down with murder inc

US 'approves war on terror plans'

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has approved plans to give the Pentagon greater leeway to deploy special forces around the world, a US report says.

According to the Washington Post, teams of special forces have been sent to 20 countries to carry out operational planning and intelligence gathering. Mr Rumsfeld has long insisted that the US military needs a fundamental revamp to fight modern anti-terror campaigns.

The Pentagon refused to comment on the report, which quoted unnamed officials.

According to the Washington Post, US forces overseas now face fewer obstacles before beginning military operations in a foreign country.

Requirements for the US ambassador to give permission for special forces operations have been waived, the Post reports. Envoys now need only to be informed of planned military action. The officials also suggested that the Pentagon has drawn up a list of likely targets around the world for retaliation in the event of a terror attack on the US.

'Three plans'

The Pentagon has announced a shift in its approach to the war on terror in recent months, rebranding the conflict as a "long war" akin to the decades-long struggle between the US and the Soviet Union.

Planning the 'long war'

In its report, the Washington Post suggests that the approval and implementation of the new campaign plan, as well as two subordinate plans, have been the Pentagon's highest priority.

Together, they amount to an assignment of responsibilities to different military commands to conduct a "long war" against terrorism, the paper reports.

Defence officials revealed the apparent contents of the three plans:

The main plan sets goals for the US in the ongoing war on terror, and divides responsibilities between regional commands

A second plan focuses on al-Qaeda and similar Islamist militant movements around the world

The final plan details possible military responses to a major terror strike against the US

One US official quoted in the Washington Post said the list of possible targets detailed "what terrorists or bad guys we would hit if the gloves came off". BBC

Republicans want Bush to replace Cheney with Rice

Big News Network.com Sunday 23rd April, 2006

The front page of London's Sunday Times this week is led by the headline, "Dump Cheney for Condi, Bush urged."

The story is not entirely new as rumors are abound that Condoleezza Rice, despite her denials, is being groomed for a crack at the presidency in 2008. Some insiders have also speculated on Rice being handed the vice presidency to boost her prospects.

One of the key factors at play is the Bush family. President George Bush Snr. is the pre-eminent networker in Washington. His Christmas card list alone numbers in the hundreds of thousands. He has played an influential role in the last several presidential elections. Recently the Bush camp has been seen getting closer to Senator John McCain, the Republican front-runner. Bush Jnr. however is a very close confidant of Rice, and has had run-ins with McCain in the past.

Adding to the intrigue is that the publication of Sunday's story appears as the lead in The Sunday Times, arguably one of London's most politically influential newspapers, often credited with shaping public opinion. It is also owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, a close ally of the Bush family. Roger Ailes, formerly Bush Snr's chief media co-ordinator, is Chairman of the Board, CEO and President of Murdoch's Fox News Channel.

The story itself says Republicans are urging President Bush to dump Dick Cheney and replace him with Condoleezza Rice, "if he is serious about presenting a new face to the jaded American public."

They believe that only the sacrifice of one or more of the big beasts of the jungle, such as Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, will convince voters that Bush understands the need for a fresh start, the article says.

The jittery Republicans claim Bush's mini-White House reshuffle last week will do nothing to forestall the threat of losing control of Congress in the November mid-term elections.

Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard magazine and author of Rebel in Chief, a sympathetic new biography of Bush, is quoted as saying, "There are going to have to be sweeping personnel changes if people are going to take a second look at the Bush presidency."

Barnes, who is close to the White House, said he believed Cheney would be willing to stand down in order to help Bush. "It's unlike Bush to dump somebody whom he likes and respects," he cautioned. "But the president needs to do something shocking and dramatic such as putting in Condoleezza Rice."

Cheney appeared to have beeen caught napping during a visit to the Oval Office by China's president, Hu Jintao, on Friday, although he claimed he had been looking down at his notes. It has often been said that he would cite medical reasons should he ever resign, the article states.

The best scenario, Barnes added, would be for Bush to announce that "Dick Cheney will be around as an outside adviser and I can call him on the phone, but I'd like to anoint somebody who I think will be the next leader of the United States."

Tom Edmonds, a leading Republican consultant, says in the story that the White House had failed to grasp that the party was in desperate straits. "I have never talked to so many disenchanted Republicans," he says. "The president even stonewalled the minor changes he made by talking about how he was really perfectly happy with his team. He didn't even give himself wiggle room."

One Republican strategist, who did not want to be named, said: "If I were Bush I would think of changing Cheney. It is one of the few substantial things he can do to change the complexion of his administration. The rest is nibbling around the edges."

Bush's new chief of staff, Joshua Bolten, says The Sunday Times, quickly put his stamp on the inner workings of the White House last week by stripping Karl Rove, Bush's most powerful adviser, of his policy-making role and ordering him to concentrate on his forte: winning elections.

Bolten also obtained the resignation of the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, who was nicknamed Piggy in a recent Vanity Fair article because of his resemblance to the hapless victim of the feral boys in Lord of the Flies.

Tony Snow, a Fox News broadcaster who is favoured to replace McClellan, has previously described the Bush administration as "listless" and in dire need of change.

But a new communicator cannot reinvent an old team. Edmonds believes Rumsfeld should go. "The president is loyal to a fault," he said. "His loyalty shouldn't be to Rumsfeld but to the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. We need a new, strong face on the war, such as Senator John McCain or Joe Lieberman (the pro-war Democrat senator)."

Bob Schieffer, a CBS news television presenter, says Bush may yet drop Rumsfeld despite his strong declaration of support. "It was also this president who said, 'Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job' and that was just before Brownie got canned," Schieffer said, referring to Michael Brown, who directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency's much-criticised response to Hurricane Katrina.

John Snow, the Treasury secretary, has been left twisting in the wind while replacements for him are openly discussed, says the article, and Rob Portman has been brought in to replace Bolten as budget director. Suggestions that Harriet Miers, Bush's White House counsel who was dropped as his supreme court nominee, would be next to go were denied last week.

Supporters say Bush should live up to his bold claim that he is "the decider" - made while rejecting recent calls for Rumsfeld's resignation from half a dozen senior generals - and start firing senior people rather than backroom staff.

"If the Democrats win either the House of Representatives or the Senate it will be death and torment. It will be horrible for Bush," said Barnes. A Democrat win could lead to moves to impeach Bush for leading the country to war on allegedly false pretences, or at the very least, to bog down the president's legislative programme until he leaves office in 2008.

Rove has been privately warning party activists to expect some losses in the mid-term elections. One insider said: "I've heard him say at several party gatherings that the president wasn't supposed to win in 2000, but he did. We've increased our margins of victory time and again. We can't just keep winning on top of winning so we're bound to slip back, but we're still doing better than you would historically expect."

Only one two-term victor has been more unpopular than Bush at a similar six-year stage in his presidency - Richard Nixon in the months before he was impeached.

Seven U.S. soldiers a month committed suicide last year

Big News Network.com Monday 24th April, 2006

The suicide rate in the U.S. Army has grown to its highest level in thirteen years.

Last year 83 soldiers committed suicide, the highest number in any year since 1993. Another four deaths under investigation may increase the number further. The figure only relates to the Army, and does not include Marines, Naval or Air Force servicemembers.

When suicides among soldiers in Iraq spiked in the summer of 2003, according to an article produced by The Associated Press, the Army put together a mental health assessment team that met with troops.

"We have increased the number of combat stress teams, increased suicide prevention and training, and we are working very aggressively to change the culture so that soldiers feel comfortable coming forward with their personal problems in a culture where historically admitting mental health issues was frowned upon," Army spokesman Col. Joseph Curtin told AP.

Of the confirmed suicides last year, 25 were soldiers deployed to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, which amounts to 40 percent of the 64 suicides by Army soldiers in Iraq since the conflict began in March 2003.

According to the Army, there are more than 230 mental health practitioners working in Iraq and Afghanistan, compared with "about a handful" when the war began, Curtin said.

"These numbers should be a wake-up call on the mental health impact of this war," Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America told The Associated Press. "One in three soldiers will come back with post traumatic stress disorder or comparable mental health issues, or depression and severe anxiety."

Rieckhoff, who was a platoon leader in Iraq, said solders there face increased stress because they are often deployed to the warfront several times, they are fighting urban combat and their enemy blends in with the population, making it more difficult to tell friend from foe.

"You don't get much time to rest and with the increased insurgency, your chances of getting killed or wounded are growing," he said. "The Army is trying harder, but they've got an incredibly long way to go."

He added that while there are more psychiatrists, the soldiers are still in a war zone, "so you're just putting your finger in the dam."

The very rich in America: "The kind of money you cannot comprehend"
By David Walsh - 19 April 2006 WSWS
"Let me tell you about the very rich," F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote in a 1926 story, "They are different from you and me." But even Fitzgerald could not have imagined how different "from you and me" the very rich would become in America eight decades later.
The sums that the very wealthy have at their disposal in the US are almost unimaginable: Oil executive Lee Raymond receiving some $400 million in a retirement package; the 2005 compensation of bank chairman Richard Fairbank totaling some $280 million; Omid Korestani, head of Google's global sales, exercising stock options providing him with $288 million last year.
The accumulation is brazen. What once would have been considered a somewhat discreditable fact of social life, the proliferation of billionaires, is now hailed as a sign of America's success. The demise of the Soviet Union and the supposed absence of any alternative to capitalism, the putrefaction of the AFL-CIO trade unions, the ignominious collapse of American liberalism and the lack to this point of broad-based, organized political opposition to the ruling elite and its two parties have rendered the American financial aristocracy "dizzy with success." These people have lost their heads.
In the face of public outrage over oil company profits and soaring gasoline prices, Exxon arrogantly defended Raymond's hundreds of millions, arguing that they were rewarding the executive's "outstanding leadership of the business, continued strengthening of our worldwide competitive position, and continuing progress toward achieving long-range strategic goals." The company added that it considered Raymond's compensation package "appropriately positioned."
In a study published in October 2005, three accounting professors reported that negative, even occasionally scathing press coverage, "does not substantively change corporate behaviour with regard to pay packages." The American establishment is all but impervious to the sentiments of the broad masses of the population. In response to a recent report detailing the immense and growing social gap, a spokesman for New York state's Business Council told a reporter that the incomes earned by his state's rich were "something that everybody who cares about New York should be pleased about."
An insulated world of immense wealth exists as never before, at least in modern US history. The number of Americans with assets of $1 million or more reached 7.5 million in 2004, according to a survey conducted by the Spectrem Group. Beyond that, however, are those who possess "Ultra High Net Worth" (a mellifluous term invented by Merrill Lynch circa 2001): individuals in households with $5 million or more in net worth. In a country of 300 million people, the UHNW form a very small percentage of the population, but a not insignificant number in absolute terms. Economic, political and cultural life in America is to an enormous extent organized for their benefit.
This is not simply obscene or unjust, it is socially irrational and immensely destructive. How is it possible to allocate resources, repair and renew the infrastructure, carry out any type of long-term economic planning, cure any social ills, when the official guiding principle is the ability of an oligarchic elite to accumulate ever-greater personal wealth? The gravitational pull of such wealth asserts itself in every aspect of life.
The New York Times reported last year on a relatively new phenomenon, magazines oriented entirely toward the very wealthy. Absolute Publishing, the Times noted, had just started up a publication called Absolute, "for distribution to New Yorkers with an estimated annual household income of at least $500,000."
The editor of Absolute, Ernest J, Renzulli, is aiming for an audience of only 60,000 New York residents. He found his target readership "by winnowing databases of the most affluent New York ZIP codes with people who have bought houses for more than $2 million and people who have registered cars, boats or planes that cost more than $75,000."
"It's a small number," the Times quoted Mr. Renzulli as saying. "But this is not a magazine that's about mass reach. It's about reaching the tip of the pyramid."
The Times take note of Michael Silverstein, an executive with the Boston Consulting Group and co-author of Trading Up: The New American Luxury. Silverstein estimates that by 2010 Americans will spend $1 trillion on luxury goods. The Times continues: "In an ever more fragmented media world, the rich are becoming their own niche. They may be diverse connoisseurs of fashion, yachting or jewelry, but they share one important trait: a seemingly bottomless supply of disposable income."
It must indeed be a predicament to be saddled with tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars, or more-how is one to spend such sums? Those "awash in cash" (the Times' phrase) must rack their brains and devote hours to the problem. How could one ever rest? Would not a person require a certain degree of inventiveness to come up with ways of spending such a fortune?
Judging by the results in published reports-no, not particularly. By and large, the fabulously wealthy have derived their fortunes from inheritance, the stock market, the real estate bubble, fortunate investments in technology or, perhaps, American militarism: in short, from semi-automatic economic and social processes associated with the lowering of living standards for millions in the US and the super-exploitation of masses of people in impoverished countries in other parts of the world. They are not startling or outstanding in any fashion, except perhaps in the depth of their greed and shortsightedness.
So we learn that Microsoft's Paul Allen owns a $250-million, 414-foot "gigayacht," with seven decks, two helicopter landing pads, a swimming pool, a basketball court, an infirmary, a garage for Land Rovers, a movie theater, a concert space for 260 and a recording studio. Not to be outdone, Larry Ellison of software giant Oracle had his giant yacht built 452 feet long. Ellison's vessel has five stories, 82 rooms, "a wine cellar the size of most beach bungalows, a dozen yacht-length tenders, and a generator capable of providing enough electricity for a small town in Idaho or Maine... Final cost: $377 million." (Associated Press)
The wealthy elite are also purchasing their own widebody airplanes, reports Business Week-Airbus A340s and Boeing 777s, which list for over $100 million-as "airborne penthouses." Customized outfitting may add $25 to $30 million to the cost.
The "supercar" business is also thriving. Ocean Drive, one of the new magazines aimed at the affluent, carries a piece on Michael Fux, whose Sleep Innovations manufactures Memory Foam products. Fux has collected some 50 luxury cars. He recently took possession of a $2 million Ferrari FXX, one of only 20 in the world.
USA Today, in a piece describing the new "super-rich supercar fanatics" who collect Ferraris and Maseratis and Bugattis, cites the comments of one auto broker in southern California, "There's a whole new breed of collector that has emerged in the last three-four years. Almost all make the kind of money you cannot comprehend."
Yet great unease persists in these circles. A yacht broker told Associated Press that "a sea change in attitude among America's superrich" has taken place in the wake of September 11. "Clients are telling me, 'Hey, I could have been in the Twin Towers. That could have been me jumping out a window.' The thinking among wealthy people now is, you can die anytime. Nobody can protect you. So you might as well spend your money now and enjoy it."
Likewise, in its analysis of the trends driving the purchase of jumbo jets by wealthy individuals, Business Week notes: "Because of increased concern over security, especially post-September 11, some businesspeople now use their aircraft as a base of operations on overseas business trips. Rather than going to a hotel or office after landing, they just stay onboard... "
The term "conspicuous consumption," coined by Thorstein Veblen in The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), hardly does justice to the current situation. There is a considerable element of recklessness, even desperation, in the obsessive spending. Throwing money to the wind hardly speaks to a sense of historic optimism or confidence among the elite in its own future or the general health of the American social order.
At the height of US global economic hegemony, in the 1950s, corporate directors were expected to lead rather sedate lives, modestly tending to the nation's economy. Of course they lined their pockets, but they were not expected to live like pharaohs.
In 1957, Fortune magazine reported that some 250 or so individuals in the US were worth $50 million or more. The wealthiest of them, oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, stood all alone in the $700 million to $1 billion category. The equivalent of $50 million today-some $350 million-would not place an individual anywhere near the richest 400 people in the US, according to Forbes's 2005 list (which begins at $900 million). Getty would find himself somewhere between 31st and 42nd on the list.
The roll call of the wealthiest Americans a half-century ago included famous names-Rockefeller, Harriman, Mellon, duPont, Astor, Whitney and Ford, along with a quartet associated with General Motors, Alfred P. Sloan Jr., Charles F. Kettering, John L. Pratt and Charles S. Mott. These were all ruthless capitalists, but their fortunes were based, directly or indirectly, on the growth of the productive forces.
Today, the list of the super-rich reveals an extraordinary growth of parasitism. One indication is Forbes' listing of the "400," which includes an extraordinary number of people whose wealth, according to the publication, is derived from "Investments," "Hedge Funds," "Leveraged buyouts," "Real estate," "Fashion," etc. The "captains of industry" of old are few and far between.
A perusal of publications such as Ocean Drive, or Gotham, or Los Angeles Confidential sheds some light on the current tastes and opinions of these very rich.
Real estate expert Steven Gaines told Gotham in a recent interview, "where you choose to live [in New York City] defines you more than in any other city. There's a right side and a wrong side of the tracks in every city; but in New York, what floor you live on, which direction your apartment faces, whether you move one block in either direction, says a tremendous amount about who you are and your personal sense of adventure."
Asked about co-op boards rejecting celebrities, Gaines replied, "I haven't heard of any juicy rejections lately. Celebrity rejections are very 90s; they don't really happen anymore. People are very impressed by money; that's all it takes now. Also-and this is the most important thing-they're not building any more [co-ops]. We don't need any more because people don't really care who their neighbors are. [Most people] figure that if a guy can afford a $12 million apartment in the Time Warner building, he's cool enough to live next door."
This theme-money is absolutely everything-recurs again and again in studies of the contemporary American elite.
The Times reporter, Katharine Q. Seelye, in her piece on magazines for the affluent, described the publications in these words: "Most of the magazines rely on a similar formula: extravagantly lush photography on heavy paper stock, flattering feature articles on prominent local personalities and snapshots of those personalities hobnobbing with each other... The magazines also make it easy for readers to buy what they see on the page, whether it appears in an advertisement or an article-and it is often difficult to tell the difference, as the magazines have elevated commercial product placement to an art form."
The magazines appear at first glance to be nothing but expensive advertisements for clothes, watches, condos and automobiles-hundreds of pages of them (Los Angeles Confidential runs to 350 pages, Ocean Drive an astonishing 530!). The table of contents, gossip columns and articles, such as they are, do little to distinguish themselves. They humbly give way to the full-color photos of handbags and bracelets and motorcars.
Such a magazine is merely a scaffolding for the marketing of highly expensive products. It is a relatively convenient means of making known to a specific clientele what is available for them to purchase this month. And this is not something that those involved would be ashamed to admit. No, we have moved far beyond that.
Gotham appears to specialize in real estate gossip, appropriate in Manhattan, which has been ruined by the Trumps and their ilk. Tales of apartment and co-op buying and selling are recounted with relish, with the sort of sensual zest that others might take in relating stories of sexual improprieties. In a recent issue, one piece excitedly recounts that "the penthouse apartment of the late philanthropist Enid Haupt has sold-at least three times. The nine-room duplex at 740 Park Avenue, with two principal bedrooms and three-and-a-half baths, has an accepted offer for its asking price of $27.5 million, with two backup bids-in case the famously persnickety co-op board decides to reject the winning bidder."
In another column, we learn that "Out in the Hamptons [on Long Island], entrepreneur Linda Wachner is listing her seaside estate [a summer house] for a sky-high $62.5 million, the highest price ever asked for a Southampton Village home. The ocean- and bay-front Southampton estate on Meadow Lane features a 16-room, two-story shingled traditional mansion measuring nearly 10,000 square feet with 10 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, several public rooms, a wine cellar, and staff quarters. The property includes several hundred feet of beachfront, a rose garden, a putting green, a pool with spa, and a tennis court with a pavilion. 'I think it's an exciting property,' Wachner told the New York Post. 'We've had a lot of fun here.'"
Unique Homes reports that the Stanhope, on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, is currently being renovated into 26 luxury residences. "The space is divided into half-floor residences of approximately 4,000 square feet (starting at $10 million) and full-floor residences measuring 8,000-plus square feet ($30.5 million and up)." The old Plaza Hotel is also being transformed by a developer into private residences, 182 of them. The one- to five-bedroom units will be priced between $2.5 million and $33 million-plus.
The wealthy pockets of south Florida are targeted in Ocean Drive. The size of a small telephone book, the magazine seems desperate to please and impress. It takes the most ridiculously self-serious attitude toward trivial people and circumstances. Page after page of attractive but glum models dominate the publication, a cornucopia of expensive consumerism.
Stiff competition between real estate projects is very much in evidence here. Three operations, Donald Trump's "Trump Hollywood" (i.e., Hollywood, Florida), St. Regis Resort & Residences, Bal Harbour and Icon Brickell, with "breathtaking views of Biscayne Bay," have included their own elaborate, pull-out brochures in the magazine.
The St. Regis is especially noteworthy for its quite conscious effort to evoke an imaginary aristocratic past. It employs butlers. Here is the advertisement for that service, a disgusting passage over which some wretched soul expended a great deal of effort:
"The St. Regis Butlers are adept at executing your requests while anticipating your every need with consummate style. Every preference is committed to memory. Dinner for two on the beach at seven-thirty? Shirt collars heavily starched? A car to retrieve your business partner from the airport tomorrow morning? It's a pleasure. Your St. Regis Butler, always on call, is your household manager, your link to St. Regis services and your master of conveniences. All embrace the authority to go to any lengths to ensure you the utmost in comfort, down to the most particular request." A butler...or an indentured servant, a serf, a slave?
One could go on, but the outlines are clear. A type of aristocracy rules America, which has more than one feature in common with the ancien régime that presided over pre-revolutionary France. This vast accumulation of wealth at one pole of society is incompatible, in the long run, with even the trappings of democracy. The super-rich own everything in the US, including the political parties and the political process. They allow the population to vote at this point, more or less. But for how long? As resistance to the policies of the elite mounts and the two-party monopoly threatens to crumble, why should the riffraff be permitted a say in such important affairs as elections?

What is the TALON database, Pentagon intelligence group
Monday, April 24, 2006
902nd Military Intelligence Group
Nicknamed 'The Deuce,' the Fort Meade, Md.-based group is the Pentagon's biggest counterintelligence unit.
Mission: Protecting the U.S. Army from espionage and subversion while enforcing federal law prohibiting obstruction of military recruitment during a time of war.
History: Launched in New Guinea in 1944 to thwart spying on the Army, and worked against the Soviet Union's KGB during the Cold War. After Sept. 11, 2001, the 902nd took on anti-terrorism assignments in the United States.
Operations: Its 308th Military Intelligence Battalion has offices at most military installations, including about a half-dozen agents in Orlando and Miami. The 308th watches over Army bases, assesses vulnerability to spying and collects counterintelligence at Defense Department testing facilities.
Information on suspicious activity flows to the 902nd from the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, local police forces and concerned citizens. Tips also can come through the 902nd's hot line, (800) CALLSPY, or by e-mail, through callspy@meade-inscom.army.mil.
When the 902nd receives word of suspicious activity that may indicate terrorism afoot, it forwards the information for inclusion in the Pentagon's TALON threat database.
Wolfowitz
TALON
The Threat and Local Observation Notice database established in 2003 by then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. Amid public criticism that the Pentagon missed cues before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he sought to coordinate information from all the armed forces and law-enforcement agencies fighting terrorism.
How it works: Unvetted tips about suspicious activity are entered into the database to determine whether any of these 'dots' of information can be connected. The database is accessible by law-enforcement agencies across the country involved in homeland security.
The controversy: Public outrage over domestic spying erupted in December, after NBC News first reported that the TALON database contained information on peaceful activists in Lake Worth and elsewhere in the country. In March, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England ordered an annual internal review of the program, including whether regulations protecting citizens' privacy were followed. The Defense Department's Inspector General also is auditing the program. Despite the controversy, the department stands by the program and says it has detected terrorist activity.
The Truth Project
The Lake Worth-based Truth Project contends military recruiters oversell the benefits of enlistment. It aims to provide high-school students with an alternative viewpoint.
The group drew national attention in December, when NBC News reported that the group, which met at a Quaker Meeting House, was infiltrated by the government and placed on the TALON database. Its leader, Rich Hersh, ended up testifying before a congressional panel investigating the database's use.
The group has eight board members and 20 other volunteers.
- palmbeachpost.com

U.S. has 100,000 intelligence employees
April 21, 2006 WASHINGTON -- Chic. Sun Times - Nearly 100,000 Americans are working in intelligence in the U.S. and around the world, the nation's spy chief says, revealing the number for the first time.
In a speech marking his first year on the job, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte indicated his willingness to make some normally classified information public.
''The United States intelligence community comprises almost 100,000 patriotic, talented and hardworking Americans in 16 federal departments and agencies,'' he said. ''To the extent that the requirements of secrecy permit,'' Negroponte added later, ''the country should know what they are doing, why they are doing it, and how well they are doing it.''
The figure means the total U.S. intelligence force is slightly smaller than the population of Green Bay, Wis. Secrecy expert Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists welcomed the disclosure.
''If you think about all of the infrastructure needed to support that number of people, you start to get a sense of just how vast our intelligence system has become,'' Aftergood said.
The government has long protected details about the size and budget of its spy agencies. But some classified morsels have gotten out. For instance, a Negroponte deputy goofed last fall and said the U.S. intelligence budget is $44 billion -- a number that had been hidden.

Murdoch mouthpiece a Bush Mouthpiece shocker! [not]

Radio host 'to be Bush spokesman'
Story from BBC - Published: 2006/04/26
Conservative radio presenter Tony Snow is to be named as US President George W Bush's new press secretary, Republican party officials have said.
Mr Snow replaces Scott McClellan, who resigned last week as part of a shake-up of Mr Bush's top staff.
The president is expected to announce the appointment on Wednesday.
Correspondents say Mr Snow, who was a speechwriter for the president's father, has sometimes criticised Mr Bush for not being conservative enough. He currently hosts two shows on the Fox News network owned by the media magnate Rupert Murdoch.
The 50-year-old is the first Washington pundit to take over the press lectern at the White House. His record is already being closely examined to see whether he has expressed views that conflict with the president's.
But the BBC's James Westhead in Washington says the White House will be hoping a former journalist may ensure a smoother ride with the press than it has enjoyed in recent months.

impeachment

Impeachment Talk Reaches The Mainstream
By William Goodman source
The groundswell for President Bush's impeachment is growing, and last week the establishment media finally took notice.
The Wall Street Journal ran a story analyzing how a planned impeachment of President Bush will play out as an "election issue," including a helpful pie chart showing 51 percent of Americans support Congress in considering Bush's impeachment if he "didn't tell the truth about the reasons for the Iraq war."
The Washington Post published a commentary acknowledging that support for impeachment is now "reaching beyond the usual suspects," and the Associated Press covered the spike in pro-impeachment resolutions from local officials across the country. Resolutions recently passed in Vermont and California, and this weekend Democratic Party officials in Michigan voted to urge local officials to pass another. Meanwhile, 14 Democratic candidates for Congress have announced their support for impeachment.
These local efforts are beginning to advance impeachment at the national level. The resolution by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., to investigate impeachment is slowly but steadily gaining co-sponsors, including three this month. It now has 29 co-sponsors -- roughly one out of every seven Democrats in the U.S. House -- a promising start that ensures that the legislation attracts more votes when it reaches the floor.
These activist and legislative efforts helped finally push the "i-word" on to the notoriously conservative cable news last week. On Wednesday, Joe Scarborough aired an impeachment debate on MSNBC -- one of the first times the subject has been debated this year on cable. Scarborough's producers invited me to make the case for impeachment after learning of the new book I co-authored, "Articles of Impeachment Against George W. Bush."
Since impeachment rarely receives any consideration on television, I took the opportunity to explain our case, even if it meant going on Joe Scarborough's turf. Scarborough, a former Republican congressman who opposes impeaching President Bush, said during the show that he was "fascinated" by some arguments for impeachment. He accurately described the groundswell:
There's a movement out there right now calling for George W. Bush to be impeached. Just take a look at how many cities and towns across America have either drafted resolutions calling for the president's impeachment or are considering doing so. Not only that, but 11 candidates for the House of Representatives and three for the U.S. Senate are all running on the impeachment platform. Why do they want the president gone? Well, here are the common reasons cited. The war in Iraq, which they say Bush lied to get us into; warrantless eavesdropping, authorized by the president; the torturing of prisoners; and the president`s response to Hurricane Katrina.
It is significant that impeachment activists have received Scarborough's attention. When we debated the topic, Scarborough even conceded that the arguments for impeachment in our book were "intellectually honest." That's because it's easy to make an intellectually honest case for impeachment: President Bush has publicly admitted to breaking the law. Here is how I explained the clearest example of the president's multifaceted illegal conduct -- spying on Americans: the fact is that the law provides a clear-cut way that the president has to do these things. He has to go to the FISA court. He knowingly violated that law. And the law says -- there are two laws, in fact, that say that when you do that, you are guilty of a crime. There it is. That is one of the high crimes and misdemeanors.
Pat Buchanan was quick to argue that even Senate Democrats weren't supporting impeachment. While many Washington Democrats appear to be spineless these days, a growing number of House Democrats are supporting a resolution to investigate impeachment. This debate is the start of many to come. Impeachment is finally out of the bottle, and it is not going away. C-SPAN plans to televise a discussion of our impeachment book, moderated by Amy Goodman in New York on March 28, and our attorneys are receiving more requests to explain the legal case for impeachment from grassroots groups and reporters.
This week (March 14) the Senate will also consider censuring President Bush for illegal wiretapping, a rare move that shows even the conservative upper house may be realizing that President Bush is out of control. But we must remember that a censure resolution won't remove a single wiretap from Americans' phones. Congress and the American people must take real action to address President Bush's illegal policies in wiretapping, Iraq, torture and undermining the constitutional principle of separation of powers.
President Bush has repeatedly broken the law and brazenly promised to continue to betray his oath of office and our Constitution -- clear impeachable offenses. We must grow the impeachment movement across the country and in the halls of Congress to catalyze a substantive debate over illegal conduct, not politics.
William Goodman is the Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Bush: the arrogant puppet

Bush Lampoons Self at Press Corp Dinner
By ELIZABETH WHITE, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - 30April 2006 -
It was twice the fun for members of the White House Correspondents' Association and guests Saturday night when President Bush and a look-alike, sound-alike sidekick poked fun at the president and fellow politicians.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I feel chipper tonight. I survived the White House shake-up," the president said.
But impersonator Steve Bridges stole many of the best lines. Vice President Dick Cheney and his hunting accident were targets of his humor on a couple of occasions.

"Speaking of suspects, where is the great white hunter?" Bridges said, later adding, "He shot the only trial lawyer in the country who supports me."
Bush continued a tradition begun by President Coolidge in attending the correspondents' dinner. He invited Bridges to play his double. The president talked to the press in polite, friendly terms. Bridges told them what the president was really thinking.
Bridges opened like this: "The media really ticks me off - the way they try to embarrass me by not editing what I say. Well, let's get things going, or I'll never get to bed." "I'm absolutely delighted to be here, as is (wife) Laura," Bush replied.
"She's hot," Bridges quipped.
The featured entertainer was Stephen Colbert, whose Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report" often lampoons the Washington establishment.
"I believe that the government that governs best is a government that governs least, and by these standards we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq," Colbert said in a typical zinger.
He also paid mock tribute to Bush as a man who "believes Wednesday what he believed Monday, despite what happened Tuesday."
Yet it's the Who's Who of power and celebrity in the audience - invited by media organizations to their dinner tables - that draws much of the attention. Joining ABC were former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame, the CIA officer at the heart of a leak investigation that has reached deep into the White House.
Others on the guest list included rapper-actor Ludacris; James Denton, the hunky plumber on ABC's "Desperate Housewives"; "Dancing With the Stars" winner Drew Lachey; New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin; tennis player Anna Kournikova; and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
Award winners honored at the dinner were:
Deb Riechmann of The Associated Press and Terry Moran of ABC News, Merriman Smith Awards, the top journalism award for White House reporting under deadline pressure.
Riechmann was recognized for breaking the news of Bush's choice of John Roberts for the Supreme Court. Moran was cited for his broadcast coverage of Bush's first visit to areas hit by Hurricane Katrina. Carl Cannon of the National Journal, the Aldo Beckman Award for his profile of presidential adviser Michael Gerson. The award is given for repeated excellence in White House reporting. Marcus Stern and Jerry Kammer of the Copley News Service, the Edgar A. Poe Award for a series of stories on Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who resigned in disgrace and pleaded guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes. The Poe award recognizes excellence in news of national and regional importance.
The association was established in 1914 as a bridge between the press corps and the White House. The current president is Mark Smith of AP Radio.
Comedian Stephen Colbert gave a brave 1/2 hr performance mentioning NSA wiretaps on attendees tables & having a collegue bumped! literally! But unless you get your news from online sources such as the blogs, you probably didn't even hear about it. [see story above]
you can now watch the whole thing on Google Video

National defiance

U.S. Prepares for 'Day Without Immigrants'
By JON SARCHE, Associated Press DENVER - Yahoo News
Thousands of illegal immigrants and their allies across the country plan a show of force Monday to illustrate how much immigrants matter in the U.S. economy. Some will skip work, others will protest at lunch breaks, school walkouts or at rallies after work. There are planned church services, candlelight vigils, picnics and human chains.
Hector Castillo, a Denver baker usually keeps his doors open 360 days a year. But anybody looking for his Mexican pastries or cookies will be out of luck Monday when Castillo plans to close his doors in sympathy with immigrants. For Castillo, 45, it's a protest against legislation in the U.S. House that would make it a felony to be an illegal immigrant.
"About 80 percent of our customers are Latin people, most of them Mexican, and the proposed law will affect all of us," he said.
Thanks to the success of previous rallies plus media attention, planning for Monday's events, collectively called Un Dia Sin Inmigrantes - A Day Without Immigrants - is widespread, though fragmented.
"It's highly unpredictable what's going to happen," said Harley Shaiken, director of the Center for Latin American studies at the University of California. "What unites everyone that's going to do something on May 1 is they are making visible their strong feelings."
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Monday he was concerned that the demonstrations "are going to be a distraction from what the real issue is, and that is the need for comprehensive immigration reform."
Rather than a boycott, immigrants should work to pressure Congress to pass legislation that would allow those already in the country to earn U.S. citizenship, Richardson told CBS' "The Early Show."
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., told CBS that the U.S. should first secure its borders to stem illegal immigration. "I would then prefer to see us come up with some way to let" immigrants here "pay a fine, pay a price, then learn English and get on a path to citizenship."
On the eve of the protest, about 3,000 people rallied for immigrant rights at a park in Lynwood, a heavily Hispanic Los Angeles suburb. Organizers of the demonstration called on residents and businesses to support the boycott.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged students to stay in school during the day and advised protesters against waving flags of their native countries. "You should wave the American flag," he said. "It's the flag of the country that we all are proud of and want to be a part of. Don't disrespect the traditions of this country."
A rally in Chicago representing the city's Arab, Asian, black, eastern European and Hispanic communities, along with labor groups and religious leaders, could bring out as many as half a million people, organizers say. They urged immigrant workers to ask for time off and encouraged students to get permission to attend the demonstration.
"Stand in solidarity with people of all races and nationalities because immigration legislation does not just affect one group; it affects everyone!" Sadiya Ahmed, with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, wrote in a recent e-mail.
In smaller cities such as Allentown, Pa.; Omaha, Neb.; and Knoxville, Tenn., immigrants and their allies have been going door to door with fliers, making posters and sharpening speeches. In New Mexico, restaurants cooked meals this weekend to donate to picnics Monday in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
In Pomona, Calif., about 30 miles east of Los Angeles, dozens of men who frequent a day labor center voted unanimously to close Monday, said Mike Nava, the center's director.
In New Jersey, Rhode Island, Oregon and Pennsylvania, people boycotting work will march to the offices of elected officials to urge them to support pro-immigrant legislation.
Activists in Florida said many immigrants were concerned about recent federal raids, in which hundreds of immigrants with criminal backgrounds were rounded up in Florida and throughout the Midwest.
"We're not officially coordinating a work stoppage. We are leaving it up to every individual. We don't want people to lose a job, but we want to encourage people to stand up for their rights," said Maria Rodriguez, head of the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
In California, a spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said a boycott would "hurt everyone," while Democratic state senators passed a resolution supporting walkouts.
Opponents of illegal immigration spent the weekend building a fence to symbolize their support of a secure border. About 200 volunteers organized by the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps of California worked on a 6-foot barbed-wire fence along a quarter-mile stretch of rugged terrain near the U.S.-Mexico border about 50 miles east of San Diego.
In each of New York City's five boroughs, thousands of workers were expected to take work breaks shortly after noon to link arms with shoppers, restaurant-goers and other supporters for about 20 minutes.
"This will symbolize the interdependence of all of us, not just immigrants, but all of society," said Chung-Wa Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition.
Some big businesses are shutting down operations: Six of 14 Perdue Farms plants will close; Gallo Wines in Sonoma, Calif., is giving its 150 employees the day off; Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat producer, will shut five of its nine beef plants and four of six pork plants.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged immigrants to attend Mass instead of boycotting, and suggested that churches toll their bells in memory of immigrants who died trying to come to the U.S. They also urged students to stay in school.
Denver-area contractor Chuck Saxton, who hires temporary workers, is sympathetic to the movement. "I'm going to go to support them. These guys come here, they work hard and they're honest," he said. "They provide a vibrancy to our economy and our country that is fading."

National secrecy

Bush classified 15.6 million documents in one year
Big News Network.com Monday 1st May, 2006
More than 80 U.S. government agencies collectively reported making 15.6 million decisions in 2004 to classify information, nearly double the number in 2001.
By keeping secret so many directives and actions, the administration has precluded the public -- and Congress -- from knowing about some of the most significant decisions and acts of the White House, the Chicago Tribune reported.
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the administration has based much of its need for secrecy on the imperative of protecting national security at a time of war. Yet experts say President George W. Bush and his closest advisers demonstrated their proclivity for privacy well before Sept. 11.
Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have made it clear they are intent on reclaiming presidential powers lost by Bush's predecessors -- an erosion of power that dates back to Richard Nixon's losing battle to preserve the privacy of his papers after the Watergate scandal.
Is it a political process that is open to wide-ranging debate, or is it more like a closed circle of elite decision-makers? asked Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.
"I think we've learned, often to our disappointment, that it's the latter," he said.

National stupidity

Principal bars Coral Springs student from singing anti-Bush song at talent show
By Jamie Malernee - South Florida Sun-Sentinel - Posted May 5 2006
A 10-year-old Coral Springs girl won't be allowed to sing a controversial President Bush-bashing ballad at her school talent show after her principal deemed it inappropriate and too political.
The song, Dear Mr. President, performed and co-written by the singer Pink, criticizes the president for the war in Iraq and other policies, including his stance on gay rights.
Parent Nancy Shoul says her daughter Molly should be lauded for choosing lyrics that are full of substance rather than pop music fluff. She said the principal's ban sends a bad message and violates her daughter's right to free speech.
"If this was a student singing a pro-administration song, no one would quibble with it," Shoul said. "The principal is just running scared and doesn't want to upset any parents."
The principal of Park Springs Elementary, Camille Pontillo, could not be reached for comment Thursday. In an e-mail provided by the mother, Pontillo explained that the song Molly "chose to sing is a political song and does use the word hell in it." A Broward County School District official said the principal has every right to determine what music her students should hear at a school function.
"This is a fifth-grade student that wants to perform a song filled with lyrics about drug use, war, abortion, gay rights and profanity," said district spokeswoman Nadine Drew. "This is an elementary school that includes kindergarteners and pre-K students."
The song does not mention abortion, and the profanity mentioned is the word "hell." The drug use refers to Bush's alleged conduct before he became president.
Some of the lyrics read:
...What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away
...And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay
...I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
...You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine
Another portion criticizes Bush for the war:
...How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
...How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
Molly said Thursday she thought the song was "really cool" because it spoke about important subjects like war and homelessness.
Molly said she liked the way the song addressed the president directly.
"He should try to listen to what other people say, not just himself," she said.
The decision to pull the song comes about a year after the School Board decided to allow a high school student to wear a T-shirt with the face of President Bush and the phrase "International Terrorist."
Initially, the Nova High School student was told he would be suspended if he did not remove the shirt, but later the American Civil Liberties Union threatened to sue and the board changed its dress code rules, removing the word "offensive" from the description of prohibited clothing. "Students have a right to give their opinions and points of view," says the free speech section of the Student Code of Conduct. Principals may censor, it states, only if the material is obscene, slanderous, likely to disrupt, profane or sells a commercial product.
Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, disagreed with Pontillo's decision. He expected the school to reverse course after checking the law. "It's as if the principal's worst nightmare is for intellectual debate and controversy to break out in a classroom," Simon said.
Nancy Shoul, a teacher of Spanish at Coconut Creek High and a veteran of more than two decades in Broward public schools, said there would probably be no issue if her daughter wanted to sing the song in middle or high school.
Assuming the decision stands, Molly said she plans to select a new song for the show later this month with a message she thinks school officials wouldn't object to: A hip-hop song about two girls fighting over a boy.

something stinks:

Porter Goss abruptly quits as CIA chief
By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters via Malaysia Star) -
CIA chief Porter Goss, assigned to rebuild the U.S. spy agency after huge intelligence lapses over the Sept. 11 attacks and Iraq, abruptly quit on Friday after less than two years on the job.
President George W. Bush gave no explanation for Goss' resignation, praising the former member of Congress from Florida for his candid advice. No replacement was named for Goss, who has come under fire over his handling of the agency.
Bush is pursuing a shakeup of his staff in a bid to put a new face on his team and rebound from sagging poll numbers. He now faces the difficult task of finding a high-profile candidate to take over the agency.
The CIA lost some of its clout when it fell under a newly created director of national intelligence as part of reforms enacted after intelligence failures over the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Some bureaucratic wrangling resulted as the new intelligence arm sought to assert itself over the CIA and met some opposition from the veteran spy agency.
The announcement on Goss was made at a hastily arranged event in the Oval Office attended by Goss and John Negroponte, director of national intelligence. A senior official said the resignation was based on a "mutual understanding" with Goss.
"Porter's tenure at the CIA was one of transition. He's helped this agency become integrated into the intelligence community. That was a tough job. He's led ably," Bush said.
Goss has been viewed in some circles as a CIA director whose tenure could be limited, due to a rift that developed early with senior members of the spy agency's clandestine service who have since departed in large numbers.
"Thank God," was the reaction of one former senior spy who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"It's gotten so bad there, it's just a charade at the moment. There's no senior leadership. The only people still there who are eligible to retire and have not are people with kids in college who have to stay to make tuition payments."
IRAQ INTELLIGENCE FAILURES
Goss, brought in after George Tenet resigned in the face of mounting criticism of intelligence failures over the Iraq war, said he would like to report that the CIA is "on a very even keel, it's sailing well." "I honestly believe that we have improved dramatically your goals for our nation's intelligence capabilities, which are in fact the things that I think that are keeping us very safe," Goss said with Bush at his side.
But Goss has faced criticism.
"I've never been as concerned about our nation's security as I am this week," U.S. Rep. Jane Harman of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, was quoted by the Christian Science Monitor as saying last week. "We still don't have a handle on al Qaeda," she said. "Our intelligence reorganization is in a slow start-up, and the CIA is in free fall."
Asked who should be the next CIA chief, former CIA director Stansfield Turner told Reuters: "I think they want someone with managerial experience, not an academic, not a politician. Somebody who has managed sizable organizations.
"It's a big management job, and now that the overall policy for the CIA has been pushed upstairs to the DNI, the director of the CIA is a real manager."
(Additional reporting by David Morgan, Caroline Drees, Caren Bohan and Tabassum Zakaria)

something REALLY stinks:

CIA Director Resigns Abruptly, Bloggers 2 Steps Ahead of the Kennedy-Obsessed Media
Peter Daou Fri May 5, news.yahoo.com

The first observation I'll make in light of Goss's shocker is that the cable nets were knocked off their Patrick Kennedy hyper-focus. The second is that the first blush of coverage distinctly ignored the blog buzz about Goss's possible -- and I stress possible -- involvement in the Duke Cunningham prostitute scandal.

Here's an April 27th post from TPM Muckraker: "Ken Silverstein reports at Harper's blog on the spreading Cunningham-Wade-Wilkes prostitute scandal. He says more lawmakers, past and present, are being investigated. Sounds like he thinks House Intel Chair-turned-CIA Director Porter Goss is one of them: I've learned from a highly-connected source that those under intense scrutiny by the FBI are current and former lawmakers on Defense and Intelligence comittees -- including one person who now holds a powerful intelligence post.

Yowzah. Actually, make that a double-yowzah: Remember that Goss is the one who plucked one of Wilkes' old San Diego friends, the unusual and colorful Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, out of CIA middle-management obscurity to be his #3 at the agency. At the time of Foggo's appointment, no one could figure out where he came from, or how Goss knew him."

Denials followed that post, but the online buzz hasn't died down and the resignation is certainly unexpected.

CNN, MSNBC, and Fox have now tiptoed into the 'Hooker-gate' waters, tossing in a couple of mentions as they speculate about this surprise announcement, but bloggers have been two steps ahead on this story.

This comes on the heels of renewed warfare between bloggers and the traditional media. The Colbert flap is one example (Eric Boehlert and Media Matters provide hundreds more), with the media doing their level best to ignore the Bush-Colbert-Press showdown. The media's abandonment of its investigative and interrogatory roll -- with some honorable exceptions -- has rendered the blogs the last remaining source of hard-hitting coverage of the Bush administration and the only check on a supplicant and not-so-free press. Digby explains:

"Ok. Let's go over this again, shall we? Let us stipulate that the left blogosphere is a bunch of shrieking freaks who have completely lost our marbles. We are rude, crude and out of control. But louder than the other side? Because of some blogswarms? If only.

For the last twenty years we have had your rightwing radio, your rightwing TV, your rightwing publishing, your rightwing speakers bureaus and your rightwing magazines and your rightwing pulpits. Then you have your imbalanced panels on news shows, your intermarried politicos and journalists and your faux liberal punditocrisy. Yet, our little blogswarms have the entire journalistic establishment all atwitter, wondering what has happened to the discourse?

The entire DC establishment went stark raving bonkers for eight years, followed by nearly five years of a kind of courtier sycophancy we haven't seen since Louis XVI. I do not know the explanation for why this happened, although I have my suspicions. (The question brings out almost as many possibilities as "why did we invade Iraq?") But it happened. I saw it with my own eyes. Now they decide that something's gone wrong?

Are we "louder" now? Certainly. We were veritably silent before. But the entire rightwing media infrastructure still spews out its disgusting bile on a daily basis. perhaps the sound of it has become so familiar to those who live and work in Washington that they no longer hear it."

UPDATE: In the space of writing and posting this blog entry, the cable news nets have gone back to their Patrick Kennedy roadblock. Nice to know they have their priorities straight.

something REALLY stinks:

Goss Leaves CIA; General Eyed for Job
By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer 6th May 2006 - WASHINGTON - news.yahoo.com
The White House planned to quickly nominate a new CIA director to replace outgoing Porter Goss, who offered little explanation in announcing his resignation from the embattled agency.
The leading candidate to replace him is Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, top deputy to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, said a senior administration official. An announcement could come as early as Monday. Hayden was National Security Agency director until becoming the nation's No. 2 intelligence official a year ago. Since December, he has aggressively defended the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program. He was one of its chief architects.

Goss was scheduled to deliver a commencement speech Saturday at Ohio's Tiffin University, one of a growing number of schools to offer national security studies programs.
Goss spent 40 years in federal and local government, including 16 years as a congressman and 10 years as a CIA operative in the 1960s and '70s. He stepped down as the agency's director after 19 tumultuous months, as the agency struggled to forge a new identity in an era of government overhauls stemming from Sept. 11 and the flawed prewar intelligence on Iraq. He offered little publicly to explain his decision.
"CIA remains the gold standard," he said in a statement. "When I came to CIA in September of 2004, I wanted to accomplish some very specific things, and we have made great strides on all fronts."
But the agency, like the Bush administration, has been far from peaceful. Goss' departure was the White House's third major personnel move in just over a month, aimed at reinvigorating President Bush's second term.
Knowledgeable Republicans said Friday night that Hayden was thought to top Bush's short list of candidates to replace Goss. Among others mentioned were Bush's homeland security adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend; David Shedd, Negroponte's chief of staff; and Mary Margaret Graham, Negroponte's deputy for intelligence collection.
It was not clear why Goss resigned so unexpectedly. An intelligence official, speaking only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his position, said Goss had stood up for the agency when there were differences with Negroponte's office, which was created about a year ago. Goss was taking a stand against "micromanagement," the official said, and wanted the agency to "remain what its name says, the 'Central' Intelligence Agency."
With the backing of the White House, Negroponte recently raised with Goss the prospect that he should leave, and the two talked about that possibility, a senior administration official said. That official also spoke on condition of anonymity, in order to give a fuller account of events. Negroponte, Goss' classmate at Yale University, said in a statement that Goss worked tirelessly during a CIA transition period. "As my friend for almost 50 years, I will miss Porter's day-to-day counsel," he said.
Agency officials dismissed suggestions that the resignation was tied to controversy surrounding the CIA's executive director, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo. The FBI is investigating whether Foggo's longtime friend, defense contractor Brent Wilkes, provided prostitutes, limousines and hotel suites to a California congressman who pleaded guilty to taking bribes from Wilkes and others in exchange for government contracts.
CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said Goss' resignation also was not related to the recent firing of a CIA officer the director said had unauthorized contacts with the press - a firing that found support within the agency and the White House.
Bush nominated Goss in 2004, in the midst of a re-election campaign that was riddled with accusations about the botched prewar intelligence on Iraq. Bush said he would rely on the advice of Goss on the sensitive issue of intelligence reform.
Goss, the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, came under fire almost immediately, in part because he brought with him several top aides from Congress who were considered highly political for the CIA. They developed particularly poor relations with segments of the agency's clandestine service.
By December, Congress passed the most sweeping intelligence overhaul in 50 years. One result: The CIA that took pride in being the premier element of the spy community found itself relegated to a crowded second tier of 15 other agencies.
Hayden, the highest ranking military intelligence officer, has been brought into management challenges before. In 1999, he was tapped to shake up the National Security Agency, as the Internet and new communications tools were frustrating the agency's eavesdroppers.
With a Hayden nomination, Democrats would be sure to seize on his intimate connection to Bush's anti-terrorist surveillance program, which has drawn the ire of even some Republicans.
Bush aides have been looking for ways to rescue his presidency from sagging poll ratings and difficulties with the Iraq war and his agenda in Congress.
The shake-up began with the resignation of Andrew Card as chief of staff and his replacement by Joshua Bolten. Other changes have included the replacement of press secretary Scott McClellan with Fox News commentator Tony Snow.
It wasn't immediately clear what's next for Goss, 67. He was supposed to retire after representing a Republican district on Florida's West Coast for 16 years, but he became CIA director when Bush called in 2004.
Many former directors take consulting positions on corporate boards. Goss and his wife own a central Virginia farm, where they raise cattle, sheep and chickens.

CIA boss Goss is cooked
Tied to contractor's poker parties - hints of bribes & women
BY RICHARD SISK and JAMES GORDON MEEK - DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
CIA Director Porter Goss abruptly resigned yesterday amid allegations that he and a top aide may have attended Watergate poker parties where bribes and prostitutes were provided to a corrupt congressman.
Kyle (Dusty) Foggo, the No. 3 official at the CIA, could soon be indicted in a widening FBI investigation of the parties thrown by defense contractor Brent Wilkes, named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the bribery conviction of former Rep. Randall (Duke) Cunningham, law enforcement sources said.
A CIA spokeswoman said Foggo went to the lavish weekly hospitality-suite parties at the Watergate and Westin Grand hotels but "just for poker."
Intelligence and law enforcement sources said solid evidence had yet to emerge that Goss also went to the parties, but Goss and Foggo share a fondness for poker and expensive cigars, and the FBI investigation was continuing.
Larry Johnson, a former CIA operative and a Bush administration critic, said Goss "had a relationship with Dusty and with Brent Wilkes that's now coming under greater scrutiny."
Johnson vouched for the integrity of Foggo and Goss but said, "Dusty was a big poker player, and it's my understanding that Porter Goss was also there \[at Wilkes' parties\] for poker. It's going to be guilt by association."
"It's all about the Duke Cunningham scandal," a senior law enforcement official told the Daily News in reference to Goss' resignation. Duke, a California Republican, was sentenced to more than eight years in prison after pleading guilty in November to taking $2.4 million in homes, yachts and other bribes in exchange for steering government contracts.
Goss' inability to handle the allegations swirling around Foggo prompted John Negroponte, the director of National Intelligence, who oversees all of the nation's spy agencies, to press for the CIA chief's ouster, the senior official said. The official said Goss is not an FBI target but "there is an impending indictment" of Foggo for steering defense contracts to his poker buddies.
One subject of the FBI investigation is a $3 million CIA contract that went to Wilkes to supply bottled water and other goods to CIA operatives in Iraq and Afghanistan, sources said.
In a hastily arranged Oval Office announcement that stunned official Washington, neither President Bush nor Goss offered a substantive reason for why the head of the spy agency was leaving after only a year on the job.
"He has led ably" in an era of CIA transition, Bush said with Goss seated at his side. "He has a five-year plan to increase the analysts and operatives."
Goss said the trust Bush placed in him "is something I could never have imagined." "I believe the agency is on a very even keel, sailing well," he said.
The official Bush administration spin that emerged later was that Goss lost out in a turf battle with Negroponte, but Goss' tenure was marked by the resignations of several veteran operatives who viewed him as an amateur out of his depth.
White House officials said Bush would announce early next week his choice to succeed Goss. Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, Negroponte's top deputy, heads the list of potential replacements, with White House counterterror chief Fran Townsend also on the short list.
Negroponte "apparently had no confidence" in Goss, and Bush's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board was also "very alarmed by problems at the CIA," said a congressional source involved in oversight of U.S. spy agencies.
"Supposedly the \[Cunningham\] scandal was the last straw," the source said. "This administration may be on the verge of a major scandal."
Problems at spy agency
Here are some other scandals in the CIA's recent history:
A human-rights furor erupted in 2005 with revelations that the CIA had set up secret prisons in Eastern European countries to interrogate terror suspects.
CIA Director George Tenet took blame for the since-debunked claim in President Bush's 2003 State of the Union address that Iraq had purchased enriched uranium from Africa - a major part of his case for why the U.S. should go to war. Heavily criticized over questionable intelligence on the Iraq war and terrorism in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Tenet resigned in 2004.
Former CIA Director John Deutch's security clearance was suspended in 1999 because he improperly kept classified material on a home computer vulnerable to Internet hackers.
A State Department official revealed in 1994 that the CIA covered up what it knew about the role of a Guatemalan colonel, a paid informer, in the slaying of rebel leader Efrain Bamaca, who was married to an American citizen.
CIA agent Aldrich Ames spied for the KGB for nine years, until his arrest in 1994, giving the Soviets the names of every undercover agent the CIA had in Moscow, leading to the deaths of at least nine agents.
The agency was implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal, the Reagan-era scheme to secretly fund Nicaraguan rebels by illegally selling arms to Tehran.

Bush says fight against terror is World War III
AFP Saturday, May 06, 2006 WASHINGTON: dnaindia.com
United States President George W Bush has said the September 11 revolt of passengers against their hijackers on board Flight 93 had struck the first blow of World War III.
In an interview with the financial news network CNBC on Friday, Bush said he had yet to see the recently released film of the uprising, a dramatic portrayal of events on the United Airlines plane before it crashed in a Pennsylvania field.
But he said he agreed with the description of David Beamer, whose son Todd died in the crash, who in a Wall Street Journal commentary last month called it "our first successful counterattack in our homeland in this new global war - World War III".
Bush said, "I believe that. I believe that it was the first counterattack to World War III.
"It was, it was unbelievably heroic of those folks on the airplane to recognise the danger and save lives," he said.
Flight 93 crashed on the morning of September 11, 2001, killing the 33 passengers, seven crew members and four hijackers, after passengers stormed the cockpit and battled the hijackers for control of the aircraft.
The President has repeatedly praised the heroism of the passengers in fighting back and so launching the first blow of what he usually calls the "war on terror".
In 2002, then-White House spokesman Ari Fleischer explicitly declined to call the hunt for Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda group and its followers World War III.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

State lawmakers predict problems with REAL ID Act implementation
Jamie Sterling at 11:54 AM ET

[JURIST] State lawmakers have expressed concern about possible problems expected to accompany the implementation of the REAL ID Act [PDF text, UPI backgrounder], fearing that the law cannot be enacted before the May 2008 deadline. The legislation, which was drafted after the Sept 11 attacks and is intended to discourage illegal immigration and make it more difficult for terrorists to obtain US driver's licenses, requires states to use sources such as birth certificates and national immigration databases to ensure that only American citizens can apply for or renew their driver's licenses. Since the law passed Congress [JURIST report] last May, states have said that the compliance process is too large and too expensive to undertake and complete by the deadline. New York City passed a resolution asking that the law be repealed, Kentucky and Washington are currently considering passing such resolutions, and the New Hampshire House passed a bill [text] last week that would allow the state to opt out of compliance with the act entirely.

In response to the states' concerns, the National Governor's Association [official website], the National Conference of State Legislatures [official website], and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators [official website] teamed up and released a report [PDF text] concluding that states are unprepared to implement the law [press release] and may need up to eight years to acquire the requisite money and time to successfully enact the legislation. These organizations hope the report will "bring state concerns about REAL ID to the attention of the Department of Homeland Security." The law's supporters believe that the states' claims are unfounded and that neither money, nor the time allotted for the law's enactments should be a problem. Saturday's New York Times has more

Couple Arrested For Asking For Directions
May 17, 2006 BALTIMORE -- www.thewbalchannel.com
Baltimore City police arrested a Virginia couple over the weekend after they asked an officer for directions.
WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins said Joshua Kelly and Llara Brook, of Chantilly, Va., got lost leaving an Orioles game on Saturday. Collins reported a city officer arrested them for trespassing on a public street while they were asking for directions .
"In jail for eight hours -- sleeping on a concrete floor next to a toilet," Kelly said.
"It was a nightmare," Brook said. "I was in there thinking I was just dreaming and waiting to wake up."
Collins reported it was a nightmare ending to a nearly perfect day. He said the couple went to a company picnic and watched the Orioles beat Kansas City. It was their first trip to Camden Yards and asked two people for directions to Interstate 95 South when they left.
Collins said somehow they ended up in the Cherry Hill section of south Baltimore. Hopelessly lost, relief melted away concerns after they spotted a police vehicle.
"I said, 'Thank goodness, could you please get us to 95?" Kelly said. "The first thing that she said to us was no -- you just ran that stop sign, pull over," Brook said. "It wasn't a big deal. We'll pay the stop sign violation, but can we have directions?" "What she said was 'You found your own way in here, you can find your own way out.'" Kelly said.
Collins said the couple spotted another police vehicle and flagged that officer down for directions. But Officer Natalie Preston, a six-year veteran of the force, intervened.
"That really threw us for a loop when she stepped in between our cars," Kelly said. "(She) said my partner is not going to step in front of me and tell you directions if I'm not."
Collins reported the circumstances got worse. Kelly pulled 40 feet forward parking next to a curb and put his flashers on while Brook was on the phone to her father hoping he could help her with directions. Both her parents are police officers in the Harrisburg, Pa., area.
"(Brook's father) was in the middle of giving us directions when the officer screeched up behind us and got out of the car and asked me to step out. I obeyed," Kelly said. "I obeyed everything -- stepped out of the car, put my hands behind my back, and the next thing I know, I was getting arrested for trespassing."
"By this time, I was completely in tears," Brook said. "I said, 'Ma'am, you know, we just need your help. We are not trying to cause you any trouble. I'm not leaving him here.' What she did was walk over to my side of the car and said, 'Ok, we are taking you downtown, too.'"
Collins said the couple was released from jail without being charged with anything. Brook is now concerned the arrest may complicate a criminal background check she's going through in her job as a child care worker.
Collins said police left Kelly's car unlocked and the windows down at the impound lot. He reported a cell phone charger, pair of sunglasses and 20 CDs were stolen.
Baltimore City police said they are looking into the incident.

18 May 2006 - cryptome ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [Federal Register: May 18, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 96)] [Notices] [Page 28897] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr18my06-94] ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice 5411] Determination and Certification Under Section 40A of the Arms Export Control Act Pursuant to section 40A of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2781), and Executive Order 11958, as amended, I hereby determine and certify to the Congress that the following countries are not cooperating fully with United States antiterrorism efforts: Cuba Iran North Korea Syria Venezuela I hereby notify that the decision not to include Libya on the list of countries not cooperating fully with U.S. antiterrorism efforts comes as the result of a comprehensive review of Libya's record of support for terrorism over the last three years. Libya has taken significant and meaningful steps during this time to repudiate its past support for terrorism and to cooperate with the United States in our antiterrorism efforts. This determination and certification shall be transmitted to the Congress and published in the Federal Register. Dated: May 8, 2006. Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State, Department of State. [FR Doc. 06-4656 Filed 5-17-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4710-10-P

Bush Turns to Big Military Contractors for Border Control
By ERIC LIPTON WASHINGTON, May 17 - NY Times
The quick fix may involve sending in the National Guard. But to really patch up the broken border, President Bush is preparing to turn to a familiar administration partner: the nation's giant military contractors.
Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, three of the largest, are among the companies that said they would submit bids within two weeks for a multibillion-dollar federal contract to build what the administration calls a "virtual fence" along the nation's land borders.
Using some of the same high-priced, high-tech tools these companies have already put to work in Iraq and Afghanistan - like unmanned aerial vehicles, ground surveillance satellites and motion-detection video equipment - the military contractors are zeroing in on the rivers, deserts, mountains and settled areas that separate Mexico and Canada from the United States.
It is a humbling acknowledgment that despite more than a decade of initiatives with macho-sounding names, like Operation Hold the Line in El Paso or Operation Gate Keeper in San Diego, the federal government has repeatedly failed on its own to gain control of the land borders.

Through its Secure Border Initiative, the Bush administration intends to not simply buy an amalgam of high-tech equipment to help it patrol the borders - a tactic it has also already tried, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, with extremely limited success. It is also asking the contractors to devise and build a whole new border strategy that ties together the personnel, technology and physical barriers.
"This is an unusual invitation," the deputy secretary of homeland security, Michael Jackson, told contractors this year at an industry briefing, just before the bidding period for this new contract started. "We're asking you to come back and tell us how to do our business."
The effort comes as the Senate voted Wednesday to add hundreds of miles of fencing along the border with Mexico. The measure would also prohibit illegal immigrants convicted of a felony or three misdemeanors from any chance at citizenship.
The high-tech plan being bid now has many skeptics, who say they have heard a similar refrain from the government before.
"We've been presented with expensive proposals for elaborate border technology that eventually have proven to be ineffective and wasteful," Representative Harold Rogers, Republican of Kentucky, said at a hearing on the Secure Border Initiative program last month. "How is the S.B.I. not just another three-letter acronym for failure?"
President Bush, among others, said he was convinced that the government could get it right this time.
"We are launching the most technologically advanced border security initiative in American history," Mr. Bush said in his speech from the Oval Office on Monday.
Under the initiative, the Department of Homeland Security and its Customs and Border Protection division will still be charged with patrolling the 6,000 miles of land borders.
The equipment these Border Patrol agents use, how and when they are dispatched to spots along the border, where the agents assemble the captured immigrants, how they process them and transport them - all these steps will now be scripted by the winning contractor, who could earn an estimated $2 billion over the next three to six years on the Secure Border job.
More Border Patrol agents are part of the answer. The Bush administration has committed to increasing the force from 11,500 to about 18,500 by the time the president leaves office in 2008. But simply spreading this army of agents out evenly along the border or extending fences in and around urban areas is not sufficient, officials said.
"Boots on the ground is not really enough," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Tuesday at a news conference that followed Mr. Bush's announcement to send as many as 6,000 National Guard troops to the border.
The tools of modern warfare must be brought to bear. That means devices like the Tethered Aerostat Radar, a helium-filled airship made for the Air Force by Lockheed Martin that is twice the size of the Goodyear Blimp. Attached to the ground by a cable, the airship can hover overhead and automatically monitor any movement night or day. (One downside: it cannot operate in high winds.)
Northrop Grumman is considering offering its Global Hawk, an unmanned aerial vehicle with a wingspan nearly as wide as a Boeing 737, that can snoop on movement along the border from heights of up to 65,000 feet, said Bruce Walker, a company executive.
Closer to earth, Northrop might deploy a fleet of much smaller, unmanned planes that could be launched from a truck, flying perhaps just above a group of already detected immigrants so it would be harder for them to scatter into the brush and disappear.
Raytheon has a package of sensor and video equipment used to protect troops in Iraq that monitors an area and uses software to identify suspicious objects automatically, analyzing and highlighting them even before anyone is sent to respond.
These same companies have delivered these technologies to the Pentagon, sometimes with uneven results.
Each of these giant contractors - Lockheed Martin alone employs 135,000 people and had $37.2 billion in sales last year, including an estimated $6 billion to the federal government - is teaming up with dozens of smaller companies that will provide everything from the automated cameras to backup energy supplies that will to keep this equipment running in the desert.
The companies have studied every mile of border, drafting detection and apprehension strategies that vary depending on the terrain. In a city, for example, an immigrant can disappear into a crowd in seconds, while agents might have hours to apprehend a group walking through the desert, as long as they can track their movement.
If the system works, Border Patrol agents will know before they encounter a group of intruders approximately how many people have crossed, how fast they are moving and even if they might be armed.
Without such information, said Kevin Stevens, a Border Patrol official, "we send more people than we need to deal with a situation that wasn't a significant threat," or, in a worst case, "we send fewer people than we need to deal with a significant threat, and we find ourselves outnumbered and outgunned."
The government's track record in the last decade in trying to buy cutting-edge technology to monitor the border - devices like video cameras, sensors and other tools that came at a cost of at least $425 million - is dismal.
Because of poor contract oversight, nearly half of video cameras ordered in the late 1990's did not work or were not installed. The ground sensors installed along the border frequently sounded alarms. But in 92 percent of the cases, they were sending out agents to respond to what turned out to be a passing wild animal, a train or other nuisances, according to a report late last year by the homeland security inspector general.
A more recent test with an unmanned aerial vehicle bought by the department got off to a similarly troubling start. The $6.8 million device, which has been used in the last year to patrol a 300-mile stretch of the Arizona border at night, crashed last month.
With Secure Border, at least five so-called system integrators - Lockheed, Raytheon and Northrop, as well as Boeing and Ericsson - are expected to submit bids.
The winner, which is due to be selected before October, will not be given a specific dollar commitment. Instead, each package of equipment and management solutions the contractor offers will be evaluated and bought individually.
"We're not just going to say, 'Oh, this looks like some neat stuff, let's buy it and then put it on the border,' "Mr. Chertoff said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Skepticism persists. A total of $101 million is already available for the program. But on Wednesday, when the House Appropriations Committee moved to approve the Homeland Security Department's proposed $32.1 billion budget for 2007, it proposed withholding $25 million of $115 million allocated next year for the Secure Border contracting effort until the administration better defined its plans.
"Unless the department can show us exactly what we're buying, we won't fund it," Representative Rogers said. "We will not fund programs with false expectations."

Bush urges Congress to ban gay marriages
By Caroline Daniel in Washington Published: June 4 2006 - FT.Com
President George W. Bush will on Monday meet conservative activists at the White House to underline his support for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, re-inforcing the message of a weekend speech in which he urged Congress to pass the amendment.
Although Mr Bush successfully exploited gay marriage to win re-election, the twin speeches mark the first time since 2004 he has openly promoted the issue. The amendment was not mentioned in his state of the union speech earlier this year.
His intervention comes as the Senate begins a debate on Monday on an amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. However, the vote, set for Wednesday, is expected to fall short of the 67 votes needed to enact a constitutional amendment. These require approval by two-thirds of each chamber of Congress.
The revival of the issue marks the most visible contours of the electoral strategy being crafted by Karl Rove, the president’s chief political strategist who has been charged with focusing on the mid-term elections. In an effort to rally disaffected Republican conservatives – whose support for Mr Bush has slipped from 91 per cent to 68 per cent – he is turning again to the divisive issues of gay marriage and judicial nominations.
In his radio address on Saturday, Mr Bush combined both themes. He defended marriage as "the most enduring and important human institution" that should not be "cut off from its cultural, religious and natural roots without weakening this good influence on society".
The speech also included a direct assault on the courts, using the phrase "activist judges" or "activist courts" three times. Mr Bush, who is poised to nominate a new wave of conservative judges, said an amendment was needed "because activist courts have left our nation with no other choice".
However, there are doubts about whether the issue will be electorally effective. Pat Buchanan, a conservative commentator, said a key difference was that in 2004, outrage over the issue was "authentic" and gained momentum from the decision in May 2004 when Massachusetts began marrying same-sex couples.
There are also only a handful of critical swing states where the issue is on a ballot this November. According to Stateline.org, which tracks state initiatives, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota and Virginia will have votes on state amendments on gay marriage approved by the legislatures in November. Wisconsin and Alabama will also have votes this year.
The supreme court of Washington state is expected to rule soon on whether to overturn two lower court rulings in favour of same-sex marriage, "marking the first state high court to tackle same-sex marriage since Massachusetts’ highest court issued its ruling legalising gay unions in November 2003", says Kavan Peterson of Stateline.

Kelly Says Anti-Terror Cuts Will Crimp Surveillance Plan
WNYC Newsroom - NEW YORK, NY June 05, 2006- wnyc.org
Police commissioner Ray Kelly says the cuts to the city's federal homeland security money will set back plans for state of the art counterterrorism measures in Lower Manhattan and Midtown.
Kelly says plans were in the works to create an integrated database system and a ring of video monitors, used in London to help identify suspects in the bombing of the subway system there.
Mayor Bloomberg has said he would speak with Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff about the 40 percent cut in the city's funds. DHS officials have said the city's application was poorly prepared, and focused on flawed counterterrorism programs.

flashback:

Ray Kelly, Ray Kelly, Ray Kelly... Hmmm...
In a linked site (here), EWing2001 says:
"With the connection of participation of Ray Kelly (NYPD) in some tube drills and his London officer, Ira Greenberg, informing Kelly directly after the first explosion, while on the subway (!), one could also imagine a direct cooperation between the Visor 7/7 drill and the NYC Subway Security Drill on the same day."
... "One possible related 7/7 test drill (incl. Ray Kelly) had same name: COBRA (see link above). The name of committee stands for Cabinet Office Briefing Room A.K.A. COBRA" - BBC source
Who is Ray Kelly? (Thank you for asking...) Ray Kelly WAS the U.S. Customs Service Commissioner before 9/11. Was Ray Kelly involved in making sure that airport ramp area security was "just tight enough" so that not too many drugs & people could flow into American portals and so that not too much money could flow out? Maybe... Could "Ray Kelly and his people" open and close doors? Maybe...
Who is Ray Kelly? (Thank you for asking...) Ray Kelly IS currently New York Police Department Commissioner. Is EWing2001 telling us that "Ray Kelly and his people" may be able to open and close doors in the London Bombings (and elsewhere)?
follow up Posting made on this page

NYPD had expert already on scene
BY PATRICE O'SHAUGHNESSY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
When terrorist explosions rocked London yesterday, the NYPD had an on-the-scene view of the attack, and rapid information that led the city to heightened security in the transit system.
Detective Ira Greenberg, the Police Department liaison to Scotland Yard, was on a subway on his way to work when bombs went off in three stations and on a double-decker bus.
His train was evacuated, and he walked to Scotland Yard.
Shortly after the blast, which occurred at 3:51 a.m. New York time, Greenberg was on the phone with Intelligence Commissioner David Cohen.
"He was very good, very early, very specific in the information he had," said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
"Everything he told us has proven to be true, it's been verified. He was very accurate and gave us a leg up early, which is what it is all about, and why we have him there."
Kelly dispatched four more Intelligence Division cops to London at 9 a.m.
"Ira is an outstanding investigator," said a former supervisor. "He was sent there because he knows how to deal with other agencies, and he knows how to get the information to help New York."
The sandy-haired, slight Greenberg, 41, had worked in narcotics buy-and-busts in upper Manhattan and in the 24th Precinct detective squad on the upper West side. He was in the Intelligence Division for several years before being sent to England about 18 months ago.
The married father of two had provided information to the NYPD on Scotland Yard's investigation of British Muslims arrested in March 2004 in raids in London and Sussex that netted 1,300 pounds of ammonium nitrate, which can be used to make bombs. The suspects are scheduled to go on trial in September.
The Scotland Yard post is one of a half-dozen worldwide staffed by NYPD detectives. Detectives also are posted in Toronto, Montreal and Lyon, France - where Interpol is based - and in Tel Aviv and Singapore.
Originally published on July 8, 2005