My First Day as CIA Director

Former CIA analyst and founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity Ray McGovern, in this tongue-in-cheek article, outlines steps he would take on Day One as CIA Director to get to the bottom of Russiagate.

By Ray McGovern

Now that I have been nominated again – this time by author Paul Craig Roberts – to be CIA director, I am preparing to hit the ground running.

Ray McGovern

Last time my name was offered in nomination for the position – by The Nation publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel – I did not hold my breath waiting for a call from the White House. Her nomination came in the afterglow of my fortuitous, four-minute debate with then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, when I confronted him on his lies about the attack on Iraq, on May 4, 2006 on national TV. Since it was abundantly clear that Rumsfeld and I would not get along, I felt confident I had royally disqualified myself.

This time around, on the off-chance I do get the nod, I have taken the time to prepare the agenda for my first few days as CIA director. Here’s how Day One looks so far:

Get former National Security Agency Technical Director William Binney back to CIA to join me and the “handpicked” CIA analysts who, with other “handpicked” analysts (as described by former National Intelligence Director James Clapper on May 8, 2017) from the FBI and NSA, prepared the so-called Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) of Jan. 6, 2017. That evidence-impoverished assessment argued the case that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his minions “to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton.”

When my predecessor, CIA Director Mike Pompeo invited Binney to his office on Oct. 24, 2017 to discuss cyber-attacks, he told Pompeo that he had been fed a pack of lies on “Russian hacking” and that he could prove it. Why Pompeo left that hanging is puzzling, but I believe this is the kind of low-hanging fruit we should pick pronto.

The low-calorie Jan. 6 ICA was clumsily cobbled together:

“We assess with high confidence that Russian military intelligence … used the Guccifer 2.0 persona and DCLeaks.com to release US victim data obtained in cyber operations publicly and in exclusives to media outlets and relayed material to WikiLeaks.”

Binney and other highly experienced NSA alumni, as well as other members of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), drawing on their intimate familiarity with how the technical systems and hacking work, have been saying for a year and a half that this CIA/FBI/NSA conclusion is a red herring, so to speak. Last summer, the results of forensic investigation enabled VIPS to apply the principles of physics and the known capacity of the internet to confirm that conclusion.

Oddly, the FBI chose not to do forensics on the so-called “Russian hack” of the Democratic National Committee computers and, by all appearances, neither did the drafters of the ICA.

Again, Binney says that the main conclusions he and his VIPS colleagues reached are based largely on principles of physics – simple ones like fluid dynamics. I want to hear what that’s all about, how that applies to the “Russian hack,” and hear what my own CIA analysts have to say about that.

I will have Binney’s clearances updated to remove any unnecessary barriers to a no-holds-barred discussion at a highly classified level. After which I shall have a transcript prepared, sanitized to protect sources and methods, and promptly released to the media.

Like Sisyphus Up the Media Mountain

At that point things are bound to get very interesting. Far too few people realize that they get a very warped view on such issues from the New York Times. And, no doubt, it would take some time, for the Times and other outlets to get used to some candor from the CIA, instead of the far more common tendentious leaks.  In any event, we will try to speak truth to the media – as well as to power.

I happen to share the view of the handful of my predecessor directors who believed we have an important secondary obligation to do what we possibly can to inform/educate the public as well as the rest of the government – especially on such volatile and contentious issues like “Russian hacking.”

What troubles me greatly is that the NYT and other mainstream print and TV media seem to be bloated with the thin gruel-cum-Kool Aid they have been slurping at our CIA trough for a year and a half; and then treating the meager fare consumed as some sort of holy sacrament. That goes in spades for media handling of the celebrated ICA of Jan. 6, 2017 cobbled together by those “handpicked” analysts from CIA, FBI, and NSA.  It is, in all candor, an embarrassment to the profession of intelligence analysis and yet, for political reasons, it has attained the status of Holy Writ.

The Paper of (Dubious) Record

I recall the banner headline spanning the top of the entire front page of the NYT on Jan. 7, 2017: “Putin Led Scheme to Aid Trump, Report Says;” and the electronic version headed “Putin Led a Complex Cyberattack Scheme to Aid Trump, Report Finds.”  I said to myself sarcastically, “Well there you go!  That’s exactly what Mrs. Clinton – not to mention the NY Times, the Washington Post and The Establishment – have been saying for many months.”

Buried in that same edition of the Times was a short paragraph by Scott Shane: “What is missing from the public report is what many Americans most eagerly anticipated: hard evidence to back up the agencies’ claims that the Russian government engineered the election attack. That is a significant omission.”

Omission? No hard evidence?  No problem. The publication of the Jan. 6, 2017 assessment got the ball rolling. And Democrats like Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, were kicking the ball hard down the streets of Washington.  On Jan. 25, 2017, I had a chance to confront Schiff personally about the lack of evidence — something that even Obama had acknowledged just before slipping out the door. I think our two-minute conversation speaks volumes.

Now I absolutely look forward to dealing with Adam Schiff from my new position as CIA director.  I will ask him to show me the evidence of “Russian hacking” that he said he could not show me on Jan. 25, 2017 – on the chance his evidence includes more than reports from the New York Times.

Sources

Intelligence analysts put great weight, of course, on sources.  The authors of the lede, banner-headlined NYT article of Jan. 7, 2017 were Michael D. Shear and David E. Sanger; Sanger has had a particularly checkered career, while always landing on his feet.  Despite his record of parroting CIA handouts (or perhaps partly because of it), Sanger is now the NYT’s chief Washington correspondent.

Those whose memories go back more than 15 years may recall his promoting weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as flat fact. In a July 29, 2002 article co-written with Them Shanker, for example, Iraq’s (non-existent) “weapons of mass destruction” appear no fewer than seven times as flat fact.

More instructive still, in May 2005, when first-hand documentary evidence from the now-famous “Downing Street Memorandum” showed that President George W. Bush had decided by early summer 2002 to attack Iraq, the NYT ignored it for six weeks until David Sanger rose to the occasion with a tortured report claiming just the opposite.  The title given his article of June 13 2005 was “Prewar British Memo Says War Decision Wasn’t Made.”

Against this peculiar reporting record, I was not inclined to take at face value the Jan. 7, 2017 report he co-authored with Michael D. Shear – “Putin Led a Complex Cyberattack Scheme to Aid Trump, Report Finds.”

Nor am I inclined to take seriously former National Intelligence Director James Clapper’s stated views on the proclivity of Russians to be, well, just really bad people — like it’s in their genes.  I plan to avail myself of the opportunity to discover whether intelligence analysts who labored under his “aegis” were infected by his quaint view of the Russians.

I shall ask any of the “handpicked” analysts who specialize in analysis of Russia (and, hopefully, there are at least a few): Do you share Clapper’s view, as he explained it to NBC’s Meet the Press on May 30, 2017, that Russians are “typically, almost genetically driven to co-opt, penetrate, gain favor, whatever”?  I truly do not know what to expect by way of reply.

End of Day One

In sum, my priority for Day One is to hear both sides of the story regarding “Russian hacking” with all cards on the table.  All cards.  That means no questions are out of order, including what, if any, role the “Steele dossier” may have played in the preparation of the Jan. 6, 2017 assessment.

I may decide to seek some independent, disinterested technical input, as well.  But it should not take me very long to figure out which of the two interpretations of alleged “Russian hacking” is more straight-up fact-based and unbiased.  That done, in the following days I shall brief both the Chair, Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and ranking member Schiff of the House Intelligence Committee, as well as the Chair and ranking member of its counterpart in the Senate.  I will then personally brief the NYT’s David Sanger and follow closely what he and his masters decide to do with the facts I present.

On the chance that the Times and other media might decide to play it straight, and that the “straight” diverges from the prevailing, Clapperesque narrative of Russian perfidy, the various mainstream outlets will face a formidable problem of their own making. Mark Twain put it this way: “It is easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled.”

And that will probably be enough for Day One.

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Savior in inner-city Washington.  He served 30 years as an U.S. Army Intelligence and CIA analyst, and in retirement co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

113 comments for “My First Day as CIA Director

  1. Kerry McSweeney
    March 6, 2018 at 18:02

    OMG, what a dream team!? Yes. Let’s make this happen. I read the first few lines. I know my history, I know this is going to be awesome.

  2. Bob Ford
    March 2, 2018 at 04:46

    I would use Ray McGovern to terminate the CIA.

  3. Steve
    February 26, 2018 at 13:08

    Mr McGovern is a breath of fresh air but the air around Langley is far too stale to stand scrutiny to fresh approaches. By all means make Mr McGovern our present CIA Director so we can rally drain the swamp. Hope President Trump is listening.

  4. February 26, 2018 at 01:59

    Ray and crew, a bow to your courage and committment to Truth is due and I do make that bow in humility.

    VIPS is the can opener for the worms to be revealed.

    Will contriute forthwith.

    Doc

  5. Joe
    February 24, 2018 at 23:15

    Totally brilliant, Ray. Thank you for pushing for the truth and sanity. You could have been raking in big bucks being a pro-war, vacuous talking head but instead you’re doing good in this world and shedding light. Thank you.

    • BobS
      February 25, 2018 at 09:43

      “You could have been raking in big bucks being a pro-war, vacuous talking head…”
      Instead, he continued to draw a paycheck and secure a pension by helping the Reagan administration wage it’s war on civilians in Central America.

      • February 25, 2018 at 15:29

        youre such a backstabbing little punk…

        Ray was an analyst for one…not in operations…and he has already given a number of reports on misdeeds, which you would know if you knew how to read…

        go back to ProporNot and twitter with your friendlies…

        regards

        D

        • March 1, 2018 at 11:27

          “Backstabbing punk” or someone mentioning an inconvenient truth? The crimes the CIA did in El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua during the Reagan/Bush years were what got me interested in left politics in the first place. The killing of those Maryknoll nuns was a particularly despicable act in that Reagan failed to take the side of American citizens killed by some of his “vandals” (as he referred to the Contras in particular). The Oscar Romero thing was also sickening. Why would someone remain in the employee of the CIA and remain silent knowing what Ray probably knew?

  6. Hawaii guy
    February 24, 2018 at 21:41

    I’d add on day one that a 20 man gallows be erected on the house, senate and media lawns. Let them know the hangman is coming and they should be shitting themselves.

  7. BobS
    February 24, 2018 at 20:11

    Hey Ray, did you and Robert Parry discuss how when, back in the 1980s, he was trying to uncover the crimes of the Reagan administration, you were helping them commit those crimes?
    Small world, ain’t it?

  8. mike k
    February 24, 2018 at 15:04

    My first day as CIA Director, I would announce that I am dissolving it.

    • mike k
      February 24, 2018 at 15:06

      Terminating the CIA would be the best thing it had ever done. It would be a tremendous benefit to the USA and the world!

      • mike k
        February 24, 2018 at 15:08

        A confession of all their failures and atrocities would be icing on the cake of their long overdue departure.

        • mike k
          February 24, 2018 at 15:09

          I guess I’m not holding my breath. But it was fun while the fantasy lasted……..sigh………

  9. Strayhorse
    February 24, 2018 at 13:55

    The “intelligence” community, the ABC agencies and NGO’s providing intelligence work for the United States of America HAVE OVERSTEPPED AND VIOLATED THEIR CHARTERS! When such agencies and NGOs fund, arm and collude to commit rape, drug manufacturing and running, human and sex trafficking, experimental chemical and biological testing on it’s own unsuspecting citizens and citizens of other nations, commit murder, terrorism and genocide then THEY are the enemy of mankind and MUST BE STOPPED. The Legislative Branch of the United States MUST IMMEDIATELY defund the CIA. The DOJ and FBI MUST IMMEDIATELY investigate and prosecute all CIA actions within the continental United States and INTERPOL, and the Hague World Court must immediately investigate and prosecute those in the CIA for the above stated crimes against humanity. The CIA, other ABC agencies and NGO’s have gone ROGUE and MUST BE STOPPED!

  10. February 24, 2018 at 09:06

    Ray: Reportedly you have resigned from the Council on Foreign Relations. Will there be a tell-all book?

    In view of Matt Agorist’s bombshell revelation that the CFR influenced more media than the Trilateral Commission, I would think a contributor to progressive sites – which are under attack – such as CN, who possessed knowledge of the inner workings of such an evil org as the CFR, would immediately get to work on such a project if he (or…) were able to. Unless oaths taken are a problem. If they are, then are you really ‘out’?

    • February 26, 2018 at 03:29

      Arby, you’re kidding, right? The Council on Foreign Relations would nnt touch me with a ten-foot Pole….or with a twelve-foot Czech, for that matter.

      My Irish grandmother warned me — more than once — about the “upper crust,” which she describe as “a bunch of crumbs held together by a lot of dough.”

      I “resigned” from the CFR??? Oh, did I, then? A good one, Arby. Wherever did you hear that? I’m tempted to laugh, but actually I’m offended that you thought I would hang out with that kind of crowd. Another saying of grandma Jane was, “Show me your company, and i’ll tell you who your are.”

      A person has to have some standards. Otherwise, one is likely to feel compelled to look for Russians under the bed, just to fit in with the Important Persons crowd.

      It’s nice not to have to do that before hitting the sack, which I am about to do. Labored long and hard over recent days helping shepherd a VIPS Memo on “War With Iran.” That important piece should be posted later this morning. I hope you will read it, Arby. The CFR will not touch with a fifteen-foot Hungarian. :))

      Ray

      • March 5, 2018 at 21:08

        I pay attention. And I still got duped. I’m not the bad guy you think I am. Someone dropped that in a discussion I was part of. I can’t remember where. (I have hundreds of links to news sites, but am much more interested in progressive media, even though progressive media sites, like The Nation [in my view], are going over to the dark side at an alarming rate.) I’ve repeated the ‘fact’ a few times since and not once did some kind progressive correct me. It took this embarrassing incident for me to be corrected. I apologize.

        • March 6, 2018 at 11:10

          Additionally, I think I may have mistaken Ray for another person. When I remember, I will return with that. I tried a search just now and nothing came up, but the way the internet is right now, that doesn’t surprise me. I won’t say that person’s name – and make the same mistake twice. I’ll confirm first.

  11. Abe
    February 24, 2018 at 06:51

    “The Trump and Netanyahu governments have a problem: How to start a greatly expanded Middle-Eastern war without having a justifiable reason for one. No doubt they are working hard to solve this urgent problem. If they can’t find a ‘justification’ (which they can’t), they will have to create one (which they will). Or perhaps they will find what they have already created. […]

    “All signs point toward an upcoming large-scale Israeli/U.S. attack on Lebanon and Syria, and all the sycophantic mainstream media are in the kitchen prepping for the feast. […]

    “Anyone with half a brain can see the greatly increased anti-Russian propaganda of the past few weeks. This has happened as the Russia-gate claims have fallen to pieces, as former CIA analyst Raymond McGovern, the late Robert Parry, Paul Craig Roberts, and others have documented so assiduously. All across the media spectrum, from the big name corporate stenographers like The New York Times, CNN, National Public Radio, The Washington Post to The Atlantic and Nation magazines and other ‘leftist’ publications such as Mother Jones and Who What Why, the Russia and Putin bashing has become hysterical in tone, joined as it is with an anti-Trump obsession, as if Trump were a dear friend of Putin and Russia and wasn’t closely allied with the Netanyahu government in its plans for the Middle-East. As if Trump were in charge. […]

    “Only someone totally lacking a sense of humor and blind to propaganda would not laugh uproariously at today’s media nonsense about Russia, but such laughter would be infused with a foreboding awareness that as the Middle East explodes and U.S./NATO backed Kiev forces prepare to attack the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, the world is entering a very dangerous period. […]

    “We are moving toward a global war that will become nuclear if an international ant-war movement doesn’t quickly arise to stop it. Most people bemoan the thought of such a war to end all wars, but refuse to analyze the factors leading to it. It happens step-by-step, and many steps have already been taken with more coming soon. It’s so obvious that most can’t see it, or don’t want to. The corporate main stream media are enemies of the truth; are clearly part of the continuation of the CIA’s Operation Mockingbird, and those who still rely on them for the truth are beyond reach.”

    The Coming Wars to End All Wars
    By Edward Curtin
    https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/02/23/the-coming-wars-to-end-all-wars/

    • February 25, 2018 at 15:23

      Yes…and Lebannon knows it…watch the Mediteranean LNG fields too…could start there…

      The Globalists believe their plan is on schedule…this could be a deadly year…many fronts…no restraints

      Why would a “democracy” that the US created(kiev) pass new laws to kill its own Eastern citizens when the

      fighting has quieted down? The MIC doesnt want peace, and is instructing its proxies for this years military

      aggression…

      regards

      D

  12. Gerry
    February 24, 2018 at 03:53

    No evidence is more or less the usual thing when it comes down to black propaganda, which was more than overt during and after WWII. The resistance members in the camp Auschwitz released their propaganda about the many methods the Germans were supposed to have killed and ended up with the preferred propaganda about gas chambers (no order from Hitler, nor from Himmler, only what the tortured R.Hoss had to say: very unusual for the strict German Nazis).
    No evidence from the crime scene of the enormous number of murders ever took place until 1988 (Zundel trial). For the first time (and three times more since then) researchers only found traces of the Cyclon-B in the delousing chambers and not in the alleged gas chambers. The leaders of the Aliies were always suspicious of those allegations (they did not have any evidence from their missions, including aerial photographs) and that is why Churchill, de Gaulle and Eisenhower never mentioned those alleged gas chambers in any of their works on WWII.
    Since 1988 a lot of research has been done in a very meticulous, scientific way and so far the evidence points the other way to what has been propagated over and over again: tell the lie endlessly and people will believe it as truth (especially big lies).
    Steelegate (not Russiagate as nothing has been established about Russia) is a case in point.
    The evidence gathered points to physical, chemical and technical impossibilities and the tribunals were based on stories. Prof.Carlo Mattogno, the researcher who showed how they managed to torture the Commandant of Auschwitz (title of his latest book) shows clearly how it was done and how the eye-witness statements were contradictory, often odd and yet allowed in court where other procedures were excluded which might point in a direction nobody wished to go. Then it became impossible to speak or question the research, because of unique laws prohibiting such “thought-crimes” as questioning the “truth”.
    It was unique as this has never happened in history (no tribunals by the victors with their own agenda) and now it has to be treated like a fundamentalist type of religion: believe it or punishment follows if one dares to even doubt. It certainly was part of the agenda, I think, to get Israel established.
    Personally I can only say that the research done in the last decades is relevant and so much better than the stories by the first “authorities” (highly partisan and no real evidence at all) that it is worth considering that perhaps we have all been lied to and that scientific, forensic research should also be allowed into the alleged “greatest crime”. Atrocities: yes, so crimes were committed, but not to the extreme, impossible level as claimed and protected by law as the one and only truth.
    The propaganda as weapon is far stronger and convincing than we are willing to believe and that counts for the recent wars too: lies about Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan and on and on….full of twisting and reversing the real situation on the grounds.
    When are we allowed to question those disinformation and black propaganda campaigns when we finally realize that the mainstream media is directed to publish what the powers that be want to be read by the masses. In the US people get into trouble for daring to doubt the Russiagate nonsense and see the ultimate goal of why this is happening.
    The psychology of propaganda is the strongest weapon available and the CIA etc. know how to do this with finesse.
    The stories about Syria are done by the opposition (mainly terrorists) and media never ask the people or the Syrian government or interview army personnel: it is horrific to see how the terrorists do their misdeeds and then turn it around and blame the Syrian army for having done it. People even believe there were chemical attacks without any scientific evidence or dismiss such evidence: whatever you wish to believe is what counts.
    I will believe again, as I did during my life till recently, that the horrors happened if there is real evidence and until then I go with those scientists who can give evidence and reason instead of belief and propaganda.

    • dahoit
      February 24, 2018 at 14:55

      The zionist liars cannot be condemned,they have a lock on our discourse.

    • Abe
      February 24, 2018 at 15:12

      Hasbara propaganda trolls are busy “defending Israel” with “Holocaust denial”, “conspiracy theory”, and “fake news” hoaxes.

      Information unsupported by facts and references to “Holocaust denial” figures, presented here by Inverted Hasbara (false flag “anti-Israel” / “anti-Zionist” and fake “anti-Jewish / “anti-Semitic”) propaganda troll “Gerry”.

      The same “Holocaust denial” references have been previously posted under aliases “koning279” and “Andre de Koning”

      See the references to Zundel and Mattogno by “koning279” in the CN comments here
      https://consortiumnews.com/2017/12/04/how-russia-gate-rationalizes-censorship/

      • Abe
        February 24, 2018 at 15:36

        “Holocaust denial” figures like Zundel and Mattogno are notorious for misrepresenting the work of historians, misquoting witnesses, fabricating evidence, and citing non-existent authorities.

        In Holocaust Denial: Demographics, Testimonies and Ideologies (2000), John C. Zimmerman has examined the methodology, use of sources and reasoning process of the deniers.

        Zimmerman has inspected the actual arguments that deniers use in great detail. For example, he responded to Mattogno’s claims about Auschwitz here:
        http://www.phdn.org/archives/holocaust-history.org/auschwitz/response-to-mattogno/

        • Gerry
          February 24, 2018 at 21:38

          Have you read the books of Mattogno; have you seen the Polish findings of their chemical analyses that supports what Leuchter, G.Rudolph, James Ball found as well.
          Which authorities are misquoted: Pressac, Hilbert, Reitlinger, Benz? Have you actually read the sources that Mattogno uses? When they moved the figure of 4 million killed at Auschwitz and then moved it to 1 million ( the plaque of 4 million was changed, so all of a sudden they admitted there were no 4 million victims), what sources does Zimmerman use to say that was incorrect. Auschwitz Museum admitted the “mistake”.
          I bet you just go with whatever the old authorities say and have never even read the analyses by Mattogno.
          I was glad to see the change as it meant the number of victims was far less, but you would need to insist there were many or your probably would not have a life anymore if you dared to read forensic research.
          All arguments by the traditionalist are weak and Mattogno shows it, using the documentation form Moscow which was only released in 1990. The Soviet propaganda had been extreme.
          Anyway, it just shows that black propaganda will always win. You believe Zimmerman and I like to read factual proper research. I needed to be exposed by you a few times now, so you obviously have your surveillance in place for me. It sounds disgusting to go around trying to expose and identify people, but that is what is exactly the problem with exposing propaganda: there are always people who defend and go after those who dare to show the oppsoite might be true.

        • Gerry
          February 24, 2018 at 23:08

          I have read ZImmerman and he never uses arguments full of Tertium non datur. i.e. a third or fourth, fifth possibility why Mattogno does not give evidence might relate to the option Mattogno chose: to expand on those arguments, such as the existence of Bunkers, in another book. He did, but it looks like ZImmerman never actualy read his detailed studies and only refers to a few selective interviews or talks and then starts nit-picking and coming up with his own conclusions about why Mattogno does this or that. This by-passes the overall studies and as usual only leads to attacks ad hominem, i.e. showing how deceptive Mattogno is (because he has not done what ZImmerman wants yet).
          The whole story and propaganda relies on absent documents, absent order by HItler or Himmler, no reference to the fact Rudolph Hoess was tortured and his family (wife and 5 children) were threatened.
          In his own notes Hoess exclaims that he is amazed that the British want such huge numbers etc.
          Why don’t you read The Commandant of Auschwitz by him instead of nit-picking about certain tiny details that are addressed in later works?
          No, I am afraid that black propaganda will always win and the fact that Zundel’s lawyer was imprisoned because she kept coming up with evidence (which was forbidden by the judge as it did not matter whether the Holocaust happened or not, it was simply a matter of fact). So, Sylvia Stolz was imprisoned, a courageous lawyer and her speech can be found on YouTube (it is about free speech).
          You refer to Zimmerman using “witnesses”, such as Philip Mueller: have you ever heard this man’s almost psychotic statements and physically impossible things he claims? Those physically ridiculous statements were taken as “evidence” by the judges (impartial as they were, all being Jewish). No, I am glad to see somebody who dares to argue with Mattogno, but it remains finding little faults and concluding the obvious: it is the man Mattogno and not about science as an enterprise, not nit-picking that leads to fulfilling the claims made. If they can come up with real evidence of what happened, I will hear and see it, but in the meantime we have to wait and see if society is willing to even accept research instead of shouting slurs such the usual anti-Semitic kind of stuff. I am not anti-Semitic at all and my family history in Amsterdam has suffered enough from the Nazi’s, so you just go with your prejudices and carry on surveiling and exposing me: that is what they did to ZUndel and Faurisson when they found them and beat them and continue to ruin their life just because of doing science (not “denial”). That is why the US is in such trouble: all wars in the ME have a relation to Israel and the media are owned by Zionists and there is nothing that can be done without the root cause exposed for what it is: propaganda to win by Way of Deception (former Mossad motto). NOBODY CAN DO ANYTHING ANYMORE ABOUT THE WARS BASED ON SIMILAR DECEPTION BECAUSE WE ARE NOT WILLING TO LISTEN TO OBJECTIVE REALITY (which is far beyond pro- or anti- this or that).

      • Gerry
        February 24, 2018 at 23:30

        Zimmerman is ending with:”Finally a point needs to be made about a book Mattogno mentions he has written on cremation. Parts of the book deal with the Auschwitz ovens. I responded to an e mail address on a denier website where this book is mentioned for sale. I did not receive a response. I then contacted an associate of Mattogno’s in London who could not give me any information about how to obtain the book. I also did a computer search of all American libraries, but the book did not show up. I am sure this book exists — somewhere.”
        He cannot even find Mattogno’s crucial book and therefore not his other books either. Probably because they are not for sale via Amazon where they are forbidden. This is exactly the problem: we are being selectively steered to read only what certain scholars said, who are certainly far less precise in argument than Zimmerman is (he goes through a lot of trouble to find holes, which is fine). People cannot find the books and if they could, they usually don’t read them because it is taboo. They are all here: http://www.holocausthandbooks.com so not that hard to find.
        People believe what the terrorist in Syria say because that is the only people they contact from the West; they believed Iraq lies, they believed Libya lies and will continue to believe whatever the owners of media and book companies allow them to read. In the US there is a rulership of the deep state that includes Zionists who rule media companies and the slaughter of innocent civilians in Gaza will continue with impunity because of it. I distance myself from that selective type of reading of news and do not wish to persecuted for it by being exposed time and again on this website by people like you who think they own the truth.

  13. HopeLB
    February 23, 2018 at 21:18

    Love you Ray McGovern and William Binney! May we in the US be so blessed as to have you and your fellow patriots calling the shots! I bet “Shing City On The Hill” (with maybe Eisenhower’s famous speech on the back) T-shirts would sell out as fast as they could make them! Goo VIPS!!!

    http://agoodamerican.org/film

  14. Bill
    February 23, 2018 at 18:53

    The NY Times has totally disgraced itself regarding Russia, and they’re misbehavior continues. They’ve got millions of zombies lapping up each story.

  15. Nancy
    February 23, 2018 at 16:23

    I think your first act should be to abolish the CIA and investigate its many crimes.

    • Dr. Ibrahim Soudy
      February 23, 2018 at 17:28

      THANK YOU. Trouble is Ray himself has worked for 27 years for that criminal organization!!

    • BobS
      February 23, 2018 at 20:16

      Ray would be pretty familiar with more than a few of those crimes that were committed at the behest of the Reagan administration, which he so faithfully served.

      • Daniel
        February 24, 2018 at 03:11

        Ray was with CIA from the last year of John F. Kennedy’s Presidency through to that of George H. W. Bush. So chances are, he knows about a LOT of CIA malfeasance.

  16. LLewis
    February 23, 2018 at 16:04

    Sounds like a sensible plan. Would like to see the current Director implement it.

  17. Dr. Ibrahim Soudy
    February 23, 2018 at 14:56

    I appreciate all of that but still cannot understand how Ray continued to work for an organization called CIA which has done so much damage in many countries around the world and harmed so many people!! AND not only that but he is even willing to go back and be part of the same organization again!!!!

    Can a decent person work for a mafia organization (even if that person is NOT part of its crimes)?!

    • Nancy
      February 25, 2018 at 11:49

      I often have wondered the same thing.

  18. Diamond's Command Responsibility Dossier
    February 23, 2018 at 14:35

    Actually, Ray is likely to get diverted on his first day as the ultimate bureaucratic emergency supervenes. Alfreda’s got her tit caught in the crimes-against-humanity wringer. It’s getting harder to conceal the CIA torture that extracted the coerced confession of 9/11 patsy KSM. To bring KSM to fake CIA justice she’s been breaking all the rules she made for her rigged tribunals. Panicking CIA torture cowards are threatening to prosecute defense lawyers for obtruding the fruit of the poisoned tree.

    https://whowhatwhy.org/2018/02/22/accused-9-11-mastermind-cant-get-fair-trial/

    KSM in Guantanamo, CIA SIS in the Hague. There’s no statute of limitations on CIA’s universal-jurisdiction crime.

  19. February 23, 2018 at 14:24

    While we can hope that movies are being planned such as “JFK” and “On the Beach” that will inspire the masses to focus and share their “movie going experiences” as of previous eras resulting in revised perspectives, it seems that the “media powers” will continue to promote violence, “virtue signaling” and identity politics, along with the manipulation techniques which seem to have been so effective for most residents of the Northern Urban Centers and the West Coast (along with Northern Europe) which were the meccas of my generation seeking “comrades” with “eyes wide open”! The “New Progressive Movement” of Sen. Elizabeth Warren has proved to be “fake”, and perhaps people are beginning to realize why “Mark Twain” was so critical of the “Progressives” of his era! Let’s not limit our objectives to the intelligence community! Fundamental changes are needed in education and especially in the schools of journalism and media, and a most drastic “revision of History” must address the failures of foreign policies so well addressed by Robert Parry in his writings. I hope that Ray McGovern will advocate for conferences around the country of truth tellers discussing the conflicts around the world, the failures of the previous and the present Presidential Administrations, and actions necessary for the promotion of harmony on all levels from individuals to international alliances. Maybe Hillary’s final effort to promote attendance at her rallies with entertainment could be assessed to plan for participation at conferences which have the “whole package” of fun and excitement and expectations of the era of my youth!

    • February 23, 2018 at 21:16

      Marshall, please find or arrange those conferences, and send me in. I can also sing. ray

    • HopeLB
      February 23, 2018 at 22:02

      Marshall Smith, I whole heartedly agree about your point about education as evidenced by the number of my acquaintances/friends (Phd’s in Science) completely buying the MSM’s year long Rooski scare/fairytale. I know only one person who does not “believe” and he teaches rhetoric at a fine University and reports that his students’ eyes were indeed made “WIDE OPEN” by his course and that when he runs into them, even years later, they are astonished at how often they are able to see through the b.s. continually being foisted. (My point is that we desperately need, a nationwide Teach-in/Series of Ted like talks on rhetoric/argument so US citizens are armed with the skills to question what they are being told. These kids coming up are particularly in need of this education having undergone the abysmal/deficient-by-design Common Core. (Agnotology for all!)

      • Skip Scott
        February 24, 2018 at 08:36

        HopeLB-

        I had a course in Logic in college, and it too gave me a good nose for BS that I’ve retained ever since. I also studied “Media Ecology” which was a brainchild of Neil Postman at NYU. He and Marshall McLuhan do a great job in revealing the power of propaganda in media. I would love to see this stuff taught in public schools starting at the High School level.

    • February 24, 2018 at 09:10

      Ray can spill the beans right here. I’d love to also hear his thoughts on JFK.

    • Mild-ly - Faceitous
      February 25, 2018 at 20:31

      I hope that Ray McGovern will advocate for conferences around the country of truth tellers discussing the conflicts around the world, the failures of the previous and the present Presidential Administrations, and actions necessary for the promotion of harmony on all levels from individuals to international alliances.

      I hope that Ray would go back to his advocacy and championing of inner-city despicable policing w/and the “school-to-prison-pipeline” that affects ALL of the underprivileged in Our PURPOSED POCKETS of POVERTY and Designated “UNDER-PRIVILEGED/HOMELESS” Pockets Unbefitting the “United States of America”.

      WHY DO WE ALLOW THE PERDUE PHARMACY CORPORATION TO PRODUCE & GAIN VAST WEALTH AND POLITICAL POWER FROM THE PRODUCTION OF A KNOWN ADDICTIVE DRUG THAT INCAPACITATES & DESTROYS / MURDERS IT’S USERS??????

      WHY ARE WE DEFUNDING PUBLIC EDUCATION !!!??

      YOU, Ray McGovern were once a CHAMPION advocate against these de-socializing, debilitating antagonisms against communities of people collected inside “inner-cities”.
      I saw you as a champion against the ever-increasing strength of Right Wing wealth & power — the Total Embodiment of their Vast Conspiracy to tear apart the FDR vision of America. —-
      THAT Ray McGovern…
      What, pray tell, made you change into something that defends a Donald Trump, who disregards/disparages the poor, the immigrant from US funded nations that murder it’s own citizens whom stand and protest against corporate projects that disaffect and/or uproot the indigenous peoples — exactly as We did Native Americans here???!!!

      ? ? Ray McGovern…?
      Have you made an ABOUT FACE !! against the person you were in DC, a staunch advocate for the disempowered and disaffected?

      Have you traded your prior dignity into a now advocate for the unscrupulous Donald Trump?

      If that be the case, Benedict Arnold is surely in your blood line — and you’ve exposed your true Anglo-Saxon breeding… .

  20. Tom
    February 23, 2018 at 14:04

    McGovern continues to regularly appear on RT and Sputnik Radio. If they’re so great, how come RT America is constantly losing American reporters? Why do they consistently quit after a short period of time? There has to be a valid reason.

    • Daniel
      February 24, 2018 at 03:04

      You’re making that up. Abby Martin and Thom hartmann both quit on amicable terms, and both said repeatedly that RT never once imposed on their complete editorial freedom. Never once did RT suggest a story nor how to present any story they chose to cover. In fact, all the journalists at RT I’ve ever heard have said the same. Abby famously criticized Putin on air, and said it was never even mentioned to her for the next year she worked there.

      In fact, that complete freedom has been cited as the main reason so many USAmerican journalists and commentators chose to work there. And every guest I’ve heard has said that RT never once did a “pre-interview” to make sure what the guest planned to say fit with the station’s goals, which is routinely done at EVERY US “news” station.

      You no doubt are thinking about Liz Wahl, who famously quit on air. What you may not know is that she coordinated that bit of theater with the Foreign Policy Initiative, a neoconservative think tank in Washington D.C.

      As another famous conservative news commentator used to say, here’s “The Rest Of The Story:

      http://www.hangthebankers.com/proof-liz-wahls-resignation-from-rt-was-staged-us-propaganda/

    • Skip Scott
      February 24, 2018 at 08:27

      Maybe the CIA makes them an offer they can’t refuse?

      • Gregory Herr
        February 24, 2018 at 10:19

        Being asked by the Justice Dept. to register as foreign agents, fearing for their security, and blacklisting gets to be a bit imposing, doesn’t it?

  21. Tom
    February 23, 2018 at 14:02

    Suggestion. If he wants to maintain his credibility, please stay away from racist sites like Lyndon LaRouche, Alex Jones and others. I’ve heard McGovern say more than once that he has no problem with Trump. How could he have no problem with a notorious racist who takes NRA blood money? He’s entitled to his opinion. But saying things like this and hanging out with these people severely damages his credibility. No wonder then he has such a horrible time getting interviews with major news sources, talk shows and web sites.

    • February 23, 2018 at 21:13

      Tom,

      Not in your dreams have you ever heard me say that. What I have said publicly many times is that I think Trump is the worst president ever … and there is plenty to impeach him for, but not made-up stuff — dangerous stuff designed, in part, to assist what Pope Francis called the “blood-soaked arms traders” by creating unnecessary tension with Russia.

      You are NOT entitled to your own facts, Tom. Please let the rest of us know when you think you heard me say I have “no trouble with Trump.”

      Or apologize.

      Ray McGovern

      • Mikd-ly - Facetous
        February 25, 2018 at 19:16

        Miid -ly – Facetous
        February 25, 2018 at 7:09 pm
        Meanwhile,our Administrative Agencies are being overseen by Destructive “consignees” who’re hellbent on the annihilation of the Original Purpose of their Federal Agency Authority, which is to oversee Protections of the American people from THE DEGENERATE AMBITIONS of CORPORATIONS which deliberately seek to enrich themselves at the expense of We-The-People.

        We are the suckers whose sweat blood and tears enrich them with the CAPITAL they use to BUY politicians who’ll Vote in their favor and at their behest.

        If you would’ve paid attention to the Flow of Wealth/Money, you’d correctly discerned Political Power flowing to Vast Right Wing Ideology coming from iconoclasts like Richard Mellon Scythe (Carnegie, Mellon turn-of-the-centuryTycoons). —
        — That conglomeration of wealthy {right-wing} industrialists were faced down by FDR by/with his “Economic Bill of Rights” which he produced after/during ‘The Great Depression’ in the 1930’s.
        Some of you know this / many more of you (I suspect) don’t, an [the] American knowledge of history is despicable @ best / deployable @ worst. (so many distractions … .)

        So, Trump is the MAGA “Final Solution” for the dissolving / devolution of Actual Administrative Government For (in favor of) The People — (in favor of) a Government For (in favor of) The Rich.

        The slogan of the 60’s – ” power to the people ” has effectively been bombed into oblivion with with /by the wealth of billionaires / millionaires PURCHASE of POLITICIANS’ votes —- Just as Plantation Owners Purchased Slaves at Southern Slave Markets — The History of These Markets Still Exist in Alabama, Louisiana, and other Plantation States,
        for all you ignorant denial-ist, Pro-Confederate Trump supporters !!!

        real capitalists are the perversion of democracy
        It has been made clear in the voices of
        Florida Students against 2nd Amendment
        “rights” to own AR- 15 MILITARY WEAPONS

        MILITARY WEAPONS OUGHT NOT BE A “CIVIL RIGHT” !!!!!!
        (Don’t be Overtaken in a Fault…)

        {}

        The Real Trump
        by Mark Danner
        12-22-16

        Trump Revealed: An American Journey of Ambition, Ego, Money and Power
        http://www.nybooks.com/article/2016/12/22/the-real-trump

      • February 27, 2018 at 10:16

        i see you, ray, do you see me?

  22. Jongyoung rhee
    February 23, 2018 at 13:52

    Please contact fbi and check your e-mail, please. It is a big thing to report. Tens of millions of dollars

  23. Obi-jonKenobi
    February 23, 2018 at 11:27

    Ray focuses only on the hacking issue like it’s the Rosetta Stone of the Russia connection. Granted it’s important to examine for possible duplicity by our intelligence community and their servile press but there are many more Russian connections to Trump and the election than just the hacking drama, isn’t there? Just among the Trump cronies alone the connections – and the lies about them – is very curious indeed.

    Yes, of course there is the possibility both the intelligence community and the servile press have created a make-belive scenario, a feed-back loop where they’ve possibly even deceived themselves. But, like any crime, one of the biggest questions is always motive. Is this knee-jerk, cold-war redux by people like Clapper incapable of any other view? Could be. Is this supposed to be a gaslighting operation to serve the Hillary/DNC crowd and knee-cap Trump? If so, why wasn’t it revealed to the public before the election. What was revealed was more of the Hillary email “scandal” while the Trump/Russia connection remained hidden from public view. Not exactly what you’d see if the intelligence community was trying to put their thumb on the scale.

    So, let’s find out what’s happening here but by no means is unraveling the hacking story going to get to the bottom of this, there’s way more going on than that.

  24. Michael Kenny
    February 23, 2018 at 11:22

    Since the pro-Putin people have no new arguments to advance, they simply re-has the same arguments is been advancing for years dressed up in different guises. I just wonder why they bother.

  25. Daniel Guyot
    February 23, 2018 at 09:44

    Great candidacy!

    I like that article, I like Consortiumnews, Robert Parry and Ray McGovern, just as I like the idea of truth and justice. By the way the same Russian – yes, Russian – word “Pravda” means truth and justice.

    But it is very idealistic. As quoted by Ray, and as Mr. Twain put it , “It is easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled.”

    There is a big difference between “knowing something” and “believing something”. In order to believe, that “Russians did it”, no need of evidence. That is probably why Russian bashing, just like racism or antisemitism, is so irrational. That is why, what is now happening in America is so frightening.

    Daniel, Paris, Moscow

  26. BobS
    February 23, 2018 at 06:32

    So Ray, were you friendly with any of those folks who enabled the murderers of Oscar Romero, Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel, Jean Donavan, or about 100,000 other civilians in Central America?
    You seem proud of your closeness with them in your bio.

  27. Lolita
    February 23, 2018 at 02:57

    Brilliant!

  28. Realist
    February 22, 2018 at 22:23

    Would Trump ever be wise or courageous enough to make an appointment like that? And would the Senate ever be fair and impartial enough to confirm it? Seems to me, all the patrons of the latter would have a lot to lose. Their interests cannot withstand the truth, so we will never receive it. One can dream, however.

  29. mike k
    February 22, 2018 at 22:22

    Lying and cheating are forms of violence. They hurt other’s ability to trust and ascertain truth. Thus they are very serious and deeply wounding behaviors. To distort and misrepresent the truth is a very serious crime against an essential component of our possible salvation. Verbal abuse can be just as traumatic and damaging as physical or sexual abuse. Right speech is essential to the spiritual life, to violate it is to go off the path. Mindfulness of our speech is very important. Is what I speak truthful and loving? This is a crucial practice.

  30. Robert Hope
    February 22, 2018 at 22:04

    Brilliance. So sad that they’ve done this to us.
    Hopefully the unknown unknowns win:-)

  31. Gregory Herr
    February 22, 2018 at 22:02

    That’s right, let’s put all the cards on the table and be done with the sham of “Russia stole our election” for once and for all. Let’s involve our vaunted vainglories at the Times with some revised revisitation and see if they can handle having some ‘splaining to do.

    I love the idea of an in-house point-blank assessment of Clapperian Russiology. Debriefings to the public should be aired on Meet the Press. Clapper should be embarrassed for attempting to impersonate intelligence.
    And by no means let’s not spare the rod of truth when it comes to Congress as well. No more hiding behind unnecessary “classifications”.

    Just one thing Mr. McGovern…I’m told on good authority that Obama slithered out (while giving us “the slip”).

  32. BobS
    February 22, 2018 at 21:21

    So, to be clear, your resume would include providing intelligence briefs to the Reagan administration during the years it was responsible for over 100,000 deaths in Central America (I think I remember Robert Parry writing a bit on the subject)? The same years that same administration was doing it’s ‘Chicken Little’ routine with respect to Soviet military might so as to gain approval for increasing our own military budget (and deficit)? Then, of course, there was that little matter of Iran-Contra…
    I don’t remember reading of your principled resignation in disgust at what the agency you drew your paycheck from was doing.
    However, to be fair, you did become somewhat of a grandstanding ‘truthteller’ once your pension was safely secured. Take a well-deserved bow, Ray.

    • Anon
      February 22, 2018 at 21:24

      False criticism as always from the BS troll. Please do not feed the trolls.

      • BobS
        February 22, 2018 at 21:29

        Didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, Ray.

        • Joe Tedesky
          February 22, 2018 at 23:36

          BobS your lack of any kind of real credibility around here on this site helps promote Ray in many more ways thank you know. Just thought I’d help ya out there old troll buddy who isn’t a troll. Wow, that’s scary BobS that you are a troll who isn’t a troll, but anyway take it easy. Joe

      • JWalters
        February 22, 2018 at 23:21

        Sounds like a Zionist troll. They routinely ignore the case at hand by attacking the writer. And they routinely lie in doing that. Zero credibility.

    • February 22, 2018 at 21:48

      I’l second Ray’s nomination…there are many people here that at one time had to shut up to keep their jobs….it’s not the same as throwing someone under the bus to advance one’s position.

    • Gregory Herr
      February 22, 2018 at 22:34

      So are the analysts who put together the PDB that stated bin Laden was “determined to strike inside U.S.” culpable for 9/11?
      You have no idea the gist of McGovern’s analyses and to what effect they did or did not have on policy.

      • Gregory Herr
        February 22, 2018 at 22:37

        My hunch about that particular PDB about bin Laden is that the CIA was priming the public record as part of the setup.

  33. norecovery
    February 22, 2018 at 20:44

    Elegant, accurate, precise, and unvarnished facts are evident in Mr. McGovern’s writing. If there’s any doubt about the dominant narratives, seek evidence and verify the sources. No more hiding behind “classified” excuses. But of course, TPTB won’t allow an honest assessment of anything because it will reveal their lies and manipulation.

  34. AM
    February 22, 2018 at 20:33

    Ray McGovern concludes with: “It is easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled.” It’s sad that he lacks the introspection to observe Mark Twain on the supernatural mumbo-jumbo that is Christianity.

    • Anon
      February 22, 2018 at 21:23

      You have no basis for any assertion of better introspection, and no Mark Twain quote. Why not?

      • Daniel
        February 24, 2018 at 02:40

        While Twain’s alleged full-bodied atheism is contested, the fact that he abhorred Christianity is quite well documented.

        This website was the first to pop up in my search engine, and takes a moderate stance on the issue. Atheist sites provide more citations to his having been an atheist or at least an agnostic.

        https://www.thoughtco.com/religion-quotes-by-mark-twain-2832666

  35. February 22, 2018 at 20:23

    The crows and Vultures are starving from trying to survive on imaginary Russians…time to fill the gibbets with some real meat…

    cant wait for day 2…lol

    regards

    D

  36. jose
    February 22, 2018 at 20:20

    I would like to suggest in a humble way to Mr. McGovern to use common sense when analyzing the following incontrovertible and honest facts: this administration has already killed Russians in Syria, greatly escalated nuclear tensions with Russia, allowed the sale of arms to Ukraine (a move Obama refused for fear of angering Moscow), established a permanent military presence in Syria with the goal of effecting regime change, forced RT and Sputnik to register as foreign agents, expanded NATO with the addition of Montenegro, assigned Russia hawk Kurt Volker as special representative to Ukraine, shut down a Russian consulate in San Francisco and expelled Russian diplomats as part of continued back-and-forth hostile diplomatic exchanges. If he were logical and honest in his approach, he will conclude that Russia-gate is a complete farce perfect for comical relief. I have been following this story and I yet to see solid evidence that Putin ordered any meddling in US election. I rest my case.

  37. D S
    February 22, 2018 at 20:02

    Don’t stop now. I want day 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Well just go on as long as you want. Ray McGovern as CIA Director — what a dream come true.

  38. Virginia
    February 22, 2018 at 19:37

    Truly great article; great approach to topic! Wish I had had it earlier today for an email I wrote a “friend” stating many of those facts. But my friends, like so many others, don’t know what high confidence means, who Clapper is, what a flash drive is, the difference between hacking and stealing information, nor do they have any interest in learning. (They still even say 17 agencies.) Nor do they pay any attention to the CONTENT of the DNC emails, nor ask why the FBI didn’t check those computers. And so much more.

    The most desirable place on earth for most Americans right now is to have their heads in the sand. That has never appealed to me. Do they come up for air? Probably not.

    Shall we all call the White House suggesting Ray for this appointment?

    • JWalters
      February 22, 2018 at 23:16

      It seems to me the story is too complicated for a typical conversation. I think there’s more hope with a few links (over time) to easily readable, compelling presentations of hard facts. Good luck with those friends.

      • Bob Van Noy
        February 23, 2018 at 09:54

        JWalters I had a thought regarding this general line of thinking about the conversation.

        Years ago I realized that one great strength that Alan Dulles possessed was his very literate ability to create fiction, in fact it is still a primary weapon used across the media as propaganda. Ray McGovern has employed it here to help extend his thoughts into a broader audience. Sam F. has used his fine sense of justice to project potential into a possible more just future. In this way, we can imagine futures that may be possible. This is a brilliant tactic because it projects the general conversation forward.

        I remember as a teen that Walt Disney would report on the progress of Disneyland’s construction with graphics, movies, and commentary. I was particularly captured by his concept of “The Plausible Impossible” and, of course, that is what he ultimately created.
        The same is true of contemporary virtual reality.

        So I think that Ray has discovered a way of projecting the conversation to a broader audience, which is a significant insight…

      • Virginia
        February 24, 2018 at 01:33

        Right you are, JWalters. Excerpts on whatever the misunderstood issue is, addressing that alone, makes the best case.

  39. Sam F
    February 22, 2018 at 18:17

    For once I would have confidence that a secret agency was headed by someone who intends to find the truth and not mislead the public. I hope that you or others will:
    1. Investigate the operations division and halt all regime changes, subversions, secret wars, and drone operations unless absolutely necessary for humanitarian purposes, and monitor the gangsters and accomplices for compliance;
    2. Investigate and release all information on such matters as the JFK/MLK/RFK assassinations, unwarranted domestic spying, secret wars, false flags, and the true history of the persons and ideologies behind these misdeeds;
    3. Set up mechanisms for internal whistleblowing and reporting and investigations that will protect democracy from scoundrels of wealth and influence with secret agendas;
    4. Work with NSA, DIA, etc to set up means to isolate and expel appointed disinformation agents such as Perl/Wurmser/Feith who stove-piped fake intelligence to the WH to propagandize for Iraq War II.
    5. Give the WH and the people the truth whether they like it or not; get the secret agencies out of the press, and investigate Congress and the Judiciary for corruption.

    • jose
      February 22, 2018 at 20:36

      Dear Sam: A great majority of people here in US and worldwide know of have heard about the infamous CIA and its criminal and deceptive practices. This entity is secret for a reason. Just take point number 2 of your list. If the CIA were to disclose all its illegal activities since its inception, I think that not only will destroy the US government, but also those who have cooperated with it. If Mr. McGovern were to discover the CIA involvement in JFK/MLK/RFK assassinations, unwarranted domestic spying, secret wars, false flags, etc, he probably would be removed by those who have most to lose. Remember Sam, it is said that power corrupts and men with power always went more.

      • Sam F
        February 22, 2018 at 21:20

        Oh yes, certainly more than one leader would have to direct such a change, and the same would have to be coordinated across the entire executive branch, to rout the corruption from Congress, the Judicial branch, and all executive agencies, and the mass media. Practically, a shadow government operated by a political party would have to take the reins quite forcefully. upon a presidential win. And that is of course dreaming in the presence of universal corruption.

        US democracy is not likely to be restored by political action. It will be a slow train wreck much celebrated in the future. But when surprises happen, one should be prepared to do whatever good can be done.

        • Bob Van Noy
          February 22, 2018 at 21:53

          Really nicely done Sam F.

          What infuriates me the most, is that these corrupt bureaucrats will all draw government pensions and likely premium health care, all at public expense. I think if I were in charge, the first penalty I’d employ is a guarantee that they be disenfranchised of government perks…

          In fact Ray, if you set that up, I’ll volunteer for that Department.

          • Sam F
            February 23, 2018 at 21:37

            Thank you, Bob. it would be a consolation that none retire comfortably after much corruption.

        • Gregory Herr
          February 22, 2018 at 22:14

          Right. If we aren’t prepared to put a foot in a door that slightly cracks open it may shut without our knowing it opened at all.

          • Mikd-ly - Facetous
            February 25, 2018 at 19:09

            Meanwhile,our Administrative Agencies are being overseen by Destructive “consignees” who’re hellbent on the annihilation of the Original Purpose of their Federal Agency Authority, which is to oversee Protections of the American people from THE DEGENERATE AMBITIONS of CORPORATIONS which deliberately seek to enrich themselves at the expense of We-The-People.

            We are the suckers whose sweat blood and tears enrich them with the CAPITAL they use to BUY politicians who’ll Vote in their favor and at their behest.

            If you would’ve paid attention to the Flow of Wealth/Money, you’d correctly discerned Political Power flowing to Vast Right Wing Ideology coming from iconoclasts like Richard Mellon Scythe (Carnegie, Mellon turn-of-the-centuryTycoons). —
            — That conglomeration of wealthy {right-wing} industrialists were faced down by FDR by/with his “Economic Bill of Rights” which he produced after/during ‘The Great Depression’ in the 1930’s.
            Some of you know this / many more of you (I suspect) don’t, an [the] American knowledge of history is despicable @ best / deployable @ worst. (so many distractions … .)

            So, Trump is the MAGA “Final Solution” for the dissolving / devolution of Actual Administrative Government For (in favor of) The People — (in favor of) a Government For (in favor of) The Rich.

            The slogan of the 60’s – ” power to the people ” has effectively been bombed into oblivion with with /by the wealth of billionaires / millionaires PURCHASE of POLITICIANS’ votes —- Just as Plantation Owners Purchased Slaves at Southern Slave Markets — The History of These Markets Still Exist in Alabama, Louisiana, and other Plantation States,
            for all you ignorant denial-ist, Pro-Confederate Trump supporters !!!

            real capitalists are the perversion of democracy
            It has been made clear in the voices of
            Florida Students against 2nd Amendment
            “rights” to own AR- 15 MILITARY WEAPONS

            MILITARY WEAPONS OUGHT NOT BE A “CIVIL RIGHT” !!!!!!
            (Don’t be Overtaken in a Fault…)

            {}

            The Real Trump
            by Mark Danner
            12-22-16

            Trump Revealed: An American Journey of Ambition, Ego, Money and Power
            http://www.nybooks.com/article/2016/12/22/the-real-trump

  40. mike k
    February 22, 2018 at 17:47

    Well, you had a pretty busy day one, Ray. I was hoping you would fire a bunch of CIA scumbags, but there’s always day two!

  41. February 22, 2018 at 17:40

    *now*

  42. February 22, 2018 at 17:39

    Ray McGovern spent thirty years working for U.S. Army intelligence, but not works with ‘ecumenical Church of the Savior’?
    hmmmm………

    https://unitedresistance911.wordpress.com/

    Marley Engvall is a union electrician. He gets paid by the hour.

  43. realOtisPike
    February 22, 2018 at 17:01

    Not ready to vote for confirmation. Family Jewels II or GTFO!

    • Daniel
      February 24, 2018 at 02:29

      Thank you, Otis. Did Ray not learn anything from his 3 decades at CIA that might shed some much needed light on that dangerous organization, or is he “controlled opposition” providing a few “limited hangouts?”

      Near as I can tell, he didn’t say a word about the Iraq War II lies until a couple years after our invasion… long after it was obvious that there were no WMD. In fact, that was a year after Bush II joked about it at the Correspondents Dinner with his video searching under couches and behind curtains in the Oval Office for those pesky missing WMD. What a funny joke to the widows and wounded, eh?

      And of course, as a patriot who still believes in the necessity of protecting CIA “methods and techniques,” I wouldn’t expect him to just blather on. But one would expect someone so interested in public awareness could have revealed a few of those “Family Jewels.”

  44. Joe Tedesky
    February 22, 2018 at 16:34

    Ray if it were possible that you could become the new CIA Director, well what a glorious day it would be for America, and a day to remember as the swamp would finally be starting to get drained.

    Although Ray, it would be good to have you in that CIA position, you would be hard pressed going up against the MSM, and your fellow counterparts the FBI, and the NSA, but Ray I know that between you and the other VIPS that you all could figure this one out, so I’ll place my stone on the side of the confident and hopeful. The medicine for America would be for you to tell the truth, as such as you stated in this article.

    I would also hope that as new acting CIA Director that you would take the Allen Dulles out of the agency, and replace it with a strictly data informed function. That’s right, no more recruiting from the ranks of the graduating ‘Skull and Crossbones’ society, and no more Yale ivy elite to clutter up the agency. Only matters of espionage would be the agency’s new function, and not making plans to overthrow a democratic elected government, or any other kind of government for that matter. America shouldn’t be left to be the sole cop of the world, and our CIA should reflect that, enough with this over arching hegemony project.

    Ray my dream would come true to see an American President appoint such people as you. I have often thought to how Paul Craig Roberts and David Stockman should be somewhere inside of our Treasury Department trying to figure out this financial mess we are all worried about, or at least I am. I would love to see appear the likes of Chris Hedges, and Robert Parry’s writings could darn well serve our starved for good information country well, to if anyone were to read his great essays and books. I still like Ralph Nader, go ahead and hiss me, but Nader is the real deal, and he would be great at a consumer watchdog position. So, while we shouldn’t hold our breath waiting for such an appointment, we can always hope and ponder to what it would be like to have such honesty running the place.

    In the end Ray just be who you are, because having you here with us is not only terrifically inspiring but it is beyond priceless. Joe

  45. Drew Hunkins
    February 22, 2018 at 16:08

    If you have time, be sure to visit OpEdNews and read the recent debate between Feffer and Mate.

    It’s a stunning and extremely disturbing display of how smart liberals — Feffer — can very cleverly distort and obfuscate in order to push a propaganda line against the independent Putin admin. This Feffer guy, an intelligent guy (but a big propagandist of course), actually buys into all of the Russia-gate malarkey.

    This debate will leave you fuming. Feffer actually goes to the extent of calling Putin a racist and that Putin’s fomenting racism in the United States. I’m not making this up.

    It is a must-read for all CN enthusiasts. To make the Captain Obvious point: the liberal Russia-gaters are currently pulling out all the stops and are slickly peddling each and every argument they can muster in each and every forum possible. We may be fighting a losing battle.

    • Helen Marshall
      February 22, 2018 at 19:20

      It’s hard to argue any longer that we “may” be fighting a losing battle. Even the editorial cartoonists are lining up to whack Russia. If you try to have a debate about this, even with ostensibly well-informed friends (e.g. retired FSOs) you are slammed as a traitor, a RussiaBot, or a moron, or all three.

      • Drew Hunkins
        February 22, 2018 at 21:16

        Exactly Helen Marshall, it’s truly frightening what’s occurring. I written this before on CN: but it almost has an ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ feel to it all.

      • Sam F
        February 22, 2018 at 21:30

        The good news is that they have found nothing, so the future, and their own children, will ridicule this nearly universal groupthink. It is far more extensive and groundless than the McCarthy witch-hunts, which no one has credited for generations. This may take years to fully pass, but it will discredit the US mass media, fake patriots, and fake liberals far into the future.

        • Drew Hunkins
          February 22, 2018 at 21:41

          Very astute points Sam F. It’s all very nice to hear. And of course I hope you’re correct.

        • February 22, 2018 at 23:18

          This is being extremely optimistic that there will be a future in which this could happen. I see the seeming delusion, by the people heedlessly pushing for war with Russia, that limited nuclear exchanges or even first strikes without major consequences are a possibility or that the Russians are certain to be defeated militarily one way or the other. This howling insanity is making it far more likely, than even during the last Cold War, that we will suffer some major civilisational catastrophe.

          It’s even been suggested by one journalist published in the NYT that Nuclear Winter was a hoax of the dastardly (Soviet) Russians to weaken our resolve against them. You’d think such drivel would be an aberration, but these things proliferate lately. I live in Australia and we may escape the immediate worst if the Chinese don’t get drawn in, but I’m mindful of ending up On the Beach. Cassandra, eat your heart out.

          • Drew Hunkins
            February 23, 2018 at 03:13

            Yup, you make some very valid and trenchant arguments. Enjoy the Land Down Under.

          • Sam F
            February 23, 2018 at 08:27

            I do not suggest that the discrediting will be universal, nor that it will prevent a recurrence, let alone solve the underlying problem. Indeed the catastrophe to empire is inevitable unless it is first reformed from within. That would require many US military defeats, economic isolation, and collapsed bubbles, to anger the domestic victims for generations, to the point of infiltrating the national guard and police and armed services to deny power to oligarchy. Certainly not less than forty years, but inevitable within a century. The exact course of catastrophic events is too unpredictable to neglect to consider the natural decline of corrupted and overreaching empires.

          • February 25, 2018 at 14:37

            Believe me, Dominic, the Chinese will be drawn in – the current battle in the US seems to be between those who want to nuke the Russians first and those who’d rather go after the Chinese. Difficult, of course, to quantify, but the odds on humanity making it through the next decade seem very low indeed….

            My best to Kassandra !

            Henri

        • Dave P.
          February 23, 2018 at 04:07

          Sam F., I completely agree with what you said. But that far in the future may not come. This Russian hysteria has taken hold over the whole land and most of its people, including this home and many liberal people I know. They all get the news from TV, and believe that Russia has interfered in 2016 U.S. elections, leading to Hillary’s defeat. How does the Ruling Establishment plan to end this? I don’t see any other scenario except that they want to start a serious conflict with Russia. The sanctions, this media and verbal warfare, and the ratcheting up the pressure in ME are just the beginning.

    • February 22, 2018 at 23:33

      Drew and Ray,
      Also check out the debate between Glenn Greenwald and Jim Risen moderated by Jeremy Scahill on the latest Intercepted. I found Risen’s thinking very scary. He kept asking Glenn what he “believes” about Russia-gate and Glenn kept arguing that journalists need to focus on “evidence”. Risen seemed unable to grasp what Glenn kept arguing; from my point of view this is why he kept trying to undermine Glenn’s reputation and work.
      Ray, I wish you were CIA Director!!!

      • Drew Hunkins
        February 23, 2018 at 03:11

        Thanks Ms. Lee, I’ll definitely check it out.

  46. Tom
    February 22, 2018 at 15:40

    This is great. Would be a dream come true!

    • JWalters
      February 22, 2018 at 23:06

      A great dream. As usual Ray is spot on.

      In addition to “handpicked” intelligence analysts, the US has “handpicked” media reporters and editors. The “handpicked” media people are well-documented to be covering up for Israel, and the Russia-hack theory is clearly distracting from the massive Israeli influence on US elections. So it all looks like another US Liberty case, which is to say, another cover-up by the Israelis.

      Background info for new readers –
      “Still Waiting for USS Liberty’s Truth” by Ray McGovern
      https://consortiumnews.com/2015/07/04/still-waiting-for-uss-libertys-truth
      “The Day Israel Attacked America”
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RE4hMlB9ZU
      “War Profiteers and the Roots of the War on Terror”
      http://warprofiteerstory.blogspot.com

      • david
        February 23, 2018 at 21:03

        Here is something you may be interested in. Please research Operation Susannah.

        • JWalters
          February 28, 2018 at 02:21

          Thanks, very interesting.

        • JWalters
          February 28, 2018 at 02:22

          Thanks. Interesting case.

    • Daniel
      February 24, 2018 at 02:18

      I’ve enjoyed Ray’s interviews and writing since I first saw his confrontation with Rumsfeld. And his work on this RUSSIA!!! hysteria has been terrific.

      But how “reformed” is this 27-year career CIA analyst? After all, he joined CIA before JFK’s murder, and yet dismissed any suggestion of CIA involvement until 2009, after he was given a copy of “JFK And The Unspeakable,” (James Douglass’s excellent book on the Kennedy brothers’ evolution once in the White house.

      And other than citing that book, I haven’t seen him take advantage of his many CIA contacts to generate any additional information on CIA’s possible role in a domestic coup d’état.

      And I’ve never read or heard him say a word about CIA’s long history of drug running.

      Is it possible for someone to be a CIA insider for almost 3 decades, and not be aware of both of those long-reported associations?

  47. incontinent reader
    February 22, 2018 at 15:39

    Delicious!

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