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From 9/11 To PRISMgate - How The Carlyle Group LBO'd The World's Secrets

Tyler Durden's picture




 

The short but profitable tale of how 483,000 private individual have "top secret" access to the nation's most non-public information begins in 2001. "After 9/11, intelligence budgets were increased, new people needed to be hired, it was a lot easier to go to the private sector and get people off the shelf," and sure enough firms like Booz Allen Hamilton - still two-thirds owned by the deeply-tied-to-international-governments investment firm The Carlyle Group - took full advantage of Congress' desire to shrink federal agencies and their budgets by enabling outside consultants (already primed with their $4,000 cost 'security clearances') to fulfill the needs of an ever-more-encroaching-on-privacy administration.

Booz Allen (and other security consultant providing firms) trade publicly with a cloak of admitted opacity due to the secrecy of their government contracts ("you may not have important information concerning our business, which will limit your insight into a substantial portion of our business") but the actions of Diane Feinstein who promptly denounced "treasonous" Edward Snowden, "have muddied the waters," for the stunning 1.1 million (or 21% of the total) private consultants with access to "confidential and secret" government information.

Perhaps the situation of gross government over-spend and under-oversight is summed up best, "it's very difficult to know what contractors are doing and what they are billing for the work — or even whether they should be performing the work at all."

First, Diane Feinstein's take on it all...

“I don't look at this as being a whistleblower. I think it's an act of treason,” the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee told reporters. The California lawmaker went on to say that Snowden had violated his oath to defend the Constitution. “He violated the oath, he violated the law. It's treason.”

So how did all this get started?... (via AP)

The reliance on contractors for intelligence work ballooned after the 9/11 attacks. The government scrambled to improve and expand its ability to monitor the communication and movement of people who might threaten another attack.

 

"After 9/11, intelligence budgets were increased, new people needed to be hired," Augustyn said. "It was a lot easier to go to the private sector and get people off the shelf."

 

The reliance on the private sector has grown since then, in part because of Congress' efforts to limit the size of federal agencies and shrink the budget.

Which has led to what appears to be major problems.

But critics say reliance on contractors hasn't reduced the amount the government spends on defense, intelligence or other programs.

 

Rather, they say it's just shifted work to private employers and reduced transparency. It becomes harder to track the work of those employees and determine whether they should all have access to government secrets.

 

"It's very difficult to know what contractors are doing and what they are billing for the work — or even whether they should be performing the work at all,"

... And to the current PRISMgate whistleblowing situation:

Of the 4.9 million people with clearance to access "confidential and secret" government information, 1.1 million, or 21 percent, work for outside contractors, according to a report from Clapper's office.

 

Of the 1.4 million who have the higher "top secret" access, 483,000, or 34 percent, work for contractors.

 

...

 

Because clearances can take months or even years to acquire, government contractors often recruit workers who already have them.

Why not - it's lucrative!!

Snowden says he accessed and downloaded the last of the documents that detailed the NSA surveillance program while working in an NSA office in Hawaii for Booz Allen, where he says he was earning $200,000 a year.

Analysts caution that any of the 1.4 million people with access to the nation's top secrets could have leaked information about the program - whether they worked for a contractor or the government.

For individuals and firms alike.

Booz Allen has long navigated those waters well.

 

The firm was founded in 1914 and began serving the U.S. government in 1940, helping the Navy prepare for World War II. In 2008, it spun off the part of the firm that worked with private companies and abroad. That firm, called Booz & Co., is held privately.

 

Booz Allen was then acquired by the Carlyle Group, an investment firm with its own deep ties to the government. In November 2010, Booz Allen went public.  The Carlyle Group still owns two-thirds of the company's shares.

Or, a full-majority stake.

Curiously once public, The Booz Allens of the world still operate like a psuedo-private company, with extensive confidential cloaks preventing the full disclosure of financial data. But don't worry - we should just trust them. Via Bloomberg's Jonathan Weil.

Psst, here's a stock tip for you. There's a company near Washington with strong ties to the U.S. intelligence community that has been around for almost a century and has secret ways of making money -- so secret that the company can't tell you what they are. Investors who buy just need to have faith.

 

To skeptics, this might seem like a pitch for an investment scam. But as anyone who has been paying attention to the news might have guessed, the company is Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp.

 

...

 

"Because we are limited in our ability to provide information about these contracts and services," the company said in its latest annual report, "you may not have important information concerning our business, which will limit your insight into a substantial portion of our business, and therefore may be less able to fully evaluate the risks related to that portion of our business."

 

This seems like it would be a dream arrangement for some corporations: Not only is Booz Allen allowed to keep investors uninformed, it's required to. I suppose we should give the company credit for being transparent about how opaque it is.

And while the media and popular attention is currently focused on who, if anyone else, may be the next Snowden struck by a sudden pang of conscience, perhaps a better question is what PE behemoth Carlyle, with a gargantuan $170 billion in AUM, knows, and why it rushed to purchase Booz Allen in the months after the Bear Stearns collapse, just when everyone else was batting down the hatches ahead of the biggest financial crash in modern history.

From Bloomberg, May 2008:

Carlyle Group, the private-equity firm run by David Rubenstein, agreed to acquire Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.'s U.S. government-consulting business for $2.54 billion, its biggest buyout since the credit markets collapsed in July.

 

The purchase would be Carlyle's biggest since it agreed to buy nursing-home operator Manor Care Inc. last July for $6.3 billion. Deal-making may be rebounding from a 68 percent decline in the first quarter as investment banks begin writing new commitments for private-equity transactions. Buyouts ground to a halt last year because of a global credit freeze triggered by record U.S. subprime-mortgage defaults.

 

The Booz Allen government-consulting unit has more than 18,000 employees and annual sales of more than $2.7 billion. Its clients include branches of the U.S. military, the Department of Homeland Security and the World Bank.

 

Carlyle, based in Washington, manages $81.1 billion in assets [ZH: that was 5 years ago - the firm now boasts $170 billion in AUM]. Rubenstein founded the firm in 1987 with William Conway and Daniel D'Aniello. The trio initially focused on deals tied to government and defense.

 

Carlyle and closely held Booz Allen have attracted high-level officials from the government. Carlyle's senior advisers have included former President George H.W. Bush, former British Prime Minister John Major, and Arthur Levitt, the ex-chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

R. James Woolsey, who led the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency from 1993 to 1995, is a Booz Allen executive. Mike McConnell, the U.S. director of national intelligence, is a former senior vice president with the company.

...

 

Carlyle last year sold a minority interest in itself to Mubadala Development Co., an investment fund affiliated with the government of Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates.

And in addition to the UAE, who can possibly forget Carlyle's Saudi connection. From the WSJ circa 2001:

If the U.S. boosts defense spending in its quest to stop Osama bin Laden's alleged terrorist activities, there may be one unexpected beneficiary: Mr. bin Laden's family.

 

Among its far-flung business interests, the well-heeled Saudi Arabian clan -- which says it is estranged from Osama -- is an investor in a fund established by Carlyle Group, a well-connected Washington merchant bank specializing in buyouts of defense and aerospace companies.

 

Through this investment and its ties to Saudi royalty, the bin Laden family has become acquainted with some of the biggest names in the Republican Party. In recent years, former President Bush, ex-Secretary of State James Baker and ex-Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci have made the pilgrimage to the bin Laden family's headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Mr. Bush makes speeches on behalf of Carlyle Group and is senior adviser to its Asian Partners fund, while Mr. Baker is its senior counselor. Mr. Carlucci is the group's chairman.

 

Osama is one of more than 50 children of Mohammed bin Laden, who built the family's $5 billion business, Saudi Binladin Group, largely with construction contracts from the Saudi government. Osama worked briefly in the business and is believed to have inherited as much as $50 million from his father in cash and stock, although he doesn't have access to the shares, a family spokesman says. Because his Saudi citizenship was revoked in 1994, Mr. bin Laden is ineligible to own assets in the kingdom, the spokesman added.

...

People familiar with the family's finances say the bin Ladens do much of their banking with National Commercial Bank in Saudi Arabia and with the London branch of Deutsche Bank AG. They also use Citigroup Inc. and ABN Amro, the people said.

 

"If there were ever any company closely connected to the U.S. and its presence in Saudi Arabia, it's the Saudi Binladin Group," says Charles Freeman, president of the Middle East Policy Council, a Washington nonprofit concern that receives tens of thousands of dollars a year from the bin Laden family. "They're the establishment that Osama's trying to overthrow."

...

A Carlyle executive said the bin Laden family committed $2 million through a London investment arm in 1995 in Carlyle Partners II Fund, which raised $1.3 billion overall. The fund has purchased several aerospace companies among 29 deals. So far, the family has received $1.3 million back in completed investments and should ultimately realize a 40% annualized rate of return, the Carlyle executive said. But a foreign financier with ties to the bin Laden family says the family's overall investment with Carlyle is considerably larger. He called the $2 million merely an initial contribution. "It's like plowing a field," this person said. "You seed it once. You plow it, and then you reseed it again."

 

The Carlyle executive added that he would think twice before accepting any future investments by the bin Ladens. "The situation's changed now," he said. "I don't want to spend my life talking to reporters."

We can clearly see why. We can also clearly see why nobody has mentioned Carlyle so far into the Booz Allen fiasco.

A U.S. inquiry into bin Laden family business dealings could brush against some big names associated with the U.S. government. Former President Bush said through his chief of staff, Jean Becker, that he recalled only one meeting with the bin Laden family, which took place in November1998. Ms. Becker confirmed that there was a second meeting in January 2000, after being read the ex-president's subsequent thank-you note. "President Bush does not have a relationship with the bin Laden family," says Ms. Becker. "He's met them twice."

 

Mr. Baker visited the bin Laden family in both 1998 and 1999, according to people close to the family. In the second trip, he traveled on a family plane. Mr. Baker declined comment, as did Mr. Carlucci, a past chairman of Nortel Networks Corp., which has partnered with Saudi Binladin Group on telecommunications ventures.

As one can imagine the rabbit hole just gets deeper and deeper the more one digs. For now, we will let readers do their own diligence. We promise the results are fascinating.

Going back to the topic at hand, we will however ask just how much and what kind of confidential, classified, and or Top Secret information is shared "behind Chinese walls" between a Carlyle still majority-owned company and the private equity behemoth's employees and advisors, among which are some of the most prominent political and business luminaries currently alive.  The following is a list of both current and former employees and advisors. We have used Wiki but anyone wishing to comb through the firm's full blown roster of over 1,000 employees and advisors, is welcome to do so at the firm's website.

Business

Political figures

North America
Europe
Asia
  • Anand Panyarachun, former Prime Minister of Thailand (twice), former member of the Carlyle Asia Advisory Board until the board was disbanded in 2004  
  • Fidel V. Ramos, former president of the Philippines, Carlyle Asia Advisor Board Member until the board was disbanded in 2004  
  • Peter Chung, former associate at Carlyle Group Korea, who resigned in 2001 after 2 weeks on the job after an inappropriate e-mail to friends was circulated around the world    
  • Thaksin Shinawatra, former Prime Minister of Thailand (twice), former member of the Carlyle Asia Advisory Board until 2001 when he resigned upon being elected Prime Minister.  

Media

  • Norman Pearlstine - editor-in-chief of Time magazine from (1995–2005), senior advisor telecommunications and media group 2006-

and across the entire globe?

Here is Carlyle, straight from the horse's recently IPOed mouth, courtesy of its most recent public presentation:

Perhaps Bloomberg's Jonathan Weil sums it up best:

There's no easy solution here, aside from the obvious point that the government keeps way too many secrets.

So what happens when one corporation, owned and controlled by the same government's former (and in some cases current) top power brokers, potentially has access to all of the same government's secrets?

 

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Tue, 06/11/2013 - 09:35 | 3645670 swmnguy
swmnguy's picture

Oh, yes.  Absolutely.  But whether you and I know it's unconstitutional and therefore illegal (by definition), the courts are all solidly in line.  The gamble the elites are taking is always the same; are people going to believe them, or their own lying eyes?  For a long time, they get away with it.  At some point though, people either break out the torches and pitchforks, or simply don't show up.  Knowing exactly when and where that point lies is the tricky part for the elites.  Which is another reason they need all our communications data.

Mon, 06/10/2013 - 22:56 | 3644776 GeorgesamaBushLaden
GeorgesamaBushLaden's picture

Imagine the nerve of that bitch Feinstein to call Snowden's actions "treason". He exposed that the 4th Amendment of the Bill of Rights was being subverted, and therefore, the Law of the Land. She took a senatorial oath to "support and defend the Constitution". Clearly, she is the traitor. 

 

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 00:42 | 3644989 cherry picker
cherry picker's picture

It is obvious to people like you and I who the real traitors to the Constitution and Bill of Rights are, unfortunately many citizens do not care or believe whatever lies are fed to them,

I hope Zero Hedge and other publications don't let up on this.  There needs to be a sense of outrage for enough of the population in order to make the changes that are desperately needed.  It doesn not require violence, passive resistance and a united front with capable leaders the opposition will have difficulty painting as lunatics or racists, like they did with OWS and the Tea Party.

United we stand, divided we fall.  It doesn't matter what political leanings one may have as liberty should be cheirished by all.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 00:55 | 3645009 Sandmann
Sandmann's picture

But She is an ELECTED traitor so clearly some Americans like using the constitutional right to vote to subvert the  Constitution

Mon, 06/10/2013 - 23:43 | 3644780 Widowmaker
Widowmaker's picture

Tyler and Widowmaker think alike.

...all over the Carlyle shit like white on rice.

Short CG -- see you terrorists under 20, hopefully you faggots land on zero..

99% of Federal fellatio revenue for 25,000 employees with just Booz buttfucking. Off the Federal tit just in time to go fuck your spineless-traitor-piece-of-shit-selves.

Mon, 06/10/2013 - 23:20 | 3644849 Democratic koolaid
Democratic koolaid's picture

 

The media seems to make it appear that this is something new, that is to spy on people , in a daily very un-specific way for specific reasons. This is all  with a utmost discretion for our safety and the beloved Kool-aid. 

http://www.cis.org/USAPatriotAct-ImmigrationRelatedProvisions

 

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 01:36 | 3645057 TheMerryPrankster
TheMerryPrankster's picture

Love your sunglasse Jim. Mind control is so quaint, now all they have to do is run a wire into your house and make you pay for it.

400 channels and they are all propaganda.

R those Goggle glass? was jim jones the 1st google glass  dweeb? Was jonestown just a bad social programming attempt. facebook for religous zealots, power junkies and the easily manipulted?

Jonestown was CIA cause they're people people. The geeks get ther geek on down at the NSA programming computers to spy on the prom queen that wouldn't go out with them and emailing each other security cams from Victoria's Secret.

Fuck what happened to America? a swan dive into concrete, so a few fat fucks could make some bucks.

Never underestimate greed and malevolence, they are the tools of the ruling class.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 01:09 | 3645026 Brixton Guns
Brixton Guns's picture

AJ is a bought-and-paid-for Mossad shill, likely STRATFOR.  Buyer beware.

Mon, 06/10/2013 - 23:54 | 3644926 Future Jim
Future Jim's picture
 
PRISM–Edward Snowden Busts NSA and Obama

 

The source of the NSA PRISM leak has confirmed what some of us already had pieced together from other leads:

The government does force businesses to hand over all of your phone calls, emails, and files; the government does have direct access to their servers; and the media does ignore the leads.

 

Obama has expanded these unconstitutional programs; he does lie about it all; and the media does cover for him.

Such a whistleblower is exactly what I have been expecting. Whereas, many of us would have done the same thing, we would have been filtered out up front. However, the police state has grown so large, and thus needs so many people, that they cannot filter out every potential whistleblower. Their overreach has backfired on them.

The “conspiracy theorists” were right, and all those who ridiculed them, and who defended the government, the media, and Obama, are on the wrong side of history. For the benefit of future generations, don’t let any progressives or neocons forget that we all know they backed tyranny – just like we never let the KKK forget what they did.

Progressives and neocons have been discredited. They have no excuse because tens of millions of libertarians, Tea Partiers, Constitutionalists, and some conservatives have been warning them for decades. It is true, libertarians and many conservatives are more liberal than liberals!

The source of the leak decided to forfeit his life to expose the NSA and the Obama Administration for the traitorous thugs they are. Therefore, we should risk our own lives to protect him. Unfortunately, it will be impossible to ever know his true identity, or if he is still alive.

Edward Snowden has now claimed to be the source of the leak. Just in case he is the real source of the leak, we owe him safety at any cost, but don’t get caught up in his personality cult. He could just as easily be a plant by the CIA to infiltrate the resistance in a future police state. They CIA and the media could even set him up to become the President some day by building a personality cult around him and by neutralizing his opponents – just like they did for Obama.

The PRISM leaker is the hero, and Obama is the bad guy. He is the patriot, and Obama is the traitor.

If Edward Snowden is the source of the leak, then he has done all he can, and now, as painful as it will be, fixing America is the only path forward (other than starting a new country - let's do both), and the PRISM leak just made that possible.

Do not underestimate the impact of what the PRISM leak has done.

The PRISM leaker may have just saved the Soul of Humanity.

America was the last stand. If we Americans were disarmed, then the 1000 years of global tyranny that would result (until it crumbled from within) will have killed the Soul of Humanity around the globe. Those genes will have become extinct.

Through the PRISM leaker, the Soul of Humanity strikes back!

Now more whistleblowers will try to expose what I describe as the Elites attempting to kill the Soul of Humanity. These Elites were already desperate, and had greatly accelerated their plans under Obama, such as provoking an armed conflict with the American people, and now they will overreach even more in their desperation – which will backfire on them even more.

Their multigenerational efforts could go back underground for a while, but it is more likely they will go for all the marbles this time; and it could thus get very ugly before it gets better because they have the means, the motive, and the psychopathology to precipitate war and genocide unlike anything in history if they think they will come out on top – and they do think they will come out on top. They have been preparing for exactly this kind of end game if necessary. They can precipitate civil wars, class wars, race wars, genocide, economic collapse, world wars, nuclear wars, famine, and pandemics. No cost is too great. Winning the end game is the only thing that matters to them.

Consider why they have recently begun rabid persecution of preppers, gun owners, and gold owners.

Nevertheless, the long term future looks much brighter today because so many people will lose their awe of these Elites and see them for the psychopaths they are. If the Elite cannot stamp out the meme that they are the making the bad stuff happen, then they have permanently lost the end game – and the survival of this meme is the necessary service performed by whistleblowers.

We haven’t had the Elites back on their heals like this since 1776.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 03:22 | 3645100 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

Back from a long vacation?  Good post.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 00:08 | 3644953 steveo77
steveo77's picture

Entergy runs this nuke plant Palisades. Entergy is the worst slumlord of nuclear.

Shortly I will live next to Lake Michigan, which Palisades is located on. I helped kill Kewaunee which is on the Wisconsin side of lake Michigan.

Help me kill Palisades. Once the weak antelope is on the ground, is the time to pounce. Palisades has been shut a month, don't let it get up.

I have a way with words….on June 5th my post was "Kill San Onofre Nuke Plant". On June 7th San Onofre was closed.
http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2013/06/kill-san-onofre-nuke-plant.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/08/business/san-onofre-nuclear-plant-in-california-to-close.html?_r=0

Kewaunee, on October 20, 2012 I had an online jousting with a paid pro nuke troll, in which I attack Kewaunee and workers pounding beer s while on shift in containment.

http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2012/10/troll-jousting.html

On October 22, 2012 they announced the closing of Kewaunee.
http://www.fitchratings.com/web/en/dynamic/articles/Domino-Effect-Unlikely-from-US-Nuclear-Plant-Closures.jsp

With powerful curse I ask you all to visualize the closing of Palisades.

http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2012/10/troll-jousting.html

This Palisades is a little stronger, it is taking more than 2 days to kill it. Please help.

http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2013/02/palisades-nrc-violations-shut-down-this.html

OK I made a fresh curse, SHUT IT…

SHUT IT DOWN! KEEP IT DOWN!

http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2013/06/palisade-nuclear-plant-run-by-slumlord.html

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 00:51 | 3645003 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

@Steveo77
looks like another "pump&dump"

Cameco&Areva the old french&canadian 1&2 sniffing glue.

not strange that ussa and french arming up in west africa to protect the uranium assets after the setback with the explosion to the plant in Arlit,Niger.
Those pesky rebels probably used explosives kindly leftover from the
western forces assault on Libya.
Ah well you reap what you sow!!

I wonder where the weapons O'ballsUp and McCainbo will end up from the fishing expedition in Syria? Good luck with that!

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 00:11 | 3644958 putaipan
putaipan's picture

bring us another smedley buttler ...... danh da danh da dunh da, da dunha danh da.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 05:06 | 3645151 falak pema
falak pema's picture

well it ain't gonna be that great american hero Gen Petreaus; he works for the clones of Carlyle : KKR!

The more stars you wear on your chest the more you love to make a buck when retired and take a quickie with a smart, hard butted gal! 

All "men of honour". Code red them all! 

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 00:13 | 3644961 chindit13
chindit13's picture

This is, and has been, out in plain sight for years.  Carlyle, plus places such as SAIC, Kroll and a host of others are revolving doors for those who do a little "public service" to gain access, then go private to pad their bank accounts.  Toss in the defense contractors, too, who are the toilet into which retired 'stars' flush themselves.  Too much can be read into such connections as so-and-so with this family or that bank.  At a certain financial level, large institutions and groups are unavoidable, as is the big money commodity of the planet and those with access to it ($3 trillion of oil worldwide per year, Saudi Arabia).  In the end this is about greed and sucking off the teat of never-ending governmental debt.  Reduce it to its essence:  money.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 00:17 | 3644966 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

Posted recently that Saudi and that big fat cunt King Abdullah who Bubba Bush had his tongue down his throat in public was the "axis of evil".
Throw in Big Oil and this whole US/Saudi/Israel/UK/FRENCH Cabal OWN HALF THE WORLDS ASSETS.
In doing so you could afford 1.1 million employees whilst chewing the cud of the Taxpayer just for Kicks.

These filthy low life who still required Paulson to bail them out with billions and Bernanke to keep them on the Teat should be HUNG TOMORROW FOR TREASON.
JUDICIARY BAH FUCKING BAH

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 00:47 | 3644996 highwaytoserfdom
highwaytoserfdom's picture

 you know repeal of Glass Segal the shadow NSA, derivative housing bubble, fed auto transfers, criminal theft of sovereign debt pension, funds.   You failed to mention  the club deals to control software used on exchanges, and resulted paper whale trades or for that mater front-running, or using FED Printed TAXPAYER DEBT. IN THE NAME OF EARNED RESERVES.    Fienstien is the terrorist, oh yea weren't  all but two 911 guys Saudis?  Wouldn't it have made more sense to invade Saudi Arabia?    How could it be worse? If you wanted oil to supply your interventionist force why not more spoils of war...  Not my logic but the Neo-con mantra of securing Iraq oil.        EXCUSE ME WHO ARE YOU CALLING A TERRORIST MS Feinstein?  EXCUSE ME MR ROGERS (YES 10B SECURITY CONTRACT)...   IT IS QUAINT AND OLD FASHIONED BUT WE DO HAVE A CONSTITUTION..   It explicitly says no standing army except in time of war..  Forget the  Constitution  for now how about Thou Shall not Steal as a thought  

“He violated the oath, he violated the law. It's treason.”  WERE YOU LOOKING IN THE MIRROR WHEN YOU PRACTICED THIS LINE?

The Senate needs 2/3 for impeachment  and the DNC/RNC  Needs 90 or so insider trading indictments perhaps going back to Dodd (Countrywide derivative conflict)...     or trusting busting....        Carlyle and PE is a cancer to all but the largest welfare recipients    by that i mean the drone/war producers and the cronies.... My goodness you even make special deals for internet sales of Viagra through the largest drug store chain. 

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 03:34 | 3645106 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

Ever since Bush II and the book Thieves in High Places, I've lost ALL respect for the Bush clan and anything they do.  They are the epitome of what's wrong with the political Elite, and how they copulate with the financial and oil elite.  When will the Lord do a 'recall' on the old Luciferian grandmaster?

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 07:02 | 3645240 Mentaliusanything
Mentaliusanything's picture

In time my friend, in time..... and it will not be for nothing.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 00:49 | 3645000 cherry picker
cherry picker's picture

I wonder how much involvement Booze Allen had to do with WTC #7 and why were most of the "terrorists" Saudi, the Bin Laden group who have money in Carlisle and are so close to top political figures.

If NSA and CIA were honestly trying to "protect" us, they would start looking at the obvious, wouldn't they.

 

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 01:21 | 3645042 TheMerryPrankster
TheMerryPrankster's picture

What they don't admit,is you have a much much higher chance of dying in an auto accident than by terrorists.

Yet they don't surveill to find bad drivers. WTF

you got to give up your rights to be safe,from an activity that is so unlikely, that it can barely be measured?

This ain't about security, its about fraud and control and making you pay for the rope used to hang yourself after they are done using the information gathered for insider trading, industrial espionage and general titillation as well as pursuing political enemies.

Terrorism is the bogey man they use to make you wet yourself. how many people a year die in new york city? how many of those die from terrorism?

Yet we spend trillions on secret wars and secret agencies to prevent a handful of deaths per year.

someones blowing smoke up our asses and charging us for the tobacco.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 07:54 | 3645337 Dollar Bill Hiccup
Dollar Bill Hiccup's picture

Auto accidents ?

Try the police ...

8 x more likely to be shot by said officers of the peace, than being blown up by a t-rr-ri-t.

http://www.cato.org/blog/youre-eight-times-more-likely-be-killed-police-officer-terrorist

 

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 00:54 | 3645002 q99x2
q99x2's picture

The same corporation that the Bin Laden's and the Bush's own.

Such a coincidence.

I'm shocked.

Arrest Feinstein for treason and any of a million other crimes that she has committed and that the NSA has legal records of.

That be one blackmailed bitch there bro.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 01:10 | 3645028 TheMerryPrankster
TheMerryPrankster's picture

When the octopus needs his own pocket picked he picks Booze Allen, with 8 arms we can steal 8 ways simultaneously and they're all guaranteed.

Aint it funny, how much secrecy and classification of data and documents is really about hiding crimes and fuckups and so little is actual national security?

If I didn't know better I'd think the spy agencies were a criminal cabal using the color of authority to commit high crimes and treason.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 00:56 | 3645005 Brixton Guns
Tue, 06/11/2013 - 00:52 | 3645008 Sandmann
Sandmann's picture

“He violated the oath, he violated the law. It's treason.”

 

The guys that didn't violate their oath were executed at Nuremberg

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 01:16 | 3645038 cherry picker
cherry picker's picture

Have you ever been exposed to how much is known about you by various government agencies?  I have.  It blew me away.  They knew stuff about me I had forgotten about long ago.

You want to know something?   All that information does not describe who or what I am as a person.  They do not know if I can be trusted or not, whether I am loyal or not, whether I will break a certain law or not.    Yet they believe they can make that determination.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 01:45 | 3645067 All Out Of Bubblegum
All Out Of Bubblegum's picture

Props and respect, ZH. Another fine piece of deciphering for the baffled.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 01:48 | 3645070 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

Feinstein 3 husbands and 2 assasinations. Poison fucking Ivy. still my granny said never judge the book by the cover.
Joe Biden her predecessor on the Narcs committee. fuck me i thought my life was interesting. still Arnie i'll be back got that governorshippy thing. are you guys sleeping or what????Cant make this shit up.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 03:55 | 3645115 HankPaulson
HankPaulson's picture

but ... but ... I thought you guys said the free market would look after us?

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 03:57 | 3645116 Joe A
Joe A's picture

I heard that Carlyle group met on the day of 9/11 2001 in downtown Manhattan. After the US airspace was closed after the attacks only one private flight was allowed: the one that flew the Bin Laden family who were attending the Carlyle meeting back home to Saudia Arabia.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 11:17 | 3646163 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

@JoeA
yes with all the fucking evidence on board. Darn!!

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 04:27 | 3645122 NuYawkFrankie
NuYawkFrankie's picture

Re Carlyle and closely held Booz Allen have attracted high-level officials from the government...

 

Don't you just love the terminology - "attracted" ?

More like - since Carlyle ain't known as The "Presidents & Prime Ministers  Retirement Club" for nothing  - it's guaranteed, lucrative & criminal  compensation for"Services Rendered" to the Global Kleptocracy when these punks -like Blair, Clinton, Major & Bushes  - were in office and doing all they could to "fix the game" for their real "sponsors" - which, in case you haven't guessed, was never the electorate

 

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 04:39 | 3645135 falak pema
falak pema's picture

Good to see ZH posting this; I saw the Carlyle connection with Booz from day 1. 

Yes Calryle is the image of this oligarchy conspiracy gone global around the OIL/MIC matrix, as we saw from September 2001 days and that plane load of Saudis that went back to Riyad after 9/11, full of Carlyle shareholders of the Saud-Bush connection. 

As anybody with any experience in the oil sector from the 70-80s knows, Booz was big in consultancy for advising Oil states about their industrial and financial ventures; aka the Libya-Qdaffy, the Irak-Saddam, the Iran-Shah, the Algeria-Sonatrach, the Emirates-Sheikh Zayed type deals. They were everywhere where Pax Americana placed its pawns along with Bechtel/Fluor, AD Little and the Lawyers brigade around Frank Carlucci (ex CIA boss), David Rubenstein and James Baker.

Carlyle is now run by Lou Gestner of IBM fame. That's how true blue its pedigree is...but remarkably Booz is now 98% in government MIC deals since the Carlyle connection has made it key private player running NSA! Thank you Mr Gestner and your IBM savvy put to good use for US uber investors who now own the government inside out.

Well, when you make a matrix there is always the downside of overplaying your hand. And, the private sector once it gets into public domain makes the government spending eXPLODE, to make a quick megabuck.

So much for RR's mantra of SHRINKING government by outsourcing government work to private sector!

What criminal baloney! These Booz guys are only answerable to their Carlyle shareholders; JUST LIKE THE PRIVATE RUN FED IS ONLY ANSWERABLE TO ITS PDs, the TBTF cabal of WS!

We have the proof that this private/government collusion is the worst of both worlds; true fascism à la Mussolini! 

Apparently the Euro politicians are getting butterflies when they hear the Crapola chief man of US intelligence, ex Boozer, that "we only target individuals who are foreigners with our PRISM!"

Merkel says she will now question Obammy what this means. Euro nation states "officially" don't spy on each other, and such spying is illegal by LAW. So USA has some explaining to do if they spy "illegally" the citizens of euro nation states, allies in NATO! 

Wowie, this Snowden deal is getting interesting from the Euro perspective and MR Cameron and Haig will have their heads put thru the wringer, in Euro meetings.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 04:30 | 3645137 bigprofitbuzz
bigprofitbuzz's picture

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Tue, 06/11/2013 - 06:14 | 3645154 falak pema
falak pema's picture

In relation to this Prismgate post, it is increasingly becoming apparent that the Guardian is now emerging as MSM flag carrier of HONEST news reporting, something that ZH does on the small sized blogger NET front with unmatched skills.

On this issue of people "thinly capitalised", who pretend to be scions of innovation and who are in reality opportunists with good Oligarchy connections.

Front men for Oligarchy scam schemes, all on the piggy backing of TAX SUBSIDIES in PROTECTED NICHES, all honed out by their crony political friends, like MIC plays and infrastructure; (think Warren Buffet for rail investment); here is ANOTHER prime example of a corporate scammer who has made big worldwide by enjoying the tax subsidy ride to make his name and fortune : Richard Branson.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/10/truth-richard-branso...

Play on the Guardian as with your outstanding blogger and journalist Glenn.

Sorry to keep on harping about the Guardian but here is a gem of an article about the upcoming meeting of G8 chaired by Cameron which will push forward the revised Oligarchy agenda for the "new agricultural rape of Africa" :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/10/african-hunger-help-...

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 05:44 | 3645161 carbon
carbon's picture

NO MUCH TO SEE HERE, HALLO ! MONEY AND POLITICS ARE THE INSTANCE OF DIFFERING IN NATURE.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 06:48 | 3645225 highwaytoserfdom
highwaytoserfdom's picture
Richard C. Blum (FIENSTIEN'S HUSBAND)  is a pauper compaired to Mike Rogers.    Controversy  LINK FROM .wikipedia.org

Blum's wife, Senator Dianne Feinstein, has received scrutiny due to her husband's government contracts and extensive business dealings with China and her past votes on trade issues with the country. Blum has denied any wrongdoing, however.[3] Critics have argued that business contracts with the US government awarded to a company (Perini) controlled by Blum may raise a potential conflict-of-interest issue with the voting and policy activities of his wife.[4] URS Corp, which Blum had a substantial stake in, bought EG&G, a leading provider of technical services and management to the U.S. military, from The Carlyle Group in 2002; EG&G subsequently won a $600m defense contract.[1]

In 2009 it was reported that Blum's wife Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to provide $25 billion in taxpayer money to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, a government agency that had recently awarded her husband's real estate firm, CB Richard Ellis, what the Washington Times called "a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms."[5]

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 07:35 | 3645311 Dollar Bill Hiccup
Dollar Bill Hiccup's picture

Ah, the Demon Feinstein!

He is guilty of Treason! He violated the Constitution ! Hysteria manipulated at its finest.

Isn't it beautifully ironic how that Yenta willfully ignores the online petition to try her for treason, for her betrayal of the 2nd amendment? Quite a few signatures were attached to that one. Yet anyone challenging her version of Stasi Inc. is a traitor !

Is Demon too archaic a term? Ok, so pathological liar, sociopath, is that better?

1) Disarm the populace (abolish 2nd Amendment, Right to Keep and Bear Arms)

2) Surveil the populace with a general warrant (abolish the 4th amendment, Right to Privacy)

3) Attack any outspoken member of the populace using executive branch like the IRS (abolish the 1st Amendment, Right to Free Speech)

This all calls for cool heads. Who is manipulating whom, difficult to say here exactly, so it's a dangerous time. What is clear, is that our Dear Leaders are certainly not our friends, and most certainly, they have forgotten who they owe allegiance to and from whom their authority derives.

The luxury of being a-political or apathetic, is past.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 08:01 | 3645364 Downtoolong
Downtoolong's picture

"It's a small world after all, it's a small, small world."

Sing it children.

 

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 08:09 | 3645368 indio007
indio007's picture

Something stinks to high hell about Snowden. How did he get into the Army without a high school diploma? They have been impermissible for 20 years or more.

How did he get an IT job making 200k with zero experience and zero education?

 

This is a limited hang out or some sort of trial balloon.

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 11:41 | 3646263 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

@indio007
so what ya sayin' bruv
no need to get a diploma if you are a good shot. the tools who joined the (h)army from my school could not differentiate between a cicle and a square but could be told what to do without question.

If he's a Plant and O'ballsUp has "seen the light " and tired of bending over, then fucking great.

Whoever the fuck he is he dun good in exposing the slime in CONgress and the issues on Defence cronyism exposed.
More patriots can step forward in the future ( even if he has a dumdum to the head on a massage table in asia.

The tide is high- blondie

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 08:53 | 3645499 MrBoompi
MrBoompi's picture

Can anyone say "insider trading on a massive scale"?

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 09:08 | 3645556 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

I listened to a couple of interviews by this Snowden guy.  He is far too articulate for an average non HS graduate.  I heard his history was that he tried to get his GED via technical classes but did not finish the coursework. 

The guy I heard was too complete, too articulate to leave something like a HS completion, even via GED undone.  Especially if he has BOTH technical skills AND the ability to speak and formulate cohesive thoughts.  This guy spoke better than the interviewer.  Hell, they are giving HS completions to gang bangers just for adding up the receipts of the Drug sales they make in LA. 

Something doesn't jive here.

 

PS. Plus I bet he has a terminal disease.  He is not really looking for an out here....

Tue, 06/11/2013 - 15:40 | 3645602 Jumbotron
Jumbotron's picture

Textbook fascism.  The merging of crony capitalism and government....particularly the SIGINT side of things.

Here is the list of the 4 modern day, secular prophets who got today's world and today's America right....

Dwight Eisenhower:

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together.

 

Michael Savage:

“This is the most corrupt, incompetent, dangerous tyrannical administration in American history. It’s not politics as usual. It’s not just Democrats versus Republicans. Obama has a long history of being at odds with American values and with America itself and the core principles of this country. They don’t want government-sponsored opinions. They only want government-sponsored ‘Pravda.’ That’s exactly what the government-media complex tells you on a daily basis – nothing but the government-media complex party line. Pay attention. Your freedom may be at stake..”

 

Aldous Huxley...."Brave New World"

"Benito was notoriously good-natured. People said of him that he could have got through life without ever touching soma. The malice and bad tempers from which other people had to take holidays never afflicted him. Reality for Benito was always sunny."

"Swallowing half an hour before closing time, that second dose of soma had raised a quite impenetrable wall between the actual universe and their minds."

"Surprisingly, as every one thought (for on soma-holiday Linda was most conveniently out of the way), John raised objections.

"But aren't you shortening her life by giving her so much?"

"In one sense, yes," Dr. Shaw admitted. "But in another we're actually lengthening it." The young man stared, uncomprehending. "Soma may make you lose a few years in time," the doctor went on. "But think of the enormous, immeasurable durations it can give you out of time. Every soma-holiday is a bit of what our ancestors used to call eternity." "

 

George Orwell...."1984"

“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.”

“War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.”

“Big Brother is Watching You.”

 

 


Tue, 06/11/2013 - 09:25 | 3645618 esum
esum's picture

Hey he didnt uphold his oath to support and defend the CONSTITUTION.... is she referring to OBAMA?...

Exactly what does anyone think former government agency people bring to the party? INSIDE INFO...AND SECRETS....AND CONNECTIONS THEY MADE WHILE IN THE GOVERNMENT. They then continue to use thier friends and contacts to get INSIDE INFO. Everyone of these dick suckers should have to go on a POLYGRAPH - EVERY YEAR... How many do you think would then get prison terms? TAKE A CLOSE LOOK AT THE BIG BANKS, BROKERAGE HOUSES AND FUNDS.... now how many people with useless "jobs" are hovering around the top level people...who came from various agencies with access to intel... Exactly what does PETRAEUS bring to the party? Stupidity? I guess even that has a value if you once were the director... 

If Snowden were smart and not PRINCIPLED he could have played the game too. Now he will get fucked royally. The "law" and the "rules" are whatever those in power say they are. Violation of our FIRST AND FOURTH AMENDMENT RIGHTS are ok because some poorly wrotten and interpreted law says its OK... BUT IT DOESNT WORK THAT WAY..... THEY ARE RIGHTS THAT CANT BE LEGISLATED AWAY... and if they can .... THEN WE DONT HAVE  THEM AT ALL. Anyone willing to give up freedom for security will wind up with neither. 

Thu, 06/13/2013 - 08:27 | 3653600 aubreyfarmer
aubreyfarmer's picture

Go to the Veterans Today website and look for the article.  The Saudi Royal family is Jewish and their Wahabi theology is what all of the fighting between the religious Sunni and Shia is about.  The Jews planting seeds of hatred within Islam to destroy Islam.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!