Document of the Week #7 CIA Study of Widespread Arab Protests from 1980

With popular protests having defeated the authoritarian regimes that once held power in Egypt and Tunisia and (hopefully) bringing the reign of Qaddafi to a terminal conclusion, speculate on which regime will fall next. Much of the speculation focuses on the remaining tyrants in the Maghreb and those on the Arabian Peninsula.

In light of this discussion, I present to you Dissidents in the Arabian Peninsula by the [redacted] analyst(s) with the Office of Political Analysis. In this 24-page study, the CIA documented the activities of anti-regime dissidents, the response of regimes to these activities, and the influence of outside factors such as exile and foreign government support. Based on this study, the following reaction to popular protest and rebellion can be expected from Arabian Peninsula regimes:

1. Arabian Peninsula regimes like the UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia will employ their wealth to temper down opposition. This has already been seen in Bahrain where the King has given out cash payments to his subjects.
2. Renewed and increased security cooperation between Arabian Peninsula governments particularly those in the Gulf Community Council. Dissidents will no longer find the same level of tolerance in exile as they have previously.
3. Iran will be of a great concern due to their size and shared religion with the large number of Shia Muslims in Bahrain, Eastern Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.

However, in reading this document, remember the following differences:

1. Neighboring nations, most notably Egypt, have successfully booted out their entrench dictators.
2. The countries and entities that fueled the revolts and protests in the document are under pressure themselves. Libya is in the midst a full-scale revolt teetering on civil war, while Iran and the PLO (Palestinian Authority) are facing their own popular revolts. 
   
   
   DISSIDENTS IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA

Corporate Autobiography and the Wooing of Government

Interested in how corporations see themselves and write their histories? Curious as to how the military annexes of Corporate America seduce and win the love, the approval, and the contracts of the establishment? Wonder no more as I have acquired and posted the National Security Agency's ARC registrations of three of the most notorious private military contractors on the planet: Blackwater USA, Triple Canopy, and Dyncorp International. As these document show, these companies seek the blessing of the National Security Agency through tales do-erring, elite skills, and SCIFs and cleared staffs. 

Blackwater Arc Registration

DynCorp ARC Registration

Triplecanopy ARC Registration

Document of the Week #5 Qaddafi's Borderless Wrath

Facing what may be the most serious challenge to his reign since seizing power in 1969, Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi is, not surprisingly, lashing out at his opposition with a great deal of force, with reports of snipers, mercenaries, and the military all being deployed to smash those aligned against him. This is keeping with Kaddafi's style which at one time included dispatching his security and intelligence apparatus abroad to hunt down and eliminate exile opposition and to monitor the Libyan diaspora in order to thwart and deter the formation of threats to his regime.

This Document of the Week is a 12/15/1993 Counterterrorist Center Commentary from the Director of Central Intelligence’s Counterterrorist Center regarding the disappearance of Mansur Kikhia who was mostly likely abducted by Libyan security services while in Cairo for a meeting of a Arab human rights group and with members of his family. Mansur Kikhia's disappearance has never been resolved, nor have many of the assassinations and vanishings of other exiled Libyan leaders, activists, and opponents of Qaddafi's regime.  

If Qaddafi survive, inevitably those opposing him will be driven into exile and likely hunted in a renewed effort to stamp out diasporic opposition to the Libyan dictator. 

12/15/1993 CIA Report Regarding Mansur Kikhia

NSA Releases Special Research History and Related Indexes

In response to a FOIA request that I had submitted, the National Security Agency recently declassified and released two indexes listing over four hundred different NSA or related agencies histories on a variety of historical topics ranging from Japanese-Burma to instructions how to handle Ultra intelligence. Among the more interesting titles are:

SRH-019 Blockade-Running Between Europe and the Far East by Submarines, 1942-1944
SRH-026 Marshall Letter to Eisenhower on the Use of  "Ultra" intelligence, March 15, 1944
SRH-087 Mongolian Independence. 3 August 1945
SRH-162 History of Security Monitoring. WWI to 1955

The first aid contains not only a more complete list of Special Research histories ( 415 listed in total) but ; however these lists are not complete. The index also has a page count for each document thus allowing an astute requester to avoid fees and acquire dozens of NSA histories. There are a number of other report collections available to the curious. SRMA which are labeled as being "Discrete Records of Historical Cryptologic Import: U.S. Army." SRMD- "Discrete Records of Historical Cryptologic Import: Joint Server and/or U.S. Government Cryptologic Agencies." Other available include series which is for SRMN "Discrete Records of Historical Cryptologic Import: U.S. Navy," and SRNS which stands for "Summaries: Japanese Naval Radio Intelligence." This lists are not complete either but for the records that are listed, they do include a title for and page count of the relevant record.

New NSA SRH index

The second, older index only contains a partial list of Special Research Histories. However, it has annotated notes from what I suspect is someone who has processed a prior FOIA request for information contained within the histories. The notes reveal that certain SRHs are related to other SRHs. Fuller titles of some of the SRHs are also presented here.

OLD NSA SRH Idex

Hunter S. Thompson Did Not Work for the NSA

The National Security Agency has confirmed that Hunter S. Thompson, founding practitioner of Gonzo journalism and the author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 as well as working as a reporter for Rolling Stone magazine, ESPN as a sports columnist, among other journalistic pursuits did not work for the National Security Agency. However, it invoked Glomar with regard to any further information pertaining to Hunter S. Thompson.

Given the NSA's prior disclosure of information pertaining to Jack Anderson in response to the FOIA request that I had submitted to the NSA in that regard, I honestly believe that this decision is the product of a misunderstand on the part of the National Security Agency who probably did not recognize Hunter Stockton Thompson as being Hunter S. Thompson. As such, I have had a FOIA appeal submitted to the NSA and expect a prompt correction to this unfortunate decision to neither confirm nor deny possessing records or information on Hunter S. Thompson.

Final Response Letter from NSA RE: Hunter S. Thompson

The Majesty of the FOIA Law is that the Rich and the Poor Receive Equally Shabby Treatment

A comforting fact about the Freedom of Information Act system is that it provides an equally poor performance for both plebeian and patrician.

On November 4, 2009, the Department of Defense's Freedom of Information Act office received two unclassified documents from the Mandatory Declassification Review staff of the Records and Declassification Division, Washington Headquarters Services sought by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. (1) The files, one a 1/12/2006 Memorandum from Donald Rumsfeld to National Security Adviser Stephan Hadley and the Honorable Dr. J.D. Crouch regarding The Circular PC Meeting on "Lead Departments,' "Blended Leads," "Co-Leads," and the like,” (2) the focus of which was an unnamed project and an undated, untitled record titled “Comparison of Draft Legislation with Military Commission Orders,” (3)which was a chart comparing the MCOs with legislation then being drafted by the U.S. Congress on how to handle detainees at Gitmo and other black sites.

As the final letter response letter shows, this request was not completed until June 3, 2010, almost seven months to day that the Department of Defense's Freedom of Information Act office received the unclassified documents.(4)

(1) Page 4 of the PDF

(2) Page 5 of the PDF 

(3) Page 6 of the PDF

(4) Page 1 of the PDF

DOD FOIA File for a Donald Rumsfeld FOIA Request

Hitting The Fee Wall: The NSA on WikiLeaks

Not unexpectedly, the National Security Agency has invoked Glomar in response to the one of FOIA requests that I had submitted to the NSA seeking intelligence records on WikiLeaks.

Unexpectedly, the National Security Agency merged the request for WikiLeaks records with a request I had submitted to the NSA for all emails sent to or by the General Alexander DirNSA pertaining to WikiLeaks or Julian Assange. The National Security Agency conceded that they possessed non-intelligence records pertaining to WikiLeaks, but as the letter below states, it would cost them over $3,000 to process and they would bill me for it. Since I cannot afford such fees, I had the request withdrawn. However, I think the NSA has opted, sadly, to employ fees to deny me access to information.

NSA WikiLeaks letter