It is something that serious investigative journalists and skeptics alike have suspected for years, especially as sites like Facebook have gradually and quietly eliminated users' access to the privacy controls that once kept their information "classified" by default. Today, Facebook is literally an open book of information that is freely available not only to the rest of the internet, but also to numerous government agencies that many years ago invested millions of dollars to make social networking sites like Facebook what they are today.
Venture capital firm that ensured Facebook's success linked to CIA front group
When Facebook was first getting off its feet, it turns out, the company received a huge cash injection from a venture capital firm known as Accel Partners. According to reports, Accel's head, James Breyer, was a former chairman at National Venture Capital Association, where he served on the board with Gilman Louie, the CEO of another venture capital group known as In-Q-Tel.According to In-Q-Tel's "Mission" page, the group, which invested nearly $13 million during Facebook's early days, was first launched in 1999 as a catalyst for keeping the CIA up-to-date with the latest information-gathering technologies. Not surprisingly, the primary purpose of In-Q-Tel is to "build relationships with technology startups outside the reach of the Intelligence Community," and partner with private sector groups who are willing to "co-invest in [its] portfolio companies." (http://www.iqt.org/about/mission.html)
If you connect the dots here, it becomes clear that Breyer's expertise is in connecting the CIA with private enterprises like Facebook and Twitter that focus on gathering information, whether it be for marketing or some other purpose. And it appears as though the CIA front group In-Q-Tel saw a unique opportunity to use newfangled social media to gather intelligence in a completely new way, without actually having to gather it at all, at least in the traditional sense.
"We have to look at where the seed money came for these social networks," explained investigative journalist Wayne Madsen to RT back in 2011 about the CIA connection to social media. "We do know that the Central Intelligence Agency through In-Q-Tel, its venture capital firm, provided a lot of seed money for many of these companies that developed these social networking operations and programs. So people have to be aware that when they put personal information online, they're basically doing the CIA's job for them."
If you use social media, Big Brother may be watching you
The moral of the story here is that nothing on the internet is private or sacred, especially when it is posted on social media. You can be sure that Big Brother is actively monitoring the activities of social media users continuously, and compiling this data for total control purposes. The good news; however, is that you always have the option to completely delete, not just deactivate, your Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_accountBe sure to also check out this fascinating diagram called "The Evolution of Privacy on Facebook," keeping in mind that things have only gotten worse since 2010 when the image was last updated. (http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/)
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/038491_social_media_CIA_spying.html#ixzz2GXOfRXpH
Hollywood Myths vs. the Real CIA
When you think about the CIA, does a famous British super spy come to mind? Are images of shootouts and high speed chases running through your head? Do you imagine CIA officers chasing terrorists through the American heartland, as seen on popular TV shows?
While the CIA may have cool spy tools that even James Bond would be proud to use, such as a robot fish that samples water and insect-sized listening devices, the CIA is a lot different than Hollywood portrays it to be. CIA.gov wants to share some of the facts with you.
Myth: Everyone at the CIA is a spy.
Reality: The case officers commonly depicted in Hollywood are just one specialized occupation in the CIA. These officers recruit people in foreign countries who have access to valuable information (spies), but the officers themselves are not spies.To carry out its mission of collecting and analyzing foreign intelligence, the Agency has a diverse workforce that includes analysts, case officers, support staff and technology experts. This breadth of expertise is one of many things that make the CIA unique.
Myth: The CIA spies on US citizens.
Reality: The Federal Bureau of Investigation has the lead on intelligence matters in the United States, especially those directed against US citizens. However, the CIA and the FBI work together as needed to protect the interests of US national security. The CIA does not collect information concerning the domestic activities of US citizens, but its foreign intelligence collection mission can be conducted anywhere.Myth: The CIA is above the law.
Reality: The National Security Act of 1947 and multiple Executive Orders provide the authority for CIA activities. The CIA reports to two Congressional oversight committees, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), which ensure that the Agency operates legally and within the scope of its charter.In addition, the CIA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) provides independent oversight of the CIA. The OIG performs independent audits, inspections, investigations and reviews of CIA programs and operations.
Myth: The CIA arrests people who break the law.
Reality: The CIA, unlike the FBI, has no law enforcement authority. The Agency’s mission is foreign intelligence collection and analysis. If you have a law enforcement issue, contact your local police department or the US Department of Justice.Myth: The CIA makes foreign policy.
Reality: The CIA informs foreign policy. It works with other members of the Intelligence Community to produce objective analysis on intelligence issues. The president and policymakers make all US policy decisions, not the CIA.The CIA’s mission is exciting in its own right, but different from the caricature Hollywood portrays.
To read more about common myths about the CIA, check out this article:
Fact vs. Fiction: Debunking Some Myths
Posted: Dec 27, 2012 06:56 AM
Last Updated: Dec 27, 2012 10:14 AM
Last Reviewed: Dec 27, 2012 06:56 AM
More than 40 years after his death, the body of former CIA scientist Dr. Frank Olson has been exhumed. Olson's son Eric is convinced his father was murdered by agents of the American government because he wanted to leave the CIA. Dr. Frank Olson was an expert for anthrax and other biological weapons and had top security clearance. Forensic pathologists at George Washington University performed an autopsy and concluded that Olson probably was the victim of a violent crime. A film by Egmont R. Koch and Michael Wech.
Top CIA Spy Accused of Being a Mafia Hitman
By Robert Beckhusen
Email Author
June 27, 2012
Enrique “Ricky” Prado’s resume reads like the ultimate CIA officer: veteran of the Central American wars, running the CIA’s operations in Korea, a top spy in America’s espionage programs against China, and deputy to counter-terrorist chief Cofer Black — and then a stint at Blackwater. But he’s also alleged to have started out a career as a hitman for a notorious Miami mobster, and kept working for the mob even after joining the CIA. Finally, he went on to serve as the head of the CIA’s secret assassination squad against Al-Qaida.
That’s according to journalist Evan Wright’s blockbuster story How to Get Away With Murder in America, distributed by Byliner. In it, Wright — who authored Generation Kill, the seminal story of the Iraq invasion — compiles lengthy, years-long investigations by state and federal police into a sector of Miami’s criminal underworld that ended nowhere, were sidelined by higher-ups, or cut short by light sentences. It tracks the history of Prado’s alleged Miami patron and notorious cocaine trafficker, Alberto San Pedro, and suspicions that Prado moved a secret death squad from the CIA to Blackwater.
“In protecting Prado, the CIA arguably allowed a new type of mole — an agent not of a foreign government but of American criminal interests — to penetrate command,” Wright writes.
In this sense, there are two stories that blur into each other: Prado the CIA officer, and Prado the alleged killer. The latter begins when Prado met his alleged future mob patron, Alberto San Pedro, as a high school student in Miami after their families had fled Cuba following the revolution. Prado would later join the Air Force, though he never saw service in Vietnam, and returned to Miami to work as a firefighter. But he kept moonlighting as a hitman for San Pedro, who had emerged into one of Miami’s most formidable cocaine traffickers, according to Wright.
San Pedro hosted parties for the city’s elite, lost a testicle in a drive-by shooting outside of his house, rebuilt his house into a fortress, tortured guard dogs for sport, and imported tens of millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine into the United States per year, Wright adds. His ties reportedly included an aide to former Florida Governor Bob Graham, numerous judges, lobbyists and a state prosecutor. His ties also included a friendship with former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, then a local TV reporter.
Prado, meanwhile, was dropping bodies, alleges Wright. Investigators from the Miami-Dade Police Department’s organized crime squad suspected him of participating in at least seven murders and one attempted murder. He attempted to join the CIA, but returned to Miami after not completing the background check (due to his apparent concern over his family ties). But was admitted after the Reagan administration opened up a covert offensive against leftist Central American militants, where he reportedly served training the Contras.
More startling, the Miami murders allegedly continued after Prado joined the CIA. One target included a cocaine distributor in Colorado who was killed by a car bomb. Investigators believed he was killed over concerns he would talk to the police.
Years later, in 1996, Prado was a senior manager inside the CIA’s Bin Laden Issue Station, before the Al-Qaida mastermind was a well-known name. Two years later, the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania elevated Prado to become the chief of operations inside the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center, headed by then-chief Cofer Black, later an executive for the notorious merc firm Blackwater. “As the title implied, the job made Prado responsible for all the moving pieces at the CTC — supervising field offices on surveillance, rendition, or other missions, and making sure that logistics were in order, that personnel were in place,” according to Wright.
Prado was also reportedly put in charge of a “targeted assassination unit,” that was never put into operation. (The CIA shifted to drones.) But according to Wright, the CIA handed over its hit squad operation to Blackwater, now called Academi, as a way “to kill people with precision, without getting caught.” Prado is said to have negotiated the deal to transfer the unit, which Wright wrote “marked the first time the U.S. government outsourced a covert assassination service to private enterprise.” As to whether the unit was then put into operation, two Blackwater contractors tell Wright the unit began “whacking people like crazy” beginning in 2008. Prado also popped up two years ago in a report by Jeremy Scahill of The Nation, in which the now ex-CIA Prado was discovered to have built up a network of foreign shell companies to hide Blackwater operations, beginning in 2004. The Nation also revealed that Prado pitched an e-mail in 2007 to the DEA, explaining that Blackwater could “do everything from everything from surveillance to ground truth to disruption operations,” carried out by foreign nationals, “so deniability is built in and should be a big plus.”
But it’s hard to say where Prado’s alleged criminal ties end. It’s possibly his ties dried up, or moved on. Even mobsters, like Alberto San Pedro, retire. Another theory has it that Prado wanted to break his ties to the Miami underworld — and San Pedro — all along, and sought out legitimate employment in the military, in firefighting and the CIA as an escape. But, the theory goes, he stayed in because he still owed a debt to his patrons.
The other question involves the CIA itself. It’s no secret the agency has associated with dubious types, but the agency is also “notoriously risk averse,” Wright writes. Yet the agency is also protective. And letting Prado on board wouldn’t be the agency’s first intelligence failure.
There is some inaccuracy in this video, and yet it is appalling. A perfect record of mayhem and incompetence. A recurring pattern of creating problems ever worst.
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA - part 1
...copyrighted Aug. 17, 2011 The Reagan Years January...currency trading, on the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile...1976 and retired from the CIA in 1980. Yet...Shackley retired from the CIA in Dec.1977 and...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA - part 2
Pres. Reagan in 1981 installed a highly...North working out of the Nation Security Council...Vincent Cannistrarco , the operations chief for...in supplying arms to the mujahedin. Reagan deployed the CIA's Special Activities...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA - part 3
...European Division of the CIA where he played...pivotal role in the illegal Iran-Contra...slaughters at the Sabra and Shatila...500 . Andbehind the scenes, Reagan...to Iran to help the Shah state in...years working for the CIA, these two...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA - part 4
...According to a number of scholarly works and hearing records, he intervened personally...the CIA had memorandum summarizing theCIA's continuous "use" of Wilson and...was there about Barry Seal that led the FBI and the CIA to refuse to cooperate with state...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA - part 5
...training, so that I could contribute to the CIA's efforts to bypass the Boland amendment...graduating from Stanford University at the age of 17 and he was involved in numerous...was very intelligent and his tasks for the shadow CIA included software developer...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA - part 6
...media publicity prevented the CIA from arranging a get...government. Taus also learned that the CIA had discovered thenames...relationship between Wackenhut and the CIA. "For years Wackenhut has been involved with the CIA and other intelligence...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA - part 7
The presence of a representative from the American...related to biological warfare". After referring to the plan Nichols had sent previously to Dr. Fair...murdered in a way to make it look like a suicide). ( The Last Circle pg. 213). CIA's front banks and drug...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA - part 8
...Pool and arranged clandestine shipments of stolen gold for the CIA and the traditional mafia, as well as other criminal cartels. He...voluminous CIA white papers concerning " Operation Black Eagle ," the code-name for the Bush-Casey-North program involving US...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA - part 9
...went to Democrats in the State of Arkansas...illustrate how important the State of Arkansas...and they wind up in the hands of the Jeb Bush...were retired from the CIA, but in fact were...still working for the shadow CIA . From...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA -part 10
The New York Times reported that...etc. It was used extensively by the CIA throughout its history, it...also played their part. (Source: TheCIA and Deadly Deceits by Ralph W. McGehee – retired CIA officer) The cover up: In 1986, President...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA -part 11
...became chief of police and then head of the armed forces. Alvarez forced into exile...edu/trial.html Ralph McGehee worked for the CIAfrom 1952 until 1977 and he wrote the book, Deadly Deceits -- My 25 years in...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA -part 12
During the spring of 1988 , the Reagan...administrations, stating that the leaders of Salvadoran armed...torture to sustain their power. TheUN report stated they were...CIA-inspired death squads in the Philippines. National Reporter...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA -part 13
...in early 1985 to solicit aid for the anti-Sandinista cause. The South African aid may help explain Reagan's vigorous opposition...involved was Carl E. Jenkins and Gene Wheaton of National Air. The plan was to use National Air to transport weapons http://www...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA -part 14
...White House official close to the deal said that hard-line...During the Reagan administration, there...campaign that initially targeted theanti-intervention group Committee...Reagan, acted on behalf of the Justice Department and agreed...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA -part 15
...and, in fact, when I actually got into it and started redoing the oil trading transactions, the reason they lostmoney: they weren...the CIA. So where did this alleged USAID funding come from, the shadow CIA? During this period, he traveled extensively in...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA -part 16
...covert domestic propaganda operations The Reagan administration had built a...disinformation specialist working out of the National Security Council. It is...they "became the key link between the State Department and the Reagan White House with the private...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA -part 17
...Working Group - directly under the control of the National Security...veterans for his secret missions "the CIA and NSC have no capability...Gilbert the investigator at the Riverside District Attorney...learned that drug activities on the Cabozon Indian reservation...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA -part 18
...Italian intelligence officials linked to the secretive fascist Masonic lodge, P2...North to smuggle missiles to Iran during the embargo. RoyReagan had a long and detailed history of connections to the shadow CIA. One of Reagan's business...
Jan.1981 to Dec. 1988 The Reagan Years and the shadow CIA -part 19
...Emergency Group (KEG) in the US embassy in Bangkok and on the Thai-Cambodian border...career underscored the continuity of American...running KEG out of the US organization...Khmer Rouge over the Vietnamese-sponsored...government of Cambodia. The Carterand Reagan...
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