-
Naw, This is Nothing (Break-in at State Dept Whistleblower Lawyer)
This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post.
I get a lot of conspiracy emails at my blog, wemeantwell.com. Various “truthers” want me to believe that the CIA or the Mossad or the Spiders from Mars did 9/11, and that Obama was born on the Planet Mongo and is thus not even human, never mind an American Citizen. C’mon folks, try it again, using “facts” this time.
At the same time, I find myself worrying a bit. Stuff that fell into the conspiracy theory catalog last year now is old news: the government is indeed reading your email, your snail mail, your Facebook, all the while listening in on your calls. Torture and indefinite extra-judicial imprisonment are just another thing the government does. Whatever really happened to bin Laden will likely never be known, as the records were secretly moved into CIA hands where they will not be subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. Drones have been used in the U.S. Oh, and a secret court is making secret laws that affect all of us, in secret.
So, given all that, this next item is probably nothing. Another coincidence.
Two burglars broke into a Dallas law firm, bashing through a wall, and stealing only three computers while leaving other valuables behind. The law firm targeted represents State Department whistleblower Aurelia Fedenisn. Fedenisn revealed that she’d seen internal investigations called off by higher ups. The State Department accused her of removing “highly sensitive, internal documents” containing “personal information and unsubstantiated allegations,” and explained that it was working to secure the documents once again. The thieves also tried to pry open a filing cabinet at the lawyer’s office. Coincidence.An office across the hallway from the whistleblower’s lawyers that was left unlocked and was full of valuables, as well as fourteen other computers, was untouched by the thieves. Coincidence.
Not too long ago, a thief entered the offices of the Government Accountability Project, one of America’s premier whistleblower representatives, and stole only some attorney laptops. Nothing else, not even purses left out. The theft occurred just as the government’s case against NSA whistleblower Tom Drake was collapsing. His attorneys’ computers were taken. Coincidence.
In 1971 John Ehrlichman, assistant to president Nixon, approved a covert operation to break into Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office and examine his medical files. The purpose was to get a “mother lode” of information about Ellsberg’s mental state to use to discredit him.
Naw, I think I’ve just seen to many spy dramas on TV lately. I mean, who could think that the government would be involved in anything like breaking into a law office in search of info on one of its whistleblower critics?
Also coincidences: Death of Andrew Breitbart, the coroner who handled Breitbart’s case and died of arsenic poisoning, and Michael Hastings, where the LAPD refuses to release the accident and toxicology reports, or make the crashed Mercedes available for inspection. Nothing to see here you proles, go about your business.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
Recent Comments
Leave A Comment
Buy Peter’s Books on Amazon!
Rich Bauer said...
1Bruce Ivins, David Kelley. The MIB guys play for keeps.
07/28/13 10:55 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
2http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/07/28/greenwald-low-level-staff-have-access-to-invasive-surveillance/
I assume Barry didn’t mean this was the Insider Threat.
07/28/13 11:30 PM | Comment Link
jo6pac said...
3I’m not sure why this a problem, please everyone step away for the window and everything is going to be OK.
Sheeple will be the problem
07/29/13 12:06 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
4WP -“Greenwald, who is set to testify on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, suggested intelligence officials are lying when they say low-level staff have no such access to that information.”
Tommy Flanagan accused Clapper of stealing his act.
07/29/13 12:31 AM | Comment Link
meloveconsullongtime said...
5“Low-level staff have access to ‘invasive’ surveillance”
Presumably that includes diplomats’ foreign mistresses.
07/29/13 2:14 AM | Comment Link
Robert Osmani said...
6@PVB – this happened a few weeks back but still good to see it get some replay.
let’s see what this former OIG investigator stumbled upon:
“An investigator for the Diplomatic Security Service subsequently launched an investigation into similar allegations against four other members of Clinton’s security detail but was ordered by Kimber Davidson, chief of the special investigations division, and Rob Kelty, his deputy, to shut down the investigation, the memo says.”
“In Miami, agents investigating a car accident by diplomatic security agent Evelyn Kittinger learned that she had been claiming full pay for several years “but had actually only worked very few hours,” according to the memo. State Department supervisors told the investigator to advise her to resign to avoid facing criminal charges and a major fine.”
“State’s former regional security officer in Beirut, Chuck Lisenbee, allegedly sexually assaulted guards and was accused of similar assaults in Baghdad, Khartoum and Monrovia. Justine Sincavage, then-director of Diplomatic Security Service, called the allegations a “witch hunt” and gave agents “only three days” to investigate, and no charges were brought, according to the memo.”
crazy thing is that Congressman Issa said ” documents suggest that senior department officials exercised improper influence over criminal investigations and tried to hide the fact from Congress.” what does the dept do – nothing. don’t even try talking about this at state! i wonder if people are scared witless of ds…
but no, that’s not enough? ok:
“David J. Rainsberger, 32, a law enforcement officer with the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, pleaded guilty today to receiving unlawful gratuities while stationed at the U.S. embassy in Kingston, Jamaica, and making false statements to the United States government on a national security questionnaire required to maintain his security clearance.”
i dare someone to find what, if any, consequences there have been from this OIG whistle blowing. i double dare anyone to find and highlight anywhere on the net where anyone has been successful telling the dos it is full of it and ds has more than a handful of ‘special’ agents that should lose their clearances and jobs. actually dos has several fs and gs people in that category as well.
@PVB – didn’t you get your clearance suspended and then revoked for lack of candor or some other wild shyt? what happened to these guys above? are they still agents? Did they keep their clearances because they are living models of candor? get the hell out of here. better question is what does the top level say about this or are they blind to what has come out and just hoping the noise dies down?
and yes, i’m pretty impressed by the sheer GFY attitude at dos and ds. i would hate to be on their bad side…
07/29/13 2:46 AM | Comment Link
Kyzl Orda said...
7“@PVB – didn’t you get your clearance suspended and then revoked for lack of candor or some other wild shyt? what happened to these guys above? are they still agents? Did they keep their clearances because they are living models of candor? get the hell out of here. better question is what does the top level say about this or are they blind to what has come out and just hoping the noise dies down? ”
C-o-r-r-u-p-t-i-o-n. I believe that is what it is called. Sorry to say, truth is a casualty in a number of these cases. I know someone at State who not only had her clearance terminated, but HR refused to reply when she wrote — after being escorted from DoS — WHY was her clearance terminated. FAM specifies that reasons must be given. Yes, top level will remain quiet at times — the reason can be they are too big to get into what is conveniently deemed ‘personnel’ matters and trust mid managers — often the same people snowing them. The common tactic is the wall of silence, which is used as a means to frustrate wronged staff and hope they eventually submit and go away. Yes, there are mid managers who stoop to falsifying ‘evidence’ and ‘claims’ and will insert these into performance evaluations.
The broken system is further complicated neither political party wants to reform it – because it often means something happened on their watch and as we all know, everything works perfectly fine comrade
07/29/13 2:59 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
8Clapper, Lady, Deedy. Sleep well, America, these clowns represent the best of the beast.
07/29/13 12:16 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
9“Career Before Country” Star of the Day is this acceptance speech from a Google(read: NSA)employee.
http://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2013/07/19/nsa-award-for-best-scientific-cybersecurity-paper/
07/29/13 1:03 PM | Comment Link
Lafcadio said...
10“Percolations” from the Congress. Somebody there seems to be interested in the Consular Affairs mess, what with the recent scandals in Vietnam, Guyana and Jamaica.
Hopefully we can remind about the hiring of Maura Harty, the hiring of Maura’s husband to a phony job, and a host of other improprieties/irregularities/illegalities perpetrated by the Janice Jacobs regime.
07/30/13 9:19 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
11Let US not forget Mary Ryan’s Visa Express, which landed in the World Trade Center.
07/30/13 9:57 AM | Comment Link
meloveconsullongtime said...
12re Lafcadio’s mention of “Percolations” from the Congress”:
Waving to the FBI here! Have fun sorting through the Augean sewage the CIA has created for you.
07/30/13 10:17 AM | Comment Link
Obama Promise To ‘Protect Whistleblowers’ Just Disappeared From Change.gov | band annie's Weblog said...
13[…] Naw, This is Nothing (Break-in at State Dept Whistleblower Lawyer) […]
07/30/13 12:48 PM | Comment Link
will full malcontent said...
14This is such a mystery!!
Where all these roads lead to – DS, HR, OIG,….hMMMMMM?
What one career senior executive service member is in charge of these bureaus, and has been for the past 10 years or so?
And it would be a strange coincedence if this person got this position by covering up the improper use of the 7th floor conference table by the previous Management?
07/30/13 1:22 PM | Comment Link
Cicero Trout said...
15I feel like a security clearance that can be revoked or suspended at will by ass clowns isn’t worth my cold piss. What the hell is wrong with these people; the more I read these comments or blog postings the more I wonder if I have lost my god damn mind. How do they even decide who gets the clearance removed – throw darts, read tea leaves? @pvb – tell me this ain’t so… http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/after-the-whistle-revealers-of-government-secrets-share-how-their-lives-have-changed/2013/07/28/23d82596-f613-11e2-9434-60440856fadf_story.html
Then you get this bullshit:
“The department is also hiring 151 security professionals over the course of this fiscal year and the next to serve or support high-risk posts.
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/16/more-security-resources-needed-post-benghazi-state/#ixzz2aaR1L11A”
That’s from this guy who has the role of Assistant Secretary AND Director of Diplomatic Security (must be f-cking nice to answer to yourself, conflict of interest no way nothing to see here move along). I have an idea – how about you fire the corrupt, inept, sexual predators, shooters, thieves, hypocrites (sh-t you can’t do that or you’ll all be out of a job) so that these 151 new “professionals” can come on board? Because “professionals” can just be plucked off a list and trained in a few months and given a gun and authority to kill. That’s worked out well in Hawaii and Iraq and Haiti and and…
But wait, in honor of those who did years waiting for state to do something about their “misconduct” – how about you stop leaving employees sucking ink out of their pens or drooling over their keyboards at home and put those experienced professionals back to work? Instead of bitching about not having enough personnel, why not just f-cking punish people who you claim have made a mortal sin and get them back to work in shit hole countries no one else wants? Seems to me to be pretty pathetic to put people away in the hope that silence and complete and utter bullshit manipulation of rules will get them to quit. Do people outside of state even know this is going on? I should quit my job as a consultant and come consult at state. Something tells me I would be just one more crook among so many others.
07/31/13 2:51 AM | Comment Link
Peter Van Buren: The Manning trial began on 9/11 — War in Context said...
16[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/4/13 9:58 PM | Comment Link
The Manning Trial Began on 9/11 | Later On said...
17[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake hadcomputers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/4/13 10:36 PM | Comment Link
The Manning Trial Began on 9/11 said...
18[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/5/13 4:39 AM | Comment Link
How we lost our Constitution somewhere in Iraq and came back without it to Try Manning (van Buren) | Informed Comment said...
19[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/5/13 7:50 AM | Comment Link
Peter Van Buren: Bradley Manning, Surveillance State Creep, and the Emergence of Post-Constitutional America « naked capitalism said...
20[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/5/13 9:08 AM | Comment Link
Welcome to Post-Constitution America said...
21[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/5/13 2:00 PM | Comment Link
Welcome to Post-Constitution America | Thought FTW said...
22[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/5/13 2:02 PM | Comment Link
“We have met the enemy and he is us” | Aisle C said...
23[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/5/13 2:40 PM | Comment Link
Welcome to Post-Constitution America | Jo W. Weber said...
24[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/5/13 3:45 PM | Comment Link
Welcome to Post-Constitution America | said...
25[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/5/13 5:43 PM | Comment Link
strange how paranoia can link up with reality now and then | hip is everything said...
26[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its office.In these years, the FBI has brought two other NSA […]
08/5/13 9:01 PM | Comment Link
The Progressive Mind » Welcome to Post-Constitution America | NationofChange said...
27[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its office.In these years, the FBI has brought two other NSA […]
08/5/13 9:15 PM | Comment Link
» The Bradley Manning Trial is One More Step Toward a Post-Constitution America Mutiny Radio said...
28[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/6/13 12:00 AM | Comment Link
Welcome to Post-Constitution America | Counter Information said...
29[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/6/13 2:07 AM | Comment Link
Welcome to Post-Constitution America | WAMMToday said...
30[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its office. 1 2 3 4 NEXT PAGE >>> […]
08/6/13 8:29 PM | Comment Link
Peter Van Buren On Open Democracy & TomDispatches: Western Totalitarianism Is Real & Here To Stay [And Expand]! | Jerusalem Group said...
31[…] Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake [26] had computers [27], and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/7/13 3:05 PM | Comment Link
Welcome to Post-Constitution America: The Weapons of War Come Home said...
32[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/8/13 10:31 AM | Comment Link
Conspiracy News! | Welcome to Post-Constitution America: The Weapons of War Come Home said...
33[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/8/13 11:04 AM | Comment Link
Welcome to Post Constitutional America, You've Been Warned said...
34[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/8/13 2:57 PM | Comment Link
Welcome to Post-Constitution America | Amauta said...
35[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/11/13 2:52 AM | Comment Link
Welcome to Post-Constitution America: The Weapons of War Come Home | Truth11 said...
36[…] Aurelia Fedenisn. Similarly, a Washington law firm representing NSA whistleblower Tom Drake had computers, and only computers, stolen from its […]
08/26/13 10:35 PM | Comment Link