Global Intelligence Files

[Placid Dingo]

I figured this could use its own thread where we have a peek through to see what's useful.
http://www.wikileaks.org/the-gifiles.html
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Global Intelligence Files – more than five million emails from the Texas-headquartered "global intelligence" company Stratfor. The emails date from between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defense Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods, for example :

"[Y]ou have to take control of him. Control means financial, sexual or psychological control... This is intended to start our conversation on your next phase" – CEO George Friedman to Stratfor analyst Reva Bhalla on 6 December 2011, on how to exploit an Israeli intelligence informant providing information on the medical condition of the President of Venezuala, Hugo Chavez.

The material contains privileged information about the US government's attacks against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks and Stratfor's own attempts to subvert WikiLeaks. There are more than 4,000 emails mentioning WikiLeaks or Julian Assange. The emails also expose the revolving door that operates in private intelligence companies in the United States. Government and diplomatic sources from around the world give Stratfor advance knowledge of global politics and events in exchange for money. The Global Intelligence Files exposes how Stratfor has recruited a global network of informants who are paid via Swiss banks accounts and pre-paid credit cards. Stratfor has a mix of covert and overt informants, which includes government employees, embassy staff and journalists around the world.

The material shows how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients. For example, Stratfor monitored and analysed the online activities of Bhopal activists, including the "Yes Men", for the US chemical giant Dow Chemical. The activists seek redress for the 1984 Dow Chemical/Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, India. The disaster led to thousands of deaths, injuries in more than half a million people, and lasting environmental damage.

Stratfor has realised that its routine use of secret cash bribes to get information from insiders is risky. In August 2011, Stratfor CEO George Friedman confidentially told his employees : "We are retaining a law firm to create a policy for Stratfor on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. I don't plan to do the perp walk and I don't want anyone here doing it either."

Stratfor's use of insiders for intelligence soon turned into a money-making scheme of questionable legality. The emails show that in 2009 then-Goldman Sachs Managing Director Shea Morenz and Stratfor CEO George Friedman hatched an idea to "utilise the intelligence" it was pulling in from its insider network to start up a captive strategic investment fund. CEO George Friedman explained in a confidential August 2011 document, marked DO NOT SHARE OR DISCUSS : "What StratCap will do is use our Stratfor's intelligence and analysis to trade in a range of geopolitical instruments, particularly government bonds, currencies and the like". The emails show that in 2011 Goldman Sach's Morenz invested "substantially" more than $4million and joined Stratfor's board of directors. Throughout 2011, a complex offshore share structure extending as far as South Africa was erected, designed to make StratCap appear to be legally independent. But, confidentially, Friedman told StratFor staff : "Do not think of StratCap as an outside organisation. It will be integral... It will be useful to you if, for the sake of convenience, you think of it as another aspect of Stratfor and Shea as another executive in Stratfor... we are already working on mock portfolios and trades". StratCap is due to launch in 2012.

The Stratfor emails reveal a company that cultivates close ties with US government agencies and employs former US government staff. It is preparing the 3-year Forecast for the Commandant of the US Marine Corps, and it trains US marines and "other government intelligence agencies" in "becoming government Stratfors". Stratfor's Vice-President for Intelligence, Fred Burton, was formerly a special agent with the US State Department's Diplomatic Security Service and was their Deputy Chief of the counterterrorism division. Despite the governmental ties, Stratfor and similar companies operate in complete secrecy with no political oversight or accountability. Stratfor claims that it operates "without ideology, agenda or national bias", yet the emails reveal private intelligence staff who align themselves closely with US government policies and channel tips to the Mossad – including through an information mule in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Yossi Melman, who conspired with Guardian journalist David Leigh to secretly, and in violation of WikiLeaks' contract with the Guardian, move WikiLeaks US diplomatic cables to Israel.

Ironically, considering the present circumstances, Stratfor was trying to get into what it called the leak-focused "gravy train" that sprung up after WikiLeaks' Afghanistan disclosures :

"[Is it] possible for us to get some of that 'leak-focused' gravy train ? This is an obvious fear sale, so that's a good thing. And we have something to offer that the IT security companies don't, mainly our focus on counter-intelligence and surveillance that Fred and Stick know better than anyone on the planet... Could we develop some ideas and procedures on the idea of ´leak-focused' network security that focuses on preventing one's own employees from leaking sensitive information... In fact, I'm not so sure this is an IT problem that requires an IT solution."

Like WikiLeaks' diplomatic cables, much of the significance of the emails will be revealed over the coming weeks, as our coalition and the public search through them and discover connections. Readers will find that whereas large numbers of Stratfor's subscribers and clients work in the US military and intelligence agencies, Stratfor gave a complimentary membership to the controversial Pakistan general Hamid Gul, former head of Pakistan's ISI intelligence service, who, according to US diplomatic cables, planned an IED attack on international forces in Afghanistan in 2006. Readers will discover Stratfor's internal email classification system that codes correspondence according to categories such as 'alpha', 'tactical' and 'secure'. The correspondence also contains code names for people of particular interest such as 'Hizzies' (members of Hezbollah), or 'Adogg' (Mahmoud Ahmedinejad).

Stratfor did secret deals with dozens of media organisations and journalists – from Reuters to the Kiev Post. The list of Stratfor's "Confederation Partners", whom Stratfor internally referred to as its "Confed Fuck House" are included in the release. While it is acceptable for journalists to swap information or be paid by other media organisations, because Stratfor is a private intelligence organisation that services governments and private clients these relationships are corrupt or corrupting.

WikiLeaks has also obtained Stratfor's list of informants and, in many cases, records of its payoffs, including $1,200 a month paid to the informant "Geronimo" , handled by Stratfor's Former State Department agent Fred Burton.

WikiLeaks has built an investigative partnership with more than 25 media organisations and activists to inform the public about this huge body of documents. The organisations were provided access to a sophisticated investigative database developed by WikiLeaks and together with WikiLeaks are conducting journalistic evaluations of these emails. Important revelations discovered using this system will appear in the media in the coming weeks, together with the gradual release of the source documents.

END

[Faust]

Isn't use of espionage for investments strictly held as a criminal action through insider trading law?

Spy on a few politicians if you must, but piss off the global markets with unfair trades at your peril.

[Telarus]

Just got an email from the Yes Men about this.....




OOOOOH BOY. I hope this gets interesting.

------------------------------------------------

Feb. 27, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MASSIVE LEAK REVEALS CRIMINALITY, PARANOIA AMONG CORPORATE TITANS
Dow pays "strategic intelligence" firm to spy on Yes Men and grassroots activists. Takeaway: movement is on the right track!

WikiLeaks begins to publish today over five million e-mails obtained by Anonymous from "global intelligence"  company Stratfor. The emails, which reveal everything from sinister spy tactics to an insider trading scheme with Goldman Sachs (see below), also include several discussions of the Yes Men and Bhopal activists. (Bhopal activists seek redress for the 1984 Dow Chemical/Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, India, that led to thousands of deaths, injuries in more than half a million people, and lasting environmental damage.)

Many of the Bhopal-related emails, addressed from Stratfor to Dow and Union Carbide public relations directors, reveal concern that, in the lead-up to the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, the Bhopal issue might be expanded into an effective systemic critique of corporate rule, and speculate at length about why this hasn't yet happened—providing a fascinating window onto what at least some corporate types fear most from activists.

"[Bhopal activists] have made a slight nod toward expanded activity, but never followed through on it—the idea of 'other Bhopals' that were the fault of Dow or others," mused Joseph de Feo, who is listed in one online source as a "Briefer" for Stratfor.

"Maybe the Yes Men were the pinnacle. They made an argument in their way  on their terms—that this is a corporate problem and a part of the a  [sic] larger whole," wrote Kathleen Morson, Stratfor's Director of Policy Analysis.

"With less than a month to go [until the 25th anniversary], you'd think that the major players—especially Amnesty—would have branched out from Bhopal to make a  broader set of issues. I don't see any evidence of it," wrote Bart Mongoven, Stratfor's Vice President,  in November 2004. "If they can't manage to use the 25th anniversary to broaden the  issue, they probably won't be able to."

Mongoven even speculates on coordination between various activist campaigns that had nothing to do with each other. "The Chevron campaign [in Ecuador] is remarkably similar [to the Dow campaign] in its unrealistic demand. Is  it a follow up or an admission that the first thrust failed? Am I missing a node of activity or a major campaign that is to come? Has the Dow campaign been more successful than I think?" It's almost as if Mongoven assumes the two campaigns were directed from the same central activist headquarters.

Just as Wall Street has at times let slip their fear of the Occupy Wall Street movement, these leaks seem to show that corporate power is most afraid of whatever reveals "the larger whole" and "broader issues," i.e. whatever brings systemic criminal behavior to light. "Systemic critique could lead to policy changes that would challenge corporate power and profits in a really major way," noted Joseph Huff-Hannon, recently-promoted Director of Policy Analysis for the Yes Lab.

Among the millions of other leaked Stratfor emails are some that reveal dubious financial practices, including an apparent insider trading scheme with Goldman Sachs Managing Director Shea Morenz, who joined Stratfor's board of directors and invested "substantially" more than $4 million in the scheme, called StratCap. "What StratCap will do is use our  Stratfor's intelligence and analysis to trade in a range of geopolitical  instruments," wrote Stratfor CEO George Friedman in September 2011. StratCap was designed through a complex offshore share structure to appear legally independent, but Friedman assured Stratfor staff otherwise: "Do not think of StratCap as an outside organisation. It will be integral... It will be useful to you... We are already working on mock portfolios and trades." (StratCap has been due to launch in 2012, though that could now change.)

Other emails show Stratfor techniques of a truly creepy Spy vs. Spy sort: "[Y]ou  have to take control of him. Control means financial, sexual or  psychological control," wrote CEO Friedman recently to an employee, Reva Bhalla, on how to exploit an Israeli intelligence informant providing information on Chavez's cancer. (Stratfor's "confidential intelligence services" clients include, besides Dow and Union Carbide, the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines, the US  Defense Intelligence Agency, Lockheed  Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon.)

Perhaps most entertainingly of all, the email trove reveals that Stratfor's "Confederation Partners"—an unethical alliance between Stratfor and a number of mainstream journalists—are referred to informally within Stratfor as its "Confed Fuck House." (Another discovery: Coca Cola was spying on PETA. More such gems are sure to surface as operatives sift through the 5.5 million emails.)

A number of the remaining Yes Men-related emails take the form of reports on public appearances by the Yes Men, such as one that describes one audience comprised of "art students on class assignments and free entertainment." Another notes that "The Yes Men tweeted about the US Chamber of Commerce 'plotting forged  emails, documents to trick (AND smear) opponents,'" a reference to an apparent plot to discredit Chamber opponents using forged documents, as revealed when thousands of emails were recently leaked by Anonymous from cyber-security firm HB Gary. Yet another discusses Alessio Rastani, the Wall Street trader widely mistaken for Yes Man Andy Bichlbaum, who proclaimed, live on the BBC, that "governments don't rule the world, Goldman Sachs rules the world."

"Rastani was right," said the real Andy Bichlbaum five months later. "But it's now very clear that it doesn't have to be that way anymore."

The Yes Men and representatives from the Bhopal Medical Appeal will join Julian Assange of Wikileaks at a press conference at noon today, Feb. 27, at the Frontline Club in London.

[Cramulus]

Am I reading this right? One of the primary funders of the "Ground Zero Mosque" was a CIA employee? That controversy was totally manufactured...?!

Et Tu Baudrillard?


http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/​docs/​373982_re-ct-untangling-the-biz​arre-cia-links-to-the-ground-z​ero.html

Whether the Cordoba Initiative ever gets its way with the Ground Zero
Mosque, it may well have a lasting legacy at odds with its stated
intention: By damaging the very moderates and progressives who actually
view New York, and the nation as a whole, as a tolerant melting pot, and
strengthening the position demagogues on both sides, it will almost
certainly deal a setback to interfaith relations. It will also help to
hobble the Democratic party. Which just might have been the point all
along.

Either that, or it's merely a coincidence that this controversy has
erupted now, during crucial mid-term elections. In which case we can all
go back to what we were doing before-either denouncing the Park51 Mosque
as an affront to Americans, or championing it as a symbol of our
fundamental rights-playing our accustomed roles in a drama that seems too
perfect, somehow, to believe.

[Cramulus]

Insight - McCain #5 ** internal use only - Pls do not forward **
http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/347043_insight-mccain-5-internal-use-only-pls-do-not-forward-.html

Curiously, there are whispers of McCain being set up by the Cheney/Bush
crowd, because McCain was never liked by either. Some are shocked he did
so well. Coupled with serious errors in tactics. Some made no sense.
For example, the Hispanics in Florida loved Palin but his camp would never
send her there when easy money was to be had. My guy said Rove and
company want to bring in someone they can control next go around. McCain
was not controllable. Jeb Bush's name is being discussed. Source
advised Rick Davis was an arsehole and McCain's econ team had no clue,
trusting in academics vice business-people. The Jewish crowd was split
and money never flowed. For example, McCain staff only gave $3000.00 for
nationwide ads, when Obama put in $500,000 targeting the Jewish community
in Florida alone.

[Prince Glittersnatch III]

Am I reading this right? One of the primary funders of the "Ground Zero Mosque" was a CIA employee? That controversy was totally manufactured...?!

Et Tu Baudrillard?


http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/​docs/​373982_re-ct-untangling-the-biz​arre-cia-links-to-the-ground-z​ero.html

Whether the Cordoba Initiative ever gets its way with the Ground Zero
Mosque, it may well have a lasting legacy at odds with its stated
intention: By damaging the very moderates and progressives who actually
view New York, and the nation as a whole, as a tolerant melting pot, and
strengthening the position demagogues on both sides, it will almost
certainly deal a setback to interfaith relations. It will also help to
hobble the Democratic party. Which just might have been the point all
along.

Either that, or it's merely a coincidence that this controversy has
erupted now, during crucial mid-term elections. In which case we can all
go back to what we were doing before-either denouncing the Park51 Mosque
as an affront to Americans, or championing it as a symbol of our
fundamental rights-playing our accustomed roles in a drama that seems too
perfect, somehow, to believe.

I believe Cain called this awhile back.

[Cain]

Mark Ames was the one who did the legwork on that.  I just spread it far and wide.

I'd also like to note that, while I use Stratfor's service, and I like Stratfor founder, George Friedman, and his comments and analysis, Fred Burton has always struck me as a slimy shit, a "Long War" cheerleader and counter-terrorism gravy train rider.  That Stratfor tends to reflect the opinions and viewpoints present within the American intelligence community should be no surprise since that is where it draws the vast majority of its own employees from.

[Cain]

http://www.stiftungleostrauss.com/bunker/wikileaks-and-stratfor-reveal-an-american-fantasy/

The remarkable thing about the Stratfor Wikileaks flap is what it says about America 2001-2011. A hyper-militarized society conditioned to fear the outside world, prostrate itself before 'the warfighter' and venerate the clandestine inevitably would create a Stratfor-like entity.

This is exactly why places like The Atlantic get it precisely wrong. Here, the The Atlantic smugly assures us, the -in-the-know-Atlantic-reader, that George Friedman and others (some of whom the Stiftung knows) built a fairly significant cash flow from nothing based purely on 'marketing.'

Something more than 'marketing' is revealed by Stratfor's significant cash flow. (Friedman after all makes more money than Newsweek/TheDailyBeast. We'd be interested in seeing The Atlantic's numbers). Corporate intelligence subscription newsletters have catered to Wall Street and executives for decades. Still, Friedman's achievement building a business from nothing to today's enterprise is a fact.

How did it start?

First, Friedman and others began when open source intelligence (i.e. reliance on public information/non-clandestine collection) was still largely derided by the Intelligence Community. Some today probably get this intellectually. What can't be conveyed are the culture and its baleful influence. Using Google back then was in fact an innovation.

Second, George started out gathering an initially eclectic but wide range of contributors who brought expertise and contacts not always available to the pre-9/11 Intelligence Community. That was the market he sought to attack. Before 2001 the Community suffered from internal ossification, pre-occupation with internally developed product and often was out of touch. Even Sandy Berger bemoaned this state.

Having said all that, Stratfor is what you know it to be. How did it prosper over the years? Compete with the post-9/11 staggering budget bubble for war, intelligence and security? One would think the overwhelming trebling of Community budget, proliferation of private intelligence companies and DoD's expanded intelligence roles would blow a corporate newsletter out of the water.

Nope. Best thing ever. War and a militarized foreign policy meant Stratfor, like any outside product, could never compete with the policy decision loop. Still being perceived as being a part of it all is lucrative.

Hence the derisive 'marketing' jibe. Yet if marketing is important, what was the product George sold people and companies? A sense of participation. Like Rock 'N Roll Fantasy Camp.

But it's too easy to write off Stratfor as just a wannabe pretender (like The Atlantic and everyone else does; we have here,too). Certainly Wikileaks milks Stratfor for publicity.

Stratfor and its relative success are a minor mirror for our times. Like a party favor for a society still celebrating the clandestine, the secret, the exclusive, the operator. It won't be the last.

[Cain]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/9109457/Stratfor-Osama-bin-Laden-was-in-routine-contact-with-Pakistans-spy-agency.html

According to one of the e-mails, the firm was shown the information papers collected from bin Laden's Abbotabad compound after the US special forces attack last May that resulted in his death.

The e-mail, from a Stratfor analyst, suggested that up to 12 officials in Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency knew of the al-Qaeda leader's safe house.

The internal email did not name the Pakistani officials involved but said the US could use the information as a bargaining chip in post raid negotiations with Islamabad.

American officials have always believed it was impossible for the ISI not to have known that Bin Laden was sheltering in a garrison town so close to Islamabad. Pakistan has repeatedly dismissed the charge.

"Mid to senior level ISI and Pak Mil with one retired Pak Mil General that had knowledge of the OBL arrangements and safehouse," the email said of the officers involved. "I get a very clear sense we (US intel) know names and ranks."

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

This morning one of the other moms mentioned that Anonymous had made the news again, a bunch of arrests in South America. She asked if I thought it was fishy that they were doing that right after things got leaked, too. We then laughed at the media for trying to paint it as somehow related to the BPD hack a few weeks ago.

At least their idiocy is getting transparent enough that average people are seeing it, too.