WIKILEAKS IRONY: SOME REVEALING STRATFOR EMAILS: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE AMERICAN DECLARATION OF WAR?
http://wikileaks.org/the-gifiles.html
LONDON—Today, Monday 27 February, WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files – more than five million emails from the Texas-headquartered “global intelligence” company Stratfor. The emails date from between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal’s Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defense Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods, for example :
“[Y]ou have to take control of him. Control means financial, sexual or psychological control… This is intended to start our conversation on your next phase” – CEO George Friedman to Stratfor analyst Reva Bhalla on 6 December 2011, on how to exploit an Israeli intelligence informant providing information on the medical condition of the President of Venezuala, Hugo Chavez.
The material contains privileged information about the US government’s attacks against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks and Stratfor’s own attempts to subvert WikiLeaks. There are more than 4,000 emails mentioning WikiLeaks or Julian Assange. The emails also expose the revolving door that operates in private intelligence companies in the United States. Government and diplomatic sources from around the world give Stratfor advance knowledge of global politics and events in exchange for money. The Global Intelligence Files exposes how Stratfor has recruited a global network of informants who are paid via Swiss banks accounts and pre-paid credit cards. Stratfor has a mix of covert and overt informants, which includes government employees, embassy staff and journalists around the world.
The material shows how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients. For example, Stratfor monitored and analysed the online activities of Bhopal activists, including the “Yes Men”, for the US chemical giant Dow Chemical. The activists seek redress for the 1984 Dow Chemical/Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, India. The disaster led to thousands of deaths, injuries in more than half a million people, and lasting environmental damage.
Stratfor has realised that its routine use of secret cash bribes to get information from insiders is risky. In August 2011, Stratfor CEO George Friedman confidentially told his employees : “We are retaining a law firm to create a policy for Stratfor on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. I don’t plan to do the perp walk and I don’t want anyone here doing it either.”
Stratfor’s use of insiders for intelligence soon turned into a money-making scheme of questionable legality. The emails show that in 2009 then-Goldman Sachs Managing Director Shea Morenz and Stratfor CEO George Friedman hatched an idea to “utilise the intelligence” it was pulling in from its insider network to start up a captive strategic investment fund. CEO George Friedman explained in a confidential August 2011 document, marked DO NOT SHARE OR DISCUSS : “What StratCap will do is use our Stratfor’s intelligence and analysis to trade in a range of geopolitical instruments, particularly government bonds, currencies and the like”. The emails show that in 2011 Goldman Sach’s Morenz invested “substantially” more than $4million and joined Stratfor’s board of directors.
Throughout 2011, a complex offshore share structure extending as far as South Africa was erected, designed to make StratCap appear to be legally independent. But, confidentially, Friedman told StratFor staff :
“Do not think of StratCap as an outside organisation. It will be integral… It will be useful to you if, for the sake of convenience, you think of it as another aspect of Stratfor and Shea as another executive in Stratfor… we are already working on mock portfolios and trades”. StratCap is due to launch in 2012.
The Stratfor emails reveal a company that cultivates close ties with US government agencies and employs former US government staff. It is preparing the 3-year Forecast for the Commandant of the US Marine Corps, and it trains US marines and “other government intelligence agencies” in “becoming government Stratfors”. Stratfor’s Vice-President for Intelligence, Fred Burton, was formerly a special agent with the US State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service and was their Deputy Chief of the counterterrorism division. Despite the governmental ties, Stratfor and similar companies operate in complete secrecy with no political oversight or accountability.
Stratfor claims that it operates “without ideology, agenda or national bias”, yet the emails reveal private intelligence staff who align themselves closely with US government policies and channel tips to the Mossad – including through an information mule in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Yossi Melman, who conspired with Guardian journalist David Leigh to secretly, and in violation of WikiLeaks’ contract with the Guardian, move WikiLeaks US diplomatic cables to Israel.
Ironically, considering the present circumstances, Stratfor was trying to get into what it called the leak-focused “gravy train” that sprung up after WikiLeaks’ Afghanistan disclosures :
“[Is it] possible for us to get some of that ’leak-focused’ gravy train ? This is an obvious fear sale, so that’s a good thing. And we have something to offer that the IT security companies don’t, mainly our focus on counter-intelligence and surveillance that Fred and Stick know better than anyone on the planet… Could we develop some ideas and procedures on the idea of ´leak-focused’ network security that focuses on preventing one’s own employees from leaking sensitive information… In fact, I’m not so sure this is an IT problem that requires an IT solution.”
Like WikiLeaks’ diplomatic cables, much of the significance of the emails will be revealed over the coming weeks, as our coalition and the public search through them and discover connections. Readers will find that whereas large numbers of Stratfor’s subscribers and clients work in the US military and intelligence agencies, Stratfor gave a complimentary membership to the controversial Pakistan general Hamid Gul, former head of Pakistan’s ISI intelligence service, who, according to US diplomatic cables, planned an IED attack on international forces in Afghanistan in 2006.
Readers will discover Stratfor’s internal email classification system that codes correspondence according to categories such as ’alpha’, ’tactical’ and ’secure’. The correspondence also contains code names for people of particular interest such as ’Hizzies’ (members of Hezbollah), or ’Adogg’ (Mahmoud Ahmedinejad).
Stratfor did secret deals with dozens of media organisations and journalists – from Reuters to the Kiev Post. The list of Stratfor’s “Confederation Partners”, whom Stratfor internally referred to as its “Confed Fuck House” are included in the release. While it is acceptable for journalists to swap information or be paid by other media organisations, because Stratfor is a private intelligence organisation that services governments and private clients these relationships are corrupt or corrupting.
WikiLeaks has also obtained Stratfor’s list of informants and, in many cases, records of its payoffs, including $1,200 a month paid to the informant “Geronimo” , handled by Stratfor’s Former State Department agent Fred Burton.
WikiLeaks has built an investigative partnership with more than 25 media organisations and activists to inform the public about this huge body of documents. The organisations were provided access to a sophisticated investigative database developed by WikiLeaks and together with WikiLeaks are conducting journalistic evaluations of these emails. Important revelations discovered using this system will appear in the media in the coming weeks, together with the gradual release of the source documents.
END
SOME OF THE TYPES THAT WIND UP AT STRATFOR AND CIA
Re: [Analytical & Intelligence Comments] RE: What Happened to the American Declaration of War?
Released on 2012-10-19 08:00 GMT
http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/65125_re-analytical-and-intelligence-comments-re-what-happened-to.html
Email-ID 65125
Date 1970-01-01 01:00:00
From bhalla@stratfor.com
To gfriedman@stratfor.com
George, please, please, please respond to this one.
‘NOTE THE REVEALED (IN THEIR OWN WORDS) CALIBER, MENTALITIES AND PROCLIVITIES OF SOME OF THESE INDIVIDUALS WORKING FOR STRATFOR WITH HIGH-LEVEL SECURITY CLEARANCES GIVING “STRATEGIC ADVICE” ON “STRATEGIC ISSUES”!
———————————————————————-
“We’re Number One” —Just Ask Us
———————————————————————
From: bdifalco@yahoo.com
To: responses@stratfor.com
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 12:13:02 PM
Subject: [Analytical & Intelligence Comments] RE: What Happened to
the American Declaration of War?di falco, bob sent a message using the contact form athttps://www.stratfor.com/contact.
to Geo Friedman, mar 29, 11
Teddy Roosevelt was the first American as well as American president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for supposedly mediating peace in the 1905 Russo-Japanese War when at the same time he was cutting secret deals to promote war and partition of Asia into Japanese and American spheres of influence. Any parallels with Obama?
email:
yours on usa war and presidential idiots, is far short of the mark because you do not understand the USA, nor what it stands for, nor how it operates, nor its essential pro forma as to other nations, etc etc etc, because you were not
born and raised in USA thus do not have an inborn knowhow of what usa is all about
worse you submerged yourself in texas, austin of all places, where the folks and mentality are slightly below the mexican mafia, i.e. texas and its folks are not tuned in to USA
if you want to understand The United States, you have to understand that it has to be at war all the time, and has in fact been in a shooting war every day since inception, and that the Militia took USA, as is ongoing, by war conquest, not by bullshitters like obama the messia caliph muslim who has the same problem you do because he was not born and raised in USA and moreso because he is a psychopath who lives in his mind rather than in reality… i.e. he is a nutcase of the worse kind…
…thus, to begin your education, of usa and its constant worldwide exploitation, read the original Declaration of Independence as written signed July 4, 1776 – first scan it in-entirety, then read it for depth of understanding, both ought take about half an hour, then let it simmer in your mind without you tinkering with it…
when you understand said Independence, then do the same with our constitution as written 18th century, and after awhile you might get the gist of what we who are born and raised in usa know for our reality that you do not have a clue as to any of it it was stupid of the voters to put obama in white house because he is not qualified by the constitutional mandate that a pres shall be born on continental USA etc etc… thus there is no way he can ever properly op USA, no way...once you have mastered the essence of above Independence and constitution, read the United States Code, which is the next paramount law that exercises and mandates and achieves the dictates of Independence and its trust instrument for op of USA Govt, reading time about 4 hours, deal with it the same as above for the paramount dictates of independence and op of govt, you will be amazed,,,,,,,,, i will be amazed if this brings your intellect up to the level of a 7 year old who was born and raised in USA otherwise you write an excellant forum, mostly good stuff, but would be better if you understood the USA Concept, as very few experts, especially pontificators, do….
your friend
bob
Source:
—————————————————————
FW: CIA head of analysis fired
Released on 2012-02-27 15:00 GMT
Email-ID 3438302
Date 2004-12-29 16:54:06
From iser@stratfor.com
To allstratfor@stratfor.com
I wanted to forward these comments from George to the entire team so that everyone at Stratfor is aware of the incredible opportunity/challenge we are faced with.
Iser
—–Original Message—–
From: George Friedman [mailto:gfriedman@stratfor.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 9:13 AM
To: analysts@stratfor.com; exec@stratfor.com
Subject: CIA head of analysis fired
Jamie Miscik, Deputy Director of Intelligence at the CIA was fired today. As DDI, she ran the analytic shop. According to media reports, she was fired for squandering resources on day to day reports while ignoring the broad trends. In other words, she was fired for looking at the trees and being unable to see the forest. She was also accused of spending too much time updating policy makers and too little time trying to grasp the broad trends–giving customers what they wanted instead of what they needed. In the end, it was her customers that turned on her.
My charge against her was and remains that she took no pride in her craft and turned intelligence into PR and shoddy process. She and her gang are now history.
This gives Stratfor an enormous, historic opportunity. The CIA model of analysis has been invalidated. The ponderous, process driven machine that could only manage the small things now needs to be replaced by a robust, visionary, courageous analytic system. Stratfor has the opportunity to show the way. In fact, we are showing the way. Everyone in Langley knows that we do things they have never been able to do with a small fraction of their resources. They have always asked how we did it. We can now show them and maybe they can learn.
Our annual and decade forecast will, I guarantee you, be read by everyone at the CIA. They are looking for new models and they are looking at us. Every ounce of excellence that Stratfor owns will go into those two pieces. This will not only be good business, it will serve our country. They will be a road map to the craft of intelligence.
Allan Dulles said that intelligence was a craft. It is not a mass production line. The architects of misbegotten process in intelligence have failed and are out. It is our chance to step to the plate. It’s a rare moment and I want everyone in intelligence to take a break from working to think, dream and imagine. This is our chance to do it right.
It is Stratfor’s chance to make intelligence history and build a major business at the same time. It is a moment I have been waiting for–and knew was coming–since 1996, when George Tenet was appointed DCI and Stratfor was founded. I, for one, am going to show them how it’s done. I invite each of you to join me. This, ladies and gentlemen, is it.
—————————————————————–
Fwd: [Social] [Analytical & Intelligence Comments] RE: The Tactical Irrelevance of Osama bin Laden’s Death
Released on 2012-10-19 08:00 GMT
Email-ID 65601
Date 1970-01-01 01:00:00
From bhalla@stratfor.com
To rohin.peace@gmail.com
crazy reader response
———————————————————————-
From: “Sean Noonan”
To: “Social list”
Sent: Monday, May 2, 2011 5:46:11 PM
Subject: Re: [Social] [Analytical & Intelligence Comments] RE: The
Tactical Irrelevance of Osama bin Laden’s Death
This just blew my mind.
On 5/2/11 12:25 PM, wrbarryjr@yahoo.com wrote:
walter Barry, Jr. sent a message using the contact form at
https://www.stratfor.com/contact.
there is only one storyline that holds together and explains the courious obama mystery in all matters, including the killing of osama. that the two men were brothers in a large bin laden family (there is only one letter different in their names) their facial features are about the same: add a beard to obama. their hatred of the west and the usa is the same their seemingly access to unlimited funds are the same.
the bin laden in the white house is osama bin laden, not obama this explains the birther mystery, why in the second day in office bin laden signed off to close gitmo because ultimately that is where the couriers would unravel the fraud. after the 2003 failere to explode the twin towers from afar, osoma and obama switched places. that is why no one at occcidental, columbia, harvard or anywhere knew either brother.
osama emerged from this smoke as obama and thru hope and change became president. thus the killing of the brother yesterday was necessay to permently secure the real osama bin laden in the white house. the killing had to be an eyewitness event, with dna and a fast burial at sea. thus the phoney bin laden (obama) is gone forever and the real one (osama bin laden) is in the white house! call me at 831 625 9990
walter barry
Source:
http://us.mg3.mail.yahoo.com/dc/blank.html?bn=559&.intl=us&.lang=en-US
–
Sean Noonan
Tactical Analyst
Office: +1 512-279-9479
Mobile: +1 512-758-5967
Strategic Forecasting, Inc.
http://www.stratfor.com
——————————————-
From: Mirela Glass [mailto:glass@stratfor.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 10:23 AM
To: allstratfor@stratfor.com
Subject: Stratfor on YouTube
Dear all,
A challenge for all of us this holiday season! Let’s put on our creative caps and think of possible ways to get Stratfor on YouTube.
We are looking for ideas of possible videos we can create on geopolitical, security and public policy themes. The videos will have to be short, under 5 minutes, interesting, entertaining and provocative. We are looking for the `wow’ effect! No promotional content, no sales pitch allowed!
Please send me your ideas for either topics, themes, or if you dare go further, complete scripts.
Have fun!
Mirela Ivan Glass
Strategic Forecasting, Inc.
Marketing Manager
T: 512-744-4325
F: 512-744-4334
Email: glass@stratfor.com
RE: Stratfor on YouTube
Released on 2013-02-13 00:00 GMT
Email-ID 5027
Date 2006-11-15 16:36:46
From kornfield@stratfor.com
To allstratfor@stratfor.com
I bet a film of a blue sky discussion would be interesting. Particularly if George, Reva and Rodger all vehemently disagree with each other. 
Possible titles:
“Why China sucks and Iraq doesn’t matter.”
“How to make ricin in three easy steps.”
“Bolivia, World Hegemon.”
“Nice things to say about Africa.”
“How long will Poland last?”
“What if the world’s whole population got to vote in the next U.S.
presidential election?”
“Turkey: Attaboy.”
“The Seethers of Lebanon”
“Is that Hizbullah or he just happy to see me?”
We could also have a Christmas peep microwaving session, and discuss the
analogy between melting marshmellow and… [choose your own adventure].
———————————————————————-
RE: The Mexican, the arab, and the jersey girl
Released on 2013-02-13 00:00 GMT
Email-ID 5982
Date 2007-03-20 14:20:28
From campbell@stratfor.com
To social@stratfor.com, jeremy.edwards@stratfor.com
HAHA, small, simple things humor me when I sit alone in my
apartment with no face to face human contact each day.
—–Original Message—–
From: Jeremy Edwards [mailto:jeremy.edwards@stratfor.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 9:21 AM
To: sarah campbell
Cc: social@stratfor.com
Subject: Re: The Mexican, the arab, and the jersey girl
Your great grandparents used to laugh at that joke when their great-grandparents told it to them.
sarah campbell wrote:
A Mexican drinks his beer and suddenly throws his glass in the air, pulls out his pistol and shoots the glass to pieces. He says, “In Mexico our glasses are so cheap we don’t need to drink from the same glass twice.”
An Iraqi, obviously impressed by this, drinks his beer, throws his glass into the air, pulls out his AK-47 and shoots the glass to pieces. He says, “In Iraq we have so much sand to make glasses that we don’t need to drink out of the same glass twice either.
The Jersey Girl, cool as a cucumber, picks up her beer and drinks it, throws her glass into the air, pulls out her gun and shoots the Mexican and the Iraqi, and catches her glass. She says, “In New Jersey we have so many illegal Mexicans and Arabs that we don’t have to drink with the same ones twice.
hahahaha.
Sarah Campbell
*Stratfor* *Strategic Forecasting, Inc*.
Briefer
T: 202.349.1748
F: 202.349.8655
Campbell@Stratfor.com
————————————————–
Jeremy Edwards
Strategic Forecasting, Inc.
Writer/Copyeditor
T: 512-744-4321
F: 512-744-4434
jeremy.edwards@stratfor.com
http://www.stratfor.com
————————————————————-
RE: The Mexican, the arab, and the jersey girl
Released on 2013-02-13 00:00 GMT
Email-ID 6035
Date 2007-03-20 14:27:18
From scott.stewart@stratfor.com
To social@stratfor.com
Being that I’m from Pennsylvania, that joke is far more flattering than any joke my grandaddy EVER told me about Jersey Girls.=20
In fact, he probably would have said something to the effect that since there are so many illegal aliens in Jersey that they Jersey Girls never have to sleep with the same ones twice.
————————————————————–
From: Reva Bhalla [mailto:reva.bhalla@stratfor.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 2:34 PM
To: stratforaustin@stratfor.com
Cc: ‘Joseph de Feo’
Subject: Happy Hour…today!
You’re tired, you’re over-worked, you’re sick of George telling you how meaningless your life is….you need a drink.
Lucky for you, we’ve organized a happy hour. Jeff Stevens has proposed the rooftop at the InterContinental on Congress — awesome drinks, great weather, great view.
Also, Joe de Feo is here from DC and is in need of some Austin culture. Come out and meet the real Joe de Feo, and get fashion tips from him while you’re at it.
Let me know if you can make it…we’d love to have you there.
ciao,
Reva and Amanda
–
Marko Papic
Stratfor Geopol Intern
Austin, Texas
AIM: mpapicstratfor
Cell: + 1-512-905-3091
–
Marko Papic
Stratfor Geopol Intern
Austin, Texas
AIM: mpapicstratfor
Cell: + 1-512-905-3091
——————————————————–
Re: Happy Hour…today!
Released on 2012-10-19 08:00 GMT
Email-ID 17432
Date 2007-12-05 22:33:13
From zeihan@stratfor.com
To Stratforaustin@stratfor.com, burton@stratfor.com, defeo@stratfor.com, reva.bhalla@stratfor.com, ct@stratfor.com, marko.papic@stratfor.com
if i have a shrunken arab head on the dash and a “nuke em all” bumpersticker would i have been ok?
Fred Burton wrote: Concur, the sheriff would still have probable cause for the traffic stop.
———————————————————————-
From: Marko Papic [mailto:marko.papic@stratfor.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 3:29 PM
To: Reva Bhalla
Cc: Fred Burton; Joseph de Feo; CT AOR; stratforaustin@stratfor.com;
Peter Zeihan
Subject: Re: Happy Hour…today!
i think my point still stands… the said sheriff would be prudent to pull Peter over for driving a hybrid, he can establish his hatred for arabs during questioning and send him off with a citation…
—– Original Message —–
From: “Reva Bhalla”
To: “Peter Zeihan” , “Marko Papic”
Cc: “Fred Burton” , “Joseph de Feo”
, “CT AOR” ,
stratforaustin@stratfor.com
Sent: Wednesday, December 5, 2007 3:26:44 PM (GMT-0600) America/Chicago
Subject: RE: Happy Hour…today!
ooh, how would you evaluate that one, Fred? he hates the A-rabs, but drives a hippie car. do they cancel each other out?
———————————————————————-
From: Peter Zeihan [mailto:zeihan@stratfor.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 3:24 PM
To: Marko Papic
Cc: Fred Burton; Joseph de Feo; CT AOR; Reva Bhalla;
stratforaustin@stratfor.com
Subject: Re: Happy Hour…today!
hey!
i drive a hybrid because i can’t stand saudis — has nothing to do with been a greeny
Marko Papic wrote:
good call Fred… but you forgot to remind him about Saabs, Subarus and any form of hybrids…
———————————————————-
—– Original Message —–
From: “Fred Burton”
To: “Reva Bhalla” ,
stratforaustin@stratfor.com
Cc: “Joseph de Feo” , “CT AOR”
Sent: Wednesday, December 5, 2007 3:11:27 PM (GMT-0600)
America/Chicago
Subject: RE: Happy Hour…today!
Mull this conversation over while at the local dot com bar –
This skinny, hard scrabble, 70-year-old Texas sheriff, dipping Copenhagen, wearing two Colt .45 Commanders (“am too damn old to reload”) asked me to help him define probable cause for traffic stops in a post 9-11 world.
He went on to say that his current policy was, “Anybody who doesn’t belong, dot com land speculators, foreigners, Middle-Easterners, cars with tags north of Virginia, and long hairs.”
I nodded and told him that was a pretty good list, but he may want to think about adding anybody who drives a Volvo, beacuse they could be liberal Dems in his county stirring up dissent.
The old boy said, “Damn good idea” as he scribbled it down in his ticket book.
———————————————————————-
FAIR USE NOTICE
Fair Use Notice
This web site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This site makes such material available in efforts to advance the understanding of humanity’s problems and hopefully to help find solutions for those problems.
We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. A click on a hyperlink is a request for information.
Consistent with this notice you are welcome to make ‘fair use’ of anything you find on this web site. However, if you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
You can read more about ‘fair use’ and US Copyright Law at the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School. This notice was modified from a similar notice at Common Dreams and Information Clearinghouse.