Senator Kennedy pins back James Comey at House hearing

 

Anyone who managed yesterday to find their way over to C-Span 3 got a break from the campaign in the form of one James Comey. Yes, one did need to wade through four hours of nonsense and the “doesn’t ring a bell,” and “not to my recollection” but there were about 30 minutes worthy of attention.

The GOP senators were poorly prepared and one had to figure Lindsey who chairs the committee needed a free promo for his upcoming re-election. His plea of “please send money they hate my guts” chorus is getting old. He sat on his hands for years after promising that “any day now” he was going to hold hearings and get to the bottom of things.

But Senator Kennedy never disappoints.  I chose this for a refresher that there are a couple of the old timers that still can spin a tale and be enjoyable listening to them.

Kennedy questions former FBI Director Comey during Senate Judiciary hearing

 

 

For a refresher on this fine fellow and his history:

Flashback Saturday – Looking back at James Comey and why he was so dangerous

Michael Flynn and the Trappings of Power

 

Trappings of Power 

by Mustang

Among those so inclined, the world of politics offers one of those “the sky is the limit” opportunities we read about in the newspapers.  But there is another side to these stories: failure and disgrace.  Such is the case with retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn who left the Army at the pinnacle of success and is now sitting in the dust bin of recent political history.  My guess is that not too many Americans care about Flynn or his trials and tribulations —and yet, the story is nothing if not instructive.

Flynn served 33-years on active duty.  Five of these years were spent in combat service.  Within this time frame, General Flynn received many personal decorations in recognition of his contribution to the military establishment, although none of these were combat decorations.  Flynn was no Audie Murphy.  Still, he served honorably and faithfully over three decades and while this should entitle him to our gratitude, it does not grant him access to the world of high politics.

So, what happened?  My view is that at the time he left the military, he was so over-confident in his own ability that he was anxious to prove that he was bright enough to secure a position of national leadership.  Along with over-confidence comes arrogance and, perhaps, a certain aloofness that, as it turns out, didn’t serve him very well.

Although a registered Democrat, Flynn was involved in the Trump election campaign and transition team.  His several public statements attacking Hillary Clinton did little more than paint a target on his back.  Apparently, he never consulted that long list of people who crossed the Clintons and met an untimely end (politically or otherwise).  By publicly attacking Clinton, he also ended up on the Obama target list.

Here we find the first important lesson: you don’t have to be guilty of anything in order to be disgraced by mere accusation.  This, by the way, appears to be a trend in our country today: guilt by accusation.

The actual story of General Flynn in post-military retirement is long, complicated, and boring.  I will only say that for a man who is so accomplished, Flynn might have thought about getting an attorney before meeting with FBI agents (set upon him by Clinton operative, FBI Director James Comey).  Even a lance corporal knows that whenever you’re called in for questioning, it isn’t wise to go in alone.  Maybe it was his arrogance, or perhaps, a belief that he’d done nothing wrong —so there was nothing to fear.  As he walked in to the interrogation room, he might have recalled that line in Shakespeare: “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.”

General Flynn is pending formal sentencing for lying to federal investigators.  Was it really lying, or did his simply not recall certain details?  Actually, it doesn’t matter.  The entire novella was designed to intimidate Flynn so that he would roll over on Donald Trump.  Apparently, he never did that, or possibly, there was nothing to roll over about.

But this is the game General Flynn signed up to play, and he was an early casualty.  He was the shortest serving NSC advisor in the history of the United States.  Now, rather than achieving accolades for his work in the White House, he will simply be remembered as a convicted felon.  It’s cost him a lot of money, too.  Professionally, the man is destroyed, and I suspect that the only thing left for him to do is write a memoir that no one will buy.  At least, I won’t.

There are several lessons to this story and it appears that Flynn had to discover them the hard way.  High-end politics in the United States is a closed society.  If you have tons of money (which is to say, able to afford an entire law firm to address legal issues), if you have the Harvard degree, the Rolex watch, the secret handshake, and you’ve had years to make political friends (which is to say, you’ve got a lot of dirt on others of your ilk), then yeah … go for it.

But if you happen to be an outsider, such as General Flynn was, you really aren’t equipped to play with the big boys (and girls).  The astute citizen, especially the most educated and sophisticated of us all, would be wise to avoid the power trap.  It’s a matter of self-preservation—and the effect of this is that our highest political offices are bequeathed to the most corrupt, least-honest, most egotistical gangsters ever to receive a degree from Harvard, Brown, or Princeton.

There is also an interesting parallel to this story: recently, Martha McSally ran for the US Senate from Arizona.  Prior to that, she served successfully in the US House of Representatives from 2015.  Rather than focusing on gaining political experience in the House, she decided she was ready for the big time.

Her political strategy was simple: convince Arizonians that she’s a hero for having flown fighter aircraft in the Air Force.  Well, it is an interesting tale, but hardly relevant to what voters are looking for.  She lost her bid for the Senate because Martha McSally made the same (stupid) mistake as did McCain, who wasted all of his political capital talking about what a hero he was for being shot down in Vietnam.  The fact is that, while most Americans do appreciate those who serve in the military, few are interested in hearing war stories.  More than this, they quickly tire of egotistical officers patting themselves on the back.

McSally should have remained in the House for another ten years, and Michael Flynn should have taken General MacArthur’s advice; in having done his duty, Flynn ought to just faded away to enjoy his grandchildren.

Comey’s proposed statement on Hillary Clinton classified email, and changes made

If anyone is questioning what the DOJ is doing to the Inspector General’s report that is now in their hands for the past weeks look no further than the changes that were made by the FBI to the original Comey document some time ago. Sharyl Attkinson’s good piece of work. Updated post.

The Senate released 500 pages of information including unredacted Strzok/Page texts that expose the FBI corruption starting earlier than we were told… December of 2015 instead of July of 2016! There was also an effort to place more than one spy into the Trump campaign.

1) BOMBSHELL- From DECEMBER 2015–The word LURES is redacted by FBI but not OIG “OCONUS LURES” OCONUS= Outside Contiguous US LURES= In this context LURES = SPIES – multiple Is this an admission that the FBI wanted to run a baited Sting Op using foreign agents against Trump?

Was Obama spying on the entire group of 16 Republicans running for president? December of 2015 was well before there was a frontrunner even a top three in the group of candidates. It is a possibility that Obama could have directed the corrupt FBI and DOJ to spy on all 16 candidates or was this an effort to prepare to place spies into the campaign of the eventual nominee.

More

Document 34: What Comey originally proposed to say about Clinton classified email, and the changes FBI reviewing official suggested:

If you want some light reading Sharyl Attkinson has provided a link to the complete file of Comey and changes to the original documents. This file was just released by the Senate and is brand new.

Document 34 and more can be read here: https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Appendix%20C%20-%20Documents.pdf …

Flashback Saturday – Looking back at James Comey and why he was so dangerous

 

A few weeks ago I started a “Flashback Saturday”. On Saturday, a “whatever happened” to answer or review previous news I have covered and how the story has unfolded. A “Blast from the past.”

How about James Comey and now what we know about him. I will throw in a short one on Mueller.

First I need to start out with

Comey: Citizens Should Have No Secrets That The Government Can’t Access March 6, 2017

The latest sign of this stealth takeover of civil rights and freedom was epitomized in recent Senate testimony by FBI Director James Comey, who voiced his objections to civilian use of encryption to protect personal data – information the government has no automatic right to obtain.

As reported by The New American, Comey testified that he believes the government’s spy and law enforcement agencies should have unfettered access to everything Americans may store or send in electronic format: On computer hard drives, in so-called i-clouds, in email and in text messaging – for our own safety and protection. Like many in government today, Comey believes that national security is more important than constitutional privacy protections or, apparently, due process.

Comey had ‘false and dangerous view’ of FBI role June 9, 2017

 “Independent? This is a false and dangerous view of law enforcement in the American system. Mr. Comey is describing a FBI director who essentially answers to no one. But the police powers of the government are awesome and often abused, and the only way to prevent or correct abuses is to report to elected officials who are accountable to voters.” More at Washington Examiner

Interview with Robert F. Kennedy during which he describes FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover as “dangerous” and “rather a psycho.” Sound familiar?

 

 

Here are thoughts from our savant from Arizona in the form of one John McCain.

“When you fire probably, arguably, the most respected person in America, you better have a very good explanation…”

 

FBI Director: I have to check to see if Obama can kill citizens on U.S. soil January 26, 2013

FBI Director Robert Mueller on Wednesday said he would have to go back and check with the Department of Justice whether Attorney General Eric Holder’s “three criteria” for the targeted killing of Americans also applied to Americans inside the U.S.
Pressed by House lawmakers about a recent speech in which Holder described the legal justification for assassination, Mueller, who was attending a hearing on his agency’s budget, did not say without qualification that the three criteria could not be applied inside the U.S.
“I have to go back. Uh, I’m not certain whether that was addressed or not,” Mueller said when asked by Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga., about a distinction between domestic and foreign targeting. Graves followed up asking whether “from a historical perspective,” the federal government has “the ability to kill a U.S. citizen on United States soil or just overseas.”
“I’m going to defer.

For an abbreviated view of what Comey has been doing with his life:

FBI James Comey, the ultimate chameleon who sold his sou  July 6, 2016 

The author of this piece makes a prescient observation regarding the Comey Ashcroft relationship back in the 1990’s when they worked together:

On the surface, it’s an odd pairing: Comey—who cites liberal theologian Reinhold Niebuhr as a formative influence, and who can sing along with Good Charlotte pop-punk hits—and Ashcroft, a reactionary born-again Christian who breaks into spirited renditions of biblical hymns. There’s little risk Comey will lose his sense of humor in his new job. It’s only his soul that’s up for grabs.

 

Comey goes off the deep end as CNN Cooper nails him for leaking

 

 

Merry Christmas Jim and to your band of co-conspirators

As the saying goes, when is a rose not a rose? Comey states that the problem is Coop’s question, not that  Comey can’t come up with a satisfactory answer to the question.

The Comey magical mystery tour continues and Anderson Cooper called Comey a leaker and insisted he leaked many times. Many many times. Saint Comey was left to spin in the wind. He is scheduled for Bret Bair on Fox tonight.

It’s starting to get fun as the light-hearted let’s get Trump crowd is dissipating and he is getting some hard questions now. Oops Jim….this is not going well..

Cooper didn’t follow-up as to the status of this friend.

We just learned that the Professor who leaked Comey memos to media was ‘special government employee’ for the FBI. According to sources familiar with the situation, Comey tasked Richman with “special projects,” and he had security clearance and access to the building. Additionally, Richman was provided talking points detailing how the agency was managing the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails. More at the  Washington Examiner

 

CNN held a Town Hall with fired FBI Director James Comey, in which the topic quickly turned to his memos and whether or not Comey broke the law by releasing them. “Do you think there is any credence to the president’s claims that you broke the law when you released memos?” host Anderson Cooper asked. Comey replied that he did not. “I see no credible claim by any serious person that I violated the law,” he said. Yet, Cooper pressed on, pointing out that one memo was, in fact, retroactively classified. “Is it okay for somebody at the FBI to leak something an internal document even if it is not classified?” Cooper pushed. “There is a whole lot wrong with your question,” Comey replied. “I didn’t leak memos, I asked a friend to communicate the substance one unclassified memo to the media and I was a private citizen.”

Snip….. Oopsie Jim

“Shouldn’t you be nailed to the door then? Aren’t you a leaker?” Cooper said, grilling the former FBI Director. “You gave up a document that was released to the New York Times!” He further demanded: “I am surprised that you only think that leaks officially are somebody that is classified.” “I totally get it,” Comey said. “I intentionally gave this information to a friend, intending that it be out in the media. I wanted it to get out in the media. As a private citizen, I could do that and did do that just as I wrote about it in my book.” (Notes from the video – full transcript there.)

FLASHBACK: AG Sessions said he will not prosecute Clinton or any deep State Criminals

 

America’s Watchtower brings us this headline:  Republican lawmakers send criminal referrals to Jeff Sessions for Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, and Loretta Lynch 

Wander over for his take on it. Here is more from Breitbart.

But before you slide over, let me give you a flashback headline from B-ville October, 2017.

AG Sessions says he will not prosecute Clinton or any deep state criminals

Jason Chaffetz, former House of Representatives member and Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform was on Justice with Judge Janine Pirro Saturday night and he again dropped a BOMBSHELL about Attorney General Jeff Sessions:

Judge Janine: …What can you do?

Chaffetz: Yeah, the State Department has been holding tens of thousands of documents on a case that they claim is closed.  And when I met with Attorney General Sessions much like Ron DeSantis did, I basically got a stiff arm.  I got an Attorney General that said he would not comply, he wasn’t going to do any sort of prosecutions and it’s such a huge difference.  When he was a Senator he would have never put up with that.Judge Janine went on to ask if Sessions was afraid of them (i.e. deep state)?  She also asked if they all (Congress and Washington politicians) had so many skeletons?  The Judge then correctly stated that this is driving Americans crazy and the American people have had it!

When asked whether Jeff Sessions should be out, Chaffetz correctly responded, “Well I don’t know what the case is to keep him!”

Back to  America’s Watchtower:

House Republicans have reportedly sent criminal referrals to Jeff Sessions for Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Loretta Lynch, Peter Strzok, and Lisa Page. Here is more:

Republican lawmakers on Wednesday sent a slew of criminal referrals to Attorney General Jeff Sessions for a number of Obama administration officials and senior FBI employees for violations of the law in connection to the Clinton email and Trump-Russia investigations.

Specifically, they sent criminal referrals to Sessions for: former FBI Director James Comey, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, as well as FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and his lover, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, for separate violations.

Snip…

I agree, these people should be held to the same standard as ordinary Americans, but does anybody really believe anything is going to come from this? Jeff Sessions has probably already sent these recommendations to the circular file.

The one possible exception could be Andrew McCabe after an FBI Inspector General report found he lied multiple times while under oath. This report will be hard to ignore by an honest Attorney General but we have Jeff Sessions so, as in the case with the others, I would not hold my breath waiting for justice.

malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium

 

Obama State Dept. Spent Tax Dollars To Translate Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” Abroad

 

Saul Alinsky

What has become of the Congress investigation of James Comey? It seems to have fallen off the earth. Jeff Sessions is out there apparently with little if any interest. Sad when Congress has to nudge Sessions in supporting the Trumpster. Even more interesting was this tidbit that came out  regarding our former Marxist President. If Trump is being charged with Russian interference, how about Obama trying to stir up other countries elections?

“Congressman Steve King released the following video of statements he made during Judiciary Committee debate of legislation requiring the Attorney General to provide copies of any document, record, audio recording, memo, correspondence, or other communication that refers or relates to a number of troubling aspects of James Comey’s tenure as FBI director.”

During his statement made on July 27th, King revealed the State Department under former President Obama gave millions to George Soros-controlled organizations that dedicated part of its funds to translate Saul Alinksy’s ‘Rules for Radicals’ in Macedonian for the purpose of influencing Macedonia’s elections.

 

Congress King speaks on 7/26/17 in support of legislation that requires the Attorney General to turn over documents about former F.B.I. director James Comey’s involvement in several controversial cases. The legislation passed 16-13. King voted in favor of it. Apparently that was the end of that. Mr McConnell? Mr. Ryan? Where are we with this?

 

REP. STEVE KING:

“I just came back not that long ago from the Balkans, where I sat in a place like Macedonia and there I learned that the United States government borrowing money from China and Saudi Arabia had handed over at least $5 millions in contracts transferred through U.S. Aid ID into George Soros organizations that were used to manipulate elections in the Balkans, and that’s just particularly Macedonia – not including the neighboring countries that are there. 

And some of that money was used to translate Saul Alinsky’s ‘Rules for Radicals’ into Macedonian to distribute the book and the ‘Rules for Radicals’ and actions of radicals were manifested in the election efforts in that part of the world.”  T

What is the book ‘Rules for Radicals’? Steel on Steel explains:

The main goal of Alinskyites is to cause social instability through subversive and divisive rhetoric. One method is to control the outcome of the education system by lowering the standards of education so that it creates a dependent class. As adherents to the Cloward-Piven strategy, they use their political platforms to overload a society with social spending programs and class warfare to the point that hatred and division cause social panic. Once they’ve created a problem, they propose themselves as the answer and use wealth transfers and the trumping of rights as the method to bring about “equality”.

More at  Gateway Pundit

The Deep State, Donald Trump, Reality Leigh Winner and a silent coup?

 

I have concluded two part conspiracy posts regarding “Deep State” operative Reality Leigh Winner? and Reality Leigh Winner, a useless idiot or did the ‘Deep State’ use her

My intention today was to draw conclusions regarding facts that simply make no sense. I do believe Reality Leigh Winner who leaked Top Secret Documents was a willing patsy. Who it was that orchestrated the event in particular I know not. I do believe there were more involved. I believe she was probably groomed for what happened. No less than ISIS grooms its potential converts. While in the Air Force her office was in the NSA building. I give you this fact to think about:

It’s the private sector with its 854,000 contract personnel with top-secret clearances, “a number greater than that of top-secret-cleared civilian employees of the government.”

I will let you wander over to Antiwar.com  and let Peter Van Buren do the theory thing about who benefits from Ms Winner’s illegal activity titled “Hey Intercept, Something Is Very Wrong With Reality Winner and the NSA Leak.” I agree with him.

I conclude with a segment from an earlier post: Are we about to inherit a Totalitarian State? The Silent Coup  October 25, 2016 — bunkerville. This was posted prior to the election.

“The Deep State, which “operates according to its own compass heading regardless of who is formally in power,” makes a mockery of elections and the entire concept of a representative government.”

Zero Hedge ties up the loose knots and gives us a string of tin foil that is worth consideration.

So who or what is the Deep State?

…. It’s the fusion centers and spy agencies that have created a surveillance state and turned all of us into suspects. It’s the courthouses and prisons that have allowed corporate profits to take precedence over due process and justice. It’s the military empire with its private contractors and defense industry that is bankrupting the nation. It’s the private sector with its 854,000 contract personnel with top-secret clearances, “a number greater than that of top-secret-cleared civilian employees of the government.” It’s what former congressional staffer Mike Lofgren refers to as “a hybrid of national security and law enforcement agencies”: the Department of Defense, the State Department, Homeland Security, the CIA, the Justice Department, the Treasury, the Executive Office of the President via the National Security Council, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a handful of vital federal trial courts, and members of the defense and intelligence committees.

It’s every facet of a government that is no longer friendly to freedom and is working overtime to trample the Constitution underfoot and render the citizenry powerless in the face of the government’s power grabs, corruption and abusive tactics. More at Zero Hedge

Senator Inouye,in 1987, summarizes here the coverup of the US Shadowy Government involvement; by saying:

“There exists a shadowy Government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of the national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself.”

Reality Leigh Winner, a useless idiot or did the ‘Deep State’ use her?

Useless idiot? Or did someone from the Deep State find a compliant vulnerable willing soul and use her? Another faux story to lead us down the wrong rabbit trail? How did a low-level contractor have access to high level Intel? An Afghanistan specialist with knowledge of three languages that happens upon a Top Secret Russian/Trump election document? She started off working intelligence in the Air force. The office location? In the same building as the NSA. Convenient wouldn’t you say? Then she went on to work at Pluribus. The first part of this tale I posted on Friday “Deep State” operative Reality Leigh Winner?

We pick up the story –

Her employer wasn’t just any employer.

Let’s look at her employer. Pluribus International Corporation

While purporting himself as being a writer of fiction, this report notes, Charles McCarry has spent the greater part of the past 40 years operating within the “Deep State”—and whose greatest accomplishment to date was using his son Nathan McCarry as the “figurehead” to establish a private spying company named Pluribus International Corporation, whose operations span the globe and lie at the very center of the vast US intelligence community.

Most bizarrely to note about Pluribus International Corporation, this report says, is that the vast majority of its nearly 210 employees are young woman with US military backgrounds—a philosophy explained by Nathan McCarry’s wife, Valerie McCarry, during a 2014 radio interview wherein she described her travails of being a young 20-year-old unwed mother raised in a US military family.

One such young female US military veteran hired by Pluribus International Corporation, this report continues, was a 25-year-old US Air Force veteran named Reality Leigh Winner—who aside from being a rabid anti-Trump “resistance” activist, spoke four languages—English, Farsi, Pashto and Dari.

Enter The Intercept:

Their first published story was an in-depth report about the NSA‘s involvement in the U.S. targeted killing program, which detailed the flawed methods which are used to locate targets for lethal drone strikes, resulting in the deaths of innocent people.^[6] This was followed by an article containing new aerial photographs of the NSA, NRO, and NGA headquarters.^[7]

In March 2014, The Intercept published leaked documents from Edward Snowden showing that the National Security Agency was building a system to infect potentially millions of computers around the world with malware.^[8] The report included a top-secret NSA animation showing how the agency disguised itself as a Facebook server in order to hack into computers for surveillance.^[9] 

The Deep State makes its move: 

Enter the U.S. Government Agency  – And this time The Intercept, in contrast to other leakers whose info they published, made no attempt to hide her identity. They had to know she would be outed. They contacted the government. They turned over her documents given to them. She twice had written to them prior to her sending the document. She was arrested by the FBI within hours of the publication by The Intercept.

The Chicago Tribune

Partly because the case was made so quickly, critics have condemned the Intercept’s reporters for having burned their source by failing to take proper operational security precautions. They point to the claim in the FBI’s affidavit that government investigators took note of the folds in the document shown to them by the Intercept and speculated that it had been printed by the leaker, a lucky guess on their part (especially since the folds could have been created instead by the journalists). In any event, that led the government to determine that only six individuals had printed this specific document, and only one — Winner — had been in contact with the Intercept from her personal email account, which she had accessed from her work computer. The case could not have been handed more easily to the government on a silver platter.

Ed: It is reported that the letter itself contained markings which identified the printer used. Was An Office Printer Behind Reality Winner’s Arrest? – Newsy Story.   But wait…Check what the Federal Complaint states: The News Outlet provided the U.S. Government Agency with a copy of this document. A copy not the original.

Enter the U.S. Government Agency:

Reality Leigh Winner, 25, a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation in Georgia, is accused of  (Full Complaint) “removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet,” according to a federal complaint.

The Intercept identified as “The News Outlet.”

On June I, 2017, the FBI was notified by the U.S. Government Agency that the U.S. Government Agency had been contacted by the News Outlet on May 30, 2017, regarding an upcoming story.

The News Outlet informed the U.S. Government Agency that it was in possession of what it believed to be a classified document authored by the U.S. Government Agency. The News Outlet provided the U.S. Government Agency with a copy of this document.

The U.S. Government Agency has since confirmed that the reporting contains information that was classified at that level at the time that the reporting was published on or about May 5, 2017, and that such information currently remains classified at that level.

The story concludes tomorrow. See Reality Leigh Winner, a useless idiot or did the ‘Deep State’ use her?

Sources: Antiwar.com

Chicago Tribune

The Intercept – Wikipedia

What does it mean

Embedded links.

“Deep State” operative Reality Leigh Winner?

This is an odd thing. Cue up the conspiracy theories. On a strange and bazaar note, why did the contractor she worked for just since Feb 2017, for the most part only hire ex military women in their 20’s?    Interesting to note also that she gave the info to The Intercept who is run by the same guy that Snowden gave stuff to. Maybe Chelsea Manning can explain it. Better yet, in just four short months she just happened to come upon and leak the story that The Intercept published about Russia’s so called interference in last year’s presidential election. Her bailiwick was Afghanistan intelligence. Just two cute by twice.  So let’s take my ride down the rabbit hole. This is the first in a series on this gal:

An NSA document purporting to show Russian military hacker attempts to access a Florida company which makes voter registration software is sent anonymously to The Intercept. A low-level NSA contractor, Reality Winner, above, is arrested almost immediately. What’s wrong with this picture? A lot.

What Happened is… Curious and Curiouser…

Now let’s look at what we know so far about how this happened.

A 25-year-old improbably-named Reality Winner leaves behind a trail long and wide on social media of anti-Trump stuff, including proclaiming herself a member of The Resistance. Never mind, she takes her Top Secret clearance with her out of the Air Force (she had been stationed with the military’s 94th Intelligence Squadron out of Fort Meade, Maryland, co-located with the NSA’s headquarters) and scores a job with an NSA contractor. Despite the lessons of too-much-access the Snowden episode should have taught the NSA, Winner apparently enjoys all sorts of classified documents – her Air Force expertise was in Afghan matters, so it is unclear why she would have access to info on Russia hacking of U.S. domestic companies.

Within only about 90 days of starting her new job, she prints out the one (and only one apparently, why not more?) document in question and mails it to The Intercept. She also uses her work computer inside an NSA facility to write to the Intercept twice about this same time.

Winner has a clearance. She was trained as a Dari, Pashto, and Farsi linguist by the Air Force. She knows how classified stuff works. She has been told repeatedly, as all persons with a clearance are, that her computer, email, printing, and phone are monitored. She mailed the document from Augusta, Georgia, the city where she lives and where the NSA facility is located. She practiced no tradecraft, did nothing to hide her actions and many things to call attention to them. It is very, very unclear why she took the actions she did under those circumstances. We will look at the “maybe” why on Monday. More at Antiwar.com

See the two additional posts that follow:

• Reality Leigh Winner, a useless idiot or did the ‘Deep State’ use her?
• The Deep State, Donald Trump, Reality Leigh Winner and a silent coup?