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woodsrunner
Posts: 2,725 Senior Member
Our National Intelligence Agencies Have Gone Insane!
woodsrunner
Posts: 2,725 Senior Member
First there was Snowden. A youngster in his mid-late 20's working with top secret sensitive compartmented intelligence which was either poorly compartmentalized, or he had clearance to handle too much of it. Look What Happened!
Now there is Bradley Manning, an Army PFC... a PFC!... handling top secret intelligence :yikes: Used to be that to be cleared for TS info a major background investigation was initiated resulting in a number of people being interviewed, and if the least little derogatory information was picked up on, the investigation was greatly expanded. Clearing someone who was not as stable and trustworthy as they come was just about an impossibility!
Manning also has 5 campaign ribbons or awards on his dress uniform. I think that's exactly how many my Dad had at the end of WWII, after he had been crew-chief on 32 bombing missions over parts of Europe and was in the Philippines en route bombing runs over Japan when the Big One was dropped! Guess I just gotta have something to bit** and moan about!
Now there is Bradley Manning, an Army PFC... a PFC!... handling top secret intelligence :yikes: Used to be that to be cleared for TS info a major background investigation was initiated resulting in a number of people being interviewed, and if the least little derogatory information was picked up on, the investigation was greatly expanded. Clearing someone who was not as stable and trustworthy as they come was just about an impossibility!
Manning also has 5 campaign ribbons or awards on his dress uniform. I think that's exactly how many my Dad had at the end of WWII, after he had been crew-chief on 32 bombing missions over parts of Europe and was in the Philippines en route bombing runs over Japan when the Big One was dropped! Guess I just gotta have something to bit** and moan about!
Replies
Morals, ethics, personal accountability and responsibility, love of country are a few. But it isn't just confined to those two; it's endemic from the president on down to the local political hacks. It pervades the body politic like a fast growing metastasized cancer, and has infected the general populace.
I don't remember who said it but it's true; two people can keep a secret as long as the one sharing the secret immediately kills the other after telling him the secret.
― Douglas Adams
The Manning thing happened before Snowden...I know you know...But the thing behind the youngsters is, they have done so little in life that disqualifies themn from obtaining a TS. Their credit is still good, they haven't had to much of a chance to break any major laws, and they haven't been jaded to much.
Intel is one of those tricky things...if you compartmentalize it too much, it works against you. If you allow too many people to know, it is not a secret anymore. Manning's NCO should go down in flames also. There is no way he should have been to pull all of that data without someone noticing. Regardless of clearance level, I have never let a PFC off the leash.
His Campaign ribbons are as follows :
National Defense Ribbon (awarded to every Soldier since 2001 upon graduation of AIT)
Iraqi Campaign Medal (awarded for tour in Iraq)
Global War on Terrorism Medal (same as NDR)
Army Service Ribbon ( awarded at grauation of AIT to every Sodlier)
Overseas ribbon (awarded for overseas duty)
Somewhere starting in the 90's the Army started making up ribbons for Soldiers that didn't do much so they could feel as good as the Soldiers out there being all they could be.
Oh and his verdict is the result of having a legal system instead of a justice system.
Manning should face a firing squad, Obama should bribe Putin with whatever it takes to allow a CIA agent to shoot Snowden in that airport holding area, and does anyone expect me to believe that a sniper couldn't have taken out Julian Assange in that banana republic embassy in London? Are you telling me he never, ever, walks past, or looks out a window? All we'd have to say is some relative of the girl he messed with back in Sweden must have done it. Gotta love "plausible deniability." Obama's people are all losers. They're incompetent, and they can't get anything done right.
So you like your own government spying on you illegally?
I am guessing your in the "phony scandal" camp too.
Seriously?
4th Amendment for starters.
I'm not saying it is right, I'm not saying it is wrong..Moral or not..... there is no right to privacy guaranteed in the constitution.
And here is my point...And it is not directed at you or anyone...Everyone loves to stand up and cry foul, but I don't see a lot of folks doing anything about it. This stuff doesn't just happen in a vaccum, and it didn't happen on Obama's watch (Not an Obama fan BTW). We continue to see the same folks put into office time and again. There was something like a 98% inncumbancy rate in the last election..98%!!!! and that is after every single seat in the house was up for election and a third of the senate. Decisions like this are not made soley at the presidential level. There are things in our government called Committees and subcommittees..and guess what, there is an intelligence oversight committee. If Americans want their privacy, If citizens really want something, then we need ot get off our butts and do it. the last time a Major change was started in America was on Arpril 12th,1961. I am not saying we need to load the guns and head for the seats of government, but until we start using the rights we have to our advantage. Until stop voting in the people allowing these choices...and lets face it...Allowing public Schools to decline is more of a threat to National Security than anything anyone else has done in the past 10 years. HAving citizens that don't know how their government works is more of a threat ot national security. And having citizens that have no civic responsibility is more of threat than anything else.
Okay..Sorry for the rant...
All great points. I agree 100%
Which is exactly why Snowden is a hero in my book. He has brought the issue to the forefront. I don't care what oath he swore to our lying , cheating government. He did what was in the best interest of the American people and the Constitution IMHO.
He did not help our enemy's in any way (so far), but informed the American public about our loss of liberty and freedoms.
When I was a 18 year old PFC I had a TS and was working with nukes....and all the secret squirrel stuff that went along with them....on the other hand, I never sold out my country either...
I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome PFC Manning to sunny Kansas...hope you enjoy your stay....
As far as I'm concerned, anything less than a rope or a firing squad will mean he got away with it. But what the heck, if the Army couldn't care less what happens to the top secrets entrusted to its care, why should I? ANYTHING tangible or intangible that the enemy has that it didn't have before Manning did what he did is aiding the enemy. Knowledge is power, and top secret documents are knowledge. If a single American soldier is killed or wounded, even indirectly, because of anything Manning did he should be executed.
Why do I bother to worry about my country? Obama already made sure all our real military secrets were made available to red China's hackers. No doubt his "thank you" for those loans. That he used to fund the bennies he bribed his low-information voters with to get reelected. Nobody made much of a stink about that. Nothing was done, no action taken, nobody got fired or prosecuted. A TRILLION dollars worth of top secret R & D, developed over decades of ingenious hard work, all nicely gift-wrapped and handed to Peking on a silver platter. FUNNY how in this day and age, with hackers in the news all the time, nobody bothered to take our military secrets seriously. The Russians care about their secrets. They've switched off lots of their computers and gone back to using typewriters and couriers to secure their secret transmissions. Slower, but much more secure. Good idea. Not that we'd ever work that hard. or care that much.
Might as well beat the whistle blowers to the punch and just let it all out. Unlock the drawers, lay out the files, put it all on You Tube. Why not? National security is a joke to the Army, the NSA and the Administration. Let Pollard go while they're at it. Boyce and Lee (Falcon and Snowman) are both out of prison, living large, and doing fine. Like it never even happened. Heck, all they did was give our secrets to different people than Manning did. Surely, they all must be heroes. After all, how is espionage for Russia or Israel any worse than espionage for WikiLeaks? Or corporate nonchalance? Either way, our enemies get the intel they're after. And nobody but our soldiers and our Ambassador dies. What a deal.
The Senate just confirmed James Comey as the new head of the FBI. Why bother?
Damn, tenn, amazing post, great message! Thanks, pal.
That's pretty much the way it was in the 60s when I worked for Uncle and had a TS.