Brewster Jennings compromised by mole in 2001

The Sunday Times: Tip-off thwarted nuclear spy ring probe

AN investigation into the illicit sale of American nuclear secrets was compromised by a senior official in the State Department, a former FBI employee has claimed.

The official is said to have tipped off a foreign contact about a bogus CIA company used to investigate the sale of nuclear secrets.

The firm, Brewster Jennings & Associates, was a front for Valerie Plame, the former CIA agent. Her public outing two years later in 2003 by White House officials became a cause célèbre.

[snip]

One group of Turkish agents who had come to America on the pretext of researching alternative energy sources was introduced to Brewster Jennings through the Washington-based American Turkish Council (ATC), a lobby group that aids commercial ties between the countries. Edmonds says the Turks believed Brewster Jennings to be energy consultants and were planning to hire them.

But she said: “He [the State Department official] found out about the arrangement . . . and he contacted one of the foreign targets and said . . . you need to stay away from Brewster Jennings because they are a cover for the government.

Lost In Translation

Sibel Edmonds interviewed by Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes - Lost In Translation

sibel edmonds - lost in translation - part 1


sibel edmonds - lost in tarnslation - part 2


sibel edmonds - lost in translation - part 3


sibel edmonds - lost in translation - part 4

saturday reads

U.S. arrests for pot possession were up to 739,000 in 2006.


A former aide to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney who also played a leadership role in Iowa's College Republicans was arrested by Des Moines-area police earlier in the week on outstanding warrants related to his status as a convicted sex offender.


With the cost of contraception skyrocketing on college campuses throughout the country, the price of the pill is suddenly big talk on Capitol Hill. And Congress, which apparently caused the jump in prices with a legislative error, is under growing pressure to intervene.


Kieth Olbermann: Mukasey Hangs A Portrait Of Orwell


Striking writers take act to D.C.

The striking writers behind Jon Stewart's fake news show and Stephen Colbert's fake talk show came here to explain to real lawmakers Wednesday a strike that has crippled creative television and threatens to wreck the Oscars.

But knowing it can be difficult to get a lawmaker's attention when not in a Learjet or on the links, the brains behind two of Comedy Central's most-watched shows couched the issues in terms Washington could understand: a mock debate.

On one side, in shirts, was the striking Writers Guild of America, played by "Daily Show" writers Rob Kutner, Tim Carvell and Jason Ross. On the other side, in suits, was the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, played by "The Colbert Report" writers Michael Brumm, Peter Grosz and Tom Purcell.

Crashing out of the starting gates, the shirts argued it would cost the suits less than 1% of their total revenue to give the writers everything they wanted. For Paramount Pictures, that comes to $4.6 million, or "half the amount it takes to get Reese Witherspoon into a movie."

"I ask you," one writer noted, "which is more important to a movie -- a script, or half of Reese Witherspoon?"

The studio suits thought for a second.

"Which half?"

friday reads

Immigration officials detaining, deporting American citizens


With its international mandate in Iraq set to expire in 11 months, the Bush administration will insist that the government in Baghdad give the United States broad authority to conduct combat operations and guarantee civilian contractors specific legal protections from Iraqi law, according to administration and military officials.


Tomgram: Nick Turse, From the Missing Archives of a Lost War


Hackers Declare War on Scientology with 'Project Chanology


Scott Horton: A Political Prosecution Goes Under the Microscope


On the heels of the RIAA's recent decision to criminalize consumers who rip songs from albums they've purchased to their computers (or iPods), the association has now gone one step further and declared that "remembering songs" using your brain is criminal copyright infringement.


Jerry O'Connell gives valuable insight on acting, the writer's strike, and um . . .

thursday reads

Approximately 717 deaths per lie

(h/t Instaputz)




Kucinich Starts New Impeachment Drive

Representative Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio may get excluded from Democratic presidential debates, as he has been recently, but no one can deny him the floor in the House.

And today Mr. Kucinich took to the floor to fire off his latest salvo at the Bush administration: his plans to introduce Articles of Impeachment against President Bush on Jan. 28 — the day of Mr. Bush’s State of the Union speech.

Accusing the administration of lying about the need for the war in Iraq, Mr. Kucinich said he did not need to hear the president’s assessment. “We know the State of the Union,” he declared. “It’s a lie.”

Read Sandra Duffy's opinion piece in The Oregonian: Journalism's first loyalty is to citizens


Reid & Pelosi Named Republicans Of The Year

Glenn Greenwald: Your Harry Reid-led Senate in action


Dave Neiwert responds to the Doughy Pantload


A rogue trader has cost French bank Société Générale €4.9bn (£3.7bn) in the biggest fraud in financial history.


Scott Horton: Six Questions for Mark Crispin Miller, Author of ‘Fooled Again’

wednesday reads

A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.


A decade of fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo is continuing to kill about 45,000 people each month - half of them small children - in the deadliest conflict since the second world war, according to a new survey.


Wired: Piecing Together the Dark Legacy of East Germany's Secret Police


Gen. Petraeus: Progress in Iraq is a Friedman Unit away.


With all the talk about how to stimulate it, you'd think that the economy is a giant clitoris.


MPAA Admits Mistake on Downloading Study


Texas rated No. 1 in Army recruiting, but 'quality' down.

Found in Translation

Former CIA case officer Philip Giraldi on Sibel Edmonds in The American Conservative:

Most Americans have never heard of Sibel Edmonds, and if the U.S. government has its way, they never will. The former FBI translator turned whistleblower tells a chilling story of corruption at Washington’s highest levels—sale of nuclear secrets, shielding of terrorist suspects, illegal arms transfers, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, espionage. She may be a first-rate fabulist, but Edmonds’s account is full of dates, places, and names. And if she is to be believed, a treasonous plot to embed moles in American military and nuclear installations and pass sensitive intelligence to Israeli, Pakistani, and Turkish sources was facilitated by figures in the upper echelons of the State and Defense Departments. Her charges could be easily confirmed or dismissed if classified government documents were made available to investigators.

But Congress has refused to act, and the Justice Department has shrouded Edmonds’s case in the state-secrets privilege, a rarely used measure so sweeping that it precludes even a closed hearing attended only by officials with top-secret security clearances. According to the Department of Justice, such an investigation “could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to the foreign policy and national security of the United States.”

[snip]

Charismatic and articulate, the 37-year-old Edmonds has deftly worked the system to get as much of her story out as possible, on one occasion turning to French television to produce a documentary entitled “Kill the Messenger.” Passionate in her convictions, she has sometimes alienated her own supporters and ridden roughshod over critics who questioned her assumptions. But despite her shortcomings in making her case and the legitimate criticism that she may be overreaching in some of her conclusions, Edmonds comes across as credible. Her claims are specific, fact-based, and can be documented in detail. There is presumably an existing FBI file that could demonstrate the accuracy of many of her charges.

tuesday reads

It is time to Stop-Loss Congress!


Email missing from Cheney's office on day White House told to preserve documents in CIA leak

CREW has completed an analysis of the national news events that took place on the dates for which there are missing White House email.


Panic selling intensified across Asia on Tuesday, with the benchmark indexes in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney slumping 4% to 8%.


Grits for Breakfast: The front lines of a "hot" drug war


Cory Doctorow: We should treat personal electronic data with the same care and respect as weapons-grade plutonium - it is dangerous, long-lasting and once it has leaked there's no getting it back.


A Berlitz guide to Washington English


Matt Yglesias: Someone Didn't Get The Word


Galaxie 500 - When Will You Come Home

Official Documents Prove FBI lied to protect US officials

The Sunday Times (UK): The FBI has been accused of covering up a file detailing government dealings with a network stealing nuclear secrets

THE FBI has been accused of covering up a key case file detailing evidence against corrupt government officials and their dealings with a network stealing nuclear secrets.

The assertion follows allegations made in The Sunday Times two weeks ago by Sibel Edmonds, an FBI whistleblower, who worked on the agency’s investigation of the network.

[snip]

One of the documents relating to the case was marked 203A-WF-210023. Last week, however, the FBI responded to a freedom of information request for a file of exactly the same number by claiming that it did not exist. But The Sunday Times has obtained a document signed by an FBI official showing the existence of the file.

Luke Ryland and Daniel Ellsberg have more.