Former CIA Operatives Concerned About Personal Data Security Breach

 

Howard Altman at the Tampa Tribune offers a piece on why former CIA officers like Gary Berntsen (seen in the below photo) are concerned about the computer security breach at the U.S. Office of Personnel Managment (OPM) reportedly by Communist Chinese hackers.

Last year, former CIA operative Gary Berntsen spent more than a week filling out a 127-page security clearance application that seeks a wide range of personal information. Aside from the individual’s Social Security numbers, it demands names and Social Security numbers of cohabitants, history of arrests, bankruptcies and mental health issues and lists of foreign contacts, business associates, investments and personal information of foreign-born relatives — including whether they work for other governments or intelligence agencies.

“The form is a personal and financial colonoscopy,” says Berntsen, who led the first teams of CIA operatives into Afghanistan in 2001.
And now that information may be in the hands of Chinese hackers, who could use it to damage U.S. national security by compromising American spies and developing a better understanding of what American intelligence and military personnel are doing, several former spies and a Florida congressman on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence told The Tampa Tribune.

The local head of a national organization of former intelligence officers says the hack is further proof that the United States and China are already involved in a cyberwar.

The concern over the hack is so great that on Tuesday the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on the matter.  

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://tbo.com/list/military-news/former-cia-operatives-concerned-about-info-nabbed-in-government-hack-20150616/

You can also read my Counterterrorism magazine piece on Gary Berntsen and his role as the CIA commander in Afghanistan after 9/11 via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/08/operation-jawbreaker-look-back-at-cias.html

Leaked Documents Claim Reputed former Philadelphia Mob Boss Joey Merlino's Back In the Game

 

Howard Altman and William Bender at the Philadelphia Daily News report on the release of an FBI memo that warns law enforcement officals that the reputed former boss of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra crime family may be getting back into organized crime.

Even as Joey Merlino was settling into a South Florida halfway house last summer after 12 years in prison, the FBI issued a confidential alert warning law-enforcement officials that the former Philadelphia mob boss might try to set up shop in the Miami area with some of his old associates. 

The memo was contained in the first batch of some five million emails being released by the anti-secrecy group Wikileaks - including several FBI alerts obtained by a Texas-based private-intelligence firm on topics ranging from biker gangs to al Qaeda's English-language website.

"As of March 2011, former Philadelphia (La Cosa Nostra) crime family boss, Joseph 'Skinny Joe' Merlino, appears to be restoring and developing significant relationships for a potential South Florida crew," read the Situational Information Report put out by the FBI's Miami office last June. "Reportedly, he may become involved in illicit gambling/bookmaking activities again."

You can read the rest of the story via the below ink to Philly.com:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20120229_FLA_-SH_MOB__Leaked_docs_claim_Joey_Merlino_s_back_in_the_game_.html 

Time To Get Your Frogman On: 'Act Of Valor' Film Is The Real Deal, Navy SEALs Say

Howard Altman at the Tampa Tribune wrote an interesting piece on the upcoming film Act of Valor.

Act of Valor uses active duty Navy SEALs rather than actors and the feature film, inspired by true events, is reported to be the most realistic film made about SEALs and Special Operations.

Act of Valor" centers around a platoon of SEALs on a mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent; in the process, the group learns about an imminent threat against the nation. But more than just an action shoot-'em-up, the movie shows the scope of special operations missions, from emotional goodbyes to jumping out of airplanes to the first time the Navy ever allowed one of its few nuclear subs to be used in a movie.

Beyond the SEALs, the film also uses other real military personnel, including sub and ship crews and Army special operations aviators.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2012/feb/10/act-of-valor-flick-is-the-real-deal-real-seals-say-ar-357189/

You can watch the film's trailer via the below link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnlPgo9TaGo

You can visit the Act of Valor web site via the below link:

http://actofvalor.com/  

You can also read about the 50th anniversary of the Navy SEALs via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2012/01/navy-seals-turn-50-elite-frogmen-muster.html