Leaked Email Shows Stratfor CEO George Friedman Resigned Two Hours Ago Over Latest Breach
It is only somewhat appropriate that the announcement of the resignation of Stratfor's CEO would come in the form of a leaked email that once again was intercepted by Anonymous.
Via Anonymous:
From: george.friedman@stratfor.com
To: fred.burton@stratfor.com
Subject: Draft
Date: 2012-02-26 19:02:07
It is with great personal disappointment I have to inform you that I will resign from my position as CEO for Stratfor to immediate effect.
Please rest assured that this decision was not an easy. But in the light of the recent events, especially the release of our company emails by WikiLeaks, I have decided that stepping down is in the best interest of Stratfor and its customer base.
I want to emphasize that this will have no effect on Stratfor's business or its members and we will continue to provide state-of-the-art intelligence services.
Regarding the latest breach, Stratfor is fully in control of the situation However, while I cannot take any personal responsibility for this incident, I still have to admit that mistakes have been made on our side. To be clear: We certainly do not condone any criminal activities by groups like Anonymous or other hackers. This is theft and we will continue to cooperate with law enforcement to bring those responsible to justice. But we must acknowledge that this incident would not have been possible if Stratfor had implemented stronger data protection mechanisms - which will be the case from now on. Indeed we will immediately move to implement the latest, and most comprehensive, data security measures.
While I played no role in our technical operations, as the company's CEO I do accept full responsibility thus will resign from my position effective immediately.
Again, my sincerest apologies for this whole unfortunate incident.
Sincerely,
George Friedman
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Wow. He and the former CEO of HB Gary will have much to talk about.
Who's next?
$4 gas?
Damn those pesky "mistakes have been made". How about you pay the penalty for those "mistakes", sir! As if "mistakes" just sort of "happen"....
Hmm...maybe the fact that Stratfor has just reported that Khamis Qadaffi/Gadhafi/Kadaphi pulled a JesusChrist and came back from the dead has something to do with all this:
http://main.aol.com/2011/08/05/khamis-gaddafi-killed_n_919151.html
http://www.stratfor.com/situation-report/libya-gadhafi-son-captured
"Regarding the latest breach, Stratfor is fully in control of the situation ... But we must acknowledge that this incident would not have been possible if Stratfor had implemented stronger data protection mechanisms - which will be the case from now on."
ROFLMAO and thinking of how I go to bed when I am so giddy.
Fuckers.
blah
The "leaks" are bogus.
LULZ!
spelling + grammar + layout + repeats + draft content = BS
I have a hard time accepting that email is the real deal.
Fortunately your belief isnt required.
Dude resigns the dude resigns...And Anonymous is having fun.
Come to think of it so am I.
You don't have to believe it though, Stratfor has confirmed that this dodgy looking text purporting to be a GF resignation is indeed a fake, see:
Leak-Check: Stratfor's CEO Has Not Resigned After WikiLeaks Releasehttp://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/02/27/leak-check-stratfor...
Propaganda and cons work best when people WANT it to be true.
Moral of the story: don't trust dodgy anon sources
(it was a good way to discredit zh though)
The adoption of E-prime as the preferred language would make such non-admission admissions impossible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime
"mistakes have been made"
Just out of thin air, mind you. Passive voice, the most powerful tool of spineless executives.
I mean, how can you really blame them. Why would a firm that prides itself on having global intelligence experts possibly consider that ensuring private company e-mails are secure would be a wise idea?
"Shit happens".
Friedman's password was 12345
Hey, that's the combination to my luggage!
Space balls?
There's only one man who would dare to give me the raspberry!!!
You do know now that everyone is feverishly racking through their brain their luggage lock combination. Mine is...wait....fuck!
66...shit
"LowProfile: Can't vote you up, next time leave a space if you want to start with italicized text." What he said
How do we know his resignation email isn't faked?
Who's next?
Whoever's on the collective shit list as the architects of this shit sandwich they served us all.
First, I was thinking, you do this in an e-mail? Then dumbass proves why you don't use the informality of e-mail to do this.
Lulz, it's down, again, as I type.
Can't vote you up, next time leave a space if you want to start with italicized text.
@LowProfile
Thanks. Learn something new everyday....
Some serious shite is going down here.
Help Wanted:
New CEO for Stratfor
must speak h4x0r
must be cool
must not be a KILOWATT
hard copy resumes hand delivered only! no email accepted!
And remember that your sense of self importance as CEO will be skewered by folks with a competing sense of self importance as you lead a renowned team of delusional self important experts at pumping and pimping other delusional, self important assholes who dare to believe they are as self important as you.
a really cool job!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aig4pn74FL0&list=PL0A79C8C582D38AEF&index...
Party time at a cross roads of information management where the buy and sell side get to rotate hats as the need arises while playing twister drunk, stoned and sexed at the same time one gets to DJ the spin. How friggin awesome is that :)
Help Wanted:
New CEO for Stratfor
Must believe that
- Al Qaeda exists
- Al Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, masterminded and conducted the 9/11 attacks
- Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing JFK
- Lee Harvey Oswald had anything to do with the killing of JFK
- Russians and other foreigners* are evil and do lots of nasty things all the time
- (*except for British, Israelis, Aussies, and other staunch U.S. allies)
- Americans, especially those of the military and espionage establishments, are not evil, never do nasty things, and always have the most noble, altruistic motives when they bomb and invade foreign countries
- and so on...
So, why do you think anyone would want the job as Stratfor CEO?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGW4a1Gawmk
Good to know Newt has a fall back option
Thats funny because the UK just ran out of money per Osborne two hours ago.............................................
The UK is out of Money ! Enter stage left the printing presses !!
LOL
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9107485/Osborne-UK-has-run-out-of-money.html
Big trouble ahead !
i.e. - the shipment of ink from HP hasn't arrived yet due to supply chain management issues.
In the spirit of Monty Python:
"Those responsible have been sacked."
That means UK won't "help" the EU with it's debt.
Maybe that's why silver is about to go parabolic in a few hours.
Can, meet brick wall. No more kicking? Wow.
Big Trouble Ahead, Big Trouble Behind, Big Trouble on my Mind. Great Link; absolutely hilarious. "Fools to the left of me, Clowns to the right, and I'm stuck here in the middle with you".
Reality bit him on the arse.
Now that's ironic.
"while I cannot take any personal responsibility for this incident..."
Fucking douche. Isn't "personal responsibility" the favorite catch phrase of these fuckers? Of course like everything else with them it's do as I say, not as I do.
>>>>>"while I cannot take any personal responsibility for this incident..."
I'm still worth the $300M golden parachute with medical, office, secretary & unlimited use of private jet.
Does the golden parachute include a few hookers and unlimited blow?
Stranger things may come out. Will Corzine now admit to being the catalyst for the bulk of funding for Obama this year?
Stratfor is fully in control of the situation
Well, i hate to see what no control looks like
Consider the source.
Shocked!
I'm curious about what isn't being divulged here.
Our thoughts go out to you and your family...............The CIA/NSA are hiring experienced spooks and drone pilots..
cmon now, he resigned over this ???????????
"I want to emphasize that this will have no effect on Stratfor's business or its members ..."
Enter ANY CEO's name after this and you would have it about 100% right!
What ever happened to ' Admit to nothing, disclose nothing? Asshole must not be one of the insiders. Move along....
Who said there was no moral hazard in the bailouts and rescinding of individual liberty and rights again?
Not a good day to be the latest contractor / consultick working for Strafor. Security on the "interwebs" is tough. No place for newbies. And that email is great. Apparently the decision to resign was done in hast as he didn't bother to proof read it. Should be interesting to see what else comes out on wiki leaks from these guys. Surely, a security cock up would not prompt the CEO / Founder to jump ship. Must be more interesting email in there somewhere.
Honey traps. Illegal bribes. Conspiracy to commit insider trading. This is just the first few hours. I cant wait until we get balls deep into the memos and all their juicy little details.
lol Hugo. You have a great grasp of English slang for a Venezuelan.
"balls deep" translates into all languages .. hahaha
i'm waiting for a smoking gun on the FEDRES, End the FED!
How do we download these emails? I don't see them on wikileaks.
http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/releases.html
There you are, friend! Here's one gem:
""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.)"
And another:
Titled, "FW: Failure of Stratfor-Stratcap deal "
"
I don't know what it will cost to support StratCap. But it is our
mutual ignorance of that, and my insistence that StratCap have
every chance to be successful and that Stratfor use the money to
grow its publishing business that makes the current proposal
inconceivable. It leaves Stratfor without investment capital for
its publishing business until and if we learn whether the amount
required is within its needs--and disastrous consequences if the
needs are being Stratfor's resources. An artificial cap endangers
StratCap and eliminates my interest in investment. I will not be
the public image of StratCap, ridiculed for the failure of an
enterprise that was built to fail.
My understanding with Shea was that we would--as is the only
option--collegially attack these problems with a commitment of
both of us to making both companies work. I feel that Shea has
broken his agreement in two ways. First, he has attempted to
create business obligations for Stratfor that are open ended and
potentially disastrous. Second, he has done so without
guaranteeing the success of StratCap given the fact that we don't
know what it will take. The premature and thoughtless
negotiations that have taken place violate common sense, but do
create a situation in which StratCap can overwhelm Stratfor.
Obviously, I won't permit this.
In addition, all that has happened has violated the fundamental
principles I laid out at the beginning. These were both
non-negotiable and and consistently violated both in the
negotiating process and in the final business arrangements. We
are in the absurd position where I am to be Chairman of a company
with an adversarial relationship with a company I am CEO of, while
Shea is President of a company that is an adversary of a company
on whose board he serves. Sheer madness.
From where I sit, this deal is dead. Given the time, effort and
hopes that were devoted to this, I am prepared for a final
discussion confined to Shea, Don and myself. the issue is two
fold. First, how do we resurrect a relationship in which my
existential requirements are respected. Second how do we align
the interests of the two companies. I have to confess that I am
not optimistic but I will have this discussion if Shea wishes.
I am leaving for Indonesia tomorrow evening and at that time
moving on with my life. I will have things to explain in the
company where we have proceeded to implement our obligations to
StratCap in good faith. The only thing more painful that aborted
an enterprise that was already underway, would be implementing it
in the current terms and atmosphere. That will not happen.
George
--
George Friedman
Founder and CEO
STRATFOR
221 West 6th Street
Suite 400
Austin, Texas 78701
Phone: 512-744-4319
Fax: 512-744-4334"
Stratfor is out of Austin? It is time to get about 24 million armed Texans into a fury and poke a few holes through this bastard!
Shit, I used to walk by there all of the time when out drinking in downtown Austin.
I hope he understands that if he's going to indonesia that rolling blackouts are in effect which means spotty phone, internet, tv, radio, refridgeration, food.
Good luck to him, big yankee money bags like him should blend in like a chameleon while in Indonesia...lol
Thanks.
Contrary to what it seems, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this kind of arrangement, as hedge funds, prop desks and other investing channels always rely on expert advice, whether in house or 3rd party.
The recent blow up of expert networks had nothing to do with the expert content of the information, and all to do with the content itself being illegal and potentially market moving (usually involving biotech companies). As an intelligence company, it would be stupid or Goldman or someone else to not take advantage of their expertise in geopolitical matters. Was it wrong? Unless they explicitly stated that Goldman would trade ahead of the general public based on material, non public information, i.e., in breach of SEC regulation, it was 100% perfectly legal.
We are the first to poke holes when any entity is caught breaking the law. This however, is not one of those times.
Furthermore, the follow up email indicating the breakdown of StratCap implicitly shows that not even Goldman found Stratfor to be a valuable source of behind the scene intelligence/information.
Are you sure?
I think you are placing rather too much importance on a single Goldman "managing director" ... one of 2,000 of them, and a relatively recent one at that ... doing some personal side business with Stratfor -- and then trying to screw them (when he couldn't come up with the $4mill), as only a Goldmanite can do.
Anyone with a mind, ethics and any sense of commitment to people quit four years ago with their war chest and ran.
But did John Mauldin come out of it smelling like ass?
"While I played no role in our technical operations...."
Pussy
"While I played no role in our testicle operations....."
Pussy
Fixed it for ya
Anonymous owns you bitchez.
L0L!!!
george resigning to the archMoron"fredBurton"
"VIA Anonymous"! Please!!! i'm trying to play cards, here!
bah, old news as I read it on toilet stall partition in the men's room of a KFC last week. Wackitleaks is way ahead on this.
This guy was just a second tier intelligence analyst that started a neat company with a good idea at the right time. He obviously knows zero about networking and more important wasn't smart enough to bring in some real pros. Guys get some recurring revenue and think they're invincible. This guy was sticking his you know what in you know who's business. Did he really think he was going to play in that sand box with no consequence. No accident that this is going down as we head toward another conflict.
http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/185945_re-alpha-s3-g3-israel-iran-bara...
"From: "Chris Farnham"
To: "Alpha List"
Sent: Sunday, November 13, 2011 7:22:52 PM
Subject: Re: [alpha] S3/G3* ISRAEL/IRAN - Barak hails munitions
blast in Iran
I think the info that Fred sent in previously needs to be looked
quite seriously here.
The insight seems like quite a stretch however it has been put
out there for some reason or another and is now playing in to
what we are seeing.
Insight below:
Source below was asked to clarify his remarks that the nuclear
infrastructure had been destroyed. Source response:
Israeli commandos in collaboration with Kurd forces destroyed
few underground facilities mainly used for the Iranian defense
and nuclear research projects.
Despite the reports in the media and against any public
knowledge, the promoter of a massive Israeli attack on Syria is
the axis India-Russia-Turkey-Saudi Arabia. The axis
US-Germany-France-China is against such an attack from obvious
reasons. Not many people know that Russia is one of Israel's
largest military partners and India is Israel's largest client.
If a direct conflict between Iran and Israel erupts, Russia and
Saudi Arabia will gain the advantages on oil increasing prices.
On the other hand, China and Europe are expected to loose from
an oil crisis as a result of a conflict. Based on Israeli plans,
the attack on Iran will last only 48 hours but will be so
destructive that Iran will be unable to retaliate or recover and
the government will fall. It is hard to believe that Hamas or
Hezbollah will try to get involved in this conflict.
In the open media many are pushing and expecting Israel to
launch a massive attack on Iran. Even if the Israelis have the
capabilities and are ready to attack by air, sea and land, there
is no need to attack the nuclear program at this point after the
commandos destroyed a significant part of it.
If a massive attack on Iran happens soon, then the attack will
have political and oil reasons and not nuclear. It is also very
hard to believe that the Israelis will initiate an attack unless
they act as a contractor for other nations or if Iran or its
proxies attack first. With the revealed of the new UN report the
Israelis have green light to take care of the Iranian proxies in
Gaza and Lebanon now with the entire world watching Iran. I
think that we should expect escalations on these fronts rather
than an Israeli attack on Iran.
On 11/7/11 8:09 AM, Chris Farnham wrote: Ah, what? Israel has
already destroyed the Iranian prog/infra and this is all being
engineered by Europeans so people forget about the economy
crisis?!
How and when did the Israelis destroy the infra on the ground?
Why is that we see the vast majority of the increase in pressure
coming from Israel (I mean straight from people's mouths) and
from the US (Such as Albright in the WaPo)?
Would anyone actually accept that this could let the Europeans
forget about the Euro crisis, something they have been
experiencing every day for over a year?!
Do we attribute any credibility to this item at all? I don't
even see what possible disinfo purposes this could serve.
On 11/7/11 7:54 AM, Benjamin Preisler wrote:
Code: IL701
Publication: for background
Attribution: none
Source Description - Confirmed Israeli Intelligence Agent
Source reliability: Still testing
Item credibility: untested
Source handler: Fred
Source was asked what he thought of reports that the Israelis
were preparing a military offensive against Iran. Response:
I think this is a diversion. The Israelis already destroyed
all the Iranian nuclear infrastructure on the ground weeks
ago. The current "let's bomb Iran" campaign was ordered by the
EU leaders to divert the public attention from their at home
financial problems. It plays also well for the US since
Pakistan, Russia and N. Korea are mentioned in the report.
The result of this campaign will be massive attacks on Gaza
and strikes on Hezbollah in both Lebanon and Syria."
http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/5502132_confed-reminder-brazil-wish-li...
"I will be sending the guidance list to our confed partner tomorrow.
Thanks to those who have responded. I've included and example list of
items at the end of this email. Please feel free to add on to it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi everyone,
Yesterday I met with a Brazilian confederation partner, a major newspaper
here. Yesterday I met with the main POC as well as the head of the paper
to discuss how we could make our partnership more productive.
One of the things the paper requested from us was a list of particular
items we are interested in. Our POC is willing to put us in contact to
the various reporters that are experts in our areas of interest. These
people will be available for general chats and also specific questions.
So, what I need is a list of items that we are interested in. They need
to be a nice balance between specific versus general.
One we turn this in, they will have a better idea of who to put us in
touch with. From there we can send specific questions, for example: how
will the Chevron spill affect oil regulations?
Yesterday I met people who can help with macroeconomics/policy,
infrastructure and Brazilian politics. So, those would be good areas to
have some items of interest. This list will be helpful for both the
cooperation and updating our guidance. I would like to get this list to
our POC late Monday of next week or Tuesday at the latest.
Thanks,
Allison
ECONOMY
- Policy decision regarding growth, inflation
- Trade disputes with Argentina
- Relationship with china; energy investments, dumping goods, industry
competition
INFRASTRUCTURE
- Port modernization projects
- Measure being implemented to make sure World Cup projects are completed
on time
DEFENSE
- Military exercises along the border
- 13 treaties with border countries to coordinate efforts in anti-drug
fight
- Any pressure on military budgets in the face of financial constratints
BRAZILIAN POLITICS
- Jan cabinet reshuffle
- Outcome and consequences of Para state division vote"
Stepping down as CEO is not the same as leaving the organization. Note the continued inclusive self-reference to himself as part of the collective "we" toward the end of the letter.
"I cannot take any personal responsibility for this incident..."
Apparently he does, else he would not apparently go through the motions of resigning. Is it confirmed that he is in fact resigning? This copy is just a DRAFT...
Can you delegate and plant a letter of resignation?
Never liked Stratfor. An intel newsletter should strive to describe things as they are and cut through authorized narratives.
JMO...
Resign or else have an unfortunate incident in a swimming pool or hot tub?
this decision was not an easy. WTF
Exactly
"fully in control of this situation..."
Which is why this e-mail is out in the wild.
And these guys are supposed to be 'experts' on national security issues?
You Can Not Make This Shit UP!
Wonder how big this asshole's golden parachute is? Anybody?
Fully in control of the situation......
What? Is he now channeling Alexander Haig?
"Mistakes were made."
Did he really say that? That line is the campy respinse when someone wants to mimic a stupid bureaucrat.
Next thing they say will be they are forming a committee or task force to study the issue and make recommendations.
The Global Intelligence Files: Top 30 Links for Sunday Night http://remainanonymous.org/2012/02/27/the-global-intelligence-files-top-30-antisec-and-infosec-links-for-sunday-night/
If he were running a government agency he would have been promoted and received a bigger budget.
Via Pastebin
Http://pastebin.com/trends
Give me a break.
This is a planted "document."
This is all about making Anonymous the master seditious cyber criminals of the universe and will provide another nail in the coffin of internet usage, cyber commerce and at least the guise of anonymity.
Does Anonymous do anything against banks - the root power of all these seeming problems? Any damning bank emails that could be used by any state AG to prosecute anybody?
Nope.
Rest assured though, evil Anonymous will "hack the national ATM networks."
False Flag 101.
Anonymous is an NSA front to get permanent control of the net.
Stratfor is all to willing to help these control freak efforts.
When its all done, your social security number will be your mobile IP/DNA address.
Thanks for keeping Amerika safe.
Assholes.