NamEndedAllen

Sequel to “The Falcon and the Snowbird”! But presumably not as damaging.

Weren’t there widely reported concerns that the penetration of Russian intelligence had them scrambling? That their search for our sources and methods is aided by the specificity of the published leaks? Hoping that isn’t actually the case.

You are terrific in so much that you offer. But here…just general speculation and broad opinion. Steve already laid out the case well - chrisl and others have added much to the question. It’s about mitigating specific risks in a specific context, not your broad picture. It isn’t positing a 100% guarantee. Nothing is. Age related job requirements are throughout society, and this episode suggests the military examine it in the intelligence security context. Your defense boils down to, “We’ve always done it this way.” Which is why so much keeps going amuck. Ironically, reminiscent of your critiques about war fighting doctrine.

It wouldn’t have to. And your idea could become a graduated ladder of clearance eligibilities. The clearances come a number of flavors, for a variety of categories.The majority of military personnel are given Confidential clearance, Level 2 access. That includes the National Security Non-Critical Sensitive category. Level 2 also includes the Secret clearance. It’s complicated. All told there are at least six levels, mixed and matched for six categories, and associated clearance types. They require one or more of at least five different kinds of initial investigations, depending on the clearance. In general there are three kinds of clearances, Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret. Level 3 gets the Top Secret requirement, and differs from Level 2 by including the National Security Critical Sensitive Category. But it looks as if good ol’ Airman Teixera got his reclassification in 2021, making him 19. His reclass was to Level 4, Top Secret:TS/SCI Eligible. Or at DOE it’s called ‘Q’. National Security Special Sensitive. Yep. Above Top Secret. And it looks like he started right away broadcasting secrets to impress other kids. THAT’S the controversy. The military need not request freaking TS/SCI for a 19 year old for a galaxy of reasons, including your excellent point about the look-back length.

Really? *A* clearance? I have family members much older than him, who sweated through the full SSBI or Full and TS/SCI process. It’s an 8-15 month trip. This wildly bigoted and troubled not-an-exemplary kid’s religion has nothing to do with the process. Regardless, we all know (or with any science background, darn well should know ) 19–ish year old teenage brains have not matured. The last part of the brain to mature is the frontal cortex. Where good judgement, self-control, social skills, and decision-making skill come from. So yeah. Not arguing about the drinking or voting age, or recruitment age. I do think it’s playing with fire to put “scores” of 19-21 year olds fresh out of high school into positions with full access to SCIFs material and entry into the JWICS. With no ability or program to monitor the changes these 19 year olds go through on their way to actual biological maturity. What could go wrong? BTW, anyone think he never spouted off about his government conspiracy racist fantasies to anyone anywhere else? Lastly, the US.military is sufficiently large to revise and assign this critical responsibility to an age appropriate rank and paygrade. The number of slots is “scores”, not “hundreds”. Do we really need to gamble like this? No. While of course it’s no silver bullet, it’s a LOT easier than trying to institute some sort of Total Big Brother real time microscope on every minute of people’s lives. ‘The part of the brain behind the forehead, called the prefrontal cortex, is one of the last parts to mature. This area is responsible for skills like planning, prioritizing, and making good decisions”... and… “The brain finishes developing and maturing in the mid-to-late 20s.” https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-teen-brain-7-things-to-know

Catching up with Young Mr. Teixeira, the clearance situation is as bad as I suspected a few pages ago. In case it’s pay-walled, here is a few summary points: “Jack Teixeira had a top secret security clearance at 21. Here's what to know about why that is, and what else goes into the security clearance process” https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/04/16/classified-documents-leaked-security-clearance/ * Got the TS/SCI clearance in 2021 when 19 years old. Had on the job access to that material at the facility through his duties. (whether that should be the case or not) *Also had access to the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System, allowing him to read and print the wide range of classified high level of material that leaked. * Quoting: “Pentagon spokesman Patrick S. Ryder, a brigadier general, said Thursday that the military regularly entrusts young people with classified information, that Teixeira’s having that level of clearance was normal and that scores of other young workers have that type of access”. (my emphasis) None of this explains how he was able to print the mass of documents over time, and then remove them. That’s assuming he could only access and print within the secure location, and nowhere else. The folded up docs shown in the leaks suggest that was the case, but doesn’t prove it. Let’s hope the security is and has been far better at the other locations where “scores of other young workers” have this wide access to sensitive, highly classified material.

Yes! Exactly. Once the access high clearance is established (apparently) for this guy, and whatever computer skills he has acquired can be used and *perhaps* with his IT cover and *possible* sloppiness at the facility, he is in pretty good position to dig in deep. Concern is that this is still possible at what should have been covered by double and triple checking access records and whatever CI procedures would seem to be warranted. But maybe this is all way off. Some kind of simple but effective shortcut no one thought of, or was available periodically for some routine procedures. Time should tell.

https://www.ft.com/content/841a603a-791d-400e-a517-8b4c7626129a Navalny seriously ill in prison. Most likely poisoned.

Thanks Bill. And he is reported serving in the 102nd Intelligence Wing, at Otis AFB on Cape Cod. If this went on within a NORAD station, it feels even worse. Materials from DIA, NRO, CIA, NSA, etc. I’d think the TS/SCI high level required areas would have had extremely high security protocols in place. And yet…

I’m puzzling over the vetting process and clearances this Teixeira jerk would have been through. Some of you guys have various clearances. Please correct me where I’m wrong. He was recruited for the ANG out of high school in 2019. In the military, would he have immediately been vetted for TS, Sensitive Compartmented Information clearance, at its higher Levels? Basically, when he is an entry level kid? If not, wouldn’t he have gone through at least one more heavy duty investigation more recently? And if he did, and passed it after all the Snowden and other thefts and leaks, does this mean the clearance process for access to even these highly sensitive (Level 4?) materials and SCIFs is really really badly flawed? Also, how many other IT types with his same/similar duties would normally be working at the 102nd Wing? They would know each other well enough, right? I imagine investigators would have a lot of questions for him.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/04/ukraine-leak-teixeira-massachusetts-air-national-guard/673720/ I Oversaw the Massachusetts Air National Guard. I Cannot Fathom How This Happened. “From 2006 to 2009, as part of my duties as the homeland-security adviser to then–Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, I oversaw the state’s Air National Guard. I have no idea why one of its members would even have access to the kind of high-level secrets that recently showed up on a Discord server. Based on my experience, I am at a loss to explain why a 21-year-old member of the state intelligence wing, who does not appear to have been working in any federal capacity, would need access to the kind of materials whose release has so unnerved the Pentagon and supporters of the Ukrainian war effort. Despite Teixeira’s junior position, The Washington Post reported, he had access to the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System, a computer network for top-secret Defense Department information. Investigations after the 9/11 attacks revealed a siloing of information within separate agencies and led to efforts to promote more sharing, but the Pentagon might have overcorrected. State Air National Guard units have their own intelligence capabilities; an enemy could come by air, and sometimes errant flying balloons appear over U.S. soil. But it stretches any notion of homeland defense to think a low-level state Air Guard member should have access to materials about a war that the United States is not actively fighting and that poses no domestic risk. I speak with profound admiration for the National Guard’s work. But if news reports are correct, the breadth of materials that Teixeira could view is unreasonable and unnecessary. If he took advantage of that access, that is his fault. But we are a nation that grants almost indiscriminate access to high-level intelligence, and that is our fault.”

OK, thanks! That explains one aspect of this goat rope. But it does double down on the oversight question. He was bright enough to be well hidden, in plain sight? That’s why no one noticed he had no business being in the ANG, let alone the 102nd? Or, like Hansen, no one seemed to notice clues about unhidden behaviors, etc? Or as feared, supervision of the highest level materials in such areas is so poor that today, after all the past failures, the lowest guy on the totem pole can just walk out with all the jewels.

Or he wasn’t the leak’s first link in the chain.Useful idiot?

Double post

This MA ANG squadron really needed *all* of THIS Intel? And that is happening with ALL of this trove of highest level stuff, and all available at every ANG in the USA, and therefore all the other bases everywhere? Every installation of every branch accesses essentially all facets and levels of military and related diplomatic classifications? With this same unsupervised point of failure - a guy like this? If so, as I said before, forget the illusion that *any* military secrets are…secret. They already flew the coop. Just weren’t all openly published by a nutjob.

Maybe another question to ask is, “What materials did he NOT have access to?”

“For years, U.S. counterintelligence officials have eyed gaming platforms as a magnet for spies.” -Wash Post I’ve wondered about this with regard to the wisdom of putting up really detailed well thought out proposals for the Ukrainian offensive, well-conceived by people who know what they are talking about. Probably nothing the Russians haven’t already thought of? But then, we don’t have a high degree of respect for their own abilities to wage war…

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that he is an Airman in a Air National Guard squadron, with the breadth and seemingly depth of high level documents accessed and leaked. Yes, he is in the Intelligence wing. 1.But does that mean that every similar very young person, not senior status in every Air National Guard squadron Intel have access to the amazingly wide scope of intelligence from so many sources (and methods?), and of seemingly all or a great many levels of classification? (if so, abandon all hope of keeping any important military secrets - they are already leaked, just not all posted in gaming chat rooms) 2. Or did he hack into or otherwise obtain illegal access to much of the material? Did he and all the others like him, at his level, need to know the details of the Ukrainian we plans? Of who is allegedly secretly supplying weapons to Russia? Of every nation we are spying on?

A real piece of work. “In a video seen by The Post, the man who the member said is OG stands at a shooting range, wearing safety glasses and ear coverings and holding a large rifle. He yells a series of racial and antisemitic slurs into the camera, then fires several rounds at a target. OG had a dark view of the government. The young member said he spoke of the United States, and particularly law enforcement and the intelligence community, as a sinister force that sought suppress its citizens and keep them in the dark. He ranted about “government overreach.”…“I would definitely not call him a whistleblower. I would not call OG a whistleblower in the slightest,” he said, resisting comparisons to Edward Snowden, who shared classified documents about government surveillance with journalists”.— By Shane Harris and Samuel Oakford, April 12, 2023 at 9:36 p.m. EDT, Washington Post ALSO “The man behind a massive leak of U.S. secrets was an employee on an unidentified military base who regularly ranted about “government overreach,” members of an online Discord server he controlled told The Washington Post. The man, identified only as “OG” by his fellow Discord users, was the unchallenged leader of the server…one member said. OG reportedly also seemed to harbor dark beliefs about deep-rooted government corruption, once sharing on the server a baseless conspiracy theory that the government had had advance notice of a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, but chose not to act. He also began dumping hand-typed transcripts of classified intelligence documents on the server—several a week beginning late last year, according to the Post—and “got upset” when other users didn’t interact with them to his liking. https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-leaker-og-ranted-about-government-overreach-on-discord-report-says”

Warzone reports movement on the F-16 front. Maybe. Some time. If USA ever gives approval: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/ukraine-situation-report-denmark-to-decide-by-summer-on-f-16s-for-kyiv “Denmark has said that, together with its allies, it will decide “before the summer” as to whether they will provide Ukraine with the fighter jets the country has long been campaigning for. During a visit today to Ukraine, Troels Lund Poulsen, Denmark’s acting defense minister, confirmed that the matter was under discussion but that the process was taking a long time due to the requirement for different countries to cooperate on any such transfer of aircraft.” “it would appear beyond doubt that an increasing number of European NATO nations are now seriously considering how they could work together to expedite the delivery of (most likely F-16) fighter jets to Ukraine. Other fighter jets have been suggested as possible candidates too, including French Mirage 2000s and Finnish F/A-18 Hornets.” “At the same time, any such collaborative program involving American-made jets would still require final approval from the U.S. government, which has so far proven resistant to such a scheme, including due to the potentially escalatory nature of such a move. “Denmark will not do it alone,” Poulsen said”

In some quarters, in some cases, each copy of some classified documents is uniquely identifiable. If two or three such unique copies are among those released, access will be immediately narrowed even further. The overlap/ Venn Diagram could be quite revealing.

However many entities these documents passed through from the original to those that crudely altered some of the entries, the materials are much broader than it originally seemed. The materials also reference highly classified sources and methods that the United States uses to collect such information, alarming U.S. national security officials who have seen them. — include highly sensitive U.S. analyses about China and other nations. — It was unclear who may have posted the materials online, this person said, adding that hundreds — if not thousands — of people had access to them. The source of the leak, the official said, “could be anyone.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/04/07/pentagon-leak-ukraine-documents/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert. (my bolded)

Respectfully, this misses the point. The three way “toggle” notion, pigeonholing all of us into one of three positions is not reality. The left/right categorization is simply not the actual lived experience of most people. Insisting that one or the other MUST be the only truth is poisoning societies. We all have a mixed bag of opinions and beliefs. We resent being categorized as a far right winger, or far lefty, or this or that or the other thing. Real people are not constrained to a single dot in the center or one end or the other. It’s a big spectrum! But there ARE those who align themselves with a single, narrow set of extreme ideas, assertions, & policies. They deny all other viewpoints. THAT has become more dangerous these days. Witness Russia and its statements about the nature of Ukrainians and the satanic baby-eating West etc etc. The point about the center is this. The center, the middle is the acknowledgment and acceptance that *I* can’t always be right about everything, I can’t have everything MY way. The entire idea of politics is based upon the art of compromise. Not scorched earth. With that attitude, not even the marriage of two people can survive, without into a descent into darkness. Marriages depend on both of us being willing to compromise in some matters because we are two different people. Even just two people are not going to see everything the same way. How much more must that apply to society? In nations of millions, there can be no striving for fairness, mutual respect, domestic tranquility when some insist that everyone else must be wrong. And will not be tolerated. It should be as obvious as the fact that ice cream comes in more than one flavor! In no way does this mean that there are not real problems to solve. But they will not ALL be solved by the assertions and opinions of either extreme. Good ideas come from all across the spectrum. And across the world.

Amen. That’s where the balance point is. Because no one is always right, all the time. But the extremes think they and only they are. All the time, about everything. And that turns into thinking what a great idea it would be to just get rid of everyone else. After all, they are always wrong. At best, put them in re-education camps. At worst… ‘But I don’t believe the majority of people are at the far extremes. However sometimes, just as in lots of other species, people get mesmerized by a charismatic silver-tongued dude with all the answers, and go headlong for the cliff.

This is all the proof any rational person needs showing how the USA was behind it all from the start. And further, that the USA was completely controlled by Great Britain, who masterminded everything. As they do. BTW, the article didn't include one of the secret codicils laying out the means and methods the USA used to setup the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand so it could intervene in a foreign war.