Tag: secrecy

Intelligence Agencies Will Release What They Know About UFOs This Summer – So They Say

At the end of December last year, Donald Trump signed into law a spending bill allocating $1.4 trillion in federal funding for the 2021 fiscal year. The bill covers a lot of issues, but one in particular that caught the attention of many was the fact that the topic of UFOs, or as they are now known within the mainstream, “unidentified aerial phenomenon” were included. The bill contains what’s called the Intelligence Authorization Act which outlines clandestine reporting requirements to the congress. In the “black budget” world, many of these programs have been, and probably still are, completely exempt from reporting requirements. Based on my research, there are developments in this world that not even a president of the United States has access to.

The bill, from the day it was signed into law, gives U.S. intelligence agencies 180 days to disclose what they know about the phenomenon. That means that this June, the American public will most likely be getting this information.

The bill states that intelligence agencies must address “observed airborne objects that have not been identified and include a “detailed analysis of unidentified phenomena data collected by: a geospatial intelligence, b. signals intelligence; c. human intelligence; and d. measurement and signals intelligence.”

Chris Mellon, former deputy assistant secretary of defence for intelligence, told The Debrief that “the newly enacted Intelligence Authorization Act incorporates the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report language calling for an unclassified, all-source report on the UAP phenomenon. This was accomplished in the Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying the bill….Consequently, it’s now fair to say that the request for an unclassified report on the UAP phenomenon enjoys the support of both parties in both Houses of Congress,” said Mellon, who is also a former staff director of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

A concern we have with regards to mainstream UFO government disclosure is that this topic has been heavily ridiculed and placed in the “conspiracy” realm for years. An “official campaign of ridicule and secrecy” (Ex-CIA Director Roscoe Hillenkoetter) has taken place for a very long time by those who wish to control the perception of the public mind, so why legitimize the topic all of a sudden within the mainstream? This is not to say that there is some sort of agenda, but it is a possibility and one worthy of discussion. This type of legitimization has been ongoing quite rapidly over the past couple of years with outlets like CNN and The New York Times giving the UFO phenomenon extreme credibility.

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Dem Rep. Sanchez: Not ‘Appropriate’ for Journalists to See Inside Border Facilities Holding Children

Representative Linda Sanchez (D-CA) Thursday on CNN’s “Newsroom” that it was not appropriate for journalists to be inside centers that are housing the surge of unaccompanied children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Anchor Poppy Harlow asked, “My last question is so transparency … All of our reporters down there have been asking nonstop to get into these facilities where Alejandro Mayorkas said are not meant for children. Are you concerned over the lack of transparency?”

Sanchez said, “I will tell you under the Trump administration, members of Congress were not allowed inside these facilities.”

Harlow interjected, “But that doesn’t mean anything now, respectfully congresswoman. Clearly, you were upset about that lack of transparency. Are you concerned about this lack of transparency?”

Sanchez said, “Sure. Well, again, when you ever have the numbers and the facilities appropriate for children, but because of COVID protocols, you have to have social distancing. So they are trying to process children as quickly as they can, and, no, these detention facilities at the border were not meant for children. Children are meant to be in licensed facilities. But because of the numbers and because of the social distancing that is required, they are doing the best that they can. I don’t necessarily think that it is appropriate for journalists to be inside centers that are not permanent places for children, that children are not placed there permanently. They are processed out of those facilities as quickly as possible and as quickly as the facilities will allow.”

Harlow pressed, “Some of them are being held there longer than they are legally supposed to be.”

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Judge Rules Some Ghislaine Maxwell Details Are Too ‘Sensational and Impure’ to Be Revealed to the Public

A federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday ruled on a series of redactions proposed by Ghislaine Maxwell and prosecutors regarding a compilation of transcripts submitted under seal by the government last month.

After reviewing arguments from both sides, U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan allowed most of the government’s redactions to remain in place over Maxwell’s objections while also adding several additional redactions at her request.

Maxwell’s legal team in January filed 12 motions requesting that the court, among other things, dismiss all of the charges relating to her alleged role as a recruiter of young girls for infamous and since-deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The government responded in February with an “omnibus memorandum of law” opposing Maxwell’s motions, all of which were filed under seal pending rulings on the redactions.

The government argued that its redactions were required in order to “protect the integrity” of its ongoing criminal investigation into Maxwell and to protect the privacy interests of third parties. Judge Nathan granted most of the government’s requests, reasoning that the redactions were based on legitimate interests to overcome the presumption of public access to judicial documents.

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Biden Makes History As First ‘Absentee President’

Transparency and accountability now seem to be a thing of the past for the White House. Since taking office, Joe Biden has signed a record number of executive orders, proclamations and directives, but hasn’t held one formal press conference to answer for them.

In January, Biden promised to address a joint session of Congress “next month” in February, which he may not realize already passed. Biden also claimed he would hold a press conference, but that too has not happened or even been scheduled. This is quickly earning Biden the reputation of an “absentee president,” and we’re not just talking about the ballots.

This week, Biden set a 100-year record by not holding a solo press conference, something that usually happens within an administration’s first 33-days. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said there are still no plans to do so, just as there are no plans to even schedule Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress. This is something that traditionally happens in the month of February.

As what now seems customary for the Biden White House, the speech has been pushed off and made conditional. Psaki said it is contingent on certain legislation being passed in Congress.

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Conspiracy Theories Are Caused By Government Secrecy

The DC Circuit has ruled that the CIA is under no obligation to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests pertaining to its involvement with insurgent militias in Syria, overturning a lower court’s previous ruling in favor of a Buzzfeed News reporter seeking such documents.

As Sputnik‘s Morgan Artyukhina clearly outlines, this ruling comes despite the fact that mainstream news outlets have been reporting on the Central Intelligence Agency’s activities in Syria for years, and despite a US president having openly tweeted about those activities.

“In other words, the CIA will not be required to admit to actions it is widely reported as having done, much less divulge documents about them to the press for even greater scrutiny,” Artyukhina writes, calling to mind the Julian Assange quote “The overwhelming majority of information is classified to protect political security, not national security.”

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Federal Secrecy Protects the Crimes of Every President

Ever since the 9/11 attacks, Republicans and Democrats have conspired to keep Americans increasingly ignorant of what the federal government does. The number of secret federal documents skyrocketed, and any information that was classified supposedly cannot be exposed without dooming the nation.

Politicians and federal agencies recognize that “what people don’t know won’t hurt the government.” James Madison, the father of the Constitution, declared in 1798 that “the right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon … has ever been justly deemed, the only effectual guardian of every other right.” But this right has faded badly in recent decades. During the 2020 Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer warned that if the Senate did not vote to hear witnesses, “this country is headed towards the greatest cover-up since Watergate.”

Actually, “conventional wisdom” in the nation’s capital is often the result of cover-ups, ignorance, and servility. Daniel Ellsberg, who risked life in prison to leak the Pentagon Papers, observed in 2002, “It is a commonplace that ‘you can’t keep secrets in Washington’ or ‘in a democracy.’ … These truisms are flatly false…. The overwhelming majority of secrets do not leak to the American public.”

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California keeps key virus data out of public sight

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has from the start said his coronavirus policy decisions would be driven by data shared with the public to provide maximum transparency.

But with the state starting to emerge from its worst surge, his administration won’t disclose key information that will help determine when his latest stay-at-home order is lifted.

State health officials said they rely on a very complex set of measurements that would confuse and potentially mislead the public if they were made public.

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