It's just a fact of life at some point, somehow, somewhere, someone is going to take a look at the quality of work you do and decide if it was worth hiring you or if you are just another scam story trying to stay on the federal dole.
This is that day for the Hamilton 68 Dashboard crew of Aaron Weisburd->Clint Watts-> JM Berger-> The German Marshall Plan of the United States->the Alliance for Securing Democracy and the Michael Chertoff and associated Oligarch group.
With this many security pros involved, one of them had to be the designated driver on this baby and they all failed anyway. It should have occurred to at least one of them that their reputation would be entirely shot once their great media product was shown to be a fraud.
Bellingcat, although allied by the narrative and employers seems to be trying to clear the decks for larger contracts. Aric Toler and Eliot Higgins "googled" their way through the logical conclusion that the people called "Russian Trolls" that are destroying American democracy aren't Russian or on Russian payrolls at all. They are Americans expressing political views and sharing articles.
The sampling that former DHS Secretary Chertoff 's Clint Watt's and Aaron Weisburd's failed Hamilton 68 Dashboard uses is tiny. If a handful of people can generate the 2nd highest hashtag position, it's a scam waiting to be busted. This marks the first thing the team of Toler and Higgins have uncovered successfully and provably, without controversy.
So much for being Jedi knights boys. The force is definitely not with you.
In the last few years more and more of them have even taken their actions offline by working with direct action units in other countries that are committing murder. The citable cases include intelligence community actors attacking (online/offline) US citizens on behalf of foreign governments and Intelligence services they work for. Part 4 will detail this. At the same time, they work for the US government and the private sector. If their interests are starting to look conflicted, it's because they are.
How are these people allowed to function and do these things?
From a 2007 Wired article, How Congress Fueled the Rise of Private Spies "You see, contracting companies can do a lot of things federal agencies and their heads cannot; lobby lawmakers (MZM-Foggo-Wilkes-Cunningham style, not simply schmoozing in Hill hearing rooms), fund and operate PACs, build facilities and hire legions of people in strategic legislative districts. I know, I know, you're shocked, shocked to find gambling going on here . . .'
In return for legitimatizing this multi-billion dollar industry, Congress acting in the best interests of their own pockets and electability, give them what they want every time. The industry players are heavy donors in partisan politics.
There is another quid pro quo that the average Congressman can get. Did you know that the only Congressional Reps or Senators that get to see classified information are their respective Intelligence Committees?
Congress cannot legally look at classified Intelligence if they are not on the Intelligence committee. That makes sense, right? I mean, what's the sense of calling something top secret if someone like me can get my tiny hands on it?
Today, Congress brags about their private Intel sources that come from early before-its-had-a-chance-to-be-classified versions of classified reports.
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