CIA Director Ratcliffe meets new Venezuelan leader Rodriguez in Caracas, warns country to stop consorting with cartels and US enemies

I presume this is the first high level official visit by a representative of the US government to Venezuela after the abduction of dictator Maduro.

Why the Director of the CIA? What is the message?

CIA chief meets new Venezuelan leader, warns country to stop consorting with cartels and US enemies | Just The News "Just the News obtained three CIA photos of Ratcliffe's visit with Rodriguez, including one of the U.S. spy chief shaking hands with the Venezuelan leader dressed in a bright lime-colored pant suit and sneakers."

Ratcliffe shakes hands with Rodriguez

Greg Kelly: Dimocrats use fed agents (CIA) to 'sabotage' President Trump like the CIA sabotaged President Nixon

Very recommendable! Is the CIA a force for evil going back to President Nixon? Don't miss the infamous, irresponsible words of Chuck Schumer!

Maybe it is high time for President Trump to clean up the CIA! In his first term he tried to shmooze the CIA, but it did not work! 

‘Shocking’ details emerge about the CIA in newly released JFK files

The evaluation of the released 60-80 thousand pages related to the JFK assassination is still very preliminary. However, this expert interviewed in this video mentions that there were apparently several more assassination attempts during the Cold War on Cuba's Fidel Castro than what was known before. Interesting! Did Fidel Castro had anything to do with the JFK assassination?

CIA chief leaves Qatar as hostage talks fail to make progress

What is a CIA director doing in negotiating a hostage release with Islamist terrorists in the Middle East! Mr. Burns (age 68) already retired from foreign service in 2014!

What else to expect from a senile, demented and corrupt 46th President!

The foreign policy team of the 46th President is a cabale of clowns (e.g. Anthony Blinken, Jake Sullivan)

CIA chief leaves Qatar as hostage talks fail to make progress - The Jerusalem Post "Current progress in the talks remains stuck for the time being, as the two sides remain at an impasse over a couple of Israeli demands."

How the National Security State Manipulates the News Media

Not recommendable! This article rehashes mostly old stories of first decades of the Cold War! Donors beware of the Cato Institute!

Further, the author even goes so far as to downplay an attempted coup d'etat in which the U.S. intelligence agencies were involved as a mere media manipulation attempt. He also rehashes the false claim about the non-existing Iraqi weapons of mass distraction.

"... More recently, the news media disseminated allegations that Saddam Hussein had a vast arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Nearly all that information came from Iraqi exiles that the CIA supplied to “friendly” journalists, including New York Times reporter Judith Miller. Perhaps most striking, major media outlets, especially the Washington Post, the New York Times, CNN and MSNBC, have avidly joined the national security state’s campaign to demonize Russia. Those media heavyweights enthusiastically promoted the false narrative about collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election. Even worse, they parroted the CIA’s unsupported, far‐​fetched allegation that Moscow had paid the Taliban bounties to kill American soldiers. ..."

How the National Security State Manipulates the News Media | Cato Institute The American people, who count on the news profession to provide them with accurate, independent information about foreign affairs, are the ultimate victims.

Retired Air Force General blows whistle on CIA domestic vote hacking

If confirmed, this is very concerning!

The U.S. Does Not Need 16 Intelligence Agencies!

Posted: 1/22/2017

Hope President Trump will reform and reorganize these often politicized intelligence agencies of the U.S. There are just too many of them.

Yes, it makes sense to have specialized agencies. Whether every branch of the military needs their own intelligence service is certainly debatable.

Yes, it makes a lot of sense to have competing intelligence agencies instead of one colossal, uniform agency. But 16 agencies? Why does the DEA have their own intelligence agency or the FBI for that matter?

How much overlap and how much duplicate efforts are we actually dealing with? Many cooks spoil the broth! Please save taxpayers’ money!

I am not an espionage expert, but here a few suggestions for reform:

1. Counterintelligence and intelligence agencies probably need to be separate
2. Human intelligence operations probably should be separated from technical/digital intelligence operations

The KGB And Its Successor Continue To Manipulate The West

Trigger

The past several days or weeks have seen stunning revelations of disclosed private phone conversations between leading politicians of the West. I hope I will be able to add source references later.

In context of the Crimean crisis the biggest winner of some of these recent leaks of telephone conversations would be Russia.

Why Is The West So Blind To The KGB?

Is this perhaps one of the best KGB operations of all times to be able to disinform the citizens in the West for decades about the activities of their own intelligence services while the KGB is able to maintain a low profile in the West?

Why do citizens of the West know so much more about alleged abuses committed by  the CIA, while we know so little about the KGB? Is the KGB morally superior or simply inept or what?

Edward Snowden

Perhaps one day we will learn whether he himself or his associates were KGB agents. I would not be surprised.

A CIA Contractor In Pakistan

A Former Green Beret In Action

Hope, Mr. Raymond Davis will one day publish a book about his adventure in Pakistan. It was reported that the 36 year-old former Green Beret, who shot two armed Pakistani in self defense, was finally released by a Pakistani court in mid March 2011 after a compensation of about $2.4 million was paid to the surviving relatives.

The Official Version Of The Story

The official US version of the story goes like this: “The two men approached Mr. Davis's car at a busy intersection in Lahore and wielded guns. Mr. Davis shot them dead from inside the car and later took photographs before fleeing the scene. Police arrested him in his car moments later. A second car from the U.S. consulate in Lahore knocked over and killed a bystander as it tried to rescue Mr. Davis.”

To be sure, Mr. Davis acted fast from behind car windows and took even pictures as he fled. Quite remarkable. This was better than a Hollywood movie.

The Practice Of Blood Money

There are a number of fascinating aspects about this story such as: The lust of Pakistani mob to hang this American. What was this contractor doing in Pakistan? What kind of diplomatic immunity was he enjoying? Apparently, the Pakistani legal system allows for “blood money” to be paid to victim’s relatives if charges against a murderer are dropped. There was even a second car from the US Consulate involved.