A Father-in-Law With Benefits: How David Petraeus Advanced His Career

 I thought this would be as good a time to remind or teach everyone that David Petraeus' ascent is due, in part, not to his martial prowess, but his willingness to kiss or sleep his way up to the top.

When he was a mere West Point cadet, Petraeus conveniently fell in love with Hollister Knowlton, the daughter of William A. Knowlton, then West Point Commandant, providing an early demonstration of what Colonel Andrew J. Bacevich (ret.) describes as Petraeus' “considerable talent for cultivating influential figures, both in and out of uniform, who might prove useful in advancing his own prospects.” (1) Fortunately, for Petraeus, Knowlton wasn't completely through a long, successful career. After leaving West Point, Knowlton became the chief of staff United States European Command. After finishing Ranger School, Petraeus followed his father-in-law to Europe; he where was assigned to the 509th Airborne Battalion Combat Team.

In some ways just as important as her status as the West Point's Commandant's daughter, was Hollister Knowlton's status as a descendant of a Mayflower traveler.(2)  This a status that is far more important to many American blue bloods than that of “Director of the CIA” or “General.”

(1)Andrew J. Bacevich, Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War, (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2010), 193

(2) Miss Knowlton Officer's Bride At West Point, New York Times, 7/7/1974, pg..40

The FBI Response to an OpenBSD FOIA

As ably documented by John Young on Cryptome, there was a long-running, slow-burning controversy over claims that OpenBSD had flaws built into by individuals operating at the behest of the FBI. Reading through the Cryptome documented exchanges, I failed to see anyone considered contacting the FBI, either directly or via FOIA request, on the matter and reporting a response. (1) So I had my cut- out fire off  a request for records relating to the non-profit created around the OS. Below is the no record response the Bureau sent back. Take it for what you will.

FBI No Records Response Letter RE: BSD Foundation

Since Netcraft has confirmed that BSD is dying, I doubt this will be an issue much longer.

(1) Someone did contact a former FBI agent via Twitter and received a denial. 

Ivan Saric: A Short Biography

Ivan Saric's INSCOM file (or part of it). For some reason it is not included on the finding aids of the RG 319 IWG records. I acquired through a redirected FOIA request to INSCOM. I suspect because, according to this release, it only contained a brief half-paged blurb worth of biography. The page also a short biography of Gregorij Rožman, bishop of Ljubljana and collaborator with the Nazis, who, like Saric, escaped justice after the war.

Ivan Saric's NARA/ INSCOM File

Fun and Games With the CIA's CREST Database

CREST or the the CIA Records Search Tool is a system used by the CIA to make available declassified records since 2000. It  is located at NARA II in College Park, Maryland. For years, this system and the records contained with were available on just four computers housed on the second 3rd floor of the NARA II building. The reasons this limited access were, according to Mother Jones's reporting: fear of hackers altering the information, an implict desire to keep foreign intelligence from accessing those files, and a general wish to prevent mischief.

This has changed. The "CIA has now also begun to include documents images in addition to the metadata for a select group of documents referred to as the "Best of CREST: (BOC)." This means that some documents will be visible while others will be mentioned but you'll have to FOIA them to see them.

Metadata Leaks Still Secret Information

This inclusion of "metadata" makes for interesting reading. Recently, I discovered that metadata can compromise information the CIA wants withheld on national security or privacy grounds. Here is a safe example of such. Enter the name "Ann Caracristi" (she was the first female deputy director of the NSA) into the CREST search engine. You get back one document.

Now, request that document from the CIA. Here's what you get. Notice how Ms. Caracristi's name is withheld. Oops.
Caracristi Turner Letter

Half-Baked Declassification

Another problem with CREST is that it's subjected to the same half-baked CIA declassification standards as any FOIA, MDR, or statutory-required release. Here are two versions of a 3/14/1984 memorandum from Herbert E. Meyer to the Director of Central Intelligence,the deputy Director of Central Intelligence, and the Chairman of the National Intelligence Council titled: “Abortions in the Soviet Bloc: What They Mean.” The first version was released in August 2008. The second version was released in December 2008.

Here is the August 2008 version :

3/14/1981 Memo on Warsaw Pact Abortions

Here is the December 2008 version.

Soviet Abortion Limited Redactions

The August 2008 version has the following redactions:

A name or names on the first page is redacted while on the second page, Herbert E. Meyer's signature and another name are withehld.  The third page is withheld in its entirety.

The December 2008 version it features fewer redactions. As you can see, the name withheld in the August 2008 edition is revealed. Meyer's signature is revealed though the name is still redacted. Only two names are redacted on the third page.

None of the Really Good Stuff is There

CREST and "Best of CREST" has a lot of interesting and worthwhile stuff. However, the truly fascinating materials are not hosted on the CIA's website. You have to FOIA them and then wait and possibly pay fees. This serves to limit access to these files by erecting utterly unnecessary barriers between the documents and the public. If the CIA has the staff and equipment to scan worthless thank you letters, than they have the staff to include copies of cool documents like the records on Stargate, Ramparts Magazine, and Grillflame, where most, if not all the responsive records have to be ordered up via FOIA.

Only one "Grill Flame" result is available online

Is the FBI Going After Bain Capital?

The answer to the headline question is yes. About two weeks ago, the FBI evoked FOIA exemption 7(a) and denied access to all Bain Capital records on the grounds that "there is a pending or prospective law enforcement proceeding relevant to these responsive records; and that release of the information contained in these responsive records could reasonably be expected to interfere with the enforcement proceedings."

Whether or not this "enforcement proceeding" target Bain Capital founder Mitt Romney is unknown.

FBI Response to FOIA Re: Bain Capital

An Aside

Some have asked in response to other FBI FOIA request related postings on this site whether the FBI is required to release files related to an open investigation. As this response shows, the answer to that question is no. However, the response also shows that the FBI is required to acknowledge their existence. The only time Bureau is allowed to claim a no records response is during an active investigation in which acknowledgment of responsive records would compromise it.

The Pope and the Bureau: The FBI File of Pope John XXIII

The file contents aren't all that interesting, but the FBI's Record and Information Dissemination Section's ineptitude and sloth are on full display. I had a request submitted for all their records on Pope John XXIII. They give me the 10 pages of previously released material and then tell me that there might be more records where that came from. In essence, I am told to FOIA again and maybe this time they'll do their jobs.

As for the records themselves, as stated above there's nothing much to them. The file starts with a news article regarding the John XXIII's election. The second document, a three page cable from the American legation in Rome to J. Edgar Hoover regarding the health of John XXIII. In the cable, it speculated that the pope is dying from cancer (he ultimately dies from stomach cancer) and that this knowledge is being concealed by the Vatican due to John XXIII's desire to complete his work. The file concludes with some more press material about Pope John XXIII including a three page article from “Divine Love” a publication based in Fresno California, sent anonymously to J. Edgar Hoover.

Pope John XXIII's FBI File

Ron Paul's Secret Love Affair With FDIC

Publicly, Ron Paul, that allegedly contrarian, Libertarian defender of the Constitution, despises the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). According to this 11/22/2005, Ron Paul diatribe against the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act hosted on LewRockwell.com, the FDIC is a monstrous organization that, among others things,

charges banks premiums, 'which are actually taxes,”

transfers liability for poor management decisions from those who made the decisions, to their competitors,”

aggravated the S&L banking crisis of the 1980s and 1990s due to its inept management

"removes incentives for individuals to act on their own to protect their deposits or even inquire as to thehealth of their financial institution."

and, undoubtedly the worst of all in Paulite eyes,

"lacks constitutional authority"

Given his antipathy towards FDIC, and the ease with which Ron Paul can avoid supporting this system (by simply withdraw one's money from a bank), you'd expect Ron Paul to have no contact with the FDIC banking system, right? Wrong. Like most things government, Ron Paul is content to spit out platitudes about the evils of government, while mindlessly gorging on the benefits and goodies it gives out. As shown by Ron Paul's 2010 Presidential Campaign financial disclosure forms (h/t Opensecrets.org), Paul not only uses FDIC protection, but actively maximizes his protection by keeping the maximum amount of money covered in FDIC in one bank, and then spreading the rest out to a number of other financial institutions. As shown by the screen shot below, Ron Paul has 250,000+ in account at FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF LAKE JACKSON and spreads out the rest of his cash to two other Lake Jackson banks, the TEXAS DOW EMPLOYEES CREDIT UNION and the TEXAS GULF BANK.

Now, I am sure the Paul nuts are going to vomit forth two defenses of their beloved icon. First, they'll argue that Paul is merely getting back the money he pays into this system. This is a common Libertarian argument, one that is without merit given that there is not a Libertarian alive who tracks his use of government resources to ensure that he only uses what he paid into the pot and not a penny more.

Second, they'll offer some convoluted gibberish about how Paul is forced to do this because of the government and he has no choice. Like the banks, he has the option of not being covered by FDIC. He can keep the money at home or in an investment not covered by the government.

Christ, given that Mandela spent decades in jail to maintain his beliefs, is it too much to ask that Ron Paul incur the slightest inconvenience in order to earn his reputation as some solid, limited-government, "pro-freedom," reputation?

Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Discloure Records