Month: February 2018

First member of North Korea’s ruling dynasty to set foot in the South

Photo released by North Korean State Media shows Kim Jong Un’s sister at a table with other high-ranking government officials.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in (second from R) shakes hands with Kim Yo-jong, a sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, at the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games in the city located some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, on Feb. 9, 2018. Kim arrived in South Korea earlier in the day as part of a 22-member delegation led by the North’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam (L). (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in briefly encountered North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister on Friday at the opening of the Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang.

Moon and Kim Yo-jung shook hands at their first-ever encounter during the ceremony. Kim arrived in the country earlier Friday as part of a delegation led by the North’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam.

She is the only member of the North’s ruling family to have ever visited South Korea.

The North Korean delegates are scheduled to attend a lunch meeting hosted by Moon on Saturday.

SEOUL, Feb. 7 (Yonhap) — Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, is set to become the first member of North Korea’s ruling dynasty to set foot in the rival South this week.

The Unification Ministry in Seoul announced Wednesday that Kim Yo-jong, presumed to be aged about 30, will be part of a high-ranking government delegation attending the Winter Olympic opening ceremony slated for Friday.

The team will be led by Kim Yong-nam, the nominal head of state. Kim Yo-jong is widely believed to be powerful and close enough to the leader to directly represent his views.

Kim’s visit could further boost the reconciliatory mood between the Koreas. Seoul wants to pave the way for the restoration of relations and possibly to talks for the denuclearization of the North.

Kim’s high status in the North Korean leadership and close blood tie with the leader raised expectations that she may serve as the reclusive brother’s representative to the South Korean government.

Kim Yo-jong is Kim Jong-un’s only sibling who is part of the North Korean leadership. Kim Jong-chol, the leader’s older brother, went out of the public eye after his younger brother took over the leadership. Kim Jong-nam, the leader’s half brother, was assassinated by apparent North Korean agents at Kuala Lumpur international airport in Malaysia last year.

Eric Clapton Super Fan? Who is Kim Jong Chol?

Unlike her ill-fated brothers, Yo-jong climbed the North Korean regime’s power ladder at an unprecedented speed.

Assassination of Kim Jong Nam Trial: What We Know So Far

She reportedly joined the Kim Jong-un regime in its initial stage, in 2012, before taking up a deputy director post in the Workers’ Party of Korea’s central committee about two years later. Ever since, Yo-jong has frequently been seen standing close to her brother at major state events, an indication of her closeness with him and the regime.

The Unification Ministry currently presumes that she is also serving as deputy chief of the all-important ruling party propaganda and agitation department.

Experts here said that having started early in her 20’s, Yo-jong’s role inside the current North Korea regime has already far exceeded what Kim Kyong-hui, once-powerful sister of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, did for her brother’s regime in the past.

She is also known to have spent two years together with the leader studying in Switzerland in the 1990s.

Such a special profile is expected to make Yo-jong the mouth and ears of Kim Jong-un when she meets with South Korean officials, especially at a time when Seoul is desperately handling the difficult task of broker talks between the North and the United States for denuclearization.

Trump Should Be Sent to Lunatics Asylum, Has Nasty Smell, America Will Go to the Hell

Photo Courtesy KCNA.
Commentary courtesy Rodong Sinmun, North Korea State Media.
In the recent “State of the Union Address”, old lunatic Trump said that the DPRK is threatening the U.S. mainland by “reckless nuclear and missile pursuit”. Not content with slandering the DPRK over “degeneration” and “oppression”, he took issue with the non-existent “human rights”.

This is the intolerable politically-motivated provocation and tyrannical blackmail of the boss of gangsters and hysteric fit of a lunatic against the DPRK.

No matter how desperately Trump may try to defame the dignified and just system in the DPRK with worst invectives, he can not deodorize nasty smell from his dirty body woven with frauds, sexual abuses and all other crimes nor keep the U.S. from rushing to the final destruction.

There is a foolish attempt to make pretence for provocation and pave the road for invasion ahead of conducting the military adventure “bloody nose strategy” in the invectives of Trump recalling Bush’s reckless remarks of “axis of evil”.

Dolt-like Trump should know that his backbone would be broken, to say nothing of “bloody nose”, and the empire of America would go to the hell and the short history of the U.S. would end forever, the moment he destroys even a single blade of grass on this land.

It is the only way for the U.S. and the world concord and peace to urgently detain Trump, who is putting the U.S. and the world in turmoil, in the isolated hospital of psychopaths.

Pak Chol Jun

North Korean art troupe rehearses for rare performances in South Korea, first since 2002

 

GANGNEUNG, South Korea, Feb. 7 (Yonhap) — North Korea’s art troupe on Wednesday held a rehearsal for its upcoming performances in South Korea, which will celebrate the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

The 140 member-strong Samjiyon Orchestra traveled to the South by ferry Tuesday to perform in Gangneung, a sub-host city of the Feb. 9-25 Winter Games, on Thursday, and in Seoul on Sunday.

It will be the first performance by North Koreans in the South since 2002, when Pyongyang sent a cohort of 30 singers and dancers from several music and performance groups to Seoul for a joint event.

North Korean art troupe arrives in South Korea for Olympic celebrations

After having lunch in their Mangyongbong-92 ferry, which is docked at the South Korean eastern port of Mukho, the North Koreans showed up at the Gangneung Arts Center, the venue of their first performance, at about 3:40 p.m. on Wednesday in an atmosphere quite different from that of the morning.

They changed to casual attire from the stylish red coats and black fur hats and ankle boots for female members and from black coats and hats for males.

Including its head Hyon Song-wol, the band members were wearing identical comfortable red round-neck t-shirts with a small North Korean flag on the left chest and black pants, apparently for the rehearsal.

They looked nervous and uncomfortable when they first arrived at the arts center in the morning to check instruments and stage equipment for about two hours. When South Korean reporters said “hello” to them at a distance, the members just walked past them without saying a word.

But in the afternoon, some members waved back and smiled brightly to the welcoming reporters with some others responding, “Nice to meet you.”

Around 10 residents of the city also shouted, “Nice to meet you” and “We are one,” towards the bus of the North Korean art troupe when it was in front of the art center. Some band members waved back.

No conservative activists, who caused a disturbance at Mukho port the previous day, were spotted there. They burned the North Korean flag and a photo of the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, in protest of the North’s participation in the Winter Games.

The North’s art troupe, which includes an orchestra, dancers and singers, is scheduled to return home after the performances in Gangneung and Seoul.

Later in the day, Chun Hae-sung, South Korea’s vice unification minister, paid a visit to the rehearsal site and met with the North’s delegation, including Hyon, the Ministry of Unification said.

Chun exchanged words with Hyon and other North Korean officials over the preparation of the planned performances, the ministry said.

sshim@yna.co.kr

Strzok-Page FBI Text Messages & Chairman Johnson’s Interim Report

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released a majority staff report Wednesday titled “The Clinton Email Scandal And The FBI’s Investigation Of It,” along with text messages between two agents that shed light on the investigation. The report details the congressional investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server and the oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s involvement with their investigation of Secretary Clinton’s private server.

The report outlines how information available to the committee at this time raises serious questions about how the FBI applied the rule of law in its investigation. The majority staff report found that:

  • The FBI did not use a grand jury to compel testimony and obtain the vast majority of evidence, choosing instead to offer immunity deals and allow fact witnesses to join key interviews.
  • There were substantial edits to former FBI Director James Comey’s public statement that served to downplay the severity of Secretary Clinton’s actions, and that the first draft of the memo was distributed for editing two months before key witnesses were interviewed.
  • Director Comey stated that he had not consulted with the Justice Department or White House, when text messages among FBI agents involved in the investigation suggest otherwise. Two key investigators discuss an “insurance policy” against the “risk” of a Trump presidency, and “OUR task.”
  • Messages discuss “unfinished business,” “an investigation leading to impeachment,” and “my gut sense and concern there’s no big there there.” The messages strongly underscore the need to obtain still-missing text messages and other information regarding the FBI’s actions and investigations into the Clinton email scandal and Russian involvement in the November 2016 election.
  • Senior FBI officials—likely including Deputy Director Andrew McCabe— knew about newly discovered emails on a laptop belonging to former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner for almost a month before Director Comey notified Congress.

The full report can be found here.

The FBI text messages can be found here.

The letters Chairman Johnson has sent to various agencies and source documents can be found here.

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Nunes Memo Critically Analyzed by Representative Jerrold Nadler, NY (D)

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Nadler Shares Analysis of Nunes Memo

Feb 5, 2018
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Saturday, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) sent a legal analysis of the “Nunes memo” to his Democratic colleagues. You can view it here and below.

To Democratic Subscribers

House Judiciary Committee Analysis of the Nunes Memo
Sending Office: Committee on the Judiciary – Minority Staff

February 3, 2018

Dear Democratic Colleague:

On Friday, House Republicans released the so-called “Nunes memo,” a set of deeply misleading talking points drafted by the Republican staff of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.  House Republicans did so over the objections of the Department of Justice, the Director of the FBI, the Director of National Intelligence, and several Senate Republicans, among others.

You may have heard President Trump describe the allegations in the Nunes memo as a “disgrace.”  He thinks “a lot of people should be ashamed.”  President Trump is right, in his way.  This embarrassingly flawed memo is a disgrace.  House Republicans should be ashamed.

Although I have had the benefit of reading the materials that form the basis for the Nunes memo, most members have not—including, reportedly, Chairman Nunes.  Accordingly, I am forwarding the legal analysis below for use by your office based on my review the Nunes memo and on outside sources.

Please let my staff know if we can provide your office with any additional guidance.

Sincerely,
Jerrold Nadler
Ranking Member
House Committee on the                                                                              Judiciary

 

I.          The FISA court found probable cause to believe that Carter Page is an agent of a foreign power.  Nothing in the Nunes memo rules out the possibility that considerable evidence beyond the Steele dossier helped the court reach that conclusion.

We should not lose sight of a critical and undisputed fact: the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court found probable cause to believe that Carter Page—a member of the Trump campaign’s foreign policy team—was an agent of the Russian government.

The Nunes memo states that, “[o]n October 21, 2016, DOJ and FBI sought and received a FISA probable cause order . . . authorizing electronic surveillance on Carter Page.”  To obtain an order to conduct surveillance under Title I of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the government must provide “a statement of the facts and circumstances” demonstrating probable cause that “the target of the electronic surveillance is . . . an agent of a foreign power.”

The central allegation of the Nunes memo is that the government committed a fraud when it obtained an order to conduct surveillance of Carter Page, a member of President Trump’s foreign policy team during the campaign.  The memo claims that “[t]he ‘dossier’ compiled by Christopher Steele . . . formed an essential part of the Carter Page FISA application,” but that the government failed to disclose “the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign, or any party/campaign in funding Steele’s efforts.”

If not for this misrepresentation to the court, the story goes, there never would have been a Russia investigation.  This claim is deliberately misleading and deeply wrong on the law.

First, the Nunes memo appears to concede that the investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to the Russian government was well underway before the government applied for an order to conduct surveillance of Carter Page.  In its final paragraph, the Nunes memo states: “[t]he Papadopoulos information triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016.”  The statement refers to George Papadopoulos, another member of the Trump campaign’s foreign policy team.  There is no reason to dispute the Nunes memo’s assertion that the FBI was actively investigating the Trump campaign months before they approached the court about Carter Page.

Second, there is already a well-established body of law dealing with allegations that “material and relevant information was omitted” from the application to the court—and, in the case of Carter Page, that law appears to fall almost entirely on the side of the government.  In Franks v. Delaware (1978), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a court may only void a search warrant if the government “knowingly and intentionally, or with reckless disregard for the truth,” included false information or excluded true information that was or would have been critical to the court’s determination of probable cause.  The Nunes memo alleges nothing that would even come close to meeting this standard.  Indeed, we have every indication that the government made its application to the court in good faith.

So, to be clear: Carter Page was, more likely than not, an agent of a foreign power.  The Department of Justice thought so.  A federal judge agreed.  That consensus, supported by the facts, forms the basis for the warrant issued by the FISA court.  The Russian government waged a massive campaign to discredit our election.  Carter Page appears to have played a role in that effort.  The FBI has a responsibility to follow these facts where they lead.  The Nunes memo would have us sweep this all under the rug.  And for what, exactly?

II.        Christopher Steele is a recognized expert on Russia and organized crime.

Through several acts of willful omission, the Nunes memo alleges the FISA application is tainted because Christopher Steele “was a longtime FBI source who was paid over $160,000 by the DNC and the Clinton campaign . . . to obtain derogatory information on Donald Trump’s ties to Russia.”  The Nunes memo would have us believe the Russia investigation was a Democratic plot from the outset.  That is simply ridiculous.

The Nunes memo does not show that the government relied solely, or even substantially, on the information provided to the FBI by Christopher Steele when it made its application to the court.  It does not show that Steele’s work was compromised by the source of funding.  It does not show that Fusion GPS—the firm that hired Steele to do this work—was any more or less diligent when it worked for Democratic clients than when it worked for Republicans.  And, amazingly, the Nunes memo does not provide a single shred of evidence that any aspect of the Steele dossier is false or inaccurate in any way.

We have no idea if Christopher Steele even knew the source of his funding when Fusion GPS first hired him to research Donald Trump’s connections to the Russian government.  In fact, Fusion GPS initiated the project on behalf of the conservative Washington Free Beacon, not the DNC.  The firm’s task was to provide credible research, and they hired an expert for the job—a retired British intelligence officer, experienced in Russian affairs and well-known to the FBI as a useful source of valuable intelligence in earlier investigations.

Nothing about the source of Steele’s funding or his later opinions about Donald Trump speak to the credibility of his work, or its inclusion in the FISA application.  The Nunes memo gives us no reason to doubt the court’s determination of probable cause to believe that Carter Page was an agent of the Russian government—particularly given Page’s later admissions to the press about his interactions with Russian officials.

And nothing about the payment from the DNC is unethical or improper.  Christopher Steele is one of the world’s leading experts on Russian organized crime.  His job was to uncover the facts.  Many feared during the election that the Trump campaign had been compromised by the Russian government.  Two guilty pleas and two indictments later, those fears seem well justified.

III.       The Nunes memo provides no credible basis whatsoever for removing Rod Rosenstein as Deputy Attorney General.

The Nunes memo makes a point of stating that a number of officials, including Deputy Attorney General, “signed one or more FISA applications on behalf of DOJ.”  Because Attorney General Jeff Sessions is recused from any investigation related to the 2016 campaigns, Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein directly oversees the Special Counsel’s investigation.  The Deputy Attorney General has become a target for those attempting to interfere with that investigation.  President Trump has refused to rule out using the Nunes Memo as pretext for dismissing the DAG.  “You figure that one out,” he said when asked about the Deputy Attorney General on Friday.

Whatever one thinks of the merits of the Nunes memo—and it is clearly not a serious document—the memo provides no basis whatsoever to justify the removal of Rod Rosenstein as Deputy Attorney General from his critical and trusted position.   The Nunes memo focuses largely on process that transpired before the Deputy Attorney General took office.  There is no reason to believe that he reviewed or approved any FISA application for submission to the court except according to normal process and procedures.

The Nunes memo leaves out a critical point in this area as well.  Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, when seeking a renewal of a surveillance order, the government is required to provide the court “a statement of the facts concerning all previous applications . . . involving any of the persons, facilities, or places specified in the application.”  That requirement includes a description of the intelligence received so far and its value to the underlying case.  Although he was not involved in the initial application, the Deputy Attorney General could not have signed an application to renew surveillance on Carter Page if the government was unable to show that it had already gathered valuable evidence under existing orders and expected that collection to continue.  Under these circumstances, any decision not to approve the renewal would have appeared to have been politically motivated.

If the President is looking to fire Mr. Rosenstein, he will have to look outside the Nunes memo for his pretext.

IV.       The Nunes memo shows that House Republicans are now part and parcel to an organized effort to obstruct the Special Counsel’s investigation.

On January 24, 2018, the Department of Justice wrote to warn the House Intelligence Committee that releasing the memo would be “extraordinarily reckless.”  On January 29, the FBI issued a statement citing “grave concerns” with inaccuracies and omissions in that document.  On January 30, the Majority twice blocked our request to move the House Judiciary Committee into closed session, where we would have been free to discuss our own concerns with the plan to make this information public without context, without meaningful input from the FBI, and without providing Members with access to the source materials.  On February 1, I wrote to Chairman Goodlatte asking for him to call the FBI Director and other officials from the Department of Justice to brief us on an emergency basis—before the Nunes memo was made public—but my request was again ignored.

House Republicans do not speak up when President Trump attacks the press, smears career investigators by name, or demands loyalty from the leadership of the Department of Justice and the FBI.  They have taken no significant steps to understand how the Russian government worked to undermine our last election.  They show little interest in protecting our next election from foreign attack—even though President Trump’s hand-picked intelligence chiefs warn us that the threat is very real.

Until now, we could only really accuse House Republicans of ignoring the President’s open attempts to block the Russia investigation.

But with the release of the Nunes memo—a backhanded attempt to cast doubt on the origins of the Special Counsel’s investigation—we can only conclude that House Republicans are complicit in the effort to help the President avoid accountability for his actions and for the actions of his campaign.

In the end, who could possibly benefit from the release of this shoddy work?

Only Donald Trump, who will use these half-truths to further interfere with the Special Counsel, and Vladimir Putin, who now has a clear view of how our intelligence community attempted to interrupt his operations in the United States.

 

Additional Background

            Christopher Steele served as an intelligence officer with British intelligence service MI6 from 1987 until his retirement in 2009.  From 1990 to 1992, he worked under diplomatic cover as an MI6 agent in the Embassy of the United Kingdom to Russia.  By 2006, Steele headed the Russia Desk at MI6.  He remains one of the world’s foremost experts on Russia—and, in particular, connections between the Russian government and organized crime.

In September 2015, the conservative Washington Free Beacon retained the services of Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research on Donald Trump.  When President Trump emerged as the Republican candidate, the Clinton Campaign and the Democratic National Committee hired Fusion GPS for the same services.  As part of this project, Christopher Steel produced what became known as the Steele dossier.

            Carter Page was known to the United States government for his involvement with the Russian government long before he joined the Trump campaign.  Court documents show that Russian intelligence operatives attempted to recruit Page in 2013.  One spy thought that Page was “an idiot” who wants to “rise up” and “earn lots of money.”

Then-candidate Donald Trump named Page a part of the Trump campaign’s foreign policy team on March 21, 2016.  In July 2016, with the explicit approval of the Trump campaign, Page traveled to Moscow to give a speech on “the future of the world economy” and to meet with Russian officials.  Despite several public accounts of these meetings, Page would later deny any contact with the Russian government.  By August 2016—when it had become apparent that the Russian government was working to undermine the election—the Trump campaign began to distance itself from Carter Page.

Later reports show that, in testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, Page admitted to meeting with Russian officials and to briefing at least one “senior person” on the Trump campaign about those meetings.

None of this information relies upon the Steele dossier.

The relevant legal standard for evaluating the FISA application is laid out in Franks v. Delaware.  “[t]here is, of course, a presumption of validity with respect to the affidavit supporting the search warrant.”  438 U.S. 154, 171.

 

Military Parade Reactions: Twitter Funnies

Statement on inquiries regarding discussion of a military parade:
President Trump is incredibly supportive of Americas great service members who risk their lives every day to keep our country safe. He has asked the Department of Defense to explore a celebration at which all Americans can show their appreciation.

Sarah Sanders

 

Recent Military Parades in other countries:

INDIA’S REPUBLIC DAY MILITARY PARADE:

BASTILLE DAY:

(Courtesy Twitter)

Obama Foundation Internship Applications Open Now

INTERNSHIP

The Obama Foundation is looking to hire passionate, mission-oriented, and qualified interns to serve in our Chicago and D.C. offices. This internship is open to current undergraduate and graduate students who are eligible to work in the United States.

The summer 2018 internship will run from May 29, 2018 to August 17, 2018. For students on the quarter system, the internship will run from June 18, 2018 to September 7, 2018. Interns will be required to work 40 hours a week in either our Chicago or Washington, D.C. office.

The application opened on January 29, 2018 at 9AM CT and will close on February 12, 2018 at 5PM CT. We will not accept late applications.

If you are a law student interested in applying to intern in the Office of the General Counsel at the Obama Foundation, click here.

To ensure you get all the information you need in a timely manner, we encourage you to read our FAQ page before reaching out with questions.

What do interns do?

We are looking for interns who have excellent time management and organizational skills, are strong writers and researchers, and are eager to work in a fast-paced office environment. Interns will play a key role in providing departments at the Obama Foundation with the administrative, logistical, and operational assistance needed to execute their work.

Who can apply?

Current full-time or part-time undergraduate and graduate students eligible to work in the United States are welcome to apply. The Foundation is committed to recruiting a diverse cohort of interns and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. The Foundation does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or parental status, creed, national origin, citizenship status, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, ancestry, genetic information, military service, veteran status, or any other protected category under local, state, or federal law. We encourage qualified persons of all backgrounds to apply. If you are a qualified candidate with a disability, please contact us at interns@obama.org if you require a reasonable accommodation to complete this application.

The Foundation will provide interns with a stipend and reimbursements for a portion of the expenses directly related to their internship. Please note the Foundation will not provide relocation or housing assistance.

Completing the application

Please note that as you fill out your application, you will not be able to save your responses or return to them before submitting. If you’d like to take more than one session to work on your answers, please download the Application Worksheet to draft your application responses offline. Please note you will still have to enter your answers into the application before the deadline.

MS-13 Fact Sheet Released by White House

Photo: Newsday, Long Island, New York.

FACT SHEETS

Protecting American Communities from the Violence of MS-13

 Issued on: 

A THREAT TO AMERICAN COMMUNITIES: MS-13 has brought violence, fear, and suffering to communities across the country.   

  • MS-13, short for Mara Salvatrucha, is a violent transnational gang primarily composed of immigrants or descendants of immigrants from El Salvador.
  • MS-13’s motto is “mata, viola, controla” which means “kill, rape, control.”
    • They commit shocking acts of violence to instill fear, like machete attacks, execution-style murders, gang rape, and human trafficking
  • MS-13 has more than 30,000 members worldwide, including more than 10,000 in the United States.
    • The violent gang recruits middle- and high-school students, primarily immigrants, and uses fear of retribution to keep their recruits from leaving
  • The gang is known to regularly conduct activities in at least 40 states and the District of Columbia.
    • MS-13 primarily generates income through extortion, prostitution, membership dues, and illicit trafficking.
  • As revealed by recent investigations, MS-13 gang leaders are known to send representatives across the United States border to take control of local MS-13 “cliques,” local units, and connect the local members to gang leaders abroad.
    • MS-13 gang leaders have directed American MS-13 cliques to become more violent in order to control territory.
  • In recent years, MS-13 has taken advantage of the large flow of foreign nationals from Central America and Mexico into the U.S. by hiding in these populations.
  • MS-13 has preyed on American communities, committing horrendous acts of violence.
    • Approximately 38 percent of all murders in Suffolk County, New York, between January 2016 and June 2017, were linked to MS-13.

COMBATING MS-13: President Trump’s Administration has undertaken serious efforts to bring the violent criminals of MS-13 to justice.

  • President Trump spoke on the threat posed by MS-13 in his remarks on the State of the Union and described the bravery of our Nation’s law enforcement officers who continue to combat this violent gang.
  • Attorney General Jeff Sessions designated MS-13 as a priority for the Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces in October 2017.
  • Under President Trump, DOJ has worked with partners in Central America resulting in the filing of criminal charges against more than 4,000 members of MS-13.
  • ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) made 4,818 criminal arrests related to gang activity in FY 2017, as well as 892 administrative arrests that resulted from gang investigations.
    • HSI arrested 796 MS-13 gang members and associates in FY 2017, an 83 percent increase from FY 2016.
  • In FY 2017, U.S. Border Patrol Agents arrested 536 gang-affiliated illegal aliens, of whom 228, more than 40 percent, were affiliated with MS-13.

SECURING OUR BORDERS: President Donald J. Trump has released an immigration framework which includes border security measures vital to preventing the entry of criminal aliens like MS-13 members into the United States.

  • President Trump has proposed an immigration framework that includes the tools and resources required to secure our borders and close legal loopholes exploited by cartels and criminals.
  • The President has made clear that, as a part of our efforts to curb illegal immigration, we must ensure criminal aliens, gang members, violent offenders, and aggravated felons are detained and quickly removed from the United States.

White House Announces Public Vetting Center

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 6, 2018

*Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding the Creation of the National Vetting Center *

Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum to establish a National Vetting Center (NVC) to coordinate the efforts of departments and agencies to better identify individuals seeking to enter the country who present a threat to national security, border security, homeland security, or public safety.

The NVC, which will be led by the Department of Homeland Security, will help fulfill the Presidents requirement that departments and agencies improve their coordination and use of intelligence and other information in the vetting process.

The Federal Governments current vetting efforts are ad hoc, which impedes our ability to keep up with todays threats. The NVC will better coordinate these activities in a central location, enabling officials to further leverage critical intelligence and law enforcement information to identify terrorists, criminals, and other nefarious actors trying to enter and remain within our country. The NVCs operations will adhere to Americas strong protections for individuals privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. The Administrations top priority is the safety and security of the public, and the NVC will empower our frontline defenders to better fulfil that obligation.

###

President’s Statement:

SUBJECT: Optimizing the Use of Federal Government Information in Support of the National Vetting Enterprise

Border and immigration security are essential to ensuring the safety, security, and prosperity of the UnitedStates. The Federal Government must improve the manner in which executive departments and agencies (agencies) coordinate and use intelligence and other information to identify individuals whopresent a threat to national security, border security, homeland security, or public safety. To achieve this goal, the UnitedStates Government must develop an integrated approach to use data held across national security components. I am, therefore, directing the establishment of a National Vetting Center (Center), subject to the oversight and guidance of a National Vetting Governance Board (Board), to coordinate the management and governance of the national vetting enterprise.

_Section_ _1_. _Policy_. (a) The UnitedStates must protect its people from terrorist attacks and other public safety threats. Vetting procedures associated with determining whether individuals pose threats to national security, border security, homeland security, or public safety play a critical role in meeting this obligation. It is the policy of the UnitedStates, as authorized and appropriate, to collect, store, share, disseminate, and use accurate and timely biographic, biometric, and contextual information in support of immigration enforcement and border security, including with respect to individuals

who (i) seek a visa, a visa waiver, or other immigration benefit, or a protected status; (ii) attempt to enter the UnitedStates; or (iii) are subject to an immigration removal proceeding.

(b) Where authorized and appropriate, it is also the policy of the UnitedStates to process biographic, biometric, and contextual information, including on a recurrent basis, so as to identify activities, associations with known or suspected threat actors, and other relevant indicators that inform adjudications and determinations related to national security, border security, homeland security, or public safety. These activities should be conducted using all relevant and appropriate Federal Government information, including both intelligence and law enforcement information.

(c) The activities described in this memorandum should always be conducted in a manner that is consistent with the Constitution; Executive Order12333 of December4, 1981 (UnitedStates Intelligence Activities), as amended; other applicable law and Presidential guidance; and policies and procedures pertaining to:

(i) the appropriate handling of information about United States persons (as defined in Executive Order12333) and other individuals protected by UnitedStates law;

(ii) the protection of sources, methods, and activities;

(iii) privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties; and

(iv) the protection of other sensitive information.

The coordinated efforts of agencies to conduct all of these activities in the manner described above constitute the national vetting enterprise.

_Sec_. _2_. _ Implementation_. The policy described in section1 above shall be implemented as follows:

(a) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Director of National Intelligence, shall establish the Center to support the national vetting enterprise.

(i) The Center shall coordinate agency vetting efforts to identify individuals who present a threat to national security, border security, homeland security, or public safety. Agencies may conduct any authorized border or immigration vetting activities through or with the Center. Agencies may support these additional activities, provided that such support is consistent with applicable law and the policies and procedures described in subsections(b) and (d) of this section.

(ii) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall designate a fulltime senior officer or employee of the Department of Homeland Security to serve as the director of the Center. The Secretary of State and the Attorney General shall detail or assign senior officials from their respective agencies to serve as deputy directors of the Center.

(iii) The director shall lead the day-to-day operations of the Center, communicate vetting needs and priorities to other agencies engaged in the national vetting enterprise, and make resourcing recommendations to the Board established pursuant to subsection(e) of this section.

(iv) Agencies shall provide to the Center access to relevant biographic, biometric, and related derogatory information for its use to the extent permitted by and consistent with applicable law and policy, including the responsibility to protect sources and methods. Agencies and the Center shall, on a consensus basis, determine the most appropriate means or methods to provide access to this information to the Center.

(v) The Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency shall, on a continuing basis, work together to ensure, consistent with the authorities and available resources of each official’s respective agency, that the daily operations and functions of the Center, as determined by the Board, are supported, including through the assignment of legal and other appropriate personnel, and the provision of other necessary resources, consistent with applicable law, including the Economy Act (31 U.S.C. 1535). To the extent permitted by law, details or assignments to the Center should be without reimbursement.

(vi) The day-to-day operations of the Center shall be executed by appropriate personnel from agencies participating in the national vetting enterprise, to the extent permitted by law, ina manner that adequately facilitates active and timely coordination and collaboration in the execution of the Center’s functions. Agencies shall participate in the Center and shall provide adequate physical presence to enable the Center to effectively accomplish its mission. To the extent appropriate, additional agency co-location may be virtual rather than physical. Each agency shall fund its participation in the Center, consistent with the agency’s mission and applicable law. There shall be no interagency financing of the Center.

(vii) The Center shall not commence operations until the President has approved the implementation plan described in subsection(g) of this section.

(b) The Center shall enable and facilitate the appropriate use and interagency deconfliction of all relevant information provided to it to inform the adjudication decisions of the national vetting enterprise.

(i) Databases, data sets, knowledge bases, systems, and technical architectures controlled by the Federal Government, including those established pursuant to Presidential guidance or other Federal policies, may be used to support the activities of the Center to the extent permitted by and consistent with the legal and policy frameworks governing their use.

(ii) Information provided to and used by the Center shall be managed and maintained consistent with applicable information security and cybersecurity laws, standards, practices, and procedures.

(c) The Director of National Intelligence, in coordination with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the heads of relevant Intelligence Community (IC) elements, shall establish a support element to facilitate, guide, and coordinate all IC efforts to use classified intelligence and other relevant information within IC holdings in direct support of the Center.

(i) The Director of National Intelligence shall assign a seniorofficial from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence or from another IC element (with the concurrence of the head of that IC element), and in accordance with applicable law, to serve as the head of the support element. This official shall provide dayto-day direction and guidance for the support element’s operations in support of and in consultation with the director of the Center. The official shall report to the Director of National Intelligence through an Identity Intelligence Executive.

(ii) The support element shall provide focused, dedicated support to the Center, responding to the Center’s needs by ensuring it receives appropriate, standardized, and timely access to biographic, biometric, and related derogatory information relevant to the national vetting enterprise, to the extent permitted by law and consistent with applicable policy, including section 1 of this memorandum, and in accordance with the operational considerations of both the Center and the IC elements supporting it.

(iii) Where appropriate, the personnel and other resources of thesupport element may be virtually rather than physically colocated at the Center, with such virtual support facilitated on a day-to-day basis by assigned personnel from agencies that are physically present at the Center, as determined in the implementation plan described in subsection(g) of this section.

(d) Consistent with section1(c) of this memorandum, all activities of the Center and the support element shall be, atall times, conducted in a manner consistent with the Constitution; Executive Order12333, as amended; other applicable law and Presidential guidance; and policies and procedures pertaining to:

(i) the appropriate handling of information about UnitedStates persons (as defined in Executive Order 12333) and other individuals who may have rights under United States law;

(ii) the protection of sources, methods, and activities;

(iii) privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties; and

(iv) the protection of other sensitive information.

(e) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency shall establish the Board.

(i) The national vetting enterprise shall act under the guidance of the Board, which shall serve as the senior interagency forum for considering issues that affect the national vetting enterprise and the activities of the Center and its support element. The Board shall adopt appropriate guidance for agencies to enable the successful execution of the national vetting enterprise and make related resource recommendations to agencies providing direct support to the Center. The Board shall also advise the Director of National Intelligence, through the Identity Intelligence Executive, on the IC resources necessary to support the mission of the Center.

(ii) The Board shall consist of six senior executives, one designated by each of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

(iii) The Board may invite other relevant agencies engaged in the national vetting enterprise to participate as required to achieve the national security objectives of the national vetting enterprise.

(iv) The chair of the Board shall rotate annually among the individuals designated from the Department of State, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The director of the Center shall serve as an observer at Board meetings.

(v) The Board shall endeavor to reach consensus on all matters presented to it, including the scope of the Center’s activities. If issues cannot be resolved by consensus, the Board shall refer them to the staff of the National Security Council for consideration, consistent with National Security Presidential Memorandum4 of April4, 2017 (Organization of the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and Subcommittees)(NSPM-4), or any successor document.

(vi) To ensure that the activities of the Board andthe Centercomply with applicable law and appropriately protect individuals’ privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties, the Board shall establish a standing Legal Working Group and a separate standing Privacy, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Working Group, both of which shall routinely review the activities of the Center and advise the Board. These working groups shall also review the implementation plan described in subsection(g) of this section prior to its submission to the President.

(f) The heads of agencies engaged in the national vetting enterprise shall prioritize, as a vital national security mission, the provision of necessary and appropriate resources to support the national vetting enterprise, including the Center, consistent with their agency’s respective authorities and appropriations.

(g) Within 180days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, shall, through the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and using the NSPM4 process, jointly submit to the President for approval a plan to implement this memorandum. The implementation plan shall, at a minimum, address the following:

(i) the initial scope of the Center’s vetting activities;

(ii) the roles and responsibilities of agencies participating in the Center;

(iii) the roles and responsibilities of IC elements participating in the Center’s support element;

(iv) the initial categories of information to be used in support of the Center’s activities;

(v) a resourcing strategy for both the Center and its support element, which shall include the initial projected cost and staff required to operate the Center;

(vi) the relationship between the Center and other relevant UnitedStates Government entities and initiatives, including the National Targeting Center and Terrorist Screening Center;

(vii) the development or adoption, as appropriate, of relevant processes, procedures, and practices needed to ensure compliance with applicable law and policy and to appropriately protect privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties, as well as sources and methods; and

(viii) a projected schedule to reach both initial and full operational capability.

(h) Within 180days of approval by the President of this implementation plan and every 180days thereafter until its execution is complete, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, theAttorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, shall, through the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and using the NSPM4 process, jointly submit to the President a report detailing the efforts made to execute this memorandum and the implementation plan.

_Sec_. _3_. _ General Provisions_. (a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office ofManagement and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent withapplicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the UnitedStates, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

DONALD J. TRUMP

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Lagos Police Bust Pair with Body Parts to be Used for Rituals: Belief Has Real World Consequences

Photo Courtesy Lagos State Police Command

  • PRESS RELEASE
    Today 16/01/2018, at about 1620 hours, operatives of the Lagos State Police Command, led by CP Edgal Imohimi, stormed No.4 Okedumade street, off Badare street, Alakuko Lagos and arrested a self acclaimed Alfa, by name, Abdulfatai Kayode, male.
  • The said Abdulfatai confessed having some human parts in his divination room.
  • A mini paint bucket filled with assorted types of female body parts comprising of the laps, intestine and the vagina etc, was recovered from him. He confessed that the human heart seen in the bucket was that of a man.
  • He further named one Ifa,, male as his accomplice.
    The CP immediately dispatched the Command’s underground operatives to fish out the said Ifa.
  • About 30 minutes after the Commissioner of Police left the crime scene, news came that Ifa has been arrested.
  • The CP, who was vividly happy at the arrest of the men, attributed the success to Community policing and safety partnership in existence in Lagos state. He urged Lagosians to know their neighbours and report any suspicious happenings.SP Chike Oti
    Police Public Relations Officer,
    Lagos State Police Command.

The human body parts were to be used for money rituals. The press release did not indicate how the body parts were obtained, but other “Alfas,” a term for a Muslim Cleric, have obtained body parts by robbing graves.

In an unrelated case, Nigerian police recently broke up a murderous group known as the Badoo Cult.

Badoo Cult: Police in Nigeria Arrest “Killer Cult Group”