a variety of ways including withholding necessary training and information, undermining of employees ability to do their oversight jobs by withholding funds for travel and other elements necessary to do their jobs, overloading employees with overwhelming case load assignments, and burying employees in nightmare statistical requirements, and reporting in duplicate and triplicate databases. 

Oversight employees also are selected by the problem management sometimes in strange and inappropriate ways.  Some are not well prepared to step in to the oversight roles they are hired to do.   Combining that with the apparent intent that management has of keeping them barefoot and pregnant, unable to do anything about what they may or may not recognize is wrong when they do go out on inspections and the lack of ongoing appropriate levels of technical training equals a giant trainweck.  Most of this all goes on beneath the public and media radar.  When an employee insists on trying to do the  job they were hired and often took an oath to do, they are targeted and every attempt is made to destroy their career and their lives. 

If someone were deliberately scheming and planning to bring oversight to a grinding halt, it could be no better orchestrated.  At the base of all of this is a multitude of compromised or corrupted managers, revolving door participants with screwed up loyalties, quid pro quo arrangements and what may be bribery in the way of the potential of a lucrative job after govenment service, with any one of  the many defense contractors supposedly overseen by our government employees and managers. 

Link to Center for Public Integrity Article: 

http://www.publicintegrity.org/blog/entry/896/