Jefferson Morley: Trump Floats Idea to Establish Private Spy Agency

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

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Trump Floats Idea to Establish Private Spy Agency

Posted Dec. 13, 2017

Interview with Jefferson Morley, Washington correspondent with Alternet, conducted by Scott Harris

The Intercept and Buzzfeed recently reported that the Trump administration was considering a plan to establish a private, off-the=books intelligence network that would run counter-terrorist propaganda efforts around the world. The proposal was developed by Erik Prince, the founder of the Blackwater private security firm that had been found responsible for massacres of civilians while under contract to the Pentagon during the U.S. war in Iraq.

Prince, the brother of Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, had reportedly teamed up for the project with his former CIA colleague John Maguire, the company Amyntor Group and Iran-Contra scandal figure Oliver North. According to the Intercept, the network would “provide CIA Director Mike Pompeo and the White House with a global, private spy network that would circumvent official U.S. intelligence agencies. Sources say the plans have been pitched to the White House as a means of countering ‘deep state’ enemies in the intelligence community seeking to undermine Donald Trump’s presidency.”

Between the Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Jefferson Morley, Washington correspondent with Alternet, whose recent article titled, “The Last Thing America Needs Is Trump Armed with His Own Private CIA," which examines the private spy network proposal. Here, Morely explains why he believes privatizing U.S. intelligence operations is both undemocratic and dangerous.

JEFFERSON MORLEY: There have been these stories circulating since the summer about Erik Prince looking for a way into U.S. policy and offering his services. The first form that the story took, and offered to help in Afghanistan where Prince has an extensive network of contacts through his security company that was once known as Blackwater. The name has now been changed several times to escape the notoriety of Blackwater's actions in Iraq, where they were involved in several massacres, the killing of noncombatants. So Erik Prince is trying to escape that past while drumming up new business with the government. His proposal for privatizing secret operations in Afghanistan was rejected by Defense Secretary James Mattis. But this story that came back and that was reported on by Buzzfeed and the Intercept and Alternet regarded a different proposal to – but a similar concept – of private security companies' services to the CIA. And the reports were that specifically that they would provide help with rendition, which is a fancy way of saying they would assist the CIA in capturing, kidnapping and bringing them to the United States to face some kind of justice.

So, you know, we've had episodes in the past where the president wants the capability to do something that the CIA says it can't or won't do. So it's not unprecedented, but the plans that being proposed now are unprecedented. The idea that a private company would go and do a rendition of foreign terrorist suspects – that's never been heard of before. And one of the retired CIA people I talked to said that's just as non-starter. The idea that you would have a Blackwater for rendition is kind of extraordinary. But we live in extraordinary times and you'd think such a thing wouldn't be feasible. But we've seen a lot unfeasible things happen so, I take it very seriously.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Jefferson, what was the initial response of the White House? And I note here that their first reaction was to declare it some kind of "fantasy and fake news," but later they hedged a bit and didn't quite dismiss it out of hand. But maybe you could review that for us.

JEFFERSON MORLEY: Yeah, well the White House understands these are very controversial ideas: bypassing the CIA, creating an intelligence network that responds only to the president and is not publicly funded. I mean, there's a lot of alarm bells that are going to go off. So, they're saying its fake news. But they're not denying that this company, Amyntor, run by a friend of Erik Prince has indeed proposed these actions. So, they haven't really denied the facts of it. They've just tried to discredit the message and say somehow that it's fake. So far as we know, it's still under consideration.

But now there's been a light shone on it, they may be reluctant to go ahead given that it may create political problems for them.

BETWEEN THE LINES: What's been the reaction if any, that we know of, from the U.S. intelligence agencies, the CIA and defense intelligence agencies about this story of a private off-the-books intelligence outfit that Trump wants to report directly to him.

JEFFERSON MORLEY: Well there hasn't been any official reaction from the CIA. And they're in a tough spot because the CIA only one client, that's the president. So if the president says I want to do things this way, the CIA is going to be loathe to tell him no. So the institutional pressure within the CIA is going to be to go along with it.

A CIA guy who I talked to, retired officer, distinguished, not part of the current CIA thought that the idea was crazy. Why would you have a CIA doing something that the CIA didn't want to do or couldn't do? His thought as an intelligence professional was, it was just a bad idea. Quite apart from the politics, whatever political goals the Trump administration might be seeking – the idea of running an intelligence service to create a private competitor – it's not the way to go.

We have a CIA to accomplish certain tasks to create another entity to do that, either you're trying to evade the law or you're trying to evade public accountability. But whatever it is, it's not necessary and it's not a good idea. And we saw in Iran-Contra, what the results were. Massive law-breaking.