Thursday, March 9, 2017

Article ties President Obama directly to leaked stories about FISA surveillance of Trump Campaign


Order by President Obama causally linked to MSM publication of leaked sensitive material about Trump and Trump campaign communications with the Russians


FBI's explanation of direct activity involving a Trump server makes a fine distinctions between the surveillance of a computer server and tapping phones  ---  also between FISA criminal warrants and FISA authorized surveillance for national security



According to an online magazine called “Circa”  ---  A  “….   months-long FBI counterintelligence investigation into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential campaign briefly investigated a computer server tied to Donald Trump's businesses near the end of the election but has not gathered evidence of election tampering to date that would warrant criminal charges against any of the president’s associates…”  (See  “The FBI investigated a Trump server in its Russia probe, but no charges are expected” by John Solomon & Sara Carter, 3/8/17,  Circa/ Politics   [http://circa.com/politics/fbi-probe-of-donald-trump-and-russia-during-election-yielded-no-evidence-of-crimes]).  This article was picked up and linked by the Daily Caller  (See  "Report: FBI Russia Probe Failed To Find Evidence Against Trump" by Kerry Pickett, 3/8/17,  The Daily Caller/ Politics  [http://dailycaller.com/2017/03/08/report-fbi-russia-probe-failed-to-find-evidence-against-trump/]).



What  some “US OFFICIALS”  said

The Soloman  and Carter  article in Circa went on to say this:   “….  U.S. officials, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information, said there is widespread frustration among intelligence professionals who have watched in horror as a normally secretive process has been distorted by media leaks and politicians uneducated about how counterintelligence operations actually work….”

It included this quoted material Circa’s source:   “.....   ‘I've never seen a case so misrepresented and leaks so damaging to a process that was meant to be conducted in secret.’  — U.S. official….”  And this:     “  ‘We have people spouting off who don’t know the difference between FISA surveillance and a wiretap or a counterintelligence probe versus a special prosecutor, and it has hurts our ability to get to the truth and has wrongly created the impression that intelligence officials have a political agenda,” said one source directly familiar with the drama.’…”    

Obama’s Order facilitates leaks of sensitive classified material related to Trump and the Trump Campaign  

The start of 2017 brought with it an unexpected politicizing of Trump-related intelligence gathered in secret.

Congress was briefed in early January, as were many other government officials; and separately, the Obama administration amended a long-standing executive order expanding who would receive the Trump-related information. That order allowed information intercepted through FISA warrants or by the National Security Agency to be shared to a wider audience in 16 government agencies as Obama was leaving office.  As a result,  intelligence which should have been available to just a handful of top intelligence officers was spread through briefings  to scores of workers in other intelligence- and security-related agencies.  Soon leaks of that information began appearing in the mainstream media  ---  usually in stories lacking the context of how national security investigations are actually conducted.

The leak of former General Flynn's conversations with the Russian ambassador alarmed career FBI officials, who knew that they had been gathered using the most sensitive of surveillance powers and should have remained secured as highly classified.

FBI’s reaction to President Trump's wiretap allegations

Circa’s article says that,   “....  Trump’s own claim this week that the FBI wiretapped his phone further irritated senior officials. Director James Comey even took the step of asking Justice to knock down the claim. While the computer server was investigted [sic], Trump’s phones and emails were never wiretapped, officials said….”

6 comments:

  1. BACKFILL: THE “U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT” EDITION

    DETAILED ARTICLE IN “U.S. NEWS” MAGAZINE SHOWS MANY WAYS THAT TRUMP’S AND OTHERS' COMMUNICATIONS CAN BE RECORDED

    According to a report in the U.S. News on-line editon, “Yes, it’s possible President Donald Trump had his phone calls intercepted, stored and searched by U.S. spy agencies during the Obama administration, experts say -- but not necessarily in the way the president claims….” (See “Will Trump's Wiretap Claim Prove True? -- Perhaps in some sense, former NSA officials and legal experts say” by Steven Nelson, 3/7/17, U.S. News/ News [https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2017-03-07/will-trumps-wiretap-claim-prove-true]).

    The abovecited article also went on to note, “Many experts have stated in television interviews that just two methods exist for wiretapping -- a ‘Title III’ criminal warrant or an intelligence court order -- and that since the post-Watergate reforms of the '70s the president has been unable to order taps…. But presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway on Monday said Trump ‘has information and intelligence that the rest of us do not’ and alternative paths do exist for recorded Trump calls – [if any might exist] -- to come into spy agency possession….”

    One of the key sources quoted in the U.S. News article said much of the commentary about Trump’s wiretapping claims is from “…’evidence-free or fact-shallow analyses’ of [governmental] surveillance operations from ‘self-appointed [and] so-called experts.’… ‘There exist “other” secret executive authorities.'...”

    The U.S. News article goes on to discuss several of those other secret executive authorities.

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  2. UPDATE: THE “IN CASE YOU MISSED THEIR POINT, DAILY CALLER IS TELLING YOU AGAIN” EDITION

    THE DC HEADLINE ASKS: “How Are All These Intel Leaks Happening?...” THEN THEY GIVE THIS TIP-OFF: “… Look At One Of The Last Things Obama Did Before Leaving Office”

    AFTER FIFTEEN YEARS OF PUSHING BY THE DONS & BOFFINS IN THE U.S. INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY --- WITH A WEEK LEFT IN HIS ADMINISTRATION, PRESIDENT OBAMA SAID >>> LET’S CHANGE THIS VERY BIG RULE, RIGHT NOW

    DAILY CALLER ALSO POINTS OUT THAT BACK IN FEBRUARY --- BEFORE THERE WAS ANY MENTION OF FISA WIRETAPS IN TRUMP’S TWEETS --- TRUMP MADE CHARGES AGAINST PRESIDENT OBAMA ON FOX --- THESE CHARGES AGAINST OBAMA AND HIS PEEPS WOULD APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN RELATED TO THE ONES MADE IN TRUMP’S TWEETS THIS PAST WEEK-END

    To some people, this might seem like the same old Daily Caller whine in a new wine skin; to me, it’s telling the same good story over and over again until it catches-on.

    According to the latest report on this topic from the folks at the Daily Caller, “Former President Barack Obama made a last-minute change to the way wiretapped intelligence is shared Jan. 12, which may have contributed to the proliferation of leaks plaguing the Trump administration…. Obama changed the way National Security Agency intelligence is shared 8 days before leaving office, which allows globally intercepted communications to be disseminated across the entire intelligence community…. The change was part of a post-9/11 push by the executive branch to increase intelligence sharing, to ensure that NSA analysts do not miss critically important information. The change is “simply widening the aperture for a larger number of analysts, who will be bound by the existing rules,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said at the time….” (See “How Are All These Intel Leaks Happening? Look At One Of The Last Things Obama Did Before Leaving Office” by Saagar Enjeti, 3/9/17, The Daily Caller/ Politics [http://dailycaller.com/2017/03/09/how-are-all-these-intel-leaks-happening-look-at-one-of-the-last-things-obama-did-before-leaving-office/]).

    Saagar Enjeti, the writer of this article in the Daily Caller also made note of reports in the NY Times that --- “…. Obama administration officials also scrambled to spread classified intelligence related to Russian meddling in the 2016 election to as many people within the U.S. government as possible. These officials said they spread the intelligence around to ensure Trump administration officials would not be able to quash the investigation. The officials also fought to keep the related intelligence at a low-classified level, giving more officers access to the raw information….”

    This fact about the Trump timeline was also pointed out by Enjeti in his DC piece --- “ ‘I think President Obama’s behind it, because his people are certainly behind it,” Trump told Fox News in late February. He continued, “some of the leaks possibly come from that group. You know, some of the leaks, which are really very serious leaks, because they’re very bad in terms of national security, but I also understand that’s politics. And in terms of him being behind things, that’s politics, and it will probably.’...”

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  3. FRANKENSTEIN SAY TO MONK IN CABIN: "When Obama President -- LEAKS BAD --- When Obama not more be President -- LEAKS GOOD... Like food good -- like smoke good -- like drink very good!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Circa seems like an okay source. But i recall it was the new york times that broke the story about white house intercepting trump stuff after reviewing FISA applications. and trumps tweets never accused obama of illegal bugging.

    i'm just sayin

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  5. 12:11 PM seems to be describing somebody very familiar to lots of Brooklyn Republicans who were active in the court fights over the leadership of the Brooklyn GOP.
    This "red head," as you describe her, is a solid member of the Golden faction of the Brooklyn GOP; if I read 12:11's descriptions and warning to Liam correctly, she would appear to be another key Marty Golden Republican who is backing Liam McCabe.
    You would have to agree, Mr. Massey, would you not.

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  6. Not sure how Mr/Ms Massey could/could not agree since there is no 12:11 PM comment

    ReplyDelete