Category Archives: NSA

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, U.S. Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray, U.S. Cyber Command Commander and National Security Agency Director Gen. Paul Nakasone, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Christopher Krebs today released the following joint statement:

Tomorrow, millions of voters in more than a dozen states and territories will cast their votes in presidential primaries. Super Tuesday will see more Americans head to the polls than any other day of the primary season. We continue to work with all 50 states, U.S. territories, local officials, political parties, and private sector partners to keep elections free from foreign interference.

Americans must also remain aware that foreign actors continue to try to influence public sentiment and shape voter perceptions. They spread false information and propaganda about political processes and candidates on social media in hopes to cause confusion and create doubt in our system. We remain alert and ready to respond to any efforts to disrupt the 2020 elections. We continue to make it clear to foreign actors that any effort to undermine our democratic processes will be met with sharp consequences.

The level of coordination and communication between the federal government and state, local, and private sector partners is stronger than its ever been. Our departments and agencies are working together in an unprecedented level of commitment and effort to protect our elections and to counter malign foreign influence, but voters have a role to play too.

We encourage all voters going to the polls to check your voter registration and know ahead of time when to vote, where to vote, whats on your ballot, and whether your state requires identification. Your state or local election officials office is the most trusted source for election material. A well-informed and vigilant republic is the best defense against disinformation.

Here is the original post:
Joint Statement from DOS, DOJ, DOD, DHS, ODNI, FBI, NSA, and CISA on Preparations for Super Tuesday FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation

When the Illinois National Softball Association Hall of Fame got together for its 13th annual induction banquet in December, it honored seven inductees total, with two being local slow-pitch softball players Steve Cantway and Andre Williams.

The two former slow-pitch players joined an exclusive group that features just 11 other former slow-pitch players who have made the NSA Hall of Fame, which began in 2007.

Cantway and Williams were honored for their significant contributions to the amateur slow-pitch softball leagues. The Illinois NSA Hall of Fame felt that both of these men helped increase the quality of play in tournament and games while also taking the extra steps in making each teams visit had an enjoyable experience.

I was extremely humbled to say the least, Cantway said. Because I knew the guys that were already in it and to be mentioned with the guys that were already in it was an honor itself. But to be inducted into the hall of fame as a player was a very humbling experience.

For Cantway, his softball career began after returning home from the Air Force in 1974. Playing tackle football and baseball for his base team in the Air Force helped spark Cantways interest to continue playing sports. So, in 1975 he began his 12-inch slow-pitch softball career, playing for a couple local squads in Kankakee before eventually getting recruited to play for St. Anne Foundrys team the next year.

After joining St. Anne Foundry in 1975 (Cantways favorite team he played for) he was yet to know he would begin a 30-year slow-pitch softball career that included playing for more than 25 separate teams.

I just liked the competitiveness, Cantway said It was a good game back then.

Cantways love for the game helped him become one of the best slow-pitch softball players in the state during the 1970s and 1980s. During his career, Cantway racked up quite a few accolades after playing in more than 2,000 games.

The all-around position player finished his career being named as part of the 1982 Mens Major Class AA State All-Tournament Team. Additionally, Cantway played in 18 state tournaments and eight 35-older World Series Tournaments, including one third-place finish.

Although there are numerous softball leagues nowadays, back in Cantways time, there were only two types of slow-pitch leagues, Class A and Class AA. Cantway competed in the Class AA division, where he competed against dozens of teams on a daily basis in different weekly leagues.

I prided myself on the fact that I could play anywhere on the field, Cantway said. It didnt matter I could play infield, I could play outfield, I could pitch if necessary.

Despite his resume with the glove, Cantway was known for being able to hit the ball. He typically used to hit in the five or six spot for his team where he saw himself finish as a career .600 hitter.

Cantway didnt consider himself a home run hitter but rather an RBI guy who liked to take the ball up the middle. Even so, his proudest moment on the field came when he channeled his inner Barry Bonds and went deep four times in one game.

After working construction for about 30 years while mixing in softball as a hobby, Cantway started to see his body slowly break down. Injuries ultimately caused him to hang up his cleats in 2005 and retire from the sport that gave him so much happiness.

I miss the competitiveness and the camaraderie the most, Cantway said.

Because Cantway missed the game so much, he started coaching baseball after he retired. In 2006, Cantway began his coaching career in high school baseball at Bishop McNamara. Shortly after that, he began coaching in the PONY league, where he still can be seen doing both today as the coach of the Nuscotomek Youth Baseball team at the Palomino (17-18 years) level.

His most recent accomplishment as a coach was leading his Nuscotomek squad to the world series in Laredo, Texas, last year.

Knowing how special those types of moments can be, Cantway always takes time to remind his players to soak in the moment.

My most important thing I tell these kids is to get everything out of the practices and games each day, Cantway said. Because when that game is over or practice is over, you cant get that time back.

As for Williams, he too showed the capability of being a versatile player similar to Cantway.

A Kankakee native, Williams took on slow-pitch softball during 1989 while playing baseball and football for Olivet Nazarene University. As soon as he began routinely playing slow-pitch softball games, Williams fell in love with it not because of the game itself but rather the people he was playing with.

I went out and kind of liked it, and it was not so much softball itself, Williams said. It was just the people. We created a strong bond together, and that is what I looked for when I played it was moreso the guys who kept me interested in it.

He began playing slow-pitch softball as a shortstop before he eventually moved out to the outfield because of his cannon arm and speed. In fact, it did not take long for Williams opponents to respect his skills from the outfield.

I played the outfield, and it got to a point where nobody would try and run on me, Williams said. I used to throw everybody out, and after a while it was just a red light. Every time that I got the ball in my hand, the red light would go up, and I was on the money with it.

More than anything, Williams put his team first. Whatever his squad needed at the time Williams looked to deliver just that.

Whatever the team needed at the time, that is what I did, Williams said. If they needed a base hit, thats what I got; if they needed a home run, thats what I did.

Coming up in clutch situations allowed Williams to be part of multiple championship-caliber teams during his time in Kankakee. Playing on the Dominos team, Williams helped his squad take second place in back-to-back years in the A and AA ASA State Tournaments during the mid 1990s. He also played on the Bud Light USSSA team where Williams won a state championship before moving to Michigan in 1999.

His love for the game of softball didnt stop when he moved out of Illinois. Instead Williams carried his passion of softball to Michigan, where he has continued to play. In the past 20 years, Williams has played for several different teams and won multiple championships.

In 2003 and 2004, his team, Webworks, won the Michigan Amateur Softball Association Class B State title and was the 2004 Black USSSA State Champs. He then went on to win more championships with various teams in 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2016.

Of course, Williams is no longer the athlete he once was because of his age, yet he has continued to play. Williams is 52 years old and plays in a 50 and older league with his current team, Crash Softball. Aside from still playing softball, Williams has found another passion in coaching.

Since moving on from his hometown, Williams has spent the past couple of years coaching high school track and field as well as girls basketball at St. Charles in Michigan. He led his track and field squad to a state championship in 2018 and a second-place finish in 2019.

Out of all the accomplishments Williams has accumulated as a player and coach, none was as important as being able to play co-ed softball with his four kids.

I drug them around the softball field every weekend, Williams said. And for me to be able to be on the field with them after dragging them around and them watching me play, to be able to play with them for 20 games was my most memorable moment in softball.

Despite the age gap between Cantway and Williams during their playing days, both of them remember each other as players.

Andre was an excellent player, Cantway said. He was fast; a base hit was a double. He played outfield most of the time we played him. He tracked down everything. Not only was he a great player but he was also a great person.

For Williams, he remembers Cantway for how hard he used to play.

Those guys are warriors, Williams said of Cantway and his former teammates. As a young man, I never understood why he was playing so hard, and its because one day he wont be able to. So he is playing hard. Those guys play hard, and Steve never took a play off.

Follow this link:
Cantway and Williams get inducted into the Illinois NSA Hall of Fame - Kankakee Daily Journal

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval came to the Centre's rescue once again at a time when the centrally-managed Delhi Police was facing flak for failing to control three-day-long bloody riots in the National Capital.

Doval's involvement, though unique, failed to surprise anyone as the riots came as a major embarrassment to the Central Government, which was entertaining a foreign dignitary in the National Capital, under full glare of the western media.

File image of National Security of Advisor Ajit Doval. AFP

And yet, the capital burned for three days before the violence was curbed completely. The Delhi Police, not only faced accusations of inaction but also of complicity as mobs went on rampage in the usual sensitive areas, which should have been secured foremost with so much as a whiff of communal disturbance around.

Immediately after US President Donald Trump embarked on his return flight, 75-year old Doval swooped down on the Delhi Police headquarters and undertook a late night tour of the riot-hit areas. Then again on Wednesday, the former Intelligence Bureau chief visited the affected areas, including Jaffrabad and Seelampur, where he met police officers and gave them necessary directives, besides meeting leaders of different communities to assuage the tension.

Doval met people from all communities as he did during his Jammu and Kashmir visit after abrogation of Article 370.

He used the medium of religious places to appeal for peace and harmony, walked through serpentine lanes, and reassured scared residents; the people obviously responded. Doval was the first high ranking official to have reached out to them and give assurance of peace and security.

This was not the first time that Doval, India's national security tsar, who is considered the prime minister's right hand, was asked to step beyond his traditional role and intervene in internal security and law and order problems. He had camped in Jammu and Kashmir for more than a fortnight after the abrogation of provisions of Article 370 in August last year. Doval was also considered to have played an instrumental role in facilitating foreign dignitaries' tour in Jammu and Kashmir after the state was stripped of its special status and statehood.

However, his visit did raise some questions as the PMO's lieutenant was essentially coming down to clean up a mess that was squarely the responsibility of Home Minister Amit Shah. His remark of "jo hua so hua (What happened has happened)" to a group of riot-affected people on Thursday hasn't gone down well either with Opposition leaders accusing the NSA of trying to "whitewash" the role of perpetrators.

Doval is known for his hands-on approach and is considered a close confidante of the prime minister and his go-to man for any crisis situation. The rationale behind his deployment can lie in the fact that neither Modi nor Shah enjoy the same credibility among the Muslim populace as a neutral bureaucratic figure like Doval would. In fact, Shah had made acerbic speeches about those protesting against Citizenship Amendment Law during the course of the recently concluded elections.

If anything, the move could have been a snub to outgoing police commissioner Amulya Patnaik under whom the Delhi Police was seen as rudderless, and carried a bad reputation in previous instances of violence during the protests in Jamia Millia Islamia and the Jawaharlal Nehru University. The police was also seen twiddling its thumbs when a shooter shot at a student outside Jamia Millia Islamia and another showed up at Shaheen Bagh.

Doval, on the other hand, is perceived to be a man of action.

His record as an IPS officer also reinstates his credentials to quickly respond to such challenges. The Kerala Cadre IPS officer of the 1968 batch had played a crucial role in suppressing the infamous Thalassery riot of 1972,which was the tenth major communal riot the country had witnessed and the first one for Kerala.

According toThe Week,Doval was sent to Thalassery in the heat of the riot and he managed to calm the situation within a week of his arrival.

This time too, Doval appeared on field first on Tuesday night and the instances of violence died down by Wednesday when he made his second trip to the riot hit areas. He not only made sure to mention to the people (and the media) that he was their on the prime minister's instructions, but also to not steamroll the police force publically, who was facing severe criticism for its failure.

"Police is working hard. Only some criminals were involved in this. One should try resolving issues and not increasing them. There were incidents earlier but today it is calm. Locals want peace. We have full faith there will be peace," he told the people on Wednesday.

"People were doubting the capabilities and intentions of the Delhi Police. This needs to addressed. People need to trust the man in uniform," Doval told NDTV.

This is when multiple media reports have indicated that the home ministry was of the view that the Delhi Police failedto appropriately utilise the central paramilitary forces made available to the cops.

Later Doval presented his on-the-spot assessment of the situation to the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by the prime minister about the steps taken to quell the violence and restore normalcy in areas under the grip of communal riots over the amended citizenship law.

Besides the prime minister, the CCS, the country's top-most body on strategic affairs, comprises Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

With inputs from agencies

Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison.

Continue reading here:
Ajit Doval's deployment to quell Delhi violence beyond NSA's role; here's why Modi had to rely on his Man... - Firstpost

WASHINGTON: US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien has thanked the people of India who came out in support of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania during their visit to the country, saying they have friends in America and the White House.

The president was accompanied by a high-powered delegation comprising senior Trump administration officials including NSA O'Brien during his maiden official visit to India from February 24 to 25. They visited Ahmedabad, Agra and New Delhi before leaving for Washington on Tuesday.

The US NSA, on his way back to the US, thanked the people of India for their support.

"Thanks to all the people of India that came out to support President Trump and the First Lady, Melania Trump, and the US delegation, affirming their friendship and partnership far into the future," O'Brien said in a tweet.

"You have friends in the USA and in the White House," the NSA said.

Separately, the White House in a tweet thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the people of India for their incredible hospitality.

The White House in a tweet said that President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked at length about the IndiaPakistan relationship.

The Foreign Policy magazine said that Trump left New Delhi without delivering on an "incredible" trade deal despite years of high-level negotiations.

"As Washington is discovering, it is not easy dealing with a country led by a populist leader with a strong mandate and a proclivity towards protectionism. Despite those hurdles, the broader trendlines in the US-India relationship continue to seem robust, as shown by the visit itself," the magazine said.

Major American newspapers prominently reported about the visit.

"As he completed his two-day stay, Mr Trump focused only on the positive, offering validation of Mr Modi as a champion of religious liberty even as the Indian government has adopted Hindu-first policies targeting Muslims," The New York Times said.

"The president publicly accepted Mr Modi's word that he treats the 1.3 billion people in his diverse country fairly without regard to faith and made no mention of the months of protests by those who think otherwise.

"The president stressed the strength of his relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in meetings long on symbolism and short on concrete agreements," the NYT reported.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump's diplomatic drop-in was as intense as it was brief, with his hosts providing expansive red-carpet treatment that the president used to celebrate the most politically favourable stretch of his presidency.

The daily said Trump's momentum was greeted in India on Monday by a splashy, two-day display that combined Prime Minister Modi's political power with the vibrant sights, sounds and spices of his nation's culture.

In an op-ed on Fox News, James Jay Carafano said that there is a bipartisan character to US-India relations in both countries. This is more than just two charismatic leaders and the offer of free hats pulling in a crowd.

"The US and India have forged something new and unprecedented. We are not old-fashioned treaty allies, but we are way more than just friends. This is a vital strategic partnership. We know that from the most distant Pacific Island to the Middle East we have each other's back. This is a new geostrategic reality in the world," he wrote.

In a news report, USA Today said that Trump defended Modi's government, saying it "worked very hard to have great and open religious freedom," though critics say the law discriminates against Muslims.

Trump used the visit to highlight accomplishments on defence cooperation and strengthening ties between the two countries, The Hill Newspaper said.

"He celebrated US-India relations and his bond with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even as the Indian leader's Hindu nationalist party came under further scrutiny for its controversial citizenship law during Trump's visit," it said.

Read the rest here:
US NSA says Indians have friends in America and White House - Economic Times

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, the Centres point person to restore law and order in north-east Delhi, headed back to the hotspots of violence over the last three days to review the situation. Doval, who also travelled to Maujpur that had witnessed street clashes for two days, told reporters that the police had established peace in the national capital.

Doval also underscored that he had been tasked to visit the affected areas and hold review meetings by Home Minister Amit Shah.

This was Dovals second visit to the district in 24 hours.

North-east Delhi has been the epicentre of the violence that started as clashes between groups in favour and against the amended citizenship law before degenerating into full-fledged communal riots. In several areas, the police had been accused of taking sides in the clashes.

Doval had earlier in the day acknowledged the sentiment in some areas that the police hadnt been fair and told news channel NDTV that the police had to address doubts in the mind of people who had doubts about its capabilities and intentions.

NSA Doval, who had been caught up at meetings linked to visiting US President Donald Trumps visit yesterday, step in soon after the visiting dignitary left late last evening.

He drove straight to the north-east district chief Ved Prakash Suryas office in Seelampur along with Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik for a review. Around midnight, Doval left for some riot-hit areas to review the situation.

NSA Doval continued to keep his focus sharply on the Delhi situation on Wednesday too.

Late afternoon, he returned to the DCP office for a quick review to ascertain how the situation had changed since last evening. There had been a few instances of arson earlier in the day in two pockets.

Back in the trouble spots, Doval was seen reaching out to people in Hindu and Muslim neighbourhoods.

A few criminals do things like this (spread violence)...Police are here and doing their work Inshallah yahan par bilkul aman hoga. (God willing, there will be complete peace here), he said at one of his interactions, according to news agency ANI.

People familiar with the development said NSA Doval, who has been seen to be aggressively standing up for the police in his public interactions and before the cameras to boost their morale, has given them an earful. The assessment at the Centre is that Delhi Police did not, at many places, make an effort to enter the bylanes where violence was being reported.

NSA Doval, who had headed the operations wing of Intelligence Bureau for a decade before heading the agency in 2004-05, is the first top officer of the security establishment to go on extensive rounds of the riot-affected areas. Like Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik, Doval was a 1968 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. Patnaik is a 1985 batch officer.

Read the original here:
'Inshallah, there will be complete harmony': Ajit Doval's outreach in east Delhi - Hindustan Times

Share

Share

Share

Email

JACKSON-A report in the Lakewood Scoop on Thursday said National Security Advisor John Bolton was heading to New Jersey to meet with religious leaders, community leaders and GOP officials to address a pattern of anti-Semitism against Orthodox Jews by the Jackson Township Republican Club.

Bolton, a former Trump aide was invited by Dr. Richard Roberts, President Trumps former Advisor on Jewish Relations who has pledged his support to combat what has become a culture of anti-Semitism within the Jackson Republican Club.

In recent years, Jackson Township has experienced a population surge of Orthodox Jews, after neighboring Lakewood Township is running out of space to build new homes. That influx of new residents and the fear of rapid overdevelopment has the community of Jackson on edge, but Roberts said some members of the local GOP club who run the town have gone too far.

Roberts blames party leaders Ocean County GOP Chairman Frank B. Holman, III and Mayor Michael Reina for the acceptance of intolerance in their party. Over the years the club has been plagued with resignations of members from township boards because of remarks made on social media. In one instance, a former Jackson GOP appointed zoning board member even threatened New Jersey State Senator Robert Singer and former Ocean County Chairman George Gilmore, both of whom are known to foster good relations with the Orthodox Jewish community in Ocean County.

Roberts claims Holman and Reina have failed to take proper actions to call out anti-Semitism within the party, especially in Jackson where the clubs two top officials, County Committee Chairwoman Clara Glory and Jackson GOP Club President Todd Porter have been under fire for insensitive and anti-Semitic posts made on Facebook against Orthodox Jews.

Jackson Township and elected officials are currently defending two federal civil rights lawsuits regarding actions and ordinances by the township government that claims those actions were based on anti-Semitism. Those defending the township claim they are merely fighting overdevelopment in their town brought by the need for more housing to accommodate the volume of Orthodox Jews moving into the town.

In one lawsuit, plaintiff Agudath Israel of America claims the township crossed the line when it drafted ordinances aimed to limit the construction of Synagogues and dormitories for religious schools. The lawsuit also claims former Jackson Township Councilman Robert Nixon crossed many lines after it was learned that he orchestrated a campaign against Orthodox Jews that involved checking on homes where prayers were being held and an increase in code enforcement activity in neighborhoods where Orthodox Jews were moving into.

Nixon resigned from the township council in November.

Last year, three Jackson GOP Club members were forced to resign from their positions on the township planning and zoning boards after they attended a meeting of a group called CUPON whose mission is to discuss strategy on how to stop residential overdevelopment in the town. At that meeting, comments were made that some deemed offensive and anti-Semitic, but because the three members sat on land use boards, they were forced to resign.

John Burrows, a former zoning board member and Jackson GOP club member John Burrows who ruled against an application for an all-girls religious high school later posted a scathing message on Facebook against Senator Robert Singer on September 10th, 2017, a day known as Suicide Awareness Day.

I implore senator Singer to step up and commit suicide, Burrows posted on Facebook. He is nothing but the byproduct of a human body eating matzoh and gafelta [sic] fish.

After many years of watching senator Singers proposals and interests which are solely to support and advance the Lakewood medieval cult, on the backs of the surrounding communities, its time to come to an end, his tirade continued. He is so obviously bought, paid for, and in the pocket of the Lakewood cult.

Burrows statement opened the door for the school developer to file a lawsuit against Jackson for the denial, claiming it was based on anti-Semitism and not building code or zoning.

GOP Club President Todd Porter on Facebook offered to chase Jewish children and families out of township parks by blasting death metal music and Slayer. Porter later issued an apology for that comment.

Ocean County Republican Committee Chairwoman Clara Glory was also accused of making anti-Semitic posts on Facebook, including a comment referencing Jews as criminals.

After another resident posted, They are crooks and should be deported they serve no good interest to America. People better start waking up before its too late, another user posted, We should not stereotype, there are bad in every group.

Glory, who also sits on the township Municipal Utilities Authority and an executive of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce replied, NO STEREOTYPING HERE..FACTS ARE FACTSTHIS IS EXACTLY WHAT JACKSON RESIDENTS FEAR. AND YES IT IS ALREADY HAPPENING.

Glory has also been criticized for her ties to Rise Up Ocean County by Dr. Roberts. On multiple occasions, Glory shared posts and videos by the group, which has been declared a hate group by the Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders. Rise Up Ocean County, an anonymous group claims their page is dedicated to resisting overdevelopment, but nearly every post on the page is focused on Orthodox Jews in Jackson, Lakewood and New York. Posts frequently detail crimes and offenses committed by Orthodox Jews and comments regarding overdevelopment in Lakewood Township.

Barry Calogero, another Jackson GOP Club member and elected councilman in Jackson has also come under fire for anti-Semitism. Ken Bressi, another GOP councilman recently claimed in a legal deposition that he felt Calogero and Reina were anti-Semitic. Calogero also happens to be a Trump appointee, serving as Executive Director of the NJ Farm Services branch of the USDA.

Lakewood Township is home to the worlds largest concentration of Orthodox Jews outside of Israel and home to Americas largest Jewish Yeshiva, Beth Medrash Govoha. Lakewood has become a concern by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the New Jersey State Police and other local law enforcement agencies after brutal attacks on Orthodox Jews in Jersey City and Monsey, New York. It has long been identified as a potential target of terrorism by DHS.

The Jackson Township GOP, which has drawn the attention of Roberts and Bolton has recently been condemned by National GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and NJ GOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt who both said there is no place for hate or anti-Semitism within the Republican Party. Roberts also criticized County GOP Chairman Holman for turning a blind eye to comments made by Glory. Holman, who is also a Jackson native has been protective of Glory. The boast frequently of their longtime relationship that dates back to their childhood.

Anti-Semitism was the topic of this weeks meeting of the Jackson Republican Club after several Orthodox Jews joined the club and claimed that a club member asked for their names and wrote them on a sheet of paper. A discussion about anti-Semitism became somewhat heated when club officials reportedly asked those new Jewish club members if they thought the club was anti-Semitic.

The Orthodox Jewish growth issue isnt contained to Jackson. In neighboring Toms River, in 2016, former Mayor Thomas Kelaher said the influx of Jewish residents was an invasion. Kelaher has since been replaced as Mayor by Maurice Mo Hill who has strong ties to the Orthodox Jewish community. Hill is a native of Lakewood and had the full support of the Jewish community during his 2019 election and tensions in Toms River have since eased.

Read more:
Former NSA Security Advisor John Bolton Heading to NJ to Address Anti-Semitism by Republicans in Jackson Township - Shore News Magazine

7th January 2020 12:22 AM ET

Sign up now for your TV newsletter!

On NBCs hit sci-fi series Manifest, Robert Vance was the NSA director who was giving the survivors of Flight 828 a hard time.

However, over the course of the first season, Vance came around and seemed to realize there were bad things afoot and started to help the passengers.

See, there were 11 missing passengers from Flight 828 that UDS took and was experimenting on. In the episode, Dead Reckoning, Michaela, Jared, Vance, Ben, and Fiona head to the warehouse hoping to find them.

When Cal shows up and finds a hidden door, a shootout takes place and the 11 missing passengers are freed. However, Vance, Jared, and Laurence are caught in an explosion and all of them die.

The funeral for Robert Vance takes place in the next episode, called Crosswinds.

As people should expect in science fiction, and especially science fiction that includes people seemingly escaping death, dont believe everything that you see.

In the first episode of Manifest Season 2, titled Fasten Your Seatbelts, Robert Vance turns out to still be alive.

As with any explosion that does not result in a dead body pulled out of the wreckage, never assume someone is dead. Remember, he was loaded into an ambulance and the police said he didnt make it. That does not mean it is true.

Robert Vance is a spy and he can disappear if he wants to, and that appears to be what the show pulled off as the second season begins.

Ben was taken near the end of the Manifest Season 2 premiere and he ended up face-to-face with Vance.

Now that Vance is presumed dead, he can help Ben and the passengers better than he could as a government employee. In an underground manner, and thanks to his experience as a spy, Vance could be their most valuable ally now.

Of course, Robert Vance was gone for a while and there is no telling what he was up to while everything was going down last season after his death.

Manifest airs on Mondays at 10/9c on NBC.

Read the original post:
What happened to Robert Vance on Manifest? NSA director rises from the dead - Monsters and Critics

The Iraqi Prime Minister revealed today that Iran gave him a tip-off about last nights missile strikes, giving time for troops to scramble to bunkers.

US troops also got a heads up warning from Americas advanced detection system.

Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at the Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq and the Erbil base in Iraqi Kurdistan in the early hours of Wednesday local time.

PM Adel Abdul Mahdi received a call from Tehran warning him an attack was imminent in retaliation for the US killing of its highest ranking general, his spokesman said.

CNN, citing an Arab diplomatic source, said that Iraqi officials then passed the information on to US troops before the attack began.

US troops were also alerted to the dangerusing an early warning system, an official revealed.

This is believed to refer to the little-knownNational Security Agency base at Fort Meade, Maryland, which gathers real-time intelligence on missile launches.

The Iraqi PM said he was told by Iran itwould only target locations where U.S. forces were present but did not specify the locations, his spokesman said.

However, as the missiles were raining down on the US bases, he also received a call from Washington to tell him what they knew of the assault.

The NSAs base at Fort Meade, the Defense Special Missile and Aerospace Center (DEFSMAC) uses a range of satellites, radar and heat detection to gather intelligence on missile launches as they happen.

The early warning system worked, an official toldUSA Today.

So far no casualties have been reported, the Pentagon issued a statement last night saying, We are working on initial battle damage assessments.

Those in harms way at theAin al-Asad airbase are understood to have taken cover in bunkers throughout the bombardment, putting in place well-drilled practices.

Buildings were still being searched to find possible casualties, an official said.Iraqi officials confirmed there had not been any casualties among their forces.

President Donald Trump tweeted thatall is well and so far so good as the damage and casualties continued to be assessed.

The Iraqi military said 22 missiles were fired in total 17 at the Asad base, two of which failed to explode, and five more that struck Erbil International Airport.

US officials put the total slightly lower at 15 ten of which hit Asad, one which hit Erbil, four which failed in flight.

The Fort Meade base evolved during the Cold War and detected Iraqs launch of Scud missiles during the first Gulf War, NBC reported.

The 22 missiles fired last night are believed to be a combination of the Qiam-1s orFateh-110s.

The majority of those used are believed to be the Fateh-110, which can travel 180 miles or 300km and have a payload of around 500lb.

Reports also suggest the Qiam-1 was also used, a short range ballistic missile produced by Iran which can travel 500 miles and carry 750lb warheads.

The Fateh-110 is an Iranian-designed, short-range, surface-to-surface ballistic missile that can be launched from any location.

While the Qiam-1 was specifically built to target U.S. bases in the Middle East, which have encircled Iran, according to Iranian sources.

When it was launched the Fateh-110 was described by Iranian defence minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami as 100-percent domestically made agile, stealth, tactical (and) precision-guided.

Both missiles are reported to have been fired from Tabriz and Kermanshah provinces in Iran.

Ain al-Asad air base was first used by American forces after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, and later saw American troops stationed there amid the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

It houses about 1,500 U.S. and coalition forces.

About 70 Norwegian troops also were on the air base but no injuries were reported, Brynjar Stordal, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Armed Forces said.

The rockets used in the attack, according to Iranian TV, were Fatteh-110 ballistic missiles, which have a range of 186 miles or 300km.

The Pentagon had earlier said the missiles were clearly launched from Iran to target U.S. military and coalition forces.

Irans Revolutionary Guards admitted to firing the rockets in retaliation for last weeks killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

They reported the operations name was Martyr Soleimani and it took place just hours after the slain generals funeral.

Irans foreign minister Javad Zarif called the attacks self-defense but said they did not seek escalation but would defend itself against further aggression.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, reportedly said Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei was personally in the control center coordinating the attacks.

In the immediate aftermath, they warned U.S. allies in the Middle East that they would face retaliation if America strikes back against any Iranian targets from their bases.

We are warning all American allies, who gave their bases to its terrorist army, that any territory that is the starting point of aggressive acts against Iran will be targeted, they said. It also threatened Israel.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said after the attacks that the missile strikes were an act of war and said Trump had all the power he needed to act.

This is an act of war by any reasonable definition, Graham told Fox News Sean Hannity.

The President has all the authority he needs under Article II to respond.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted that the U.S., as well as the rest of the world, cannot afford war.

Closely monitoring the situation following bombings targeting U.S. troops in Iraq. We must ensure the safety of our servicemembers, including ending needless provocations from the Administration and demanding that Iran cease its violence. America & world cannot afford war, she tweeted.

The missiles strikes prompted the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to ban U.S. carriers from operating in the airspace over Iraq, Iran, the Gulf of Oman and the waters between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

That decision came just hours before a Ukrainian passenger plane bound for Kiev fell from the sky just outside of Tehran sparking speculation it was shot down, killing all 170 passengers on board.

Follow this link:
US troops forewarned of Iran's missile attack by Iraq and NSA - Infosurhoy

Jewel v. NSA, EFFs landmark case challenging NSAs mass spying moved forward in 2019, setting up a crucial decision for the Ninth Circuit in 2020. Weve pursued this case for over a decade because we believe that mass surveillance, like all general search and seizure schemes, is both illegal and unconstitutional. The case arises from general seizures and searches conducted through three NSA surveillance programs: the NSAs current Upstream tapping of the Internet backbone, its past actions collecting Internet metadata and its discontinued mass telephone records collection, purportedly authorized by section 215 of the Patriot Act. Congress just shamefully kicked debate on reauthorization of section 215 until March, 2020, even though it was stopped in 2018 after concerns of massive overcollection by the secret FISA Court and has never helped catch a terrorist.

In 2019, we had bad news and good news on the litigation front.

The bad news came in April, when the District Court ruled that, despite the enormous amountof direct and circumstantial evidence showing our clients communications likely swept up by the NSA dragnet surveillance to establish legal standing,no public court can rule on whether this surveillance is legal. The Court agreed with the government that our claims were caught in a state secrets privilege Catch-22: no one can sue to stop illegal surveillance unless the court first determines that they were certainly touched by the vast surveillance mechanisms of the NSA. But the court cannot decide whether any particular persons email, web searches, social media or phone calls were touched by the surveillance unless the government admits it which the government will not do. This circular ruling matched an earlier ruling by the District Court under the Fourth Amendment, and, at long last, set both of these rulings up for review by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

We made three key arguments in our opening briefs, filed in September:

We didnt go to the Ninth Circuit alone, though. In early October six amicus briefs were filed in support of our case:

The governments responsive briefs are due in early December, with our final briefs likely due in January. Were hopeful that the Ninth Circuit will recognize the importance of the case and hold a hearing in the Spring.

This article is part of our Year in Review series. Read other articles about the fight for digital rights in 2019.

DONATE TO EFF

Like what you're reading? Support digital freedom defense today!

Read the original:
Jewel v. NSA: On to the Ninth Circuit: 2019 Year in Review - EFF

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

National Security Advisor Robert OBrien said Sunday the U.S. was closely monitoring developments in North Korea and was concerned about the situation, but also had a lot of tools in our toolkit and was able to bring more pressure to bear in the event of a provocation.

MRCTV Reader,

The liberal media are terrified of the truth, especially when it leads to uncomfortable questions about their own leftist worldview.

MRCTV is the multimedia division of MRC featuring original content and aggregated videos of the news, people, and events conservatives care about.

MRCTV relies on the support of our loyal readers (and video viewers) to keep providing the news and commentary that matter to the American people, not just stories that prop up the liberal agenda.

Make a donation today. Just $15 a month would make a tremendous impact and enable us to keeping shining the light where the liberal media are afraid to tread.

The MRCTV Team

Connect

Sign up for our MRCTV newsletter to receive the latest news.

Sponsored Links

Read the rest here:
NSA O'Brien on North Korea: 'We Have a Lot of Tools in Our Toolkit' - MRCTV