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Government clamps down on Cyber Security Command details!

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Posted on WND.com-By Bob Unruh-On July 21, 2011:

“The Department of Homeland Security apparently has blocked employee access to a WND report of a scandal in the agency’s new Cyber Security Command.

The story by WND, the nation’s largest independent Internet news site, described how a former Clinton administration official who “lost” thousands of archived emails that were under subpoena—and more recently left the Department of Homeland Security under a cloud related to her qualifications—was hired for the Obama administration’s new elite team of computer technicians.

The report described how the administration in May quietly hired Laura Callahan for a sensitive post at the U.S. Cyber Command, a newly created agency set up to harden military networks as part of an effort to prevent a “cyberspace version of Pearl Harbor.”

The move raises doubts about the administration’s vetting process for sensitive security positions. In 2004, Callahan was forced to resign from Homeland Security after a congressional investigation revealed she committed résumé fraud and lied about her computer credentials.

Investigators found that Callahan paid a diploma mill thousands of dollars for her bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees in computer science. She back-dated the degrees, all obtained between 2000 and 2001, to appear as if she earned them in 1993, 1995 and 2000, respectively. She landed the job of deputy DHS chief information officer in 2003.

Previously, as a White House computer supervisor, Callahan threatened computer workers to keep quiet about an embarrassing server glitch that led to the loss of thousands of archived emails covered by federal subpoenas pertaining to multiple Clinton scandals.

A government computer specialist was alarmed, saying, “She’s a security risk. I don’t know how she got clearance.”

A CyberCom spokesman told WND Callahan could not be interviewed and did not want her “name in public.” Asked for Callahan’s title, he claimed such information was “personal.”

CyberCom, which began operations last year, is part of the U.S. Strategic Command located in Fort Meade, Md.

But a worker at the federal Department of Homeland Security, who contacted WND through a personal email, reported that on the very day the report appeared, the WND.com site was blocked from computers in the department.

“I am very certain that I can’t access it, and [blocking] has never happened before,” the worker told WND. “I generally take a look at WND every morning to begin the day.

“The guy I work with has been blocked as well,” the worker said.

Another DHS employee hours later contacted WND to provide confirmation.

“Just thought you might like to know that DHS has blocked WND. Can no longer access from work computer. CNN, Fox and CBN no problems,” he wrote.

Staff at the Department of Homeland Security media office, contacted by telephone for a comment, told WND to make the request by email, which was done. There was no response.

WND’s report described how the Defense Department revealed it recently suffered a massive cyberattack. It was in March when hackers working for a foreign government broke into a Pentagon contractor’s computer system and stole 24,000 files. Previous cyberattacks have been blamed on China or Russia.

A new Pentagon study stressed the need to fortify network firewalls against enemy hackers. Callahan will be part of that effort at CyberCom, which will lead day-to-day defense and protection of all Defense Department networks.

“She’s a dubious hire, to put it charitably,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a government watchdog in Washington that sued the Clinton White House to retrieve missing emails.

As WND was first to report, several Northrop Grumman contractors working on the White House computer system testified in early 2000 that Callahan (née Laura Crabtree) threatened to jail them if they talked about the “Project X” email scandal even to their spouses.

One technician, Robert Haas, said she warned him “there will be a jail cell with your name on it” if he breathed a word about the glitch to anybody outside their office.

Chip Sparks, a White House programmer, recounted a run-in he had with Callahan in 1997. After questioning a technical decision she made, he said she wrote him a threatening note.

“Please be advised I will not tolerate any further derogatory comments from you about my knowledge, qualifications and/or professional competence,” Callahan blasted Sparks in a March 3, 1997, email, a copy of which was obtained by WND.

WND has reported numerous times its site has been blocked, including some instances that were inadvertent.

The McAfee Internet security corporation promised a fix after it placed WND in the categories of “Blogs/Wiki” and “Controversial Opinion” in a database of websites, triggering a number of systems to deny users access.

The denial messages specifically mentioned the “blogs/wiki” and “controversial opinion” classifications McAfee had applied to WND in its “sites” office that reviews and categorizes Web operations for customers.

The description later was restored to that of a general news and opinion website.

The warning had said, “Your request to URL ‘http://www.wnd.com/’ has been blocked by the Webwasher URL Filter Database. The URL is listed under categories (Blogs/Wiki, Controversial Opinions), which are not allowed by your administrator at this time.”

A teacher who found WND.com blocked write to WND.

“I am an avid reader of your site,” he said. “I frequent it at least 2-3 times a day and read many of your commentaries on the site. I love Molotov Mitchell! He is my favorite.”

He said he then checked Moveon.org and found it was not blocked.

“Another fine example of shutting down any information resource that doesn’t agree with our current political administration,” he said.

Among the institutions in which access to WND was affected were Raytheon and Veterans Affairs hospitals.

A “Web Guard” option offered by T-Mobile on its cellular telephone service disconnected access for some readers to WND.com by mistakenly classifying it as “adult” material.

Another case arose in Minnesota when a reader told of getting a response of “inappropriate” when he tried to access WND through the Wi-Fi services at a Dunn Bros. coffee shop.

The coffee shop was using software from DansGuardian.org. Other questions were raised by WND readers over the work of one of the larger filtering companies, ContentWatch.com, which has a product called Net Nanny that has been cited by readers several times for blocking WND for having “hate and violence.”

That company has told WND it now “has made the necessary changes.”

Early in 2007, WND finally resolved a blocking situation involving the military provider that makes Internet services available to U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine bases worldwide.

The U.S. Navy launched an investigation into blocking of WND at WND’s request after the news site received a flood of emails from readers.

An undefined “security” issue between the Web-hosting location WND uses and the Navy computer later was resolved. A block by American Airlines also was lifted, as were blocks by several other filtering companies.”

Continue Reading:

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=324081

Note: The following articles and/or blog posts relate to this disturbing issue-You Decide:

I. Look who Obama's hired for cybersecurity team!

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Posted on WND.com-On July 18, 2011:

“An elite team of computer technicians assembled by the Obama administration to protect Pentagon networks from cyberattack shockingly includes a former Clinton official who “lost” thousands of archived emails under subpoena and who more recently left the Department of Homeland Security under an ethical cloud related to her qualifications, WND has learned.

The administration in May quietly hired Laura Callahan for a sensitive post at the U.S. Cyber Command, a newly created agency set up to harden military networks as part of an effort to prevent a “cyberspace version of Pearl Harbor.”

The move raises doubts about the administration’s vetting process for sensitive security positions. In 2004, Callahan was forced to resign from Homeland Security after a congressional investigation revealed she committed résumé fraud and lied about her computer credentials.

Former co-workers say they’re shocked that Callahan passed a security background check and landed another sensitive post inside the federal government.

“She’s a security risk,” said a government computer specialist. “I don’t know how she got clearance.”

“We’re fuming about it,” said another federal employee. “Knowing her, I don’t see how she could ever be 100-percent honest.”

A CyberCom spokesman said Callahan could not be interviewed and did not want her “name in public.” Asked for Callahan’s title, he claimed such information was “personal.”

CyberCom, which began operations last year, is part of the U.S. Strategic Command located in Fort Meade, Md.

The Defense Department last week revealed it recently suffered a massive cyberattack, even as it announced a new strategy to actively combat online threats to national security.

In March, hackers working for a foreign government broke into a Pentagon contractor’s computer system and stole 24,000 files. Previous cyberattacks have been blamed on China or Russia.

A new Pentagon study stresses the need to fortify network firewalls against enemy hackers. Callahan will be part of that effort at CyberCom, which will lead day-to-day defense and protection of all Defense Department networks.

“She’s a dubious hire, to put it charitably,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a government watchdog in Washington that sued the Clinton White House to retrieve missing emails.

As WND first reported, several Northrop Grumman contractors working on the White House computer system testified in early 2000 that Callahan (née Laura Crabtree) threatened to jail them if they talked about the “Project X” email scandal even to their spouses.

One technician, Robert Haas, said she warned him “there will be a jail cell with your name on it” if he breathed a word about the glitch to anybody outside their office.

Chip Sparks, a White House programmer, recounted a run-in he had with Callahan in 1997. After questioning a technical decision she made, he said she wrote him a threatening note.

“Please be advised I will not tolerate any further derogatory comments from you about my knowledge, qualifications and/or professional competence,” Callahan blasted Sparks in a March 3, 1997, e-mail, a copy of which was obtained by WND.

{…}

Callahan had to do some quick backpedaling after her House testimony. The day after she testified, she sent an affidavit to the House Government Reform Committee, stating: “I wish to clarify that I did discuss e-mail issues with the Department of Justice attorneys in connection with currently pending civil litigation,” referring to a lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch. She had denied such contacts at the hearing.

Callahan left the White House under an ethical cloud, only to land a top position elsewhere in the Clinton administration. Labor Secretary Alexis Herman made her deputy chief information officer at her agency, and director of its information technology center.

While there, she oversaw the development of the Privacy Assessment Model, which agencies were to use to better protect sensitive personal data managed by the government.

“It’s hard for me, having worked with this individual, to believe that she was able to come in there, do what she did, leave the things in the condition that she left them in and then fly right into an SES (senior executive service) position at the Labor Department,” Sparks said.

“I mean, there’s political favors there,” he added. “It’s writ large.”

House Government Reform Committee investigators at the time said Labor knew Callahan got her degree from a diploma mill, yet still employed her. They found that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management tipped Labor off to her questionable credentials.

“We have requested the Homeland Security IG to look at why flags that had been raised about her educational qualifications in her personnel file at the Labor Department were not taken further,” said House Government Reform Committee spokesman Dave Marin at the time.

He told WND that the government certainly cannot risk hiring someone with “fraudulent credentials” to head a senior position in an area as “sensitive as homeland security” computer operations and communications.

Calls to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management seeking comment about Callahan’s latest hiring were not returned.”

Source:

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=323373

II. Does Google spy on you for NSA? Judge says, 'None of your business'!-Posted on WND.com-By Bob Unruh-On July 15, 2011:

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=322113

III. Net Neutrality is the Future of Censorship!-Posted on Big Government-By Seton Motley-On July 11, 2011:

http://biggovernment.com/smotley/2011/07/11/forget-the-fairness-doc...

Note: My following blog posts contain numerous articles and/or blog posts and videos that relate to this disturbing issue-You Decide:

Could Steps That Team Obama Has Taken Be Emboldening Terrorists?

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/could-steps-that-team-obam...

The FCC Should Not Interfere With The Internet!

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/the-fcc-should-not-interfe...

Is it important to understand the Marxist assault on the foundations of our system?

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/is-it-important-to-underst...

Note: If you have a problem viewing any of the listed blog posts please copy web site and paste it on your browser. Be aware that some of the articles and/or blog posts or videos listed within the contents of the above blog post(s) may have been removed by this administration because they may have considered them to be too controversial. Sure seems like any subject matter that may shed some negative light on this administration is being censored-What happened to free speech?-You Decide.

“Food For Thought”

God Bless the U.S.A.!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E&feature=related

Semper Fi!

Jake

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