Is Obama leaking intelligence for Political Gain?

Jroc

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Oct 19, 2010
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So what's the point of leaking all these details? For no other reason than to make Obama look good again?


CIA unraveled bomb plot from within


The latest al-Qaeda bomb plot targeting U.S. aircraft was unraveled from inside the terrorist group by operatives — including a double agent — working on behalf of the CIA and its counterparts in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, said U.S. and Middle Eastern officials.

The Saudi intelligence service played a particularly important role in penetrating al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen and recovering the explosive device, according to officials, who described an elaborate espionage operation in which the CIA tracked the bomb’s movements for weeks and then killed suspected plotters in a drone strike after the device was seized.


The Associated Press has learned the CIA thwarted a plot by al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb with a new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Senior U.S. officials continued to withhold certain details, including the location and status of the individual — described by officials as a Saudi informant — who penetrated the terrorist group posing as a willing suicide bomber and then turned over the device to authorities after leaving Yemen.

But comments by White House counterterrorism adviser John O. Brennan and others made it clear that the involvement of the CIA and its partners went well beyond simply watching the plot unfold.


The disruption of the threat also indicates that the CIA and other agencies have gained significant traction on their target two years after President Obama began deploying more spies, eavesdropping equipment and armed drones to the Arabian Peninsula.

CIA officials declined to comment on the mission. Other officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of intelligence operations

CIA unraveled bomb plot from within - The Washington Post
 
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Good thing he kept quiet about Bin Laden. Republicans would have seen him let go a second time.
 
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Tuesday that information was leaked prematurely regarding a recent foiled bomb plot and suggested the release might have been “promoted” for political gain.

“In this town, in a political season, people need to be a little more cautious — actually they need to be a lot more cautious — about how they promote this information at a time when it might not be most beneficial to the Intelligence Committee to do it,” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) told CNN.

Rogers said he he’ll “be asking some pretty hard questions” about the timing of the released information, but when asked, refused to confirm his suspicions about the motivation of the alleged leak.

“I just know that in a political season, funny things happen,” he added.

GOP rep. suggests bomb plot intelligence leaked prematurely - The Hill's Video
 
Is Obama leaking intelligence for Political Gain?

rdean has more intelligence than Obama.

Best guess....no.
 
Al-Qaeda Coming Back Despite Obama's Claims, Says Expert

339425.jpg


U.S. President Barack Obama said last week that the Al-Qaeda was “on a path to defeat,” but Seth Jones, a former U.S. Special Operations Command senior adviser, says the evidence he has collected points to the contrary.

Jones recently wrote a book called “Hunting in the Shadows: The Pursuit of Al Qa'ida Since 9/11”, in which he draws upon his expertise and thousands of pages of court transcripts, including wiretapped conversations and communications intelligence intercepts, to paint a picture of a terrorist organization that has been transformed, but not defeated.

Jones spoke with the U.S. News website last week about his theory of “waves” of violence from Al-Qaeda and what needs to be done to prevent the next cycle.

“When you look at fatality data, what you see is three major waves of activity,” he said. “The first wave really begins around the time of the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998 and crests around September 11 [2001]. And then it comes way down after that. By the invasion of Iraq [in 2003], we begin to see a major increase in Al-Qaeda attacks. And it first starts in Iraq itself, where Al-Qaeda in Iraq is established after the invasion. And then it starts to get reinvigorated overseas—Bali, Casablanca, Madrid, and a very successful attack in London. The third wave starts around 2008 and into 2009, in particular with Al-Qaeda's successful establishment of a sanctuary in Yemen.”

Al-Qaeda Coming Back Despite Obama's Claims - Middle East - News - Israel National News
 
Is Obama leaking intelligence for Political Gain?

Yes, he's leaking lots of intelligence. Too bad righties aren't absorbing any of it.

Regarding intell, you're obviously ignoring the Bush years of leaking details, both real and fictitious.
 
So what's the point of leaking all these details? For no other reason than to make Obama look good again?


CIA unraveled bomb plot from within


The latest al-Qaeda bomb plot targeting U.S. aircraft was unraveled from inside the terrorist group by operatives — including a double agent — working on behalf of the CIA and its counterparts in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, said U.S. and Middle Eastern officials.

The Saudi intelligence service played a particularly important role in penetrating al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen and recovering the explosive device, according to officials, who described an elaborate espionage operation in which the CIA tracked the bomb’s movements for weeks and then killed suspected plotters in a drone strike after the device was seized.


The Associated Press has learned the CIA thwarted a plot by al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb with a new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Senior U.S. officials continued to withhold certain details, including the location and status of the individual — described by officials as a Saudi informant — who penetrated the terrorist group posing as a willing suicide bomber and then turned over the device to authorities after leaving Yemen.

But comments by White House counterterrorism adviser John O. Brennan and others made it clear that the involvement of the CIA and its partners went well beyond simply watching the plot unfold.


The disruption of the threat also indicates that the CIA and other agencies have gained significant traction on their target two years after President Obama began deploying more spies, eavesdropping equipment and armed drones to the Arabian Peninsula.

CIA officials declined to comment on the mission. Other officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of intelligence operations

CIA unraveled bomb plot from within - The Washington Post


Partisan nonsense. Under Bush, if a plot was uncovered and stopped, the public was told. Thats just standard operating procedure.

Bush wasnt trying to gain political points with it. And neither is Obama.

List of foiled Islamic terrorist plots in the post-9/11 United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
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Al-Qaeda Coming Back Despite Obama's Claims, Says Expert

339425.jpg


U.S. President Barack Obama said last week that the Al-Qaeda was “on a path to defeat,” but Seth Jones, a former U.S. Special Operations Command senior adviser, says the evidence he has collected points to the contrary.

Jones recently wrote a book called “Hunting in the Shadows: The Pursuit of Al Qa'ida Since 9/11”, in which he draws upon his expertise and thousands of pages of court transcripts, including wiretapped conversations and communications intelligence intercepts, to paint a picture of a terrorist organization that has been transformed, but not defeated.

Jones spoke with the U.S. News website last week about his theory of “waves” of violence from Al-Qaeda and what needs to be done to prevent the next cycle.

“When you look at fatality data, what you see is three major waves of activity,” he said. “The first wave really begins around the time of the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998 and crests around September 11 [2001]. And then it comes way down after that. By the invasion of Iraq [in 2003], we begin to see a major increase in Al-Qaeda attacks. And it first starts in Iraq itself, where Al-Qaeda in Iraq is established after the invasion. And then it starts to get reinvigorated overseas—Bali, Casablanca, Madrid, and a very successful attack in London. The third wave starts around 2008 and into 2009, in particular with Al-Qaeda's successful establishment of a sanctuary in Yemen.”

Al-Qaeda Coming Back Despite Obama's Claims - Middle East - News - Israel National News


This story makes more sense than youre original post. It takes time to recruit, train and infiltrate. Seems likely that we would see waves of Al Queda operations rather than just one coninual push.
 
Al-Qaeda Coming Back Despite Obama's Claims, Says Expert

339425.jpg


U.S. President Barack Obama said last week that the Al-Qaeda was “on a path to defeat,” but Seth Jones, a former U.S. Special Operations Command senior adviser, says the evidence he has collected points to the contrary.

Jones recently wrote a book called “Hunting in the Shadows: The Pursuit of Al Qa'ida Since 9/11”, in which he draws upon his expertise and thousands of pages of court transcripts, including wiretapped conversations and communications intelligence intercepts, to paint a picture of a terrorist organization that has been transformed, but not defeated.

Jones spoke with the U.S. News website last week about his theory of “waves” of violence from Al-Qaeda and what needs to be done to prevent the next cycle.

“When you look at fatality data, what you see is three major waves of activity,” he said. “The first wave really begins around the time of the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998 and crests around September 11 [2001]. And then it comes way down after that. By the invasion of Iraq [in 2003], we begin to see a major increase in Al-Qaeda attacks. And it first starts in Iraq itself, where Al-Qaeda in Iraq is established after the invasion. And then it starts to get reinvigorated overseas—Bali, Casablanca, Madrid, and a very successful attack in London. The third wave starts around 2008 and into 2009, in particular with Al-Qaeda's successful establishment of a sanctuary in Yemen.”

Al-Qaeda Coming Back Despite Obama's Claims - Middle East - News - Israel National News


This story makes more sense than youre original post. It takes time to recruit, train and infiltrate. Seems likely that we would see waves of Al Queda operations rather than just one coninual push.

It doesn't help the effort to put out all that info
 
The time between Nov '12 and Jan '13 will be scary times after Obama sees the final results.....

A lame-duck Obama scares the shit out of me
 
of course Obama will leak for his own political gain....

Attacking Iran: Did US just torpedo Israeli deal for a base in Azerbaijan

Israel is developing a 'secret staging ground' in Azerbaijan for a possible attack on Iran, reports Foreign Policy magazine. US officials aren't happy with that, and may have leaked the story.

The three-way tension between the United States, Israel, and Iran became tenser this week with a widely cited report that Israel is developing a “secret staging ground” in Iran’s neighbor to the north – Azerbaijan – for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.


An accelerating covert war with Iran: Could it spiral into military action?
.Quoting unnamed senior US diplomats and military intelligence officials, a lengthy article in Foreign Policy magazine asserts that “Israel has recently been granted access to airbases on Iran's northern border.”

"The Israelis have bought an airfield," a senior administration official is quoted as saying, "and the airfield is called Azerbaijan."


Why would US officials be talking about this? Likely to slow down any rush to war in an already volatile region, some speculate.

"I think this leak today is part of the administration's campaign against an Israeli attack," former US diplomat John Bolton said Thursday on Fox News.

"Clearly, this is an administration-orchestrated leak," Mr. Bolton said, adding, "It's just unprecedented to reveal this kind of information about one of your own allies.”

The challenge for Israel in planning such a strike is the long distance to potential targets – some 2,000 miles round-trip – for its F-15 and F-16 fighters. Planning for such strikes always involves tradeoffs between fuel and bombs.

Bases in nearby Azerbaijan (including abandoned former Soviet airfields) could be used for landing and refueling after any strike, allowing Israeli jets to carry more ordnance. Such airfields also could be a staging point for search-and-rescue helicopters that might be necessary to recover downed Israeli pilots. They also could be used to launch drone aircraft for bomb damage assessment once any strike is concluded.

Israel and Azerbaijan have developed an economic military relationship over the years.

Israel buys oil from Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijan recently agreed to buy $1.6 billion in military hardware from Israel, including drones, antiaircraft, and missile-defense systems
.

Attacking Iran: Did US just torpedo Israeli deal for a base in Azerbaijan? - CSMonitor.com
 
Washington (CNN) -- The chairman of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee expressed dismay that someone leaked information about a double agent who infiltrated al Qaeda and helped foil a plot to blow up a U.S.-bound plane.

"It's really, to me, unfortunate that this has gotten out, because this could really interfere with operations overseas," Rep. Peter King of New York told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Tuesday. "My understanding is a major investigation is going to be launched because of this."

U.S. official upset over leak about double agent in bomb plot - CNN.com
 
Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein calls for investigation into the leaks, these leaks jeopardize future operations…. And they came from the Whitehouse.



U.S. lawmakers raised questions Wednesday about leaks that revealed how the CIA disrupted an al-Qaeda plot through a spy who infiltrated the terror group, saying the release of the details could jeopardize sensitive intelligence work.

The officials also suggested the leaks may have been politically motivated to burnish U.S. President Barack Obama’s image.

The tale of high-risk intrigue and stealth conjured up a script from a Hollywood thriller, but members of Congress and intelligence veterans were not amused.

Lawmakers from both parties voiced dismay that elements of the operation were reported by American media only hours after a drone strike on a key al-Qaeda figure and as FBI experts examined an explosive meant to bring down a U.S.-bound airliner.

“I don’t think those leaks should have happened. There was an operation in progress and I think the leak is regarded as very serious,” Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters Tuesday.

The Democrat promised a congressional investigation of the episode, a view shared by her Republican counterparts
.

U.S. leaks on al-Qaeda plot could jeopardize CIA work: lawmakers
 

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