The initial coverage of President Trump’s designation of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist organization” has oddly avoided a central question. CIA and Pentagon officials tell the New York Times the decision would threaten U.S. military personnel in the region. Iraqi observers tell Al-Monitor’s Laura Rozen the designation might alienate Iraq...
Category: United States
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What Does the NSA Do?
(From Top World Intelligence Agencies) Once upon a time Washingtonians said NSA stood for “No Such Agency.” Now NSA is well-known but is regarded as the most secretive of all U.S intelligence agencies. It is responsible for collecting signals intelligence such as email, texts, telephone calls and radio and TV communications. Its budget in 2014 was...
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State Department Cuts Off Funding for Trolls of Critics of Trump’s Iran Policy
Jason Rezaian of the Washington Post, imprisoned for 544 days by the Iranian government on dubious charges of spying, was surprised to find himself the target of another government spewing unfounded allegations: the U.S. government. In today’s Post he writes I never imagined the U.S. State Department would be funding my attackers. The Guardian has the...
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Spy Museum Uses Torture to Entice
Mark Fallon, former investigator at Guantanamo, noticed an advertisement for the International Spy Museum in Washington. On a recent trip to the museum I picked up on many subtle–and not so subtle–messages to valorize the deeply problematic deeds of secret intelligence agencies.
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NSA to Baltimore: Don’t Blame Us
It’s your fault, a National Security Agency official says to the city of Baltimore about the the ransomware attack that has disrupted city services. The unknown hackers, who have demanded $100,000 in bitcoin, are using software stolen from NSA. The agency’s response: we warned Baltimore two years ago and they didn’t patch their network. “NSA shares...