White House claims Occupy collusion emails were “mistaken”
In an interview with Victoria Taft on the Victoria Taft show KPAM radio at AM 860 , Judicial Watch spokesperson Tom Fitton announced that the White House had responded to the growing scandal surrounding their decision to ”stand down” from enforcing the law against Occupy lawbreakers.
The scandal was revealed when Judicial Watch, having obtained documents through the FOIA act, discovered emails between the GSA(General Services Administration) and the DHS (Department of Homeland Security). Occupy was illegally camping on federal land administered by the GSA. While camping on the land, and other land in Portland, they created multiple problems, including threatening reporters and vandalizing local banks. Taft also spoke of the “420 tent” that was at the Occupy Portland where people went to get stoned.
The emails revealed GSA Commissioner Robert Beck saying that they had consulted with the WH and were “standing down” from enforcing action against Occupy. See more here.
Now Fitton has said the White House has responded, claiming, despite the emails showing White House collusion, GSA Commissioner Beck was “mistaken” about the White House’s approval for standing down from enforcing the law.
Fitton and Taft expressed incredulity that the White House could be taking that posture, given the emails.
The White House and prominent Democrats, such as Nancy Pelosi, have made various endorsing statements about Occupy since its inception, most famously, Nancy Pelosi’s statement, “God Bless them”. Most of the people who started Occupy have a background in Democratic or leftist causes including with ACORN, SDS, SEIU, the Wobblies, Code Pink and the Democratic Socialists of America.
Occupy has been involved with over 7500 arrests as of the current date, everything from disorderly persons charges up to murder. Nationally, the damages resulting from various Occupy actions exceed 40 million dollars. In LA alone, in a state bordering on bankruptcy, Occupy has cost the city over 4 million dollars.
Judicial Watch: White House approved “going easy” on Occupiers breaking the law
Occupiers in Schrunk Plaza, Portland, Oregon in November 2011
Judicial Watch has uncovered explosive documents, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, that show the White House gave the go ahead to officials in the General Services Administration (GSA) to “stand down” and not arrest Occupy Portland protesters who may have been in violation of the law last year.
According to Judicial Watch, former GSA Commissioner Robert Peck apparently told the Department of Homeland Security that the White House had approved them “going easy” on the Occupiers.
In a Nov. 6, 2011, DHS/National Protection and Programs Directorate Chief of Staff Caitlin Durkovich asked GSA’s Peck if it was true that his agency had asked Federal Protective Service officials not to take action against the Occupy Portland protestors.
“Yes, that is our position,” Peck responded. “It’s been vetted with our Administrator and Michael Robertson, our chief of staff, and we have communicated with the WH [White House], which has afforded us the discretion to fashion our approach to Occupy issues…The arrests last week were carried out despite our request that the protesters [sic] be allowed to remain and to camp overnight…”
Members of Occupy Portland had been protesting for several days on GSA-owned property in the Portland area. Eleven of the protestors had chained themselves together in a downtown Portland park and were in violation of an anti camping law in the park. A splinter of the group had already claimed responsibility for vandalism at local banks. After this edict came down in early November to not pursue them, that Occupiers subsequently also threatened reporters and pushed one of them. See here.
Occupiers have been involved with multiple crimes or violations of the law across the country, resulting in over 7500 arrests, ranging from disorderly conduct to murder.
According to the Washington Examiner, the White House has made repeated denials of giving aid or encouragement to the Occupy protests. The Examiner also notes that GSA Commissioner Bob Peck was a big contributor to Democratic candidates, including to President Obama. Peck was forced to resign from GSA earlier this year after the scandal surrounding spending at a regional conference in Las Vegas.
“We now have a new GSA scandal – one that involves the Obama White House,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “These documents clearly show that federal agencies colluded with the Obama White House to allow the Occupy Wall Street protestors to violate the law with impunity. These documents tell us that the GSA and DHS can’t be relied upon to protect federal workers or property.”
For more from Judicial Watch on the Occupy documents, go here.
Major cyber attack aimed at natural gas pipeline companies
Cyber security analysts work in the “watch and warning center” at the federal government’s secretive cyber defense lab, in Idaho Falls, Idaho. The Homeland Security Department’s Control System Security Program facilities are intended to protect the nation’s power grid, water and communications systems.
Mark J. Terrill/AP
Excerpted from Christian Science Monitor:
A major cyber attack is currently underway aimed at computer networks belonging to US natural gas pipeline companies, according to alerts issued by the US Department of Homeland Security.
At least three confidential “amber” alerts – the second most sensitive next to “red” – were issued by DHS beginning March 29, all warning of a “gas pipeline sector cyber intrusion campaign” against multiple pipeline companies. But the wave of cyber attacks, which apparently began four months ago – and may also affect Canadian natural gas pipeline companies – is continuing.
That fact was reaffirmed late Friday in a public, albeit less detailed, “incident response” report from the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT), an arm of DHS based in Idaho Falls. It reiterated warnings in the earlier confidential alerts made directly to pipeline companies and some power companies.
The ICS-CERT is charged with helping secure the nation’s industrial control systems – computerized systems that open and close valves, switches and factory processes vital to the chemical, industrial, and power sectors. Their “fly away” teams visit factories, power plants, and pipeline companies to investigate cyber intrusions.
“ICS-CERT has recently identified an active series of cyber intrusions targeting natural gas pipeline sector companies,” the confidential April 13 alert warns. “Multiple natural gas pipeline organizations have reported either attempts or intrusions related to this campaign. The campaign appears to have started in late December 2011 and is active today.”
Approximately 200,000 miles of these interstate natural gas transmission pipelines in the US supply 25 percent of the nation’s energy. Pipeline safety has been a major issue in recent years, highlighted by the San Bruno, Calif. pipeline explosion that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes in the Bay Area in September 2010.
In yesterday’s public warning, ICS-CERT re-affirms that its “analysis of the malware and artifacts associated with these cyber attacks has positively identified this activity as related to a single campaign from a single source. It goes on to broadly describe a sophisticated “spear-phishing” campaign – an approach in which cyber attackers attempt to establish digital beachheads within corporate networks.
See more of the story here
