NSA

It appears the NSA finally engaged in the Vulnerabilities Equity Process — not when it discovered the vulnerability, but rather when it became apparent the agency wouldn’t be able to prevent it from being released to the public. (…)
Officials called it “fishing with dynamite.” The exploit gave the NSA access to so much on compromised computers, the agency obviously couldn’t bear the thought of voluntarily giving up such a useful hacking tool. But when it was first deployed, some inside the agency felt the vulnerability might be too powerful to be left undisclosed.

By Ray McGovern and William Binney | Consortium News | May 20, 2017 Official Washington got to relive the excitement of Watergate in a “gotcha” moment after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. There were fond recollections of how righteous the major newspapers felt when condemning President Nixon over his “Saturday Night Massacre” firing […]

Shawn Helton
21st Century Wire 
In this age of hyper-real media propaganda, some stories published by mainstream media whether true or not, can be used as a ‘red herring’ to provide an all to convenient mask for other politically charged news releases.

(MPN) Last Tuesday, during his testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, National Security Agency director Admiral Mike Rogers echoed the previous testimonies given by former Direct

The Top brass of US intelligence agencies prepare to testify in Washington, May 11, 2017, before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on major threats facing the U.S. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

Sometimes paranoia is justified By Philip Giraldi • Unz Review • May 16, 2017 President Donald Trump is not exactly known for his self-restraint. The recent firing of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey was not handled with any delicacy and has unleashed a firestorm of criticism coming from across the political spectrum. […]

Rejected reports, convenient dystopias and stumped scientists + this day in history w/Andrew Johnson acquitted and our song of the day by San Cisco on your Morning Monarchy for May 16, 2017.

It’s clear that in weaponizing a vulnerability instead of responsibly disclosing it (so hospitals and transportation infrastructure can be protected), the NSA made a critical error in judgment that put millions of people at risk. However, one would think that after learning 10 months ago that their entire cyberweapon arsenal had been stolen and was now out “in the wild”, the NSA would have immediately taken action and responsibly disclosed the vulnerabilities so systems around the world could be patched.

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Finally, this attack provides yet another example of why the stockpiling of vulnerabilities by governments is such a problem. This is an emerging pattern in 2017. We have seen vulnerabilities stored by the CIA show up on WikiLeaks, and now this vulnerability stolen from the NSA has affected customers around the world. Repeatedly, exploits in the hands of governments have leaked into the public domain and caused widespread damage. An equivalent scenario with conventional weapons would be the U.S. military having some of its Tomahawk missiles stolen.