Justice Dept faulted for lack of progress in Awan IT scandal
Working for the Democratic Party: The Justice Department has apparently worked to stall or stonewall the investigation into the Imran Awan IT hacking scandal that allowed Pakistani nationals access to secure computers of numerous Democratic congressmen.
The OIG [House Office of the Inspector General] alleged Imran Awan and his family members logged into servers of congressmen for whom they did not work, logged in using members’ personal usernames, covered their tracks, and continued to access data after they’d been fired.
Though the findings place the case squarely into the category of political cyber-crimes that have otherwise been high-profile priorities, the lead FBI agent assigned to the Awan case was a first-year agent, and not from one of the FBI’s big-guns divisions. The charges brought by prosecutors are so minor that Awan’s own lawyer speculated they could be a “placeholder” for future charges.
Server logs of government computers backed up the OIG’s findings. Yet six months after the initial charges, no additional counts have been brought, raising the question of whether the DOJ is seriously investigating the potential national security breach.
Read the whole article. It outlines in great detail how both the FBI and the Justice Department show no interest in prosecuting this case. The evidence is condemning, and it especially condemns Attorney General Jeff Sessions, which appears to have allowed the stonewalling to occur. Is he, and Trump, not legally in charge? Why have they sat on their hands and allowed this?
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Working for the Democratic Party: The Justice Department has apparently worked to stall or stonewall the investigation into the Imran Awan IT hacking scandal that allowed Pakistani nationals access to secure computers of numerous Democratic congressmen.
The OIG [House Office of the Inspector General] alleged Imran Awan and his family members logged into servers of congressmen for whom they did not work, logged in using members’ personal usernames, covered their tracks, and continued to access data after they’d been fired.
Though the findings place the case squarely into the category of political cyber-crimes that have otherwise been high-profile priorities, the lead FBI agent assigned to the Awan case was a first-year agent, and not from one of the FBI’s big-guns divisions. The charges brought by prosecutors are so minor that Awan’s own lawyer speculated they could be a “placeholder” for future charges.
Server logs of government computers backed up the OIG’s findings. Yet six months after the initial charges, no additional counts have been brought, raising the question of whether the DOJ is seriously investigating the potential national security breach.
Read the whole article. It outlines in great detail how both the FBI and the Justice Department show no interest in prosecuting this case. The evidence is condemning, and it especially condemns Attorney General Jeff Sessions, which appears to have allowed the stonewalling to occur. Is he, and Trump, not legally in charge? Why have they sat on their hands and allowed this?
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Trump specifically and Sessions by association are in ways frozen out of these issues for the moment. Trump, while being the president is seen as a purely partisan player and seen as attempting to create distraction from all of the “Russian collusion” that he and Putin were involved in (Keep smiling), and Sessions because he comes from the Senate and these are his people that he will be trying and jailing.
If after the Inspector Generals report comes out in a couple of weeks Sessions does not kick into extreme search and destroy mode HE MUST BE FIRED and a new legal pit bull installed and Trump must ignore any concern about impropriety or partisanship and he must drive through and over them all. No matter the consequences.
The politics of it all is about defanging the through evidence very effective Trump by creating all of these radioactive things that Trump must not ever go near, make him paranoid until his power is terminated in the 2018 election. That is what IMO is in the process of happening.
If Sessions does not perform he must be terminated and replaced in short order.
This is essentially a slow burn coup that is in process and Trump is being hobbled by this Mueller investigation that may be stalking him or may not be.
I’m on record here as cutting Session’s a lot of slack so far, if for no other reason there are dozens of obama hold-overs at the DOJ that need to be fired long before before Sessions, and that Trump inexplicably appointed DeStefano –a Boehner acolyte and all around RINO–, as Director of Personnel, responsible for hiring thousand’s of executive branch replacements. (and let’s not forget Priebus had his fingers in the pie from day one.)
As well– I like to think “it’s always a mole-hunt.” (but… “THEY” never fail to disappoint us all, at every turn, do they?)
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
-initial briefing Clip-
https://youtu.be/NmmWkJtuxz4
2:45
I’m just happy HRC won’t ever be President. Thank god for small miracles– that’s no small factoid. Everything else Trump does/doesn’t do, is pure gravy to me. We dodged a bullet, but the Usual RINO suspect’s are once again, blowing the opportunity at every turn.
“I’m just happy HRC won’t ever be President. Thank god for small miracles– that’s no small factoid. Everything else Trump does/doesn’t do, is pure gravy to me. We dodged a bullet, but the Usual RINO suspect’s are once again, blowing the opportunity at every turn.”
Wayne, remember when when it was only me who spoke like that?
Welcome, happy to have you on board. :)
The national security aspects of this are horrendous and it doesn’t speak well of the DOJ that this isn’t being taken seriously.