A Jewish friend recently commented to me that he had a doctorate in a field useful to the Defense Department and had served in combat in the present war. "I can't get a civil service job," he said, "but this woman has this position?" pl
http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2010/04/14/dr-strangelove-made-in-israel/
I appreciate that Dr. Kass may be the smartest woman to ever graduate in Israel, but an Israeli in an advisory position to our military? No way! Yes, she has dual citizenship (and I don’t approve of that!), but she made a point of guaranteeing her kids citizenship in Israel which shouts her loyalty to another country.
It seems to me that anyone who works for our government should surrender their citizenship in any other country. If they won’t? Well, that tells you a lot.
So how do we get this woman fired?
w/ apologies to the Mamas & the Papas
Nobody’s getting fat except Ilana Kass
Sir, thank you for coming back so soon. Although I do not have enough knowledge to contribute to the discussions, I appriciate and grateful for the opportunity to come here to learn.
Is Professor Bard O’Neill still alive? If so, then just talk to him about Kass. They co-wrote a book, The Deadly Embrace — a work that Kass apparently does not promote on her lecture circuit, which should tell you something. You can use this book to deconstruct her views, completely and totally, among other things.
All anyone from the FBI/DOJ has to do is ask Kass one question, and it is not in the least bit accusatory. Just place her under oath and ask one question. Her response would tell you all you need to know. Or to borrow from her lingo…checkmate.
And, to think, the order of the COIF crowd of the DOJ gets to wear those sharp looking Lacoste polo shirts with the DOJ logo…geez.
Here’s the first paragraph of my blog post recommending wide spread circulation of this story. It might be a really BFD.
Here’s an essay which deserves to see as much light of day as possible. It is a post by Col.(Ret.) Pat Lang on his Sic Semper Tyrannis blog which has quite a strong and loyal following, but still a blog, not a wide circulation national newspaper.
Leanderthal blogging at:
http://leesvoicecryinginthewilderness.blogspot.com.
Glad to see you’re back Colonel. Snitting is good.
Now if we can get Mr. Giraldi’s well written article into the mainstream media, we may be able to shame DOD into launching a seriouse investigation. However, the Likud lobby and whoever’s acting as Kass’ “sugar daddy” would be fighting any thought of an investigation tooth and nail.
IMO, In addition to finding out ‘who/whom’ were her primary sponsors/seeding operation from the first day she stepped onto U.S. shores to the present day, also one needs to look at the ‘bubble’ of personas that has/is/are present ‘around’ Dr. Kass. Such examination should prove enlightening.
I share RAM’s lack of knowledge about most things on this blog, but the question of whether part time citizens of foreign countries with questionable loyalties should have senior military roles in ours is one I feel perfectly qualified to comment on.
My comment is: WTF.
Mr. Giraldi has neatly encapsulated the many questions surrounding Dr. Kass’ situation. This all is mind-boggling to anyone who has worked in national security or defense. As many of the above posters have noted, this story should be given wide promulgation- but that is doubtful, considering the state of the U.S. media today. There should be a full investigation into who made the decisions to place her in the positions where she is serving. Her entire background– and lack of background and experience for some of the positions–cry out for a complete and thorough investigation. There should also be a hard look at the DoD clearance program; Dr. Kass likely isn’t the only one with sua background that raisese such questions.
Mr. Giraldi has neatly encapsulated the many questions surrounding Dr. Kass’ situation. This all is mind-boggling to anyone who has worked in national security or defense. As many of the above posters have noted, this story should be given wide promulgation- but that is doubtful, considering the state of the U.S. media today. There should be a full investigation into who made the decisions to place her in the positions where she is serving. Her entire background– and lack of background and experience for some of the positions–cry out for a complete and thorough investigation. There should also be a hard look at the DoD clearance program; Dr. Kass likely isn’t the only one with such a background that raises such questions.
The fact that the Air Force removed Dr. Kass’ bio from the website indicates that there is sensitivity regarding her situation.
Thanks for coming back, Colonel.
shogun,
Do you think that Tel Aviv (and their moles in D.C.) are becoming a little nervous regarding our inquires about Dr. Kass, as the more inquiries shining light on Kass might spark a ‘mole hunt’ to ferret out a very probable Israeli Intelligence ‘seeding operation’?
Thanks for coming back Col. Lang,
This is speculation on my part, but given that Israeli strategy appears to encourage or promote the demonisation of Islam by Americans and vice versa, and that there is comment, and perhaps a little evidence, that drone strikes in Pakistan and Afghanistan are apparently counter productive from the point of view of winning Muslim friends, one wonders if Dr. Kass had any role in developing our drone fighting strategy?
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/title-2/?hp
All
Someone has pointed out that Herzliya is interested in postings on Dr. Kass. Herzliya is the location of the headquarters of the Mossad. What’s next? An IRS audit? A prosecution for something involving classified information? Failing that, what? pl
gee gosh by golly what do you think is the reason this woman has a job…or douglas feith had his job…gosh gee wilikers i dont guess i can say…
what a bunch of pansies the americanskis turned out to be to revolution from within.
I thought Rita Katz (the psyop behind the fake OBL tapes and primary source for intelligence used by news services, Homeland Security, the FBI and CIA) was doing the dirty work for them here.
Thank you for these important posts! How cool would it be to see an sociogram of this lady’s career…I wouldn’t be surprised she was probably a junior staffer on “Team B” fercryinoutloud !!! (lol)
Her neocon (likud) bona fides seem to be such perfect order….
Isn’t her timeline contemporaneous with ‘Mega’? What do people think the status of ‘Mega’ is these days? Is s/he still in the upper ranks?
A Wolf Blitzkrieger character assassination is the usual way: “… the search found pornography, guns, anti-american literature…,”(all legal) ignoring your sterling career and character, which would come up later, but the meme would be loose. I on the other hand would go down easy, but am not worth the airtime.
Just to confuse the short-tail sheep: “… is obsessed with Rothko paintings.”
What about Congress?
“Eric Cantor, a leading Republican official in the U.S. House of Representatives, on Thursday lashed out at U.S. President Barack Obama’s remarks about Israel at this week’s nuclear security summit.
Cantor on Thursday lashed out at Obama’s remarks, saying the U.S. administration is manufacturing fights with Israel and pandering to the Arab world…”
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1163426.html
Does Cantor think he addressing the Israeli Knesset rather than the US Congress?
Perhaps the Republican Party could consider re-naming itself, something like “Likud-US”…
Thanks for the information and fully agree with the opinions on (lack of) appropriateness of Kass in this Defense position.
I think our Congress would overwhelmingly approve Kass for this position, given the Senate’s recent letter to Obama of their support for Israel and the Unbreakable US-Israel BondTM.
This letter from the Senate — a wholly owned subsidiary of AIPAC — was signed by 76 senators! Funny…no media trumpeting on this most bipartisan accomplishment of Government.
“she has somehow turned herself into a major spokesman through mastery of the necessary buzzwords and talking points.”
First, if all she were was a spokesperson she’d be canned already as inside the beltway there are plenty of masters of buzzwords and talking points. Second, and most troubling, is that her expertise in cyberwarefare and Mideast policy appears to consist of just that – mastery of buzzwords and talking points. Ahmed Chalabi was a past master of both, look at the good he did the US; and he’s still defended by some of the same neo-cons that promoted him.
As to Cyberwarfare, Booze Allen Hamilton has almost no expertise in the IT field but they can see a gravy train a mile off. Anyone remember the Y2K ‘crisis’?
re Herzliya blowback, we all must fight the good fight, notwithstanding any blowback. w/ his VMI genes, inter alia, the Col. would be among the last still standing.
“The Oath of Brutus
According to Livy, after the expulsion of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, Brutus’ first act was to have the people swear an oath never to allow any man again to be king in Rome.[3]
In T. Livii, Vol I, Lib II, Cap 1, A.J. Valpy, Londini (1828), p. 352 there is the following Latin version of the above:
“Omnium primum avidum novae libertatis populum, ne postmodum flecti precibus aut donis regiis posset, jurejurando adegit, neminem Romae passuros regnare. (h) …
(h) Compulit ad decernendum addito juramento, fore ut non permitterent quenquam in posterum Romae regem esse.”
from the wiki
Roy G – Mega is very much still around. He is no longer in government but appears on television frequently as an “expert” on security issues.
C.K.,
How about Republikuds? Rhymes with quaaludes, both are sedative-hypnotics, and has a nice ring to it.
Colonel,
“What can they do?” “They” can send you stupid ass comments to get you pissed off, depriving your readers of your common sense insights on the world.
I don’t know if it is old age, the Internet, or if the 21st century is really a new era. Corporate Media, Non-Government Organizations and the Federal Government have embarked on program of Psy-Ops to convince American Citizens everything is just great; when a reading of this blog and the economic blogs show that things are going all that well either in the Middle East or at home.
Another AIPAC but a subdued one (no neocons???):
http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/c.hsJPK0PIJpH/b.672811/k.DFA5/About_TIP.htm
The beaver — Rita Katz doesn’t bother me. Granted she has the Israeli and IDF connection, but her early story is compelling. Her SITE Intelligence Group is a competent collector and reporter of information, although it does speak from a known point of view/agenda. As a private group, it has every right to do so. I do not think she is driven to insinuate herself into our national security inner circle, like Kass seems to be. I know that Katz strongly prefers a lucrative government contract rather than just a means to get her information/analysis to the inner circles of the USG. An agent of influence would opt for the latter if the opportunity presented itself.
Fred Strack — you are so right about BAH’s lack of IT expertise. Yes, they are a gravy train seeking beltway bandit, but I’ve worked with some very competent and dedicated BAH contractors. However, they usually subcontract for IT expertise. Their IT dudes struck me as lamers. It scares me to hear they will be building the Pentagon’s cyberwar control center for 34 million dollars.
Here’s a guy who knows economic things aren’t great and would never ever ask for AIPAC’s endorsement:
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/04/15/ron-paul-and-the-libertarian-moment/
“appears on television frequently as an “expert” on security issues.”
Is it 100% that the expert is “Mega”? Just want to know since I am a little bit green on that subject:-)
Considering that assumption, was Monica Lewinski , a “tool” for that group to stop the mole hunt back then?
Ah yes, the Israelis and their ‘Mega’s continue unabated. We really need a balls-to-the-wall CI ‘mole hunt’ to rid D.C. of the ‘infestation’ brokered by their Israeli seeding. It’s a matter of U.S. National Security and politics be damned.
I prodded Smallwarsjournal.com on this matter with no useful response. There appears to be little interest in pursuing this subject.
Dear twisted – You are too kind to Rita Katz. She cherry picks the material that she translates to heighten the threat and I have been reliably informed that she also slants the actual translations in the same way. I believe she does so to make her product more compelling and therefore marketable, so I suspect it is more driven by the profit motive than by any political agenda. She is nevertheless an Israel firster in all her public utterances. She once confronted me angrily at a Capitol Hill briefing and claimed that no one is pushing for war against Iran…
Beaver – Mega was identified by FBI investigators but the Justice Department would not allow him to be prosecuted, so not 100% but reasonably sure.
Twisted. The outsourcing is what scares me. Who gets the outsourced work – India? There are plenty of Americans in the IT field who could do the technical work. I’ve seen my own employer waste upwards of $1Billion on a global IT project in the time I’ve been here. It is on its 3 incarnation, and behind schedule.(Yes, that was Billion USD). We need someone with some actual IT background to lead such an effort, I’m not entirely sure it should be in the USAF, or if it even needs to be done.
“[former CIA agent Philip Giraldi]He earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Chicago and a MA & PhD from the University of London in European History.[4]”
from the wiki
Phil Giraldi — You’re right. I am too kind. She definitely slants her product towards her point of view and with an eye towards marketability. She does have some very capable people working for her who I think would be more effective if they weren’t under her thumb. I’m glad her profit motive takes precedence over her Israel firster motive. She’s less dangerous that way and far less worrying (IMHO) than Kass. I offer you my condolences for having to deal with Katz in person.
Fred — From my admittedly narrow personal experience, BAH uses fully cleared, American companies for their subcontractors on contracts involving a TS/SCI clearance. I know some of these subcontractors to be router gods, elite coders and patriotic Americans. Unfortunately, there are not enough of them. The shortfall on these larger contracts is probably filled with charlatans, posers and, as you fear, foreigners
Speaking as someone who knows a little bit about the IT industry, the fascinating thing about this field is that there are real wizards – a really superb coder can be 20 or 30 times more productive than a good coder and that person is several times more productive than an average coder. Which basically means that a tiny fraction of the industry does real work. The rest is not exactly dead weight, but not very far from it, either.
In 2001, when business was slow, I was asked to write a few proposals about how the US government should approach cybersecurity. I did, and essentially my summary was that they should keep their nose out of it because industry had already solved the current problems, and was working on anticipating the upcoming problem. I couldn’t really figure out a good role for the government beyond what it already had. For some reason, this didn’t win me any multi-million dollar contracts.
I spent about a year mucking around in this, and during this time, I never met a single person who worked directly for the government and was a member of the tiny fraction I mention above. There were several quite good contractors, but none of the quality that, say, one would expect of the class of people that are the top tier in Silicon Valley or places inside Microsoft’s top echelon.
Unless and until the government hires enough of these people to have a core team, they really have no chance in doing anything in anticipating cybersecurity problems and will always be followers. There is no other option. However, that all works out OK because industry is already dealing with it except that a lot of taxpayer money goes to waste paying people to pretend to be experts.
Byron:
I never met a single person who worked directly for the government and was a member of the tiny fraction I mention above. There were several quite good contractors, but none of the quality that, say, one would expect of the class of people that are the top tier in Silicon Valley or places inside Microsoft’s top echelon.
There are plenty of world-class cybersecurity teams in government service today. They are found in various organizations, and especially in NSA, NNSA, and various FFRDC’s.
Some agencies do this a lot better than others, but the assertion that such top-tier expertise is not present anywhere in the federal apparatus is simply not warranted. As always, one needs to know where to look.
I always found it interesting in DOD and the Armed Forces that briefers often rose to positions higher than those who could make good decisions and were leaders, just not PPT presenters. And a skilled briefer that looks like she might have been both articulate and attractive at younger ages was bound to attract someone’s attention?
Cieran,
You might recall the discussions we had about how trivial the problems should have been in putting together the pieces of information that were necessary to be able to identify and pre-emptively stop the underwear bomber. If these people you say do exist in the government, I would imagine they are extremely frustrated.
B.R.
Byron:
You might recall the discussions we had about how trivial the problems should have been in putting together the pieces of information that were necessary to be able to identify and pre-emptively stop the underwear bomber. If these people you say do exist in the government, I would imagine they are extremely frustrated.
Your comment was about cybersecurity, as was my response. There’s not much in the way of relationship between the underwear bomber and the cybersecurity realm, so I’m sorry that I don’t see the connection.
A few moments’ reflection of the INFOSEC requirements of various federal agencies will demonstrate why some are better at cybersecurity than others. If an NSF supercomputer is compromised, it’s a nuisance to academic researchers, where if the right NNSA database sees the light of day, it could mean the end of civilization as we know it. So some federal agencies are good at this, and others aren’t.
As far as technical experts being frustrated by the overall performance of an agency, that’s part of life in any organization, including the private sector, so that would not be the exclusive province of federal service. For example, you mentioned the existence of world-class cybersecurity experts at Microsoft: now those folks would have good reasons to be frustrated by the performance of their organization’s products!
My favorite exegesis on
this topic is also by
Messr. Girardi:
http://www.amconmag.com/article/2008/jun/02/00006/