(Top Secret America) A hidden world, growing beyond control

[Elmore Furth]

Source: Washington Post

The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.

In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings - about 17 million square feet of space.

Much of the information about this mission is classified. That is the reason it is so difficult to gauge the success and identify the problems of Top Secret America, including whether money is being spent wisely. The U.S. intelligence budget is vast, publicly announced last year as $75 billion, 21/2 times the size it was on Sept. 10, 2001. But the figure doesn't include many military activities or domestic counterterrorism programs.

Nine days after the attacks, Congress committed $40 billion beyond what was in the federal budget to fortify domestic defenses and to launch a global offensive against al-Qaeda. It followed that up with an additional $36.5 billion in 2002 and $44 billion in 2003. That was only a beginning.

Read more: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/a-hidden-world-growing-beyond-control/

---

"Top Secret America" is a Washington Post project over the past two years in the making that describes the huge national security buildup in the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks involving over a dozen journalists.

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/

[xchrom]

1. You can bet the redundancies are a mile wide

And a mile deep.

[babylonsister]

2. This is going to be big once writers and talking heads get

their claws into it. :popcorn:

[Joe Bacon]

11. Lying Fred Hiatt of the Post will cover up for Bush

That liar always spins everything on the Post Editorial page for the Republicans. He's the American equivalent of Yevetschenko kissing Soviet Politburo ass.

[SpiralHawk]

3. "Smirk." - xCommander AWOL & Republicon Cronies

[SpiralHawk]

4. "Sneer." - xVP Dickie 'Five-Military-Deferments' Cheney & Republicon Cronies

[saigon68]

135. What a scum bag this turd is

[superconnected]

137. Yes but you futher the agenda by being against transparency.

Our military is the people we should fear most, let alone the vast number of people they've killed that they don't want exposed for. The secret government goes right into our military.

[saigon68]

142. WTF?

you'll get no argument from me there

[superconnected]

143. I think I mixed you up with cowman because of the avatar.

Sorry.

[saigon68]

144. Yes troll is a pest and I sometimes wonder

Why he/she/it is here

:-), :-)

[Blandocyte]

5. Spies to spy on the spies, and on the spies' spies

And then there are the double double agents who make you think they're working for you but they're working for someone else, but they actually are working for you under the cover of working for someone else, and let you think they might be working for someone else just in case you are in fact working for that same someone else, all the while they are really working for yet another person.

Oh, we are gonna need way more secret buildings!

:evilgrin:

[PacerLJ35]

129. Not everybody with a clearance is a spy...rather, it's the other way around

I'd estimate that 90% of the people with a TS either rarely use the privilege or use it for routine work-related stuff not involved with spying.

[Blue_Tires]

6. i'm sure we'll see the teabag deficit hawks jump right on this one...

:sarcasm:

[SammyWinstonJack]

61. ...

:evilgrin:

[mwb970]

7. The overreaction here to 9/11 has been just amazing.

Imagine if other countries went insane every time they were attacked.

When there was no news at all broadcast on any TV or radio channel about anything other than 9/11 for weeks and weeks and weeks after the event, I knew that the nation had somehow lost its mind following this event. And it still goes on today! The cheney/bush maladministration used our overwhelming, crippling fear to invade two countries. And we're still stuck in both of them today!

The grotesque American overreaction to 9/11 is of a piece with the "all fear and hate, all the time" mindset that today's dim-witted conservatives are beset with. I have never seen such a large group of deathly scared, bedwetting children in all my life. Of course, it's not just terrorists that they are afraid of. They are so terrified of our President Obama that they can barely speak coherently.

"Home of the brave"? Hah! This is the home of the pathologically terrified.

[Jkid]

10. And they have embraced this culture of fear.

It's really all about control.

[gateley]

104. Agree - My brother asked me if I thought 'they' were involved in 9/11.

I said 'no', but I bet they were licking their chops and rubbing their hands together anticipating how they could USE this to further their agendas. (By 'they' I mean Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld -- especially Cheney and Rumsfeld.)

[defendandprotect]

106. Have you rethought that question . . . ???

[gateley]

108. Oh, about the involvement w/ 9/11?

Listened to both sides of the argument and as always, both sides gave good explanations (like the landing on the moon), but I always tend to think more people involved would be talking about it since people can't seem to keep their mouths shut. So that's where I am. I don't have a vested interest in either 'truth' though. The harm to our country has been done (by Bushco far more than by Al Q) and I'm more concerned about trying to heal rather than trying to prove someone's involvement.

[defendandprotect]

117. There really can't be healing over something like 9/11 . . .

unless you have the truth of it --

That's why so many other nations have resorted to TRUTH hearings -- they understand

that is the only way to heal.

That was the problem with the '63 coup on JFK -- it was a very powerful coup on a

"people's" government, of course. Many were eliminated then for trying to find the truth.

However, many private investigators were successful and we do have much of that truth.

NOT in the sense of being able to bring it forward, but in understanding what went down.

Who was involved. There's a very interesting movie made a long time ago --

it's called "Executive Action" -- Burt Landcaster, Robert Ryan -- Amazon.com has it --

Tbey used to show it on TV quite often but not lately. There's another movie by that

name now -- they didn't used to permit that.

There is only one way the right wing can rise and that's via political violence -- that's

always been true and it's true now.

When Cheney said that "the right wing creates the reality . . . " and the rest of us live it,

you should take that literally. Pretty much all of the right wing movement is faked.

From the GOP fascist rally to stop the vote counting in Miami-Dade county -- to the computers

we vote on --

US/CIA created the Taliban/Al Qaeda and used it to "bait the Russians into Afghanistan . . . in

hopes of giving them a Vietnam type experience." This was financed thru ISI/Pakistan and US

was financing Taliban/Al Qaeda up to 9/11.

We've created/written, printed, violent Islamic textbooks and shipped them into the Middle East

-- the very textbooks we heard so much about on American TV.

GOP gave start up funding for the Christian Coalition in the 1980's --

Richard Scaife financed Dobson's organization and other wealthy financed Bauer's organization.

T-baggers are GOP astroturf -- financed by right wing -- under control of a PR firm --

[gateley]

124. I don't disagree with anything you say -- and in fact agree with most of it. nt

[defendandprotect]

131. Good for you . . . you might also be interested . . .

in knowing that the CIA -- which took money from any right wing sources, including

the KKK, Nazis, and John Birchers -- financed the campaigns/careers of various rw members

of Congress -- two named were Sen. Strom Thurmond and Rep. Gerry Ford. There were others

but they were only names given. Sen. Jesse Helms and Pat Buchanan also got CIA money/funding.


Further, CIA budget money was also frequently hidden in our Federal public school budgets --

as much as 50% of the public school budget! That would have been during the time when

Repugs were saying that we were "throwing money at the public schools" hoping to improve them!

[superconnected]

138. You understand the 911 report concluded that Rice - then secretary of defense told bush about

911 before hand and it came down to him having the file in his hand and *supposedly* not reading it, that caused 911 not to be stopped?

Do you know how much bushco stood to gain by not stopping 911? - hundreds of BILLIONS. You realize that the Carlyle group which Bush Senior worked for stood to gain billions with United Defense contracts in Iraq, and that Bush campaigned at a United Defense plant in America, and that that Dick Cheney was CEO of Haliburton who still is one of the highest recipients of billions in war contracts? Do you know the history of Republicans starting wars and that they are known for giving out big war contracts during their tenures?

Really, you should rethink this. Follow the money. Who gained from 911 - War Contracts (the defense companies) and Bushco - who had it's hands in those no-bid contracts.

When there's billions on the table, there are no accidents.



Here's a nice picture. It's someone jumping off one of the 911 towers. But then whenever I even see pictures of people hanging off of them, I remember the term, "Never Forget", and know that's blood on Bushes hands. He caused that.

And someday after looking at it more closely you may come to the same realization.

[Bonhomme Richard]

12. "home of the pathologically terrified"

+1000

[izquierdista]

14. Well, at least we're still "Land of the free"

Er, maybe not.

[truedelphi]

44. Yet another reason to move to Canada.

Less crime up there, fewer berserk maniacs and much less imprisonment of people.

[defendandprotect]

56. Agree . . . for the moment . . .

but you have to notice that what's falling on us whether economic destruction or

destruction of safety nets and domestic programs -- or the militarization of our police

enforcement -- and tons of other stuff - has either long ago been done to other countries

or is moving along at a fair pace!!

Elites are united -- always have been -- until they kill onea nother off --

It's only citizens who are not united --

[truedelphi]

73. The United States did some really nasty things, economic-wise to Canada

During the thirties. When I last lived there in the seventies, everyone I talked to knew of these things, as they had been taught about them in their hsitory books.

So I hope they will remain wise to what is good for them and what is bad for them.

But many nations don't realize what to avoid until it is too late to avoid it.

[defendandprotect]

103. Interesting .....

I'm not aware of that history but have no doubts it would have happened --

Nice people generally the Canadians - and agree with you -- certainly US is a threat to them.

The elites who are organized to do these things -- and capitalism itself -- present long-

standing patterns of attack -- much of it is repetitive.

When will we ALL wake up to it -- ??

:)

[ronnie624]

31. The overreaction was calculated and promoted by government and corporate propaganda.

It's part of the Shock Doctrine; the privatization and corporatization of the federal government, which happened with a vengeance following 9/11, and with no scrutiny whatsoever.

[RufusTFirefly]

38. +10000

Bingo. The notion that this is some sort of clumsy, well-meaning over-reaction to a very real threat is just ludicrous.

These folks know exactly that they're doing: using fear as a tool to manipulate and subdue the public and undermine what's left of our democracy.

Frankly, I call that "terrorism."

[HCE SuiGeneris]

46. Adding my +10,000 as well. n/t

[Auggie]

74. Mine too: +10,000

Privatization is happening at the local level as well. The City of San Jose can't afford to employ janitors anymore -- it's cheaper to hire out to private firms who do not have to provide health insurance or pensions.

[L0oniX]

78. They wanted to do this for a long time. 911 was a gift to them.

Fear this ...fear that ...control the stupid masses. I fear the other drivers ...not some fucking terrorists.

[Hydra]

84. If by gift

You mean, invited in with open arms and every security hole we could manage, then yes.

[defendandprotect]

107. +10000% --

MIHOP


I'm coming to think that too many Americans have their BS-meters set too long???

[superconnected]

139. And the trillions spent in war contracts. 911 is the gift that keeps on giving.

[harun]

92. +1, they were ready to act.

[defendandprotect]

105. [phone]% --

The overt act of a coup on JFK in '63 was also a taking over of our people's government --

the right wing can only rise via political violence -- and we've had pretty much 50 years of

right wing political violence in America -- in the open.

:)

[ooglymoogly]

42. The over reaction, in the wrong direction,

is what is amazing.

We are sailing under an ill wind to the edge of the earth; Who's parameters are defined by pugs; Pugs who haven't a care for the carnage and human suffering they cause under a flag of the basest greed for money and power.

9/11, conveniently gave Republicans license to completely destroy any shred of democracy left in this country after Reagan began its demise; And something they have been trying to, in far more malignant ways, since Reagan.

Corporate fascism, already well under way, is its only course and its only outcome.

There have been strong men who have; And who have attempted, to correct course throughout our history; Who have rose through impossible odds to stop them; Some executed in cold blood; some executed by a complicit corporate press and some, like FDR, who simply outwitted them but with the populous on his side.

Now with all seats of government in pug hands, or pug supported hands; It is hard to see a true, strong Democrat of the people, capable of outwitting them, getting through the pug firing squad that is the "MSM".

[LiberalLovinLug]

65. "They are so terrified of our President Obama"

Its almost as if, to those Baggers, Beckians and others living in the home of the scared, its like after 9/11 one of the terrorists responsible somehow connived his way into the Presidency!

Seriously, if you asked one of those Teabaggers at a rally if they believed this, I bet you'd get a good many of them agreeing with that absurd surreal fantasy.

[defendandprotect]

102. BIG reaction . . . very small investigation . . .

MIHOP --

[northernlights]

121. +1000 nt

[MilesColtrane]

8. Bush's failure to heed the warnings of the existing intelligence community got Americans killed.

His solution to expand and it and cover it with an enormous bureaucracy simply insures that the next president will receive no warning at all.

[Xenotime]

26. Failure or incompetence.

[defendandprotect]

109. ... or purposeful "Operation Ignore" --

Almost every nation on the planet was warning us for six months and more --

the question is really: "How could they not have known?"

The Russians were so concerned about the White House and our intelligence agencies

ignoring the warnings that they went to the United Nationas Security Council with their

information -- and in turn the United Nations also sent representatives to the White

House and to our intelligence agencies to repeat those warnings -- this was in August ...

just before the attacks.

[No Elephants]

28. Reality: Presidents from Reagan, maybe Carter, failed us when it came

to protecting from terrorism. I say "maybe Carter" because maybe enough of a pattern had not become evident before his term ended. For one thing, air and ocean travel should have been much more tightly controlled, including securing pilots' cabins.

[Yeahyeah]

9. How much do they spend on internet disinformationists?

[pattmarty]

13. Well, we cut ALL of this wasteful shit out of the budget and we just.......

.............solved the problem of SS & Medicare AND half of the deficit. Now, just cut a measly 50% from the "defense" budget and deficit problem completely solved. No more need for "Obama's (useless) Cat Food commission".

[PSPS]

15. "domestic counterterrorism programs"

Much of the information about this mission is classified. That is the reason it is so difficult to gauge the success and identify the problems of Top Secret America, including whether money is being spent wisely. The U.S. intelligence budget is vast, publicly announced last year as $75 billion, 2 1/2 times the size it was on Sept. 10, 2001. But the figure doesn't include many military activities or domestic counterterrorism programs.

"domestic counterterrorism programs" is code for illegal wiretapping, reading everyone's email, monitoring everyone's internet traffic and other means of wholesale privacy invasion.

[glitch]

20. COINTELPRO for a New American Century. Yep, it's legal again. nt

[scentopine]

16. Another too big to fail institution designed to fuck over Americans in the name of "freedom" -nt

[Doctor_J]

17. Another reason to believe LIHOP

it came at a time when they were planning to ramp up the fascism anyway, with a Repuke control of the WH and both houses on Congress. 9/11 greased the skids.

[Delphinus]

18. Very interesting.

Can't wait to read what else is in the series.

Hope it wakes some of the people up.

[Laughing Mirror]

19. The U.S.S.R. at last !

Mammoth piles, useless, wasteful, in short, a huge sham and scam.

[DirkGently]

21. This is the simple answer to the "deficit hawks" claiming we

can't protect the unemployed with 1 / kabillionth of the money being spent for the creepy new Miltary Intelligence Complex. THIS spending will literally crater our economy, and it is a planet compared to the grain of sand of social programs. We will never be rid of these wars as long as we base this much of our enconomy on the business of spying and killing.

[Javaman]

22. It's never been about "protecting us". it's always been about making money.

and ways to hide it.

just think of the layer upon layer of red tape, then think about the vanishing pallet loads of money.

Accident? yes, a willful accident.

project big brother is a success.

Welcome to the new corporate democracy. Sponsored by your favorite brand of whatever.

This nation ended on sometime back in the 1970's but the execution of the plan didn't take place until 9/11.

[Bragi]

23. This is part of the tragedy of 9/12

The real catastrophe wasn't 9/11, it was America's (and Americans') reaction to it.

[The Stranger]

24. Let us review:

The Power of Nightmares (BBC)

[davepc]

25. You'd think Repblicans would be all over this massive inefficient boondoggle of government waste

But I'm sure we wont hear nary a peep out of them. 'Big goverment' is only bad when it's not DoD.

[Hawkowl]

27. We resemble USSR more each day

With our vast corrupt economy controlled by a few bloated oligarchs and our futile money pit of imperialism in the middle east. We have the gulag system imprisoning more people than any other country in the world. Now we have the biggest oxymoron, errr, intelligence system, ever created to spy mainly on our own people.

We can only hope that we devolve as well as the USSR did. Maybe we will split into a couple of groups of red states and blue states. Coasts vs the interior and the south?

One thing is certain, our political union will not remain the same in the next decade or two. The constitution of the government will be changed-for better or worse.

[liberation]

35. No we don't....

Why the need for faulty analogies?

Cronyism and pro-corporate stances are integral parts of the American character as a nation from day 1. Just because we managed to be a rather wealthy through the majority of our history, it does not mean that things like corruption or abuses of power are anything new to our country, all the contrary. We're just much better at marketing than basically any other country/society out there.

[Hawkowl]

48. I'm not saying it's anything new

The country was built on slavery, genocide of the native Americans, and cheap immigrant labor. I'm saying all good things come to an end, and then end to our political/economic system is nigh.

The technological advances in marketing are butting up against the technological advances in communication, i.e; the internet, cell phones, spy satellites etc. It is hard to maintain the "marketing" if you can not monopolize the transmission of disinformation.

Also, it IS worse now. Never before has the majority of the wealth been concentrated in such a small percentage of the population. We are also setting records in the duration of military conflicts. We are following the trajectory of empires before us--grow or die.

This is unstable, so the country either tightens up into hard right clamp down like Nazi Germany (complete with demonizing liberals and Mexicans) or peacefully reorganizes like the USSR.

[liberation]

85. I disagree... it is not "worse now" it is same as it ever was

There were similar wealth disparities during most of the XX century, and during the gilded age the disparities were even worse. In fact during the first century of our history as a nation... there were even worse social disparities since poor white males were fairly removed from voting, women were basically 2nd class citizens for most of our history, and blacks were slaves and even when they were freed they ended up as 3rd class citizens (and in some cases, minorities still get the short end of the stick to this day... i.e. homosexuals to this day still have to pay the same taxes and yet do not get the same rights simply due to their sexual orientation).

It really fucking sucks, no question about it... but "worse than ever" no, not at all. We need to stop pretending we were a country which never was.

[defendandprotect]

110. Agree . . . and US certainly was involved in the dreadful circumstances in Russia post-

the wall coming down --

We pretty much turned it over to the Mafia --

Many things could could have been done to assist them --

Overall we are much too trusting of elites and capitalism --

and keep wondering when the public is going to wake up to all of that???

[Richard Steele]

95. The old USSR was NEVER this slickly efficient. Our hideous propaganda state sets a new standard.

They took the successes of the Nazis and the Stalinists,
and built them into a 'World Power' so completely mindfucked
that neither Orwell nor Bradbury's wildest fantasies came close
to how bad it actually is today.

The average US citizen has more access to information
than anyone in history, and is more out of touch with reality
than almost anyone else on the planet.

[liberation]

125. So maybe it was Huxley who was right all along and not Orwell

Although it seems like it is a mixture of both. Interesting and fascinating.

[Karenina]

29. What took so long?

:shrug:

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/19/tim_shorrock_asks_why_it_took

[ronnie624]

30. Ah, here it is,

on page 4, the primary reason for the existence of Top Secret America:

Liberty Crossing is at the center of the collection of U.S. government agencies and corporate contractors that mushroomed after the 2001 attacks. But it is not nearly the biggest, the most costly or even the most secretive part of the 9/11 enterprise.

[DirkGently]

32. This is the answer to the "deficit hawks" and the

"out-of-control government spending" squawkers trying to strangle everything from unemployment benefits to SS and Medicare on, once again, the theory we can't afford it. Buuuuut ... we CAN afford 3,100 agencies spending untold TRILLIONS on boondoggling anti-terrorism hyteria? We CAN afford to provide military bases and weaponry to all of Europe, the Middle East (plus Israel) and Asia?

This is an opportunity for President Obama and the administration to not only point out the insane hypocrisy of the right on these issues (although note, Democrats cooperated in much of this) but also to connect with whatever number of honest "Tea partiers" there may be out there. They trot out this deficit cutting crap only when it applies to help the non-rich. How hard is it to call them on it. Push the numbers. Make a graph. Go on television, Mr. President, and show the American people the exact size and location of the giant hole their tax money is going into.

This is a golden opportunity. I hope the administration doesn't waste it with bold talk and no action. Enough all fucking ready.

[demoleft]

33. Washington Post exposes US 'intelligence flaws'

Source: bbc

The US secret intelligence gathering systems have grown so much since 9/11 that no-one knows their exact cost, nor size, the Washington Post reports.

The newspaper says the system is now so massive and unwieldy that it is impossible to determine its effectiveness in keeping the US safe.

The report, Top Secret America, follows a two-year investigation by the paper.

Acting US intelligence chief David C Gompert has dismissed the picture painted by the report as inaccurate.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10681861

---

the link:
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/

al jazeera:

"The report shows that the intelligence bureaucracy in the US has become "so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programmes exist within it, or exactly how many agencies do the same work".

Billions of dollars were pumped into counter-terrorism and other intelligence work following the September 11 attacks, but because of the clandestine nature of the agencies involved, until now it has not been clear how the money was being spent.


John Vines, a retired army lieutenant-general who was tasked last year with reviewing the Pentagon's top secret programmes, said the "complexity of this system defies description".

Vines said in an interview with the Post, he was "not aware of any agency with the authority, responsibility or a process in place to co-ordinate all these interagency and commercial activities"."

source: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/07/2010719147325889.html

[SpiralHawk]

34. OK -- BBC echoes WP

dishing a dash 'O dirt on the occult RepubliCorp Facist Intelli-Borg.

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE (RepubliSlogan TM)

[SoapBox]

36. Another part of the ugly BushCo. stain that is left on America...

The haters plus the fear and war mongers love this kind of shit.

Time to take control back...and make security a serious issue instead of one
used just to build bombs and crap that our military does not want.

[orbitalman]

37. Based on "their beyond control," I doubt they even know what they've got...

the majority of the time. How does that make anyone safer?

[Solly Mack]

39. k/r

[Hulk]

40. Thank you OBL....

His attack really did accomplish his mission.

[Rex]

45. Exactly what I was thinking, he really is/was a mastermind.

Dam his soul to Hell.

[Hydra]

86. We'll never know if it was really him

Reports shortly after (within a week) showed some of the hijackers alive, on the other side of the world, going "Huh?"

[defendandprotect]

111. Unlikely . . .

[EmeraldCityGrl]

118. He's laughing his ass off where ever he is. n/t

[truedelphi]

41. Among my email today was one forwarded

by environmental group about the fact that the "full body" scanners issue a very high dose of radiation. This is due to the fact that often the radiation is not dispersed evenly but settles on some areas of the skin more fully than others.

I have no intention of ever flying again. No matter what.

[CabalPowered]

52. I've been thinking about this lately. Anyon know..

If you can decline the scanner and request a pat-down or some other alternative?

[HipChick]

82. yes..

[Rex]

43. Oh, so this is why we can't pay unemployment benefits. Well then

I guess Osama Bin Laden won. To bad our side let him. Welcome to the HOMELAND(tm). Once Land of the Free(tm)...can I see your papers please?

[defendandprotect]

112. Well . . .

It's more than unlikely that OBL had anything to do with 9/11 --

however, there is purposeful destruction by elites of our population --

beginning long ago with the weakest among us by the Reagan Admin. upon the disabled --

and continuing along now to create unemployment -- AFTER destroying the safety nets.

It also can't be ignored that Democratic presidents have been involved -- even more

lately. Clinton, destruction of 60 years of Welfare Guarantees -- with a nod from Gore

to go ahead and do it. And the Trade Agreements which have brought such destruction

in sucking jobs out of US. And now even more attacks on the unemployed --

Social Security and Medicare --

The shock and awe is so overwhelming from the Gulf that I haven't even heard Olberman

or Maddow or Schultz even mention the Cat Food Commission!

[smiley]

47. so much for less government

... gotta stay safe from those Terrists though!
:grr:


19 arabs with boxcutters my ass
:grr:

[SammyWinstonJack]

60. +1. nt

[OnyxCollie]

49. K&R. nt

[freebrew]

50. $9 billion missing from Iraq.

Paying for the secret government? Run by Cheney and cohorts? Does Obama even know who is running this secret government?

[walldude]

79. Pentagon has 2 Trillion unaccounted for...

Nobody seems to be looking for it either...

[katty]

51. it's been like this since the mid 1950's-now, it's way worse

[greiner3]

53. Plausable deniabilty;

'Nough said.

[Hissyspit]

54. Caller to 'Talk Of The Nation' today said to Dana Priest on the NPR show

that she, the caller, is an employee of one of these companies and the company put out an internal memo telling employees they should NOT READ the article.

[fasttense]

120. The best way to sell your book is to get it banned

So, I'm sure this directive from Top Secret Corporate Thieves will be totally ignored and only encourage employees to read the article.

When I was in the Navy, a book came out about the Chief of Naval Operations. We were told not to read it. Of course I immediately went out and bought a copy. It really wasn't all that scandalous. If the government bureaucrats had kept their mouths shut, the book would never have made it to the bestseller's list.

[defendandprotect]

55. .... and all under the control of right wingers . . .

whether legitimately paranoid or simply every day nuts, it only portends harm

for democracy and American citizens -- !!

We have already long had secret government --

In fact, Eisenhower didn't simply just call it the Military Industrial Complex . .

he called it the Military Industrial Intelligence Complex originally -- and it was

removed from his speech and he put it back in -- and it was removed again!

We've had US intelligence betraying our presidents since at least then!!

[Smashcut]

57. I'm reminded of how Tony Kushner described the country in "Angels in America"

Terminal, crazy and mean.

[defendandprotect]

59. That's what happens when the right wing rises and takes control of your country . . .!!

And, there is only one way the right wing can rise . . . and that's thru political

violence -- and we've had 50 years of that -- out in the open!

[defendandprotect]

58. K&R -- And keep in mind this also requires secret funding . . . .

For decades we didn't know what the funding for the CIA was -- still don't!

In fact, evidently at times they hid money for the CIA in school budgets . . .

and then complained about how much money we were "throwing at the schools" -- !!!

[Brickbat]

62. This should be a national embarrassment. In any case, it's a goddamn shame. This is what deficit

hawks should be screaming about, not unemployment.

[bvar22]

63. Big Brother is alive and well,

AND very, very RICH.
He has some fancy new digs in Washington, DC.

[jaksavage]

64. Reading, Legacy of Ashes

History of the CIA. This is just a continuation of the confusion and turf battles that began in 1945. The more I find out the more I believe we should abolish the CIA.

[sam sarrha]

66. back in the good ol days, they just sold stinger missiles to Iran, took that money, bought guns,

traded em for drugs that caused incurable horrific addiction for life and had columbian and mexican contractors sell it in our streets to the poor and minorities.. no problem.

Capitalism at it's best...

[KansDem]

67. A side note...

I've wondered from time to time if these secret, intelligence-gathering agencies are performing spy assignments on corporations for other corporations.

We know Uncle Sam is spying on his average citizens (all in the name of fighting "terrorism," of course), but imagine if a well-connected corporation wanted to spy on its competition. Might be a single call to someone inside the government could set up wire-taps on the phones of that corporation.

We might be witnessing espionage wars between two rival CEOs...

[HipChick]

83. It already happens..all the time..all you have to do is poach the other company employees..

I'm back to working for my former corporation...after working for their competitor, they have a dept that does competitive analysis of companies in the same market space...they have request to talk to me twice..I've declined

[Better Believe It]

68. K & R

[BlueMTexpat]

69. Why on earth did the WaPo wait until the last two years to begin

working on such a project? Real intimidation, perhaps? Fear of Darth?

Better late than never, I guess.

But you can bet your bottom dollar that, had a Republican been elected to the WH in 2008, this story would never have been published.

[hourglass1]

70. Keep Us Safe Big Brother

here ... take my social security account money ... give it to the private/gov'ment security complex to keep me, my family and my neighbors safe, cause we are really scared of all the many, many terrorists under our beds and oh, those really scary black panthers, both of them ... we don't care or need to know who, what, where, why, when or how much ... just keep us safe cause we are scared ...

do it now, before the wall street banksters crash our economy again and get our SSI to 'secure' our economy ...

[Ezlivin]

71. I've seen things you people wouldn't believe

Underground bases built into the side of mountains, abandoned.

Tunnel complexes linking underground bases. Also abandoned.

Hangers full of WWII equipment (hundreds of Jeeps parked bumper-to-bumper). Sealed-up and forgotten jet-engine testing laboratories.

That was just on one base during my time in the service. Our military has built incredible infrastructure, much of it out of the sight of the civilian population. Sadly a lot of it is sealed up and unused.

On Sept. 10, 2001, Donald Rumsfeld announced that the Pentagon had lost track of $2.3 trillion dollars (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kpWqdPMjmo). The next day an aircraft slammed into the accounting division of the Pentagon, the very place responsible for tracking that money.

[gateley]

80. Wow. Almost spooky. And infuriating. nt

[Politicalboi]

94. With 40 minutes to defend themselves

But did NOTHING. That's believable isn't it? And the only video we saw was blurry and there was only one with the hundreds if not thousands of camera's at the Pentagon. Simply Amazing. But anyone who tries to speak out gets the "your a nut" treatment. Even here at DU.

[defendandprotect]

114. Americans are still too trusting --

of their government and too many have their BS meters set way too low!

No plane hit the Pentagon -- and one of the NORAD officials sent a pilot up immediately

to fly over the Pentagon to see what happened -- he reported "No plane hit the Pentagon."

The journalist from CNN who had been outside the Pentagon pre the "hit" also reports . . .

"No planet hit the Pentagon" . . .

Later that day he was obviously forced to retrace his entire story and video report!!

Interesting that CNN hires a journalist who can't be trusted to do their job -!!

[defendandprotect]

113. Anyone who pays attention . . .

has sadly heard those thigns before --

Loved McKinney being after Rumsfeld and the money -- no one lately, tho!

9/11 MIHOP --

[windowpilot]

123. Do you have proof

that it was an aircraft that slammed into the pentagon? Because if you do, you'd be the first. MIHOP

[Ezlivin]

126. The term "aircraft" covers many different types of airborne vehicles

For instance, a helicopter is considered a rotary-wing aircraft.

In discussing the Pentagon on 9/11 I purposely eschew the term "airplane".

[windowpilot]

127. The term proof means evidence!

Do you have evidence of any TYPES of airborne vehicles? MIHOP

[PacerLJ35]

130. The bases I've been assigned to don't have things like that

During the 1950s and 60s we did build a lot of tunnels and such in anticipation of a nuke war. Since then, we've closed those facilities or consolidated because the threat of a nuke war is fairly low.

Your post seems to indicate that military bases are just chock full of secret facilities...the truth is the reality is the opposite.

[Turbineguy]

72. This is exactly what

Osama bin Laden wants us to do.

Save him the work.

[L0oniX]

77. Indeed ...self destruction.

[nashville_brook]

75. kickety

[L0oniX]

76. Wow ...a few hundred disgruntled opium farmers got us to spend all that money.

Imagine that. Who's winning the war? Not us!

[Vattel]

81. The power of the executive branch is out of control.

At some point maybe Congress will grow some and clip the executive branch's wings, but I won't hold my breath.

[sulphurdunn]

87. Private contractors, untraceable public money,

no system for accountability, ever increasing budgets. It's a Bush Crime Family's wet dream, and I am certain they are heavily vested in it.

[BeHereNow]

88. DING DING DING! We have a winner.

That is precisely what is going on.
Massive transfers of wealth to private hands in the name
of "National Security" and "National Interests..."

Problem is, these multi-natonal thugs have alliance to no country,
therefore, someone please explain how their pillaging is in our "national interest..."

BHN

[earcandle]

89. The idea that no one can follow the money is an outright lie. We have laws, rules, and a budget and

to operate in secret is unconstitutional.

Furthermore, someone is writing those checks to build those
buildings and pay salaries and we have a right to know how our
money is being spent.  This is an issue because we now have a
right to audit the Federal Reserve.

Oh.. one more thing.  This did NOT start after 911, but has
been going on since Reagan.  

We'll see what shows up in the audit of our money.

If we cannot audit then our money is not being used, but then
these are private institutions operating in our name which is
fraud.

Come on guys and gals, don't be gullible.  THis is the press
trying to put a spin on a newly discovered illegal use of our
money that needs to be paying us for services and
infrastructure.  After all, 911 was a ploy generated by Bush
and Cheney.  We must stop them milking us forever for their
crimes.  

give me a break.  

[BeHereNow]

93. 24 Billion went missing under Paul Bremer in Iraq-

So far, no one has been able to account for it.
And yes it is fraud and has been going on for decades.
BHN

[defendandprotect]

115. Intelligence budgets are kept secret ... that's why we had no idea what CIA budget was . . .

AND, btw, money for the CIA was often included in budgets for public education --

sometimes as much as 50% of the Federal school budget!!


Also, after the death of Bill Buckley/CIA some memos came floating out which make clear

that the CIA -- which took money from any right wing sources including the KKK, Nazis and

John Birchers -- was funding the campaigns of right wing members of Congress.

Two who were mentioned were Sen. Strom Thurmond and Rep. Gerry Ford. There were others

whose names I'm not familiar with. Further, Sen. Jesse Helms and Pat Buchanan also got

money from the CIA.

give me a break -- !!

[sulphurdunn]

122. On 9/10/2001 Donald Rumsfeld

gave a press briefing in which he admitted that the Pentagon could not account for how it had spent $2.3 trillion and promised an investigation. After 9/11 that never happened and the Pentagon budget has since doubled.

[I saw Roy Buchanan]

90. Halliburton meets Madison Avenue

They get cost-plus 15-percent. We get war with Iran or New Orleans or whoever they want to sell.

[Politicalboi]

91. All of this for an

Inside job? I wonder if they ever recovered the 2.3 Trillion dollars that went missing on 09/10/01. What a bunch of horse shit. And today we are still paying the price. All these precautions, but NO ONE protected the Pentagon or D.C on 9/11 even though they had almost 40 minutes to do so. My mind will never change about 9/11. NEVER.

[tex-wyo-dem]

96. Seems the "war on terror" has been very lucrative for some folks...

An unexpected side effect, I'm sure :sarcasm:

[mdmc]

97. r

[peacetalksforall]

98. It is tragic. The arrogant invader country paranoid about security. When we find out

what's going on we'll find out it's all about control through knowledge and the Poindexter databases will show that there are 111,000 Howard K. Johnsons and a glitch in the system to show they live on Shady Lane in Charleston. And all of them are conspiring against the government of Tuva on behalf of the Phoenicians.

I can wish.

This is all about the control of us. Talk about the energy it takes to keep it all running.

[earcandle]

99. the path of least resistance is to use language to get our needs met, to heal all wounds and to

wound all heels.

Lets organize rhythmically and non verbally.... and make an
impact however we can. 

[earcandle]

100. the number of us with jobs have the greatest impact.... but they are so scared of being where we

are.. without jobs.  how do we win them over? 

[earcandle]

101. btw, as a contractor, I choose who I work for... maybe you can be a contractor too?

Forget the "job"?  Be independent.  Invent something
that is wanted and needed and start selling at a reasonable
price to your fellow man.  Then we re-invent America from the
bottom up, again.  

[defendandprotect]

119. Very true . . .

and I think most people's BS meters have to be set much higher!

Elites/corporations are united in every way possible - up/down/sideways - hierarchies of power.

Americans have to unite -- unless we do nothing is going to happen --

and the longer we wait the harder it is going to be--

:)

[Shining Jack]

116. K&R

[PacerLJ35]

128. I read this article and honestly it makes me yawn

Hmmmm...truth be told it's not as sexy as it sounds in the article. Having a clearance doesn't mean you now get to sit in and listen to your neighbors phone conversations or watch Bob across the street drive to work from a satellite feed. Clearances are issued for very specific reasons and the term "need to know" has an important place...you only access what you need to get your job done. And most of the stuff isn't really that exciting, to be honest. It's 100% work-related stuff that we don't want other people to know...it's not scandalous, nor is it evil. It's about keeping our capabilities unknown so our enemies won't easily develop a counter to them. It's about keeping what we know about our enemies quiet so they don't know we may or may not be on to them. That's the over-arching reasons for clearances. Not to hide back-room deals or other nefarious things.

I'm in Little Rock and it lists Jacksonville as having four agencies with TS clearance holders...two government and two corporations. Little do these morons know, that the two government agencies are the USAF and ARANG...and the corporations are companies involved with training pilots and aircrew. It's not some evil spy network.

[lovuian]

132. a hiding place to steal taxpayer dollars

Stealing and more stealing

[BeHereNow]

133. Yup. n/t

BHN

[Blue_Tires]

134. Kick

been out of the country, just now looking into the series... excellent and frightening work by the WaPo...

[superconnected]

136. That's our tax dollars. Nothing will change until we make it illegal for politicians to take big

private contributions or any corporate contributions. The current politicians belong in jail. until we get that part down, nobody we vote for will fix this and so we can't fix this.

[Xenotime]

140. This is why rethugs can never assume control again.

[burnsei sensei]

141. Secrecy: a cancer on the nation. nt