The NSA's use of The Daily Beast as a reference within a classified database is unusual. It is, in fact, rare for NSA to use open source references to bolster classified intelligence reports for two reasons: the not invented here syndrome and the fear that mixing classified and unclassified open source information will diminish the security attached to the classified portions of such reports.
The NSA information, culled from The Daily Beast article of August 10, 2010, stated that the United States urged other nations with forces in Afghanistan to consider filing criminal charges against Assange as a way of focusing national power upon "non-state actor Assange, and the human network that supports WikiLeaks." Essentially, The Daily Beast provided the straw man arguments for the NSA to claim the legal authority to urge two of its "Second Party" or FIVE EYES allies, Britain and Australia, to prosecute Assange, with "Third Party" NSA partner, Germany, also joining in the prosecution.
The Daily Beast, along with the National Security Affairs department at the U.S. Naval War College, was at the forefront of a vicious attack campaign launched against the WMR editor after he was quoted on the front page of June 29, 2013 edition of The Observer of the UK on NSA's Third Party signals intelligence relationships in Europe. The Observer, in response to a coordinated attack by The Daily Beast, which provided three of its reporters -- John Avlon, Joshua Rogin, and Michael C, Moynihan -- to CNN's Reliable Sources program to perpetuate the attack which began on Twitter.
The Observer and The Guardian not only pulled WMR's editor's quote from their web pages but The Observer yanked its print edition from circulation.
The revelation that The Daily Beast is used within NSA's classified Intellipedia system as a primary reference source calls into question the independence of the on-line publication and points to its possible links The Daily Beast has to the U.S. and UK Intelligence Communities. The Daily Beast was once owned by Newsweek but as a result of mergers and corporate shedding it is now owned by IAC, the firm owned by Hollywood mogul Barry Diller.
The Daily Beast was founded by publisher Tina Brown, who is married to former Sunday Times of London editor Sir Harold Evans, who is believed by many intelligence agency scholars to be a longtime cipher for Britain's MI-6 (Secret Intelligence Service). MI-6 and NSA's British partner, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), both report to the Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. During his time as editor of The Sunday Times, Evans reportedly permitted MI-6 agents to drafts of the newspapers articles before publication, particularly those that dealt with British intelligence defector to the Soviet Union Kim Philby. Evans was also known to employ known MI6 agents as Times's journalists, including one John Sackur.
As for The Observer caving to pressure from The Daily Beast, there should be no surprise. The Observer is owned by The Guardian's parent company, Guardian Media Group. The Guardian's editor, Alan Rusbridger, agreed to destroy computer hard drives containing copies of files from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The Guardian has long toed the British Liberal Democratic Party line. At the time of the attack on WMR's editor, the Liberal Democrats were a coalition partner of the British Conservative Party government of Prime Minister David Cameron. Today, The Guardian continues to advance the Western and George Soros-influenced propaganda memes of Britain and the United States. For example, it has no problem with Venezuela's CIA- and MI6-directed opposition using the same photograph (below left) on Twitter purportedly showing Venezuelan police attacking a woman that was also published by The Guardian in December 2011 showing Egyptian police beating the very same woman (below right).
When it comes to advancing Western capitalist propaganda, The Guardian, The Observer, and The Daily Beast all serve the same masters at Fort Meade, Maryland and Cheltenham, England, the latter the location of GCHQ headquarters.
Wayne Madsen
No comments:
Post a Comment