Trump’s Justice Department drumming up new allegations against Julian Assange
ASSANGE EXTRADITION: Assange Hit With New Superseding Indictment, Reflecting Possible FBI Sting Operation The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday unveiled the new superseding indictment against the WikiLeaks publisher, adding to existing computer intrusion charges. By Joe Lauria, Consortium News June 24, 2020 The Justice Department on Wednesday said it had filed a second superseding indictment against imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, adding to existing computer intrusion charges.“The new indictment does not add additional counts to the prior 18-count superseding indictment returned against Assange in May 2019,” the DOJ said in a press release.
“It does, however, broaden the scope of the conspiracy surrounding alleged computer intrusions with which Assange was previously charged,” the release said. “According to the charging document, Assange and others at WikiLeaks recruited and agreed with hackers to commit computer intrusions to benefit WikiLeaks.”…….
The indictment quotes Assange at hacking conferences encouraging hackers to obtain a “Most Wanted Leaks” list of classified materials that WikiLeaks sought to publish.
It provides new allegations that Assange instructed a “teenager” from an unnamed NATO country to conduct various hacks “including audio recordings of phone conversations between high-ranking officials” of the NATO nation as well as members of parliament from that country. The indictment claims Manning “downloaded classified State Department materials” about this country.
WikiLeaks has identified the “teenager” as Sigurdur Thordarson, “a diagnosed sociopath, a convicted conman, and sex criminal” who had impersonated Assange to embezzle money from WikiLeaks………..
Thordarson, an Icelander, became an FBI informant, and was flown to Washington in May 2019 for an interview with the FBI.
The superseding indictment says Assange was allegedly able to learn from “unauthorized access” to a website of this government that police from that country were monitoring him. The indictment says the source of this information was a former member of Anonymous who worked with WikiLeaks named Sabu, identified in the press as Hector Monsegur, who became an FBI informant after being arrested in June 2011.
In the same month, Iceland’s Interior Minister Ögmundur Jonasson prevented FBI agents from entering Iceland, testifying that “FBI dirty-tricks operations were afoot against WikiLeaks.” He said the agents had been sent to seek “our cooperation in what I understood as an operation to set up, to frame Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.” The possibility remains that the new evidence against Assange was obtained in an FBI sting operation.
Jeremy Hammond, a hacker arrested for obtaining the Stratfor files, is named in the new indictment has having revealed information about his activities with Assange to Sabu in December 2011. Last September, Hammond, who was serving a 10-year sentence in Memphis, TN, was brought by prosecutors investigating Assange to Alexandria, VA to compel him to give testimony against Assange. Hammond has refused.
Reiterates Original Charges
The new indictment repeats the existing espionage and computer intrusion charges………
In 2010, Robert Parry, one of the best investigative reporters of his era, and the founder of this website, wrote that the then pending plans of the Obama administration to indict Assange “for conspiring with Army Pvt. Bradley Manning to obtain U.S. secrets strikes at the heart of investigative journalism on national security scandals.”
Parry added:
“That’s because the process for reporters obtaining classified information about crimes of state most often involves a journalist persuading some government official to break the law either by turning over classified documents or at least by talking about the secret information. There is almost always some level of ‘conspiracy’ between reporter and source.” [Emphasis added.]
Parry thus admitted to encouraging his sources to turn over classified information even if it meant committing the lesser crime of leaking classified information if it could help prevent a larger crime from being committed. In this way Assange encouraged Manning to turn over material such as the “Collateral Murder” video in the hope that it could end the illegal war in Iraq…….
The New York Times reported at the time that “federal prosecutors were reviewing the possibility of indicting Assange on conspiracy charges for allegedly encouraging or assisting Manning in extracting ‘classified military and State Department files from a government computer system,’” Parry wrote.
“The Times article by Charlie Savage notes that if prosecutors determine that Assange provided some help in the process, ‘they believe they could charge him as a conspirator in the leak, not just as a passive recipient of the documents who then published them,” wrote Parry.
This is precisely what the Trump Justice Department has done in the first computer intrusion indictment against Assange and now with this superseding one. https://consortiumnews.com/2020/06/24/assange-extradition-assange-hit-with-new-superseding-indictment-broadening-computer-intrusion-charges/?fbclid=IwAR3uZdqQkMLxeheGyUVLpkUYPIo0ywUZwFiQcu6pD9woYSYyPhZtyh3kiw4
Grave concerns in New Mexico about nuclear waste plan
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State of New Mexico says nuclear waste project poses disproportionate risk, locals supportive, Albuquerque Journal BY ADRIAN HEDDEN / CARLSBAD CURRENT-ARGUS, N.M. (TNS), Thursday, June 25th, 2020 New Mexico’s Executive Branch and activist groups continued their fight against a nuclear waste repository proposed to be built near the Eddy-Lea county line while supporters touted promises of economic benefits to the region and southeast New Mexico’s role in addressing the nation’s nuclear waste.The debate came during a Tuesday virtual public hearing hosted by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to seek public comments on an environmental impact statement (EIS) issued by the NRC for Holtec International’s application for a license to build a consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) that would temporarily hold spent nuclear fuel at the surface while a permanent underground repository is developed…….
A second public hearing was scheduled via teleconference on July 9, with in-person meetings expected in August pending the COVID-19 health crisis. The 40-year license application represented the first phase of the project, including 500 canisters of waste, but the entire project could comprise of 20 phases holding up to 173,000 metric tons of waste when complete. All 20 phases were analyzed by the EIS, but not included in the first license application. Canisters would be positioned in tunnels about 40 feet deep, and would be gradually cooled, reducing radiation. Public comments already submitted during numerous 2018 NRC scoping meetings voiced concerns for transportation, the location near the Permian Basin oilfield, along with potential groundwater and soil contamination and the safety of the facility during an incident such as a fire or flood……. State officials and residents spoke at the meeting, with some voicing support as others cited “grave concerns” for the project they contended could become permanent although it was pitched as temporary. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham voiced opposition in the past, calling the proposal “economic malpractice” for the perceived risk it posed to local industries such as agriculture and oil and gas. Opposition cites environmental risk of more nuclear waste in New Mexico New Mexico Environment Department Cabinet Secretary James Kenney said New Mexico already holds risk associated with nuclear activities through Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories along with the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and the URENCO nuclear enrichment facility near Eunice. He said vulnerable populations reside near the proposed sight, many minority groups also reliant on groundwater that could be impacted by the project. Cabinet Secretary of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department Sarah Cottrell Propst voiced similar concerns as Kenney, that the project could unduly impact New Mexicans by foisting nuclear waste onto the state. “New Mexicans have shouldered a disproportionate burden of the waste associated from nuclear weapons development. Holtec is asking the NRC to have New Mexico shoulder more burden with the waste from nuclear generators,” Kenney said. “The location suggested is in an area where people rely on groundwater and that is known for having sensitive karstic features.” State Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D-36) of Las Cruces expressed concerns that the project could be in operation for much longer than the 40 years stipulated in the license application. He argued that the opposition from people outside of Eddy and Lea counties was valid as the transportation routes for the waste brought to the site passed throughout New Mexico and the nation. Other state senators and representatives, mostly Republicans representing southeast New Mexico districts, were supportive of the project. Steinborn introduced legislation during New Mexico’s January Legislative Session to increase state oversight of nuclear projects, but the bill was defeated in committee. “The draft EIS cannot adequately analyze the long-term impacts of the project as there is no permanent repository. The application is for 40 years, but clearly the facility could be there much longer,” he said. “And I have to take some exception when its characterized that outsiders’ opposition is not relevant. It is an issue for all New Mexicans.” Camilla Feibelman, director of Rio Grande Chapter of Sierra Club said the project was not just an issue for southeast New Mexico to consider. She also argued that Holtec should be required to make financial assurances in case of an accident. “We believe that this waste should be stored as close to its original site as possible,” she said. “New Mexicans should not be put at risk for any sum of money.” Local leaders look to diversify economy through nuclear………. https://www.abqjournal.com/1469762/state-of-new-mexico-says-nuclear-waste-project-poses-disproportionate-risk-locals-supportive.html |
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Marketing man Trump trying to sell U.S. nuclear reactors to Poland
Duda, Trump announce nuclear energy deal, Presidents Andrzej Duda and Donald Trump announced on Wednesday the signing of a deal on development of nuclear energy in Poland, which Duda said would be signed as soon as possible.US President Donald Trump talked of the purchase of American technology.
At a press conference with Duda at the White House, Trump said they were working on a deal that would facilitate the development and building of a nuclear power plant in Poland, adding that it would work with the use of American technology bought from a large US company……… https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/duda-trump-announce-nuclear-energy-deal-13601
USA adds new indictment to charges against Julian Assange
WASHINGTON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sought to recruit hackers at conferences in Europe and Asia who could provide his anti-secrecy website with classified information, and conspired with members of hacking organizations, according to a new Justice Department indictment announced Wednesday.
The superseding indictment does not contain additional charges beyond the 18 counts the Justice Department unsealed last year. But prosecutors say it underscores Assange’s efforts to procure and release classified information, allegations that form the basis of criminal charges he already faces.
Beyond recruiting hackers at conferences, the indictment accuses Assange of conspiring with members of hacking groups known as LulzSec and Anonymous. He also worked with a 17-year-old hacker who gave him information stolen from a bank and directed the teenager to steal additional material, including audio recordings of high-ranking government officials, prosecutors say.
Assange’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, said in a statement that “the government’s relentless pursuit of Julian Assange poses a grave threat to journalists everywhere and to the public’s right to know.”
“While today’s superseding indictment is yet another chapter in the U.S. Government’s effort to persuade the public that its pursuit of Julian Assange is based on something other than his publication of newsworthy truthful information,” he added, “the indictment continues to charge him with violating the Espionage Act based on WikiLeaks publications exposing war crimes committed by the U.S. Government.”
Assange was arrested last year after being evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had sought refuge to avoid being sent to Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual assault, and is at the center of an extradition tussle over whether he should be sent to the United States.
The Justice Department has already charged him with conspiring with former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history by working together to crack a password to a government computer.
Prosecutors say the WikiLeaks founder damaged national security by publishing hundreds of thousands of classified documents, including diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, that harmed the U.S. and its allies and aided its adversaries.
Assange maintains he was acting as a journalist entitled to First Amendment protection. His lawyers have argued the U.S. charges of espionage and computer misuse were politically motivated and an abuse of power.
Assange generated substantial attention during the 2016 presidential election, and in investigations that followed, after WikiLeaks published stolen Democratic emails that U.S. authorities say were hacked by Russian military intelligence officials. An investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller revealed how Trump campaign associates eagerly anticipated the email disclosures. One Trump ally, Roger Stone, was found guilty last year of lying about his efforts to gain inside information about the emails. Assange, however, was never charged in Mueller’s Russia investigation.
The allegations in the new indictment center on conferences, in locations including the Netherlands and Malaysia in 2009, at which prosecutors say he and a WikiLeaks associate sought to recruit hackers who could locate classified information, including material on a “Most Wanted Leaks” list posted on WikiLeaks’ website.
According to the new indictment, he told would-be recruits that unless they were a member of the U.S. military, they faced no legal liability for stealing classified information and giving it to WikiLeaks “because ‘TOP SECRET’ meant nothing as a matter of law.”
At one conference in Malaysia, called the “Hack in the Box Security Conference,” Assange told the audience, “I was a famous teenage hacker in Australia, and I’ve been reading generals’ emails since I was 17.”
US, Russia nuclear arms talks end with plans for second round
US, Russia nuclear arms talks end with plans for second round, Aljazeera, 26 June 20,
US says any new agreement on curbing nuclear weapons should include China, a condition Russia calls ‘unrealistic’. US and Russian negotiators have concluded a round of nuclear arms control talks in Austria’s capital, Vienna, aimed at producing a new agreement to replace the New START treaty that expires next year.
US negotiator Marshall Billingslea told reporters on Tuesday that the day of high-level “marathon discussions” ended late on Monday.
Billingslea said the talks had been productive enough to establish several technical working groups to delve deeper into the issues in order to pave the way for a second round of talks by late July or early August…… https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/coronavirus-deaths-children-extremely-rare-live-updates-200626000914304.html
Resequencing of Vogtle nuclear plant expansion activities is credit negative: Moody’s
Resequencing of Vogtle nuclear plant expansion activities is credit negative: Moody’s, Author, Joniel Cha , Editor, Richard Rubin , 26 June, Washington — Georgia Power’s resequencing of construction activities for the Vogtle nuclear plant expansion project is credit negative, Moody’s said June 24.
“The unexpected, late-stage changes to these planned activities is credit negative for Georgia Power because it signals that challenges with the project continue, increasing the likelihood of additional cost overruns and further schedule delays,” Moody’s said in a statement. ….. https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/electric-power/062420-resequencing-of-vogtle-nuclear-plant-expansion-activities-is-credit-negative-moodys
Outer space beginning to look like a new area of nuclear conflict, according to Pentagon
THE PENTAGON IS WORRIED A SPACE NUKE WILL FRY ITS SATELLITES, https://futurism.com/the-byte/pentagon-worried-space-nuke-fry-satellites JUNE 18TH 20__DAN ROBITZSKI__
Space Nukes
The U.S. Department of Defense released a new space strategy report on Wednesday. In it, the military revealed that it’s concerned that nukes detonated in space could wipe out its fleet of satellites.
It’s not a new concern, since space nukes were originally banned in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. But all the same, Business Insider reports that the Pentagon is particularly concerned that China and Russia might strike — a dire warning for the future of combat.
The report specifically identified China and Russia as immediate threats. Such an attack could potentially devastate military communication networks as well as the myriad other systems that depend on satellites.
“The challenge of a nuclear detonation is that it creates an electromagnetic pulse and a signal that could then take out indiscriminately many satellites in space and essentially fry the electronics,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy Stephen Kitay said at a press conference on the report, according to BI.
“That is a threat that we have to potentially be prepared for — a nuclear detonation in space,” he added.
If nothing else, the report is yet another sign that the idea of space remaining peaceful seems to be slipping away.
“I wish I could say that space is a sea of tranquility, but the fact of the matter is that space is contested,” Kitay said. “Outer space has emerged as a key arena of potential conflict in an era of great power competition.”
Renewable generation eclipses coal, nuclear for 2nd straight month in April
Renewable generation eclipses coal, nuclear for 2nd straight month in April, S and P Global Market Intelligence, Krizka Danielle Del Rosario, 26 June 20, Although U.S. net generation in April fell 6.6% below the same month in 2019, renewable generation has continued to grow as a source of the nation’s supply and surpassed nuclear and coal for the second month in a row.
Renewables accounted for 23.3% of the total, expanding its lead on nuclear generation as the second-largest source of power supply. Nuclear generation made up 21.5% of the nation’s electricity, while gas-fired generation remained the largest supplier of power with a 39.3% share……. https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/blog/essential-energy-insights-june-11-2020
U.S. Dept of Energy entrenching the nuclear industry into universities, (at tax-payers’ expense)
dangerous and absurdly uneconomic nuclear industry.’ The claim about combatting climate change is laughable. These “new generation” nuclear reactors would never be in operation in time to have any effect on climate change – even if they dis work against global heating (which they don’t, anyway)DAHO FALLS – During a visit to the Idaho National Laboratory last week, U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette announced more than $65 million in nuclear energy research for projects across the country. ……. The funds are being awarded to 93 projects across 28 different states. More than $800,000 has been allocated for projects in eastern Idaho. …..An undetermined amount is being awarded to the INL for various research experiments.
Idaho State University in Pocatello will be awarded $59,262 to replace the control rod drive for its nuclear reactor. The project will focus on improving its design to make it more reliable and safe, as well as decrease its complexity.
Holtec International Under Criminal Investigation
Holtec International, a subsidiary of which owns and is decommissioning the inactive nuclear plant in Plymouth, is under criminal investigation, Politico New Jersey reported based on a legal brief filed by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.
According to the report, New Jersey-based Holtec International sued the NJ EDA in March over the payment of $26 million of a $260 million New Jersey tax incentive, which the agency held up because Holtec allegedy gave a false answer on its 2014 tax credit application.
“Holtec’s misrepresentations — which include its failure to disclose a prior government debarment by the Tennessee Valley Authority (the ‘TVA’) for bribing an official of that agency — first came to light during an investigation conducted by the Governor’s Task Force on the Economic Development Authority’s Tax Incentive Program, and they are now the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation,” the brief read, according to Politico.
A spokesperson and a lawyer for Holtec did not respond to Politico New Jersey, and the company did not immediately return a News Service email seeking a response.
Last week, two Holtec subsidiaries — Holtec Decommissioning International and Holtec Pilgrim LLC — agreed to a settlement with Attorney General Maura Healey and the Baker administration that requires the company to maintain a decommissioning trust fund at a minimum balance and puts other guardrails on the decommissioning of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.
Last September, Healey and Baker’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs sued the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission over the agency’s decision to approve the transfer of Pilgrim’s license from Entergy to Holtec.
The attorney general, Baker’s administration and members of the state’s Congressional delegation mounted an effort to block the transfer unless the NRC held a full hearing on concerns over Holtec’s ability to safely decommission the nuclear plant, the company’s financial stability and its alleged involvement in a kickback scheme. No hearing was held before the NRC approved the transfer.
Holtec has said that it can complete decommissioning work in Plymouth by the end of 2027 and is in the process of removing all spent nuclear fuel from the plant’s spent fuel pool and placing it on a newly constructed Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation by early 2022. AT TOP https://www.wbur.org/earthwhile/2020/06/25/plymouth-nuclear-plant-decommissioning-company-criminal-investigation
LAWSUIT ALLEGES COVERUP AT US NUCLEAR WEAPON FACILITY
Nuclear Coverup
A physicist who was fired by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is suing over an alleged coverup that he claims could have compromised the U.S.’s ability to predict the behavior of nuclear weapons.
Peter Williams, the plaintiff, claims in the lawsuit that he was terminated in retaliation after complaining that his superiors tinkered with his models of nuclear weapon explosions, Science Magazine reports. In doing so, Williams alleges, his superiors were trying to make data align with the models rather than improving their accuracy — leaving the U.S. clueless as to how the weapons would actually behave when actually detonated.
Difficult Math
While he was at Livermore, Williams modeled the behavior of an explosive called a PBX 9502. When equipped to a nuclear warhead, the explosive first triggers a nuclear fission explosion that, in turn, sets off an even more powerful fusion blast, Science reports.
It’s a particularly-difficult dynamic to model, especially because the PBX 9502 is relatively slow-burning, and models also need to account for how the explosion travels through the sample of PBX.
Routine Maintenance
Williams’ central allegation, Science reports, is that supervisors would adjust the parameters of tests after the fact to make the models seem more accurate than they were — rendering them incapable of making meaningful predictions.
But astrophysicist Robert Rosner, a Livermore board member, told Science that modeling adjustments of that sort are commonplace and an expected part of improving them. Still, Williams sees his lawsuit as a matter of duty.
“I couldn’t look myself in the mirror if I didn’t do it,” he told Science.
Trump administration says it won’t carry out a nuclear weapons test ‘at this time’
Trump administration says it won’t carry out a nuclear weapons test ‘at this time’, By Kylie Atwood, CNN, June 24, 2020 Washington , The US told Russia that that there is no reason for the Trump administration to carry out a nuclear weapons test “at this time,” during nuclear negotiations in Vienna this week, but reserved the right to conduct one if they see a need to do so.
Board of IAEA issues mild rebuke to Iran
Iran hawks in and outside the US government wanted a finding of non-compliance with Iran’s safeguards agreement with the IAEA and a report to the UN Security Council to buttress their campaign of “maximum pressure.”
Crash of nuclear waste truck, fortunately the cask was empty
Brattleboro Reformer 22nd June 2020, An oversized flatbed truck carrying an empty nuclear waste cask headed to the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant drove onto a soft shoulder on Route 11 in Andover and tipped over Friday morning, setting off a 36-hour effort to retrieve the cask and reopen the busy east-west highway. The cask is slated to be used at the Vernon nuclear power plant which is undergoing demolition and decommissioning. The cask, which weighs upwards of 50 tons, is used as an on-site cask to transfer waste on site, according to Curtis Roberts, a spokesman for Orano, one of the companies involved in the
decommissioning project with main owner NorthStar Vermont Yankee LLC.
He said the cask is owned and manufactured by Orano [Ed note: formerly AREVA, which went bankrupt] . Orano is disassembling the nuclear reactor core, which contains high levels of radioactivity.
https://www.reformer.com/stories/truck-carrying-empty-nuclear-waste-cask-crashes,607654
USA financing nuclear projects abroad – but what if Small Nuclear Reactors are a flop?
Daily on Energy, presented by API: Inside the new US policy on financing nuclear abroad, Washington Examiner, by Josh Siegel, Energy and Environment Reporter & Abby Smith, Energy and Environment Reporter | June 22, 2020
INSIDE NEW POLICY ON FINANCING NUCLEAR ABROAD: The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation mostly had small nuclear reactors in mind when it proposed this month lifting its ban on funding nuclear projects overseas. But a senior official from the DFC – a greatly expanded successor to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation – says the agency also envisions select situations for funding traditional large reactors, despite recent projects being delayed or canceled by cost overruns……..
The official cited a move by Congress a year after lawmakers passed the BUILD Act in 2018, which authorized the DFC, that called on the U.S. government to support energy diversification projects in Europe as a counter to Russia’s “energy dominance.”
The DFC offers direct equity financing, loans, and political risk insurance, while Ex-Im can only offer credit or lending. The DFC has a total investment limit of $60 billion, amounting to about a $1 billion maximum per project, the official said.
“I am not aware we have anyone on staff who has built a nuclear power plant,” the official said. “What we do have is very strong policies and procedures and frameworks to look at big complicated projects.” https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/daily-on-energy-presented-by-api-inside-the-new-us-policy-on-financing-nuclear-abroad
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