Tulsi Gabbard has national security 'experts' worried: 'DNI has access to every single secret'



There is a pattern developing with regard to President-elect Donald Trump's recent nominations: He announces someone apparently well suited to executing the agenda he successfully campaigned on; those with vested interests in the status quo panic; and establishmentarians viciously attack the nominees, pleading with nominal Republicans in the U.S. Senate to prevent their confirmation.

This pattern has been repeated for multiple picks, including former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Although virtually all of Trump's nominations have ruffled feathers, his choice of Lt. Col. Tulsi Gabbard to serve as the director of national intelligence appears to have inspired a special kind of unease among Democratic lawmakers, the liberal media, and elements of the intelligence community.

The media

The Atlantic's Tom Nichols rushed to characterize Gabbard's nomination as a "national security risk," complaining that she previously suggested NATO might have had something to do with Russia's invasion of Ukraine and that Syria did not pose a direct threat to the United States.

"Gabbard is a classic case of 'horseshoe' politics," Nichols warned. "Her views can seem both extremely left and extremely right, which is probably why people such as Tucker Carlson — a conservative who has turned into … whatever pro-Russia right-wingers are called now — have taken a liking to the former Democrat (who was previously a Republican and is now again a member of the GOP)."

The Washington Examiner's Tom Rogan suggested that by nominating Gabbard, Trump — who was kneecapped in his first term by a malignant counterintelligence investigation and whose 2020 political adversary was given narrative cover prior to the election by CIA contractors and intelligence community alumni — "is putting his distrust of the intelligence community before the critical interests of national security."

After trotting out the Syria and Russia-themed attacks against Gabbard, then insinuating that she is a sympathizer with the communist Chinese regime, Rogan warned that if confirmed, she would supervise "all U.S. intelligence agencies' collection, analysis, and mission efforts and the production and dissemination of the U.S. government's most sensitive intelligence reporting and analysis. This includes knowledge of spies buried deep inside foreign governments and terrorist organizations."

'This appointment is sending shock waves here in the United States.'

Bill Kristol quoted Jonathan Last, editor of the neocon blog the Bulwark, as writing, "Making Gabbard DNI simply makes no sense. ... Or rather, it makes no sense for America. For Russia, DNI Gabbard makes all the sense in the world."

Last appeared particularly upset over Gabbard's opposition to fruitless foreign entanglements and ineffectual U.S. sanctions.

Dems and spooks spooked

"This appointment is sending shock waves here in the United States but also around the globe," John Brennan, former director of the CIA and chief counterterrorism adviser to former President Barack Obama, said in conversation with MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace.

Brennan, one of the signatories of the infamous Hunter Biden "intel" letter, likened the 18 intelligence agencies that Gabbard would oversee to an orchestra, suggesting that she likely doesn't even know what instruments are being played.

Former Bush adviser John Bolton, a key proponent of America's disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq, suggested to NewsNation's "The Hill" that with Trump's "announcement of Tulsi Gabbard to be the director of national intelligence, he's sending a signal that we have lost our mind when it comes to collecting intelligence."

One former senior intelligence official who spoke under the condition of anonymity told Politico that the choice was a "left turn and off the bridge."

Another intelligence official warned that America's allies, including Israel, might withhold information from Washington if Gabbard were the DNI, adding, "What some allies share may now be shaped by political goals rather than professional intelligence sharing."

An unnamed "Western security source" similarly suggested to Reuters that Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand may be less forthcoming about the intelligence they collect, stressing that foreign nations believe Trump's appointments all lean in the "wrong direction."

Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger (Va.), a former CIA officer who now warms a chair on the House Intelligence Committee, suggested on X that Gabbard, who served in Iraq and Kuwait, would be an oath-breaker.

"The men and women of the U.S. Intelligence community honor their oaths by collecting the vital intelligence that keeps our fellow Americans safe. The global threats we face require a Director of National Intelligence who would do the same. Tulsi Gabbard is not that person," wrote Spanberger.

The former spook, echoing Nichols, appears to have unwittingly highlighted what has the establishment panicking, telling The Hill, "The DNI has access to every single secret that the United States has, every single bit of information that we know. … It's the keys to the intelligence community kingdom."

Larry Pfeiffer, former chief of staff at the CIA under the Bush administration, told The Hill, "Some of the statements she has made through the years that sound like they came right out of the Kremlin's talking points paper are a little bit alarming. Her cozying up to Bashar al-Assad and being an apologist for him as well just raise questions in my mind. Is that really the best person to put in charge of this very complicated, very sensitive operation that is the U.S. intel community?"

Jamil Jaffer, a former House Intelligence Committee staffer and national security prosecutor, told The Hill, "What is unusual here is you've got somebody who's had such a long and vociferous track record of saying things that are factually incorrect, that seem to give aid and comfort to U.S. adversaries and that undermine the very people they should be representing at the principals committee."

As with Hegseth and Gaetz's critics, those denouncing Gabbard appear to be exponents of the very worldview and policy conventions that Trump was effectively elected to obliterate.

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Spies, lies, and TikTok ties exposed



Did you know that ByteDance, which is TikTok’s parent company, also makes movies? Its studio in Beijing is located close to the headquarters of China’s Ministry of State Security. This is convenient because ByteDance, while streaming billions of individuals onto our screens via TikTok, is also building an artificial intelligence infrastructure that is run by the Chinese intelligence service.

ByteDance is not an entertainment company. It is part of the military intelligence apparatus of the Chinese Communist Party. TikTok’s algorithm was written to keep people glued to their phones. The party has ruled that TikTok’s algorithm is a national security asset.

China is trying to destroy us without firing a shot, and we’re playing footsie.

Military strategists in China say they need mind superiority through “perception manipulation” via propaganda. They do this by changing how people look at the present, cutting off a people's historic memory, warping their view of their own country’s past so people will be open to changing their views.

They aim to change the paradigm of the way people think by targeting people to change the way they view their problems, and thereby, changing their belief. They want to deconstruct symbols. By getting people to reject certain traditional symbols, they modify a nation’s identity.

We’ve got our own people in our own country trying to do all those things. When you’re taking down the statutes or reimagining history, what do you think you’re doing? You’re dismantling historical narrative, so we are more likely to collapse.

Here's the kicker, according to the Chinese Communist Party: The ultimate goal is to manipulate a country’s value and to achieve strategic goals without an actual overt military battle. China is trying to destroy us without firing a shot, and we’re playing footsie .

Meanwhile, we're also having China build everything. The Chinese crane manufacturing company at the center of a congressional espionage investigation denied posing a threat to U.S. national security.

Here's what happened. At our seaports, China builds ship-to-shore cargo cranes. Those are the giant cranes you saw Tom Cruise operating in “War of the Worlds.” Spying devices were found in all the cranes China was making. China was in complete denial of any espionage activity, but we know the truth: The Chinese are just spying on our ports.

Trojan horse sound familiar?

Then there’s the threat that China poses on a global scale. This week, the chiefs of all the major U.S. spy agencies spoke before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The threats reported during that meeting noted that trade between China and Russia has been increasing since the start of the Ukraine war and that the Chinese exports of goods, with potential military use, rose more than threefold since 2022.

China is helping Russia.

China is partnering with Russia. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), an ally of former President Donald Trump, has so far refused to call on a vote that would provide $60 billion more for Ukraine. The measure has passed in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Why would we want to get into a bigger war with Russia when we now know that China is in bed with Russia? Our real enemy is China.

CIA director William Burns testified that continued support for Ukraine would send a message to China. Would it? Really? “It's our assessment that Chinese leader Xi Jinping was sobered by what happened in Ukraine,” he said.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the committee, “The crisis in Gaza is a stark example of how regional developments have the potential of broader, even global implications.”

Haines also noted attacks by the Houthi militias on shipping and said the militant groups “al-Qaeda and ISIS, inspired by Hamas, have directed supporters to conduct attacks against Israeli and U.S. interests.” Well, that sounds good, right? We should send more money to Iran!

After a protester interrupted the hearing with shouts about the need to protect civilians in Gaza, the spy chiefs turned to protecting the Palestinian enclave. The reality is, children are starving. They’re malnourished because humanitarian assistance can't get to them. Whose fault is that? They said it’s difficult to distribute humanitarian existence effectively unless you have a ceasefire.

Sure.

Emotions rose in the hearing as some senators discussed illegal immigration along the U.S. border with Mexico. Immigration is not a forefront concern of these people. It wouldn’t have been brought up unless a senator pressed the intelligence agency officials to discuss it.

Yet, here tensions rose. FBI director Christopher Wray expressed concern about “terrorism implications” from potential targeting of vulnerabilities at the border. He discussed rising threats from Americans inspired by Islamic groups and other foreign militants since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.

So, who are we talking about when officials reference a “rising threat from Americans?” What Americans are we talking about?

Are we talking about those monstrous MAGA Trump supporters who are somehow or another “inspired” by foreign militants? Because I know you would never want to say the word “Muslim.” But anybody who believes in the Constitution seems to be on a terrorist watch list right now.

Meanwhile, the Italian police just arrested three Palestinians allegedly planning terrorist attacks in Italy. And what are we doing? The Department of Justice has just issued a gag order that has required immigration judges to seek department approval before speaking out publicly on anything regarding the border.

So, we’re now silencing the speech — the First Amendment rights — of our judges. Toward freedom or away from freedom? You can decide for yourself.

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Traitor who tried to sell American nuclear submarine secrets to a foreign power gets over 19-year prison sentence on his birthday



The traitorous couple from Annapolis, Maryland, who conspired to sell nuclear submarine secrets to a foreign power didn't think they'd end up doing hard time. They were dead wrong.

Overview

On Wednesday, Judge Gina Groh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia sentenced former Navy engineer Jonathan Toebbe to over 19 years in prison and his wife, Diana Toebbe — a former private school teacher whom Groh characterized as "a felon of the worst kind" — to nearly 22 years.

In 2020, the couple attempted to sell the technology behind the nuclear reactors powering the U.S. submarine fleet (the Virginia-class attack submarines in particular) to Brazil.

The conspiracy failed thanks to Brazil's help and the couple's combined incompetence and greed.

Mr. and Mrs. Toebbe were arrested in October 2021 and charged with "conspiracy to communicate restricted data" and "communication of restricted data."

They pled guilty in February to participating in a conspiracy to sell confidential submarine secrets to a foreign power and readmitted guilt in September.

The couple entered plea agreements earlier this year hoping for lighter sentencing, but Groh rejected them in August, believing them to be wholly insufficient in light of the seriousness of the crimes committed.

Unsatisfactory pleas

In August, Groh rejected plea deals entered by the couple, calling them "strikingly deficient."

Mr. Toebbe, who had been facing the possibility of life in prison, struck a deal that would have landed him in prison for 12 to 17 years, five years less than he was previously looking to serve.

Mrs. Toebbe agreed to serve three years, which she probably would not have served all of.

"There are lower-level drug dealers that go to prison for way longer than 36 months," said Groh, referencing the sentence proposed in Mrs. Toebbe's paltry plea.

Groh cited a victim impact statement made by Vice Admiral William J. Houston, who said that what the Toebbes had sought to sell was "some of the most secure and sensitive information about our nuclear powered fleet.”

"It's not in the best interest of this community or, in fact, this country to accept these plea agreements," Groh added.

The judge forced the Toebbes to withdraw their pleas and prompted their attorneys to either reach a plea agreement agreeable to the court or otherwise continue to trial.

Sentencing

According to the AP, Groh claimed on Wednesday that the couple posed a "great danger" to national security. It was merely serendipity that their sentences should be given on Mr. Toebbe's 44th birthday.

Jonathan Toebbe was sentenced to 19 years and 4 months in prison and fined $45,700. The court recommended that he be placed in a federal prison in Petersburg, Virginia.

Diana Toebbe was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in prison and fined $50,000. The court recommended that she be placed in a federal prison near Annapolis, Maryland.

Groh said Mr. Toebbe's "actions and greedy self-serving intentions placed military service members at sea and every citizen of this country in a vulnerable position and at risk of harm from adversaries."

Mrs. Toebbe, 46, received an enhanced sentence for having written to her husband from jail, telling him to lie about her role in the conspiracy and to deceive Groh into thinking she "didn't know anything about any of this." The letters also instructed Mr. Toebbe to flush them after reading.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported that Groh called the content of Mrs. Toebbe's letters "obstruction of justice" and an effort to coerce her husband into perjury.

Groh claimed that Mrs. Toebbe lacked genuine remorse and was evidently averse to assuming any responsibility for her role in the treasonous plot.

The Toebbes' crimes

Mr. Toebbe wrote to Brazil's military intelligence agency offering the nuclear secrets in April 2020: "I believe this information will be of great value to your nation. ... This is not a hoax."

Extra to the offer of secret documents, Mr. Toebbe volunteered his expertise to Brazil's nuclear submarine program — experience that relied upon even more confidential and classified U.S. Navy information.

Brazilian officials weren't keen to come between a traitor and American justice. They passed the letter over to an FBI legal official in Brazil.

An undercover FBI agent, pretending to be a Brazilian official, subsequently engaged Mr. Toebbe, persuading him to leave the stolen nuclear submarine secrets at a series of predetermined locations.

Mr. and Mrs. Toebbe complied, transferring restricted data about nuclear submarine designs onto SD cards and leaving them at so-called dead-drop locations over the span of several months.

Mrs. Toebbe left secret information for a source, acted as a lookout, and participated in all but one of the dead drops.

In their efforts to hide the SD cards, they went so far as allegedly wrapping them in a plastic-wrapped peanut butter sandwich, a packet of gum, and a sealed Band-Aid wrapper.

Mr. Toebbe included a message on one of the SD cards that allegedly said: "I was extremely careful to gather the files I possess slowly and naturally in the routine of my job, so nobody would suspect my plan." He also noted, "We have cash and passports set aside for th[e] purpose" of having to flee the U.S.

Despite the Toebbes' attempts at stealth and subterfuge, the FBI claimed in an affidavit that the Toebbes, though careful to use encrypted communications and cryptocurrency, repeatedly slipped up by depositing information in areas where they were easily exposed.

Groh said in court this week that the Toebbes' bizarre effort to undermine American national security "reads like a crime novel or a movie script."

China caught 'trying to disrupt our justice system': DOJ accuses 10 Chinese spies and communist agents of 'malign schemes'



The Department of Justice announced on Monday that it had charged 13 Chinese nationals, ten of whom are believed to be spies, for efforts to "unlawfully exert influence in the United States." Their alleged crimes include coercing American residents into traveling to China to face punishments, stealing secrets pertinent to the criminal investigation of Huawei, and recruiting more spies for China.

Attorney General Merrick Garland indicated that, in three separate cases, communist agents operating in the U.S. sought to execute the will of the genocidal Chinese communist regime — to "interfere with the rights and freedoms of individuals in the United States and to undermine our judicial system that protects those rights."

These newly unsealed indictments come at a time of growing tensions between China and the West and after recent revelations that the communist regime is running illegal police stations across North America and Europe.

\u201cU.S. prosecutors charged alleged Chinese spies with trying to obtain secret documents in what Attorney General Merrick Garland said was one of three different schemes by Beijing meddling in U.S. affairs or targeting U.S. residents https://t.co/JooOcfUsTl\u201d
— Reuters (@Reuters) 1666672200

A communist baker's dozen

The U.S. attorney's offices for the Eastern District of New York and the District of New Jersey are overseeing three cases involving the 13 alleged communist agents.

In the first case, seven Chinese nationals, two of whom were arrested in New York on Oct. 20, were indicted for attempting to force an American resident back to China. They are accused of surveilling, harassing, and coercing the victim.

In the second case, two communist Chinese spies were charged with attempting to obstruct a criminal prosecution in the Eastern District of New York. The spies have not yet been apprehended.

In the third case, three Chinese Ministry of State Security intelligence officers were charged in connection with a "long-running intelligence campaign" with the aim of flipping U.S. residents and turning them into communist agents.

Operation Fox Hunt

The Chinese communist party has worked hard in recent years to track down and coerce Chinese dissidents living abroad into returning to China for punishment. While the CCP claims that those targeted for illegal extradition are fraudsters, there is substantial evidence that the regime is in fact hunting down Chinese people it perceives to be its foes, including members of religious groups (e.g., Chinese house Christians and underground Catholics), ethnic minorities such as the Uyghurs, and political dissidents at odds with the communist party.

The initiative, which began in 2014, is called Operation Fox Hunt. Unfortunately for the communist agents operating in the United States, they neglected to realize they were among wolves.

The Eastern District Court of New York unsealed an eight-count indictment on Oct. 20 charging seven Chinese nationals for their involvement in a scheme to force at least one individual living in the U.S. back to China.

According to the DOJ, the lead defendant is 55-year-old Quanzhong An, a business man who worked in Roslyn, New York. Quanzhong also is the majority shareholder of a hotel in Flushing, New York.

Quanzhong's criminal operation was allegedly directed and monitored by various officials with the Chinese regime's Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection.

The DOJ suggested that Quanzhong attempted with several others to coerce an American resident identified only as John Doe-1 as well as members of Doe-1's family to return to China. As part of the scheme, the Chinese agents brought a member of the victim's family from China to the United States, threatening harm in the event of noncompliance.

Quanzhong's co-conspirators told Doe-1's family, "Coming back and turning yourself in is the only way out" and that "avoidance and wishful thinking will only result in severe legal punishments."

Quanzhong was arrested along with Guangyang An on Thursday. They were charged with conspiracy to act as foreign agents and acting as agents of a foreign government.

U.S Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York indicated that the U.S. "will firmly counter such outrageous violations of national sovereignty and prosecute individuals who act as illegal agents of foreign states."

Huawei and Ocean University China

The second case referenced in the DOJ's announcement concerns Chinese agents Dong He and Zheng Wang, both of whom were charged after they allegedly set about stealing files and other information from the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York. The information they allegedly tried to steal pertained to the ongoing federal criminal investigation into Huawei, a Chinese company that was indicted in 2019.

Dong and Zheng, working on behalf of the CCP, tried bribing a U.S. government employee with $41,000 in Bitcoin. While the suspects believed the individual was a Chinese agent, they soon discovered he was working for the FBI.

Neither of the two communist agents have been arrested t -date. If brought to justice and convicted, Dong faces 40 years imprisonment and Wang 20 years.

In the third case, Chinese intelligence officers Wang Lin, Bi Hongwei, Dong Ting, and Wang Qiang attempted to recruit communist agents on behalf of the CCP. Among those they targeted were professors at universities and a state homeland security official. They used the so-called Institute of International Studies (Ocean University of China) as cover for their clandestine activities.

A pattern of 'outrageous behavior'

Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco stated, "The actions announced today take place against a backdrop of malign activity from the government of the People's Republic of China [PRC] that includes espionage, attempts to disrupt our justice system, harassment of individuals, and ongoing efforts to steal sensitive U.S. technology."

FBI Director Christopher Wray emphasized the CCP's hand in the criminality, stating, "These indictments of PRC intelligence officers and government officials – for trying to obstruct a U.S. trial of a Chinese company, masquerading as university professors to steal sensitive information, and trying to strong-arm a victim into returning to China – again expose the PRC’s outrageous behavior within our own borders."

In addition to the 13 Chinese agents charged in recent days, others have been charged in recent months and years.

On September 26, a Chinese national, 31-year-old Ji Chaoqun, was found guilty of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government. The former U.S. Army reservist had informed on individuals targeted for recruitment to the Jiangsu Province Ministry of State Security.

On July 7, five men including one current and one former Department of Homeland Security agent, Craig Miller and Derrick Taylor, were indicted for crimes related to a communist Chinese transnational repression scheme to silence critics of the regime.

In October 2020, eight illegal Chinese agents were charged for surveilling, locating, and intimidating targets of the CCP. They intended to coerce their targets back to China, where "they would face certain imprisonment or worse following illegitimate trials."

In September 2020, NYPD officer and U.S. Army reservist Baimadajie Angwang (of Tibetan descent) was allegedly conscripted by Chinese officials to spy on the Tibetan community in New York City on behalf of the communist regime.

FBI Director Wray said that the FBI "will continue to throw the full weight of our counterintelligence and law enforcement authorities into stopping the Chinese government’s crimes against our businesses, universities, and Chinese-American communities.”

Spies in the President’s Home?

Spies in the President’s Home?