Anonymous Goes after Austin, TX based STRATFOR

[jingofever]

These are the result of a hack but still ironic I think.

http://www.wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/8 ... rity-.html

Random Business Idea - Network Security

I'm sure this has been thought of before at STRATFOR so excuse the
redundancy. I was reading a solid Forbes article on Assange and it said
that a large number of deep pocket corporations were looking into
leak-focused network security after these Wikileak episodes.

I was wondering if it was possible for us to get some of that
"leak-focused" gravy train. This is an obvious fear sale, so that's a good
thing. And we have something to offer that the IT security companies
don't, mainly our focus on counter-intelligence and surveillance that Fred
and Stick know better than anyone on the planet.

We do a lot of good work with all the personal/executive security analysis
as well. Could we develop some ideas and procedures on the idea of
"leak-focused" network security that focuses on preventing one's own
employees from leaking sensitive information.

The point here is that I am sure there are certain procedures and
precautions that companies should employ that go beyond installing network
security network to deal with potential leaks. In fact, Im not so sure
this is an IT problem that requires an IT solution.

[wintler2]

Assange promises 'explosive' leaks in coming weeks
February 28, 2012 - 8:39AM
...
One leaked email quotes Stratfor Vice President of Intelligence Fred Burton bragging about his "trusted former CIA cronies." In another, he promises to "see what I can uncover" about a classified FBI investigation.
...

wikipedia page for Fred Burton
...Burton was a special agent with the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service.
Burton was also appointed by Washington to assist in the investigation of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He is the former deputy chief of the counterterrorism division of the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service. Mr. Burton also investigated the killing of Rabbi Meir Kahane; the al Qaeda New York City bombing plots before the September 11 attacks; and the Libyan-backed terrorist attacks against diplomats in Sana'a and Khartoum. He was involved in the arrest of Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993.

..
In February 2012 Wikileaks began publishing emails intercepted from Stratfor.[6] The leaked content included emails apparently sent by Burton, some of which concerned the 2008 American presidential election and described an attempt to uncover information that could be used to politically damage then-candidate Barack Obama.

"The hunt is on for the sleezy Russian money into O-mans coffers," Barton allegedly wrote in one email. "A smoking gun has already been found. Will get more on this when the time is right. My source was too giddy to continue. Can you say Clinton and ChiCom funny money? This also becomes a matter of how and when to out." [my emphasis]

Hmm, i wonder which client Burton was working for when he wrote that - is it all of them that want Obama gone, or just the important ones?

These Stratfor emails together with the US State Dept cables provide substantial evidence that 'deep politics'/elite conspiracies are real, are powerful and are in fact business as usual. I'm going to throw a party to celebrate this revealing of the empires grotesque genitalia.

[Luther Blissett]

http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/0 ... nificance/

The Release of Stratfor Emails by WikiLeaks & Its Significance
By: Kevin Gosztola Monday February 27, 2012 6:14 pm

The whistleblowing organization WikiLeaks has partnered with more than twenty-five media outlets to release millions of emails from the global private intelligence company known as Stratfor. The release of the emails, which they are calling the “Global Intelligence Files,” shows the full scope of the company’s operations—how they provide intelligence services to major corporations like Bhopal’s Dow Chemical Company. They show how the company has informants and engages in payment-laundering. And, most striking, it shows most of the money Stratfor uses comes from public sources like government offices, agencies, militaries, etc, because members subscribe to their services.

From the moment the release began, media has been ambivalent toward the news that the contents of the emails are now being published. Both how WikiLeaks may have obtained the emails and the fact that Stratfor’s reputation is allegedly poor among foreign policy writers, analysts and practitioners, etc.

Stratfor’s service may be shoddy, but the reality is the company does have a network of operatives that engage in activities around the world. The members take themselves seriously. George Friedman, CEO, writes in one email, after a deputy director of intelligence at the CIA was fired, that Stratfor would show the CIA how to properly run an intelligence organization.

Revealed so far is the following:

—Former Goldman Sachs managing director Shea Morenz to start a hedge fund called StratCap. The idea, which Morenz came up with, was that the company would “trade in a range of geopolitical instruments, particularly government bonds, currencies and the like.” Morenz invested more than $4 million and joined Stratfor’s board of directors. They put together an offshore share structure that went “as far as South Africa” Friedman said the fund will be useful and they would be “working on mock portfolios and trades.” And, the fund was to launch in 2012.

—Bhopal activists and The Yes Men were being spied on by the company. In response to activism against Dow Chemical for their role in the 1984 gas disaster in Bhopal, India (which victims have not been properly compensated for yet), the activists were tracked. The company kept track of the Yes Men’s speaking engagements along with mentions of Bhopal activism in the media.

—Coca Cola contracted Stratfor to spy on PETA. The organization, which engages in animal rights activism, was monitored. The soda company feared protests from PETA during the Vancouver Olympics. And so, they sent a list of questions to Stratfor and sought answers. Fred Burton, a former State Department official, responded in one email, “The FBI has a classified investigation on PETA operatives. I’ll see what I can uncover.”

—Vice President Fred Burton, former State Department official, has clear ties to Israel. As Al-Akhbar English’s Yazan al-Saadi details Burton was ”a special agent with the US Diplomatic Security Service and was appointed by Washington to investigate the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane, and a number of bomb plots by al-Qaeda prior to 9/11.” In the emails, his “pro-Israeli sentiments and links to Israeli military and intelligence sectors” are apparent as he argues the Gaza Freedom Flotilla was “funded by questionable sources.” There’s a level of racism in the company toward Palestinians or, in general, Arabs, not to mention the fact that the organization appears to be privy to information on the Mossad’s covert program to assassinate Iranian physicists.

Those are just some of the highlights of what has been gleaned from the emails. Only 200 of the five million emails have been released.

As was noted when news of the hack broke in December, Stratfor apparently had little concern for the “sources” it was working with. In fact, a glossary of terms they use when conducting business shows just how much disregard the business has for the safety of sources.

According to the glossary, “businessmen” are people you have to make “scared shitless of you.” The “most rare and prized variety” of a source is one that is a “coerced source” because “you have him by the balls.” A “green-carder” is “a source working for you because he believes that you will take him to America where he will own a Seven-Eleven. Try not to disabuse him until after you’ve squeezed his sorry ass.” Finally, rattling a source’s cage means “scaring the living shit out of a source in order to get a read on whether he is jerking you around.”

This is an organization with over 300,000 subscribers. This is how it obtains information. And, as one can tell from reading the content, the veracity of the intelligence collected is highly questionable. The company, as it admits, is largely “disconnected” from domestic politics in the countries of which it is producing analysis. If anything, the value of the intelligence is limited to its ability to reinforce already held biases in agencies and institutions toward certain policies, programs or leaders in specific countries.

Finally, the company has tried to publicly operate as a kind of hybrid between a think tank and a media organization. Stratfor was condemned during the Frontline Club press conference on the release because it does offer surveillance of citizens of the world as a service to corporations. The company also has likely engaged in bribery, which is why Friedman said the organization would be getting a law firm to help them establish guidelines so they would be prepared for any charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Bloomberg, Associated Press, Reuters, The New York Times, and the BBC have all, at some point, in the past decade used “intelligence” or analysis provided by Stratfor in its newsletters to supplement reporting. At least, individuals in these media organizations have consumed the material and tucked nuggets in the back of their head for referencing when necessary.

The release of the Global Intelligence Files has only just begun. This is not all that we are going to find out. Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, claims 4,000 emails show how Stratfor was doing work that pertains to the operations of WikiLeaks.

Here is Firedoglake‘s live blog on the release covering what has been revealed thus far along with media coverage of the release. Firedoglake will continue to cover the release as WikiLeaks and its media partners publish new stories on revelations in the millions of emails yet to be released.

[seemslikeadream]

Revealed: US plans to charge Assange
Philip Dorling
February 29, 2012

WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, says more 'explosive' information to be released on intelligence analysts Stratfor.

UNITED STATES prosecutors have drawn up secret charges against the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, according to a confidential email obtained from the private US intelligence company Stratfor.

In an internal email to Stratfor analysts on January 26 last year, the vice-president of intelligence, Fred Burton, responded to a media report concerning US investigations targeting WikiLeaks with the comment: ''We have a sealed indictment on Assange.''

''If I thought I could switch this dickhead off without getting done I don't think I'd have too much of a problem.'' … Stratfor's Chris Farnham on Assange. Photo: AP
He underlined the sensitivity of the information - apparently obtained from a US government source - with warnings to ''Pls [please] protect'' and ''Not for pub[lication]''.

Mr Burton is well known as an expert on security and counterterrorism with close ties to the US intelligence and law enforcement agencies. He is the former deputy chief of the counter-terrorism division of the US State Department's diplomatic security service.

Stratfor, whose headquarters are in Austin, Texas, provides intelligence and analysis to corporate and government subscribers.

On Monday, WikiLeaks began releasing more than 5 million Stratfor emails which it said showed ''how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients''.

The Herald has secured access to the emails through an investigative partnership with WikiLeaks.

The news that US prosecutors drew up a secret indictment against Mr Assange more than 12 months ago comes as the Australian awaits a British Supreme Court decision on his appeal against extradition to Sweden to be questioned in relation to sexual assault allegations.

Mr Assange, who has not been charged with any offence in Sweden, fears extradition to Stockholm will open the way for his extradition to the US on possible espionage or conspiracy charges in retaliation for WikiLeaks's publication of thousands of leaked US classified military and diplomatic reports.

Last week the US Army Private Bradley Manning was committed to face court martial for 22 alleged offences, including ''aiding the enemy'' by leaking classified government documents to WikiLeaks.

In December the Herald revealed Australian diplomatic cables, declassified under freedom of information, confirmed WikiLeaks was the target of a US Justice Department investigation ''unprecedented both in its scale and nature'' and suggested that media reports that a secret grand jury had been convened in Alexandria, Virginia, were ''likely true''.

The Australian embassy in Washington reported in December 2010 that the Justice Department was pursuing an ''active and vigorous inquiry into whether Julian Assange can be charged under US law, most likely the 1917 Espionage Act''.

In recent answers to written parliamentary questions from the Greens senator Scott Ludlam, the former foreign affairs minister Kevin Rudd indicated Australia had sought confirmation that a secret grand jury inquiry directed against Mr Assange was under way.

Mr Rudd said ''no formal advice'' had been received from US authorities but acknowledged the existence of a ''temporary surrender'' mechanism that could allow Mr Assange to be extradited from Sweden to the US. He added that Swedish officials had said Mr Assange's case would be afforded ''due process''.

The US government has repeatedly declined to confirm or deny any reported details of the WikiLeaks inquiry, beyond the fact that an investigation is being pursued.

The Stratfor emails show that the WikiLeaks publication of hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables triggered intense discussion within the ''global intelligence'' company.

In the emails, an Australian Stratfor ''senior watch officer'', Chris Farnham, advocated revoking Mr Assange's Australian citizenship, adding: ''I don't care about the other leaks but the ones he has made that potentially damage Australian interests upset me. If I thought I could switch this dickhead off without getting done I don't think I'd have too much of a problem.''

But Mr Farnham also referred to a conversation with a close family friend who he said knew one of the Swedish women who had made allegations of sexual assault against Mr Assange, and added: ''There is absolutely nothing behind it other than prosecutors that are looking to make a name for themselves.''

While some Stratfor analysts decried what they saw as Mr Assange's ''clear anti-Americanism'', others welcomed the leaks and debated WikiLeaks's longer-term impact on secret diplomacy and intelligence.

Stratfor's director of analysis, Reva Bhalla, observed: ''WikiLeaks itself may struggle to survive but the idea that's put out there, that anyone with the bandwidth and servers to support such a system can act as a prime outlet of leaks. [People] are obsessed with this kind of stuff. The idea behind it won't die.''

Stratfor says it will not comment on the emails obtained by WikiLeaks. The US embassy has also declined to comment.

[Nordic]

[seemslikeadream]

[Bruce Dazzling]

Stratfor is fascism's wet dream.

Here's a similar report to the one posted by slad.

[seemslikeadream]

4. Russia sold weapons to Iran but turned around and gave their security codes to Israel.

5. The fifth revelation is that often Stratfor analysts did not know what they were talking about and had an extreme rightwing bias. For instance, this memo on the revolution in Egypt attempts to argue that the officer corps was behind the revolution against Hosni Mubarak and that the masses were insufficiently mobilized to account for it. It is alleged that only 750,000 people came out in Tahrir Square, a small number for a country of 82 million. But in fact that was only in Tahrir. People demonstrated elsewhere in Cairo. And they were in the streets in Alexandria, Suez, Asyut and other cities. Even small towns saw burnings of police stations and HQs of the National Democratic Party. This memo makes a grassroots revolution that shook Egypt from Alexandria to Aswan into an officers’ putsch. While the officers tacked with the wind and did end up siding with the demonstrators against Mubarak, they were clearly playing political catch-up. It was revolutionary groups like April 6 that made the revolution in the cities, and the Muslim Brotherhood in the rural areas. The memo is frankly obtuse and if this is what Booz Allen was paying $20,000 a year for, they should demand their money back.

This fifth point, about the one percent interpreting the world for the one percent as being about the one percent, is a dire problem in our information system, since the one percent has the resources and can try to overwhelm reasoned analysis that recognizes the agency of the people. Ultimately, the political struggle here is an epistemological one (epistemology being the study of how we know what we know).

[Simulist]

5. The fifth revelation is that often Stratfor analysts did not know what they were talking about and had an extreme rightwing bias.

That's a "revelation"? Really? Hadn't these people ever talked to an analyst before?

(And the right-wing ones really put the "anal" in analyst.)

[Luther Blissett]

5. The fifth revelation is that often Stratfor analysts did not know what they were talking about and had an extreme rightwing bias.

That's a "revelation"? Really? Hadn't these people ever talked to an analyst before?

(And the right-wing ones really put the "anal" in analyst.)

We're all analysts here. Just the opposite kind.

[barracuda]

A second document shows that Monsegur – styled this time as CW-1 – provided an FBI-owned computer to facilitate the release of 5m emails taken from US security consultancy Stratfor and which are now being published by WikiLeaks. That suggests the FBI may have had an inside track on discussions between Julian Assange of WikiLeaks, and Anonymous, another hacking group, about the leaking of thousands of confidential emails and documents.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20 ... for-us-fbi

[Ben D]

That suggests the FBI may have had an inside track on discussions between Julian Assange of WikiLeaks, and Anonymous, another hacking group, about the leaking of thousands of confidential emails and documents.

Perhaps it will turn out that they all, including Assange, have been used as 'useful idiots' in a scheme run by the pros.

You know, I have too great a begrudging respect for the professional masters of the dark arts to imagine that the likes of Anonymous, Wikileaks, etc., could ever leak real secrets on a continuous basis. As soon as anyone or any organization acquires the know how to be a nuisance to the PTB, they are first penetrated and then either used for ongoing disinformation purposes or destroyed.

[AlicetheKurious]

I like this item, even if it is a limited hang-out, which I think it is (not by the Saudis, for sure):

Mossad Doing Business with Saudi Arabia: Stratfor Source


US President George W. Bush (L) meets with Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the US Prince Bandar bin Sultan at the Bush
Ranch 27 August 2002 in Crawford, Texas. (Photo: AFP - Eric Draper)

By: Yazan al-Saadi

Published Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Stratfor emails released by WikiLeaks and obtained by Al-Akhbar claim that the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad covertly assisted their Saudi counterparts with “intelligence collection and advice on Iran.”

The emails, dated 2 May 2007, show discussions between Fred Burton, Stratfor’s vice-president of counter-terrorism, and analysts in regards to the alleged secret Saudi-Israeli intelligence alliance. The email exchange also shows that Stratfor execs considered pursuing their own business relationship with the Saudi monarchy or, as Burton called them, “sleezy arsehole ragheads.”

Burton forwarded a short message to the general analyst email list which recounted HUMINT (human intelligence) on the alleged secret deal. The source claimed that Mossad offered covert assistance to the Saudis with “intelligence collection and advice on Iran.” The city of Nicosia in Cyprus was cited in the email “as a primary transit hub into Riyadh.” (doc-id 1227888)

Additionally, the source advised Burton that the Saudis “are playing both sides of the fence – with the jihadists and the Israelis – for fear that the US does not have a handle on either.”

The source also claimed that “several enterprising Mossad officers, both past and present, are making a bundle selling the Saudis everything from security equipment, intelligence and consultation,” a statement that implies an established security and business relationship between the Jewish state and the Saudi monarchy.

The message by Burton was additionally shared with another list that included Stratfor’s president and Chief Financial Officer Don Kuykendall.

Burton inquired, “Have we got the Saudi Foreign Ministry or intel[ligence] services as sub clients? If not, [I] suggest we send Mike Parks [Stratfor employee with a history of getting clients for Stratfor], who is good friends with Prince Bandar, to sign them up. $100,000 deal is nothing to these folks. I think Les Janka also has contacts with these sleezy arsehole ragheads (sic).”

The idea seemed to resonate well with other Stratfor senior staff, although there were concerns whether Stratfor’s budget would cover an employee’s trip to Riyadh in order to charm out a deal.

The email thread ended with Burton, typically tasteless in his humor, asking, “Either we want these towel heads as a client o[r] not. I can also have anybody we send to Riyadh beheaded.”

The year 2007 was the year when Saudi Arabia officially reaffirmed its support for the Arab Peace Initiative. Moreover, a New York Times report in August of that year stated that Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, was keen to be involved in the ill-fated Annapolis peace conference due to occur in the fall. In turn, Israel signaled its ‘openness’ to the Saudi plan. Link