The next time you hear some lofty conservative twaddle about our freedoms, please point them to this Think Progress post and ask for an explanation. Ask them why they think they're threatened by government when we have large corporations funding private investigations and smear campaigns against people who speak against them.

According to e-mails obtained by ThinkProgress, the Chamber hired the lobbying firm Hunton and Williams to spearhead this effort. Hunton And Williams’ attorney Richard Wyatt, who once represented Food Lion in its infamous lawsuit against ABC News, was hired by the Chamber in October of last year. To assist the Chamber, Wyatt and his associates, John Woods and Bob Quackenboss, hired a set of private security firms — HB Gary Federal, Palantir, and Berico Technologies (collectively called Team Themis) — to develop tactics for damaging progressive groups and labor unions, in particular ThinkProgress, the labor coalition called Change to Win, the SEIU, US Chamber Watch, and StopTheChamber.com.

Tread carefully here. The US Chamber left themselves a layer of plausible deniability, as Marcy Wheeler carefully explains. Bottom line: The Chamber of Commerce hired an attorney, who then farmed out assignments on spec to dig up dirt on their "enemies" and smear them.

Here are some of the proposals (PDF). One that caught my eye was this one:

Create a false document, perhaps highlighting periodical financial information, and monitor to see if USChamber Watch acquires it. Afterward, present explicit evidence proving that such transactions never occurred. Also, create a fake insider persona and generate communications with CtW. Afterward, release the actual documents at a specified time and explain the activity as a CtW contrived operation. Both
instances will prove that US Chamber Watch cannot be trusted with information and/or tell the truth.

Got it. Plant a false document with financial information, wait for USChamberWatch to "acquire it", and when they use the information, nail them for lying. Lie to them and then get them for lying.

But there's much, much more. Not only did these hired thugs go after ThinkProgress, SEIU and others, they also went after bloggers like Brad Friedman, family members of people they were after, including children. They hacked social media accounts and compiled personal information (dossiers) on everyone.

New emails reveal that the private spy company investigated the families and children of the Chamber’s political opponents. The apparent spearhead of this project was Aaron Barr, an executive at HB Gary. Barr circulated numerous emails and documents detailing information about political opponents’ children, spouses, and personal lives.

One of the targets was Mike Gehrke, a former staffer with Change to Win. Among the information circulated about Gehrke was the specific “Jewish church” he attended and a link to pictures of his wife and two children (sensitive information was redacted by ThinkProgress):

Here it is:

Continue reading »

If you're a fan of British espionage and spy thrillers then MI-5 is for you. I came across it over the holiday and it's just a dynamite series. It follows Britain's MI-5, their Secret Service which offers a rich drop of plots filled with twists and turns, global intrigue and excellent character development. It began its run in 2003 and it's fascinating to watch how UK writers broach the rest of the world's security problems that are so closely linked to all of Europe and the Middle East.

It really takes off after the first season and surprisingly never loses its edge even as actors come and go. They handle their protagonists quite differently than American TV. They don't always treat Americans favorably and there are episodes before Bush invaded Iraq that show how much the world changed after his preemptive doctrine speech. They are on their 8th season and it's just as interesting as its ever been.

Congress Matters: Bush Attorneys General Ashcroft and Gonzalez: Torture "may be necessary in the future"

The Brad Blog: Former FBI translator and whistleblower, Sibel Edmonds, suggests blackmail may be at the heart of Congressional refusal to bring accountability and oversight to its own members - such as both Hastert and Harman - in matters of espionage and national security

TAPPED: ACORN charged in Nevada

The Reality-Based Community: Note to Republicans

AFL-CIO Now Blog: Millions lose health coverage since recession and job-based health care declines

Show Me Progress: Chillax, Y'all

The Star (h/t NonnyMouse):

An odd-looking Canadian coin with a bright red flower was the culprit behind the U.S. Defence Department's false espionage warning earlier this year, the Associated Press has learned.

The odd-looking - but harmless - "poppy coin" was so unfamiliar to suspicious U.S. Army contractors travelling in Canada that they filed confidential espionage accounts about them. The worried contractors described the coins as "anomalous" and "filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology," according to once-classified U.S. government reports and e-mails obtained by the AP.
The supposed nano-technology actually was a conventional protective coating the Royal Canadian Mint applied to prevent the poppy's red color from rubbing off. The mint produced nearly 30 million such quarters in 2004 commemorating Canada's 117,000 war dead.

It's really a shame that the media is more interested in displaying the irrational fear over a decoration on a Canadian coin then the actual declining value of our own currency.

Olbermann takes a look at the assault on the press from the White House.
Download | play -WMP Download | play -QT

Keith: ...the Bush administration on the hunt for anyone who might have leaked word of the NSA domestic spying program to the media. Amid further word tonight that there may even be more secret spying going on than thought previously. Absent any hint of irony, the administration launching several investigations to nab any federal official who may have blown the whistle on its warrant-free surveillance programs, as well as its secret CIA prisons.

President Bush, you will recall, calling the NSA leak a, quote, "shameful act" that was, quote, "helping the enemy." Nevermind the members of his own senior staff who saw fit to leak the name of a covert CIA operative, mainly because her husband had said something critical about he White House..The "Washington Post" reported that dozens of employees at the CIA, NSA and other intelligence agencies have been interviewed by the FBI already. At the same time, the Justice Department warning reporters that they could be prosecuted under espionage laws. .read on"

We, the undersigned Members of the House Judiciary Committee, write to urge you to convene hearings as soon as possible to investigate the President's ordering the National Security Agency (NSA) to engage in espionage of persons inside the United States without obtaining court-ordered warrants authorizing these searches....read on

Pelosi's partial statement:

The President's statement today raises serious questions as to what the activities were and whether the activities were lawful. I was advised of President Bush's decision to provide authority to the National Security Agency to conduct unspecified activities shortly after he made it and have been provided with updates on several occasions.The Bush Administration considered these briefings to be notification, not a request for approval. As is my practice whenever I am notified about intelligence activities, I expressed my strong concerns during these briefings.

Reid partial statement:

Under current Administration briefing guidelines, members of Congress are informed after decisions are made, have virtually no ability to either approve or reject a program, and are prohibited from discussing these types of programs with nearly all of their fellow members and all of their staff. We need to investigate this program and the President’s legal authority to carry it out. We also need to review this flawed congressional consultation system. I will be asking the President to cooperate in both reviews.”

Daily Kos has the full statements posted.

"A CNN/USA Today Gallup poll conducted over the weekend found his approval rating stood at 41 percent, while more than half, or 56 percent, disapprove of how the president is handling his job."

CIA Veterans Condemn Torture

Jason Vest has a great piece: "...Although outrage has focused on the existence and symbolism of the black sites, comparatively little attention has been paid to the concerns -- if not outright objections -- of many distinguished CIA veterans about these sites and the use of torture in general. It's not just that such behavior is largely impractical, they say; it's that even by the morally ambiguous standards of espionage and covert action, the abuse is simply wrong...read on"

Cokie is Woodwardized

Larry wrote today how Bob Woodward has become a parrot of Republican talking points. On a similar note in defending her profession, Cokie said on This Week this morning:

Cokie "The one good piece of news in terms of our trade (journalism) is that Fitzgerald did not indict under the espionage act, he did not say that leaking classified information was found because that would dry up sources so completely that we would never have a conversation again."

Download | play -WMP

Download | play -QT

As reader David says: "This shows a vested interest by the MSM to turn the public's attention away from the main allegation."

For all the lying apologists who called her a pencil pusher.

via TPMCafe: The misinformation being spread in the media about the Plame affair is alarming and damaging to the longterm security interests of the United States. Republicans' talking points are trying to savage Joe Wilson and, by implication, his wife, Valerie Plame as liars. That is the truly big lie. For starters, Valerie Plame was an undercover operations officer until outed in the press by Robert Novak. Novak's column was not an isolated attack. It was in fact part of a coordinated, orchestrated smear that we now know includes at least Karl Rove.

Global News Matrix

An FBI contract employee who was fired after alleging national security breaches within the bureau's translation service plans to appeal to the Supreme Court

to lift a gag order that she has been under for almost three years.

Sibel Edmonds lost her latest court battle on Friday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a lower court's ruling that dismissed her lawsuit against the Justice Department. Edmonds alleges there were security breaches, mismanagement and possible espionage within the FBI's translation service in late 2001 and early 2002. She says the information she knows would lead to criminal prosecutions if aggressively pursued.

"We are going to the Supreme Court, that's for sure," Edmonds said Monday. Read on...

Enron Broadband: The technology fell short     Off the Kuff

The prosecution is still presenting its case in the Enron Broadband trial. Their last witness for the week was a techie who testified that EBS was going to have to rely on other companies' networks to deliver what it was promising.

John Bloomer, a computer expert hired in 1999, said the idea was approved about two weeks before a Jan. 20, 2000, stock analyst conference where prosecutors maintain Enron Broadband Services executives lied about the capabilities of their network.

Sibel Edmonds lost her latest court battle on Friday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a lower court's ruling that dismissed her lawsuit against the Justice Department. Edmonds alleges there were security breaches, mismanagement and possible espionage within the FBI's translation service in late 2001 and early 2002. She says the information she knows would lead to criminal prosecutions if aggressively pursued.

"We are going to the Supreme Court, that's for sure," Edmonds said Monday. Read on...