When you combine the dots of testimony and information, and pull back from the pixels, a clear image begins to emerge.   The character visible in the image is actually the artist, Denis McDonough....   Here’s the High-Def Version:

WASHINGTON – The CIA’s former deputy director disclosed Wednesday that Obama administration officials were alerted the day before they went on national television that a key tenet of their original Benghazi storyline might be inaccurate. But he did not explain why the administration continued to cling to its narrative even after U.S. intelligence debunked reports that the deadly attack was born out of a protest over an anti-Islam video.
In often testy exchanges with Republicans who accused him of a cover-up, Michael Morell flatly denied that he “inappropriately altered and influenced” the infamous Benghazi talking points to downplay the role of terrorism in the attacks. (more…)

Sometimes it helps to pause and reflect, then evaluate for yourself:

IRAN – In 2009, from the now infamous Cairo Speech, an uprising of the student led “Green Movement” striving for a voice amid the heavy hand of hard-line Islamist governance began.   President Obama chose to reach out to Iran’s leadership and ignored the calls for assistance from the young reformers.   The Green Party was killed.  The Mullahs reigned supreme.  Through inaction Obama sided with the Islamists.

TUNISIA – (Where the West claimed the “Arab Spring” began)  Tunis caught the global political elites off guard.  It should not have come as a surprise.  We were outlining the growing immigration powder keg for years.   Tunis exploded as a consequence of Ben Ali and Quadaffi taking billions from the EU to shut the immigration gates.
Simultaneously, in the WEST, the more willing to engage ‘New Media’ began to report the speeches from UK, France and Germany that Multi-culturalism had failed.   However, few connected the dots to Tunis and how the shutting of the North African gates created a bottleneck within Tunisia and Libya.   It was simply a matter of time before economic anxiety exploded within the cultural petri-dish.  It did, in a big way.
(more…)

I.Kid.You.Not.

To echo @BarackObama today-proud to stand #UnitedForUkraine World should stand together with one voice pic.twitter.com/VeMt578UdY

— Matthew Miller (@StateDeptSpox) March 26, 2014

(more…)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s national security team discussed the Ukraine crisis in a session at the White House on Saturday after a last-ditch bid to find a diplomatic solution to the Cold War-style standoff with Russia floundered.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who just returned from talks with his Russian counterpart in London, was at the White House meeting along with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
Obama did not attend the meeting but was being briefed about it and other developments involving Ukraine, said Laura Lucas Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council.  (read more)

The issue at hand is essentially the CIA covertly monitoring the Senate Intelligence Committee as the Senate investigated the CIA.     The problem stems from an obvious oversight issue where the CIA takes illegal action to monitor the Senate as they investigate.
However, there’s something more within the behavior of the people involved.  Dianne Feinstein is clearly outlining the CIA is violating the law.   As a consequence the CIA claim to be following instructions from the Obama administration and the White House.  That alone represents a big issue – However, the way CIA Director John Brennan is responding to the charges against his office are, well, somewhat troubling.

Brennan is acting, and speaking, as if he is untouchable.  It’s almost like he has a card up his sleeve; an unspoken leverage.    And when you think about how Brennan got to his CIA post, and his relationship with President Obama, alarm bells begin to ring.
Please forgive me for connecting the dots but I’m not going in this rabbit hole alone 😉
Remember, it was Brennan’s security firm who broke into the State Department passport files of Candidate Obama in 2008.   Watching him now respond to Feinstein one would take away he indeed holds a lever that allows him to feel “untouchable“.

WASHINGTON DC – The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday sharply accused the CIA of violating federal law and undermining the constitutional principle of congressional oversight as she detailed publicly for the first time how the agency secretly removed documents from computers used by her panel to investigate a controversial interrogation program.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said that the situation amounted to attempted intimidation of congressional investigators, adding: “I am not taking it lightly.”
She confirmed that an internal agency investigation of the action has been referred to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution. And she said that the CIA appears to have violated the Fourth Amendment, which bars unreasonable searches and seizures, as well as various federal laws and a presidential executive order that prevents the agency from conducting domestic searches and surveillance. (more…)

“It’s ironic that for all the talk about how tough Chicago politics are, and what hardball they train into their politicians, Obama is absurdly soft in the face of menace. Sure, he’s tough on certain things – House Republicans, debt ceiling limits, Bibi Netanyahu – but give him someone who doesn’t have to kowtow and he shrivels.”

We knew the Obama Administration was serious because they sent their most steely-eyed national security heavy to lay down the law on the Sunday talk shows….or maybe it was just a line of ketchup drawn in the sand.  Anyway, John Kerry dropped the hammer:

“I think there are, you know, they are inviting the possibility of very serious repercussions on trade, on investment, on assets, asset freeze, visa bonds. The potential of actions by the global community against this unilateral step.”

(more…)

I will be headed to Kyiv, Ukraine tomorrow night for discussions there Tuesday.

— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) March 2, 2014

On the positive side at least the Obama administration is using the “I” word now (Invasion).

But seriously, you must watch this video of Kerry on Meet The Press. He seems genuinely stunned.   This is incredulous, unbelievable….. this is just… incredulous, abhorrent, cannot be happening.

With mindset of incredulity Kerry says:

…. “you just don’t invade other countries”..

On March 6th 2009 then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton famously used a prop, “a reset button“, to announce a new approach toward relationships between the United States and Russia.   Clinton presented the button to her counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

In an attempt to break the ice with Lavrov, Clinton handed him a makeshift “reset” button wrapped in a ribbon at the start of their meeting. Laughing, she told the foreign minister that “we want to reset our relationship” and “we will do it together.”

Lavrov promised to keep the button on his desk, but pointed out that the Russian word written on it, “peregruzka,” meant “overload” — not “reset.”  (link)

At the time many people forewarned the Obama Administration was taking a very naïve position if they collectively thought the Russians would in any way align with U.S. interests.

The reasoning for the caution was simple. For two decades the general Russian political class had felt “the West” in a general sense, and the U.S. in particular, had been dancing in the end zone about the collapse of the Soviet Union. Regardless of whether or not the Obama administration wanted to admit there was a resentment in place, it factually existed. (more…)

Confirmation Hearings Have Consequences:

(Left) Director of National Intelligence James Clapper  –  (Right)  Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel

(left) Director of CIA John Brennan – (Right) Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey

The four men above are the players who give the daily National Security Briefing to President Obama. (more…)