December 17, 2014

President Obama Statement Cuba Policy

President Obama announced a major change in U.S. policy toward Cuba, including opening an embassy in Havana and opening trade and travel to the country, following the release of American Alan Gross, who was imprisoned there for five years.

http://www.c-span.org/video/?323375-3/president-obama-statement-cuba

December 2, 2014

Combating ISIS

Witnesses testified at a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee joint hearing on foreign fighters, including Americans, who joined the Islamic State militant group.

Secret Service Operations

Joseph Clancy testified at a Secret Service oversight hearing.

Cybersecurity Threats

Admiral Michael Rogers testified at a House Select Intelligence Committee hearing on U.S. efforts to combat cybersecurity threats.

COMMUNICATORS ON TECHNOLOGY LEGISLATION

Communicators on Technology Legislation

Three members of Congress talked about telecommunications issues and technology legislation, including net neutrality, spectrum auctions, kill switches on cell phones, and Internet and phone scams.

Representatives Joe Barton (R-TX), former chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, talked by telephone about net neutrality and spectrum incentive auctions, supporting some Democrats and opposing others on related issues over the past week. 

Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Representative Leonard Lance (R-NJ), members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, were interviewed from Capitol Hill. Representative Griffith talked about kill switches on cell phones. Representative Lance talked about his anti-spoofing bill, intended to block people from tricking seniors into giving up personal information by telephone or over the Internet.

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY INITIATIVES

Secretary Jeh Johnson talked about the Department of Homeland Security’s initiatives in the areas of counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and border security at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City.


http://www.c-span.org/video/?321410-1/homeland-security-secretary-jeh-johnson-remarks

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION ACT

Representative Trent Franks (R-AZ) talked about the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act and the potential for a terrorist attack that could cause an electrical grid blackout.

ISIS BEHEADING OF U.S. JOURNALIST

State Department Daily Briefing

President Barack Obama being briefed by National Security Adviser Susan Rice

President Obama on James Foley

President Obama delivered a statement about the death of U.S. photojournalist James Foley, a foreign correspondent who went missing in Syria in 2012.

JAMES FOLEY - HEROES NEVER DIE !
James Foley, the American journalist held captive since 2012 by ISIS, ... us from finishing the job that our heroes have the will and ability to do.

MOST WANTED

CIA-NSA

Edward Snowden, 

The MOST WANTED man on Earth...

Edward Snowden, 

MOST WANTED...

PUERTO RICO INVOLUCRADO EN EL ESPIONAJE DENUNCIADO POR SNOWDEN

Escrito por Waldo D. Covas Quevedo 

Viernes, 12 de Julio de 2013

Snowden Algunos de los documentos filtrados por el exempleado de la Agencia de Seguridad Nacional (NSA) y la Agencia Central de Inteligencia (CIA) Edward J. Snowden mencionan a Puerto Rico como centro de espionaje clandestino para  varios países de Latinoamérica.

Según reportajes publicados en las versiones cibernéticas de los periódicos O Globo de Brasil, El País de España y The Guardian de Inglaterra, sobre los documentos hechos públicos por Snowden, ambas -la NSA y la CIA- mantuvieron una operación conjunta desde la base Naval en el barrio Sabana Seca de Toa Baja.

Esta operación en Puerto Rico servía para coordinar con otras oficinas en Brasilia, Bogotá, Caracas, Ciudad de México y Ciudad de Panamá mediante un programa llamado Fornsat, con el que  la NSA y la CIA interceptaron miles de millones de llamadas telefónicas, mensajes electrónicos y de texto y comunicaciones por Internet privadas.

A raíz de las nuevas denuncias de Snowden divulgadas desde el pasado fin de semana, los Gobiernos de Brasil y Colombia han exigido oficialmente explicaciones al de los Estados Unidos sobre el aparente espionaje de telecomunicaciones de ciudadanos ajenos a su jurisdicción.

Uno de los artículos publicados por O Globo menciona que el mayor número de interceptaciones telefónicas y cibernéticas ocurrió en Brasil, seguido por Colombia, con quien los Estados Unidos mantienen acuerdos estratégicos para combatir el narcotráfico.

El artículo añade que la NSA intensificó las interceptaciones en Colombia y Venezuela, donde usaba el programa Boundless Informant, mientras el presidente Hugo Chávez agonizaba de un cáncer incurable en meses recientes.

Otro artículo publicado por el periódico El País menciona que las interceptaciones de comunicaciones cibernéticas se hicieron bajo el programa PRISM con la colaboración de portales tales como Facebook y Google, compañías que han negado las denuncias. Otros medios electrónicos han señalado a gigantes como Microsoft y YouTube como colaboradores de la NSA y la CIA.

El artículo de El País menciona que algunas de las interceptaciones se hicieron con el sistema X-Keystroke, en el cual se identifican los mensajes y las llamadas por el idioma de la conversación, implantado en Brasil, Colombia, Perú, Venezuela y la mayoría de los países de Centroamérica.

Otro artículo publicado por el periodista Glenn Greenwald de The Guardian el pasado sábado, y en el cual provee un enlace al publicado por O Globo bajo su firma, indica que los miles de millones de llamadas y correos electrónicos interceptados por la NSA y una gran compañía de telecomunicaciones se hicieron utilizando el programa Fairview.

Según Greenwald, con este programa prácticamente se elimina la posibilidad de que un usuario ajeno a los Estados Unidos navegue por el internet con alguna expectativa de privacidad o seguridad personal.

Peor aún, argumenta Greenwald, es que les permite a los aliados de  Estados Unidos -incluyendo a los que son agresivamente opresivos – beneficiarse del espionaje indiscriminado de las comunicaciones de sus ciudadanos.

La traducción del artículo del pasado domingo de O Globo menciona que, aunque el presupuesto de la NSA es secreto, la Federación de Científicos Americanos (FAS) estima que la agencia gasta $75,000 millones anualmente. También se dice que cuenta con 32,000 empleados y tiene acuerdos estratégicos con más de 80 de las corporaciones principales mundiales de telecomunicaciones, internet, infraestructura, equipos, sistemas operativos y aplicaciones de computadoras.

The Guardian publicó el pasado sábado que el programa PRISM le permite a la NSA acceso a los correos de voz y áreas de charlas (chats) de los usuarios de portales tales como Facebook, Google, Microsoft y YouTube.

Algunos de los artículos consultados hacen referencia al programa de naciones aliadas a los Estados Unidos conocido como Echelon y que tenía su base de operaciones en el municipio de Toa Baja bajo la jurisdicción de la Marina de Guerra de los Estados Unidos.

Un artículo publicado por el periódico El Mundo de España en enero del 2000 menciona que Echelon puede identificar las palabras pronunciadas en conversaciones telefónicas y envíos de fax y texto y mensajes de textos cibernéticos y telefónicos. Otros portales del internet alegan que la capacidad de Echelon para reconocer las palabras pronunciadas es superior a la del oído humano.

Aunque la Base de Comunicaciones del Grupo de Operaciones de la Marina de Guerra en Sabana Seca cerró, aún pueden verse los enormes globos blancos en el Balneario de Punta Salinas en Toa Baja y el gigantesco cercado circular del Barrio Ingenio de este municipio que forman la espina dorsal de Echelon.

Según datos obtenidos en la internet, Australia, Canadá, Nueva Zelanda, el Reino Unido y los Estados Unidos formaron Echelon en la década del 60 en medio de la Guerra Fría para interceptar las troncales de las comunicaciones vía satélites.

O Globo menciona que la NSA y la CIA han dirigido la Primary Fornsat Collection Operations desde Sabana Seca, en referencia a Toa Baja, como parte de una red de 16 unidades de recolección de información a través de satélites de otros países.

Un documento desclasificado sobre la Historia de la Agencia de Inteligencia de Aviación de mediados de la década del 90 hace referencia a que empleados de la Corporación Raytheon operaban uno de los sensores bajo un contrato con el Centro de Sistemas Electrónicos del Grupo de Seguridad Naval y la NSA.

Moisés Quiñones, portavoz del Negociado Federal de Investigaciones (FBI) en Puerto Rico, informó al Centro de Periodismo Investigativo que estaba impedido de comentar sobre las denuncias de Snowden sobre Echelon o las interceptaciones telefónicas.

Quiñones agregó que el FBI nunca confirma ni deniega sobre investigaciones en curso ni puede divulgar sus técnicas investigativas.

Snowden, quien trabajó en seguridad de tecnología informática para la NSA en Japón y para la CIA y luego para los contratistas de éstas Dell y Booz Allen Hamilton fue despedido por esta última y acusado de espionaje por el Gobierno de los Estados Unidos a mediados del mes pasado.

Desde que sus denuncias fueron publicadas por The Guardian, Snowden escapó de su último lugar de residencia en Hawaii a Hong Kong, donde estuvo oculto varias semanas, y hace varios días se alega que permanece en el aeropuerto de Moscú aguardando por asilo político en alguno de los 20 países a los que se lo solicitó.

Los Presidentes de Bolivia, Nicaragua y Venezuela le han ofrecido asilo político a Snowden y el principal obstáculo que enfrenta es el de llegar a estos países desde Moscú luego de que su pasaporte fuera revocado a raíz de su acusación de espionaje en los Estados Unidos.

Tahani Shayeb Barakat y Ezequiel Rodríguez Andino colaboraron en esta historia. (Fuente: Centro de Periodismo Investigativo)

SECURITY CONFERENCE THE NIGHTMARE SCENARIO

ASPEN SECURITY CONFERENCE:  THE NIGHTMARE SCENARIO

"The Nightmare Scenario:" One of the few things all of Washington agrees on is that the number one security threat is the treat of a weapon of mass destruction in the hands of terrorists. Key leaders in countering this threat give their respective insights.

DISPOSAL PRACTICE

DISPOSAL PRACTICE

PUBLISHED ON JUL 8, 2014

Workers put on personal protective equipment and participate in a dress rehearsal aboard the container ship MV Cape Ray (T-AKR 9679) in Rota, Spain, June 18, 2014. The U.S. government-owned Cape Ray was modified and deployed to the eastern Mediterranean Sea to dispose of Syrian chemical agents in accordance with terms Syria agreed to in late 2013.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE ( YouTube Link) 

July 29, 2014

Senate Session, Part-1 

Senator Leahy Introduces NSA Reform Legislation

Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduces a bill that would end the NSA's bulk data collection and storage of metadata, require court orders to search private phone company databases and put limitations on broad searches by the NSA.

PRESIDENT OBAMA AND CHANCELLOR MERKEL JOINT NEWS CONFERENCE

President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a joint news conference at the White House following a meeting in the Oval Office. The two leaders said they are prepared to impose additional sanctions on Russia’s economy if conflict continues in Ukraine. Following their remarks, President Obama and Chancellor Merkel also responded to questions from reporters, including inquiries about NSA data collection.

MY BROTHER’S KEEPER

“My Brother’s Keeper” initiative, urging stronger efforts to create more opportunities for young minority men and to improve conditions that keep them impoverished and imprisoned in disproportionate numbers.


 

Obama said these young men consistently do worse in society, with odds stacked against them. “By almost every measure the group that’s facing some of the most severe challenges in the 21st century in this country are boys and young men of color,” Obama said, ticking off statistics on fatherhood, literacy, crime and poverty.

He said there have been improvements — “My presence is a testament to that progress,” Obama said. But he said more must be done because it’s a moral and economic issue facing the country.

Obama spoke from the White House East Room flanked by teenagers involved in the Becoming a Man program to help at-risk boys in his hometown of Chicago. He said he sees himself in them.

“I made bad choices. I got high, not always thinking about the harm it could do. I didn’t always take school as seriously as I should have. I made excuses. Sometimes I sold myself short,” Obama said.

Meanwhile, Obama signed a presidential memorandum creating a government-wide task force to evaluate the effectiveness of various approaches, so that federal and local governments, community groups and businesses will have best practices to follow in the future. An online “What Works” portal will provide public access to data about programs that improve outcomes for young minority men.

Obama’s pledge to take action came during his State of the Union address last month, when he warned that young, black men face “especially tough odds to stay on track and reach their full potential.” Obama himself grew up in a single-parent household, and has said he and some members of his staff were challenged and tempted by the same societal ills plaguing younger generations of minority males.

The White House listed a litany of facts showing the need for the effort: The unemployment rate for African-American men over the age of 20 was 12 percent last month, compared with 5.4 percent for white men. Hispanic men over the age of 20 faced an unemployment rate of 8.2 percent. The U.S. Census Bureau showed a poverty rate of 27.2 percent in black households and 25.6 percent for Hispanic households in 2012, compared with 12.7 percent in white and 11.7 percent in Asian households.

Those already working to better the lives of young minority men called Thursday’s announcement an “unprecedented moment,” to have the White House publicly allied with their cause.

“The president of the United States has never taken a stand suggesting that our nation mobilize its resources to improve opportunity for this population,” said Gail C. Christopher, vice president of program strategy at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which focuses its resources on vulnerable children who face poverty and discrimination.

The phrase “my brother’s keeper” comes from the book of Genesis in the Bible, where God asks Cain, the son of Adam and Eve, for the location of his brother Abel, who Cain had killed. In some versions, Cain replies: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Obama has quoted those Bible verses several times during his presidency, saying Americans should look out for each other.

Freed from the pressure of seeking re-election, Obama also has taken a more visible role on issues affecting minorities.

The president, who famously said — “I’m not the president of black America. I’m the president of the United States of America” — has moved to commute sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, hoping to combat sentencing disparities that disproportionately imprison minorities. His attorney general, Eric Holder, this month encouraged states to repeal laws that permanently bar felons from voting even after they have served their sentences. And Obama identified personally with the issue last year when he declared, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, that Trayvon Martin, the black teenager killed in an encounter with Zimmerman in Florida, “could have been me 35 years ago.”

The White House has been strongly criticized by some civil rights leaders for not using the presidential bully pulpit to do enough to address generations of disadvantage borne by the African-American community. But things are changing, said NAACP Interim President Lorraine Miller, who along with other civil rights groups met with the president in the White House last week.

“I think he’s looking at a more strategic way how he can make an impact in the African-American community (not only) with employment but with health care and all the kind of issues we face every day,” said NAACP Interim President Lorraine Miller in response to a question from The Associated Press on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers.”

Obama announced 'My Brother's Keeper'

 (CNN) - In a moving and heartfelt message Thursday, President Barack Obama challenged young minority men to make good choices.

"Part of our message in this initiative is 'no excuses'. Government and private sector and philanthropy and all the faith communities, we have the responsibility to provide you the tools you need," he said at a White House event.

"We need to help you knock down some of the barriers that you experience," he continued. "That's what we are here for but you have responsibilities too."

A White House official said Obama improvised a good portion of his remarks and was more emotional than many planners of the event anticipated.

Those who participated in a White House meeting Thursday about the new program included NBA legend Magic Johnson, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

"What I explained to them was I had issues too when I was their age," Obama said last year. "I just had an environment that was a little more forgiving, so when I screwed up, the consequences weren't as high as when kids on the South Side screw up."

In his announcement Thursday, Obama also talked about marijuana. He said he "got high" when he was younger - an admission he's referenced multiple times since taking office and he describes in his memoir "Dreams of My Father."

"I didn't have a dad in the house. And I was angry about it, even though I didn't necessarily realize it at the time. I made bad choices. I got high, not always thinking about the harm that it would do," he told a crowd at the White House.

Obama said in an interview with The New Yorker that, while he still viewed pot smoking negatively, the drug wasn't the social ill that it's been viewed as in the past, and that he didn't see marijuana as any more dangerous than alcohol.

The President's comments sparked headlines and continued calls by activists to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous substance, but the White House said the administration does not plan to change their policy on marijuana laws.

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States, and the first African American to hold the office.

Born: August 4, 1961 (age 52), Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

Office: President of the United States since 2009

Spouse: Michelle Obama (m. 1992)

Siblings: Malik Abongo Obama, Maya Soetoro-Ng, Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, Abo Obama, George Obama, David Ndesandjo, Bernard Obama, Auma Obama Ndesandjo, Abo Obama, George Obama, David Ndesandjo, Bernard Obama, Auma Obama

Parents: Ann Dunham, Barack Obama Sr.

Children: Natasha Obama, Malia Ann Obama

JOHN MACCAIN, TALKS ABOUT MY BROTHER’S KEEPER PROGRAM.

John MacCain R-AZ, He talks about President Obama and the My Brother’s Keeper program.

John MacCain Senators (R-AZ), has made a journey from the Navy to Vietnam to the United States Senate.

John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican presidential nominee in the 2008 United States election.

McCain followed his father and grandfather, both four-star admirals, into the United States Navy, graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. 

He became a naval aviator, flying ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers. During the Vietnam War, he was almost killed in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. In October 1967, while on a bombing mission over Hanoi, he was shot down, seriously injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese. He was a prisoner of war until 1973. McCain experienced episodes of torture, and refused an out-of-sequence early repatriation offer. His war wounds left him with lifelong physical limitations.

He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981 and moved to Arizona, where he entered politics. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, he served two terms, and was then elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, winning re-election easily four times, most recently in 2010. 

While generally adhering to conservative principles, McCain at times has had a media reputation as a "maverick" for his willingness to disagree with his party on certain issues. After being investigated and largely exonerated in a political influence scandal of the 1980s as a member of the Keating Five, he made campaign finance reform one of his signature concerns, which eventually led to the passage of the McCain-Feingold Act in 2002. He is also known for his work towards restoring diplomatic relations with Vietnam in the 1990s, and for his belief that the war in Iraq should be fought to a successful conclusion.

PRESIDENT OBAMA SPEECH ON THE ECONOMY

February 26, 2014 President Obama talked about the economy and transportation infrastructure at Union Depot in St. Paul, Minnesota.

STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

State of the Union Address
Jan 28, 2014

In his annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, President Obama outlined his priorities for legislative action and for the American people. Among the topics he addressed were income inequality, providing opportunities for upward mobility, investment in the economy, and fostering business and economic progress. He also talked about energy policy, immigration policy, and health care reform. On foreign policy and national security, the president renewed his commitment to both anti-terrorism and diplomatic efforts, called again for the closing of Guantanamo detention facilities, and reasserted his commitment to diplomatic negotiations throughout the Middle East on issues of nuclear proliferation and a permanent Israeli-Palestinian agreement.