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CIA Director John Brennan emails
- dang 11y agoUrl changed from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/wikileaks-publishes-cia-director-john-brennan-emails/2015/10/21/5e37c758-782c-11e5-a5e2-40d6b2ad18dd_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/wikileaks-publishes-..., which is just a summary.
- morisy 11y agoJust FYI: The page you changed it to includes links with Social Security Number(s) and other private, personally identifiable information.
- 15charlimit 11y agoAnd? It's not like they'd magically go away if one site didn't link to them, and they're easily found with a 1-second search. There's no point in not linking to the most accurate/direct source of information.
- fnordfnordfnord 11y agoOnce it hits wikileaks, I think it's safe to say that ship has sailed.
- dmschulman 11y agoYeah I was curious why they changed the link I posted to the actual documents in question. I hoped to allude to the story not link directly to the materials (which any HN reader could find on their own after having read the story). Either way it got the conversation started, I suppose.
- golergka 11y agoThe document on Iran is really curious: it seems that this draft from 2008 (?) really resembles how US decided to behave with Iran.
- ianhawes 11y agoI also found it curious that there was not even a inkling of insight into a possible Arab Spring with regard to Iran.
- throwawayaway 11y agoI've been led to believe that they are persians and not arabs. correct me if I am wrong.
- thieving_magpie 11y agoAnd the Arab Spring was 2-3 years after this document was created.
- pazimzadeh 11y agoThe Arab Spring was partially inspired by Iran's Green Movement in 2009: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Green_Movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Green_Movement
- thieving_magpie 11y agoWhich still predated this email.
- SEJeff 11y agoBut no US policy caused a Tunisian fruit vendor to set himself on fire, gross mistreatment at the hands of a local police chief did.
- nobrains 11y agoThe one to change allowed torture techniques from a whitelist to a blacklist is scary. Its even phrased to sound like a good thing "I urge you to consider my proposal to ban the use of certain harsh interrogation techniques expressly prohibited by the Army Field Manual". And the specific prohibitions looks like a list of Iraq abuse leaked pictures checklist (pose in sexual manner, hood, using dogs, etc.), so the army is free to "invent" new inhuman techniques.
- DrRobinson 11y agoBlacklist by default and whitelist what is wanted is better in almost all context. Otherwise people will always find a way to circumvent the rules to get the expected results. > placing hoods or sacks over the head of the individual or using duct tape over the individual’s eyes; So using other kind of tape is totally ok (for example).
- rhizome 11y agoLike Gorilla Tape.
- nostromo 11y agoUsing an AOL email without any form of two-factor authentication should preclude you from serving as director of the CIA. How can these top government officials be so clueless about email security when they know first-hand how effective our own intelligence agencies are at reading everyone's email?
- kodablah 11y agoThat last question might answer itself. Doesn't excuse that extra measures aren't taken of course. Granted I bet the real reason is general ineptitude towards his job as can often be found in upper management especially in governments.
- wnevets 11y agobecause the reality is these positions are more about business administration than technical prowess/common sense.
- zipwitch 11y agoNo, they're about connections with the appropriate in-group first, administrative / executive ability well below that, and technical ability or common sense will actually disqualify you.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- getpost 11y agoI agree. It's like Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server shows she's too clueless to be president.
- throwawayaway 11y agoIt will be interesting to hear Hilary Clinton's take on this.
- seiji 11y agobe so clueless about email security Old people + technology = failure. Really common pattern. We like to believe people in positions of power know what they are doing, but sometimes the facade cracks and we see they are just regular old crazy people. But, it's more like inconvenience + people + technology = policy violations. In one company I worked at a new CEO was installed (the old one was faulty; turned out the new one was still faulty) and he told people to forward all their company email accounts to their personal gmail accounts because he just liked the gmail interface better. edit: _gasp_ it's like online people read comments while wearing hair trigger hostility goggles and don't use their contextually aware kindness beanies. go figure!
- waterlesscloud 11y agoMy mom was using email likely before you were born. She knew the risks. But please, keep your ridiculous ageism going.
- seiji 11y agoIt's not that there aren't exceptions, but it's pretty obvious old politicians aren't hip to technology from the past 30 years, isn't it? I didn't say "every old person is dumb and invalid and will rot in their living rooms out of stupidity." But, an average 4 year old can use an iPhone better than an average 63 year old.
- hippiefahrzeug 11y agoThis 'an average 4 year old can use an iPhone better...' makes me cringe every time I hear it, especially when it comes from proud parents who think their offspring is a genius. The geniuses here are the engineers who made the device usable by the 4 year old, not the other way around.
- jacquesm 11y agoAs the father of a 5 year old and a 3 year old, that's simply not true.
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- kushti 11y agoThe one question not asked yet. The guy knew probably about Clinton emails case. And made nothing with his personal mailbox having the same problems. He's unlikely to be an idiot(who knows though). So has he thought he's more protected from a prosecution than Hillary?
- Phlarp 11y ago>The guy knew probably about Clinton emails case. Of course he knows about the Hillary situation. Since this is the CIA, would it be entirely tinfoil mad-hat of me to suggest that this was an intentional honeypot left out, knowing it would get hacked and the ensuing leak coverage would reinvigorate the debate over Hillary's misuse of private email for official business? Brennan doesn't exactly strike me as the kind of guy who plays for the Democratic team.
- scintill76 11y agoIs it really worth making yourself a laughing-stock to hope the press runs with it and maybe you score a few political points a whole year before the election? If this unnerves/angers the wrong people, he could lose his job and collective CIA morale too. I'm not totally buying that he's really this incompetent, but dragging down Clinton seems a bit far-fetched as a reason this was intentional.
- panarky 11y agoNot only that, but the whole reason Brennan got the job as Director of the CIA was that the prior Director, David Petraeus, resigned[1] in the wake of his own email and information leak scandal. Petraeus and Broadwell used fake names to create free webmail accounts exchanging messages without encryption tools. The FBI, using electronic metadata that pinpointed the times, places and IP addresses, identified Paula Broadwell as the source. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petraeus_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petraeus_scandal
- scintill76 11y agoOoh, I didn't think about Petraeus. I was glad to learn recently that he was actually convicted of unauthorized removal and retention of classified information in April -- two years' probation and $100k fine (fine more than 2x what DoJ asked for!)[0] I'm sure that's all they'll give Snowden. /s (Yeah, I know Snowden is a bigger magnitude, but Petraeus was more reckless and self-serving, and as the leader he should set the example -- he deserves at least a few months in Club Fed.) [0] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/david-petraeus-to-be-sentenced-in-leak-investigation.html?rref=us&module=Ribbon&version=context®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&pgtype=article&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/david-petraeus-to-be-se...
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- NN88 11y ago* Theres a theory that WIKILEAKS has been a FSB front since 2010: * https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/3pobtq/is_russia_secretly_influencing_wikileaks_i_dont/ https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/3pobtq/is_russi... They haven't posted a SINGLE ANTI-Russian document since they threatened to leak documents in 2010
- seivan 11y agoMaybe it's harder to get leaks from Russian intel? Just a guess.
- NN88 11y agoNot an excuse. Read the link. In 2010, they claimed to have a massive cache of information. Then guess what? Moscow sent very subtle but real threats towards them. And their tune hasn't been the same SINCE. Its well outlined in the link.
- CzarSpider 11y ago> https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalDiscussion/comments/3ponbs/id_like_to_discuss_my_skepticism_of_wikileaks/ https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalDiscussion/comments/3ponbs... The original post was removed. You might want to check that.
- NN88 11y agohttps://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/3pobtq/is_russia_secretly_influencing_wikileaks_i_dont/ https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/3pobtq/is_russi...
- sb057 11y agoNot reporting on something because of a threat hardly qualifies someone as a "front". That's like saying newspapers that don't publish Muhammad cartoons for fear of retaliation are fronts for the Islamic State.
- fiberoptick 11y agoWhy did they publish his SF-86? This seems like a very irresponsible invasion of Brennan's personal privacy; nothing in there could possibly be of legitimate public interest.
- dmschulman 11y agoIt really serves no public interest, I was honestly shocked when I saw that Wikileaks decided to publish this stuff. Publishing leaked personal emails with no newsworthiness is the kind of thing a dirty supermarket tabloid like Gawker would do. At least I imagined that Wikileaks would want to preserve their reputation as doing something for the public good but a childish move like this focused on a single individual (an enemy in their eyes) makes me question the organization's values going forward.
- skybrian 11y agoUm, isn't Wikileaks famous for wanting to just publish data dumps of everything? It's their partners at newspapers who sometimes talk them out of it. It seems like you're confusing them with some other organization that does responsible disclosure.
- dmschulman 11y agoThey've been grasping for relevancy the last few years ever since Assange has gone into exile but the Chelsea Manning disclosures were newsworthy and responsibly handled. The Cablegate leaks were newsworthy and responsibly handled. Syrian/Saudi diplomatic emails, Iraq/Afghanistan war documents, Trans-pacific Partnership reporting. These actions bring attention to large groups of people in power and hold governments accountable for their actions. Publishing the emails from an AOL account of a CIA director doesn't quite fit that mould.
- _username 11y agoYou're missing the point. "He did nothing wrong, therefore he has nothing to hide". Are you really questioning the fact that this was made public while NSA, CIA and other agencies have been wiping their asses with the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution and the Article 8 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
- r0naa 11y agoI have a midterm next monday, yet here I am... procrastinating by reading CIA's director emails. What a time to be alive.
- jedberg 11y agoI was in college in 1998 when the Starr report came out, detailing President Clinton's sex life. Back then it wasn't easy to download such a big document to your computer, so a lot of people came to the computer center, which I managed, to look at it. But it was long and they didn't want to read it in the computer center, so they started printing out the 90+ page report! (printing was free) It go so bad we had to ask all the people that printed it if they could bring their copies back when they were done, so we could have a lending library of the Starr report. My point is, you're right, it's a great time to be alive -- you don't have to tell anyone about your interest in these things. :) (although on the flip side there was a pretty good watercooler discussion of the report at the computer center)
- sotojuan 11y agoThis guy went to my university, and so did Donald Trump (before he transferred to Penn). Very proud of my alma mater.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- astaroth360 11y agoFrom what I've seen this is all pretty tame. Brennan was definitely stupid to keep around an AOL email after becoming one of the highest ranking law enforcement officials, but it doesn't seem like there was that much damning information sitting around.
- TerryADavis 11y agohttp://www.templeos.org/Wb/Home/Wb2/Files/Interpretation.html#l1 http://www.templeos.org/Wb/Home/Wb2/Files/Interpretation.htm...