Earlier quoted context omitted.
It would make such a fantastic set of barbell plates.
Or a really cool scuba diving weight belt.
More like 20+ weight belts, you go underwater with a 280kg weight belt you're not coming back!
FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home
211–220 of 419 posts
Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home
#212How porous is the CIA's interview process that they couldn't validate the guy's military discharge status?
The type of people Intelligence agencies need and use to accomplish their goals are also the type of people who tend to do these things.
I reject the the idea that these types of people are needed. It's probably that most of the people in the CIA happen to be like that because they're power-hungry and they're just selecting their kin and justifying their choices as "right kind" because they narcissistically believe themselves to be the right type... They're probably the wrong type. Especially if they all share narcissistic or psychopathic traits; it's too many, it cannot work.
Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
> is bizarre Only under the incentive structures you’re used to considering.
It makes parts of the CIA look incompetent to the public. This is rare. It’s reasonable to assume they knew it from the start he was getting money illicitly from the Navy and they might have enabled it. This was part of the leverage they had on him, to be used if he ever became a liability.
> It makes parts of the CIA look incompetent to the public. This is rare.
Iran–Contra? Their cyber espoinage tools getting swiped? The self-admission from the US administration that the CIA failed to properly recognize and prepare for the tactics used in 9/11, in spite of ample forward warning?
Like most intelligence agencies, their unaccountable power often gets mistaken for actual intelligence. That power makes them dangerous, but it doesn't make them smart.
Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home
#214Earlier quoted context omitted.
It makes parts of the CIA look incompetent to the public. This is rare. It’s reasonable to assume they knew it from the start he was getting money illicitly from the Navy and they might have enabled it. This was part of the leverage they had on him, to be used if he ever became a liability.
> It makes parts of the CIA look incompetent to the public. This is rare. Iran–Contra? Their cyber espoinage tools getting swiped? The self-admission from the US administration that the CIA failed to properly recognize and prepare for the tactics used in 9/11, in spite of ample forward warning? Like most intelligence agencies, their unaccountable power often gets mistaken for actual intelligence. That power makes the…
They also totally missed India's second round of nuclear weapon development and were blindsided by the tests:
U.S. Intelligence and India's Nuclear Tests: Lessons Learned
August 11, 1998 98-672
The U.S. Intelligence Community did not have advance knowledge that India intended to conduct nuclear tests beginning on May 11, 1998.
Although intelligence agencies cannot have foreknowledge of every significant development in world affairs, many observers (and senior intelligence officials) believe that, in view of the election of an Indian government committed to "inducting" nuclear weapons, much greater attention should have been given to indications of impending nuclear tests
Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home
#215Earlier quoted context omitted.
A small plot of forested rural land without utility service doesn't cost much at all. Go car camping at your new private getaway for a few days. This isn't rocket science. Also if you drive out to a remote part of the US who is going to see you? There are some very empty places in this country. Not quite on the level of Canada or Russia but still.
flock or any number of cameras that contribute to flock would see you.
See you do what? Nobody's suggesting you go bury gold in front of a Flock camera.
Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Or are you imagining he'd go bury the gold in a hole in the woods somewhere? Why not?
Because, for someone with any kind of security clearance, suddenly going out to the woods, if you don't normally go out to the woods, would be a major outlier from your highly-scrutinized and documented regular life; and so could easily lead the FBI to finding your buried gold, without having to get any kind of warrant.
Isn't the FBI investigating deaths and disappearances of people with critical access to sensitive material and only found out about it from a newspaper? How much resources do you think are put into monitoring every aspect of the lives of people with access to sensitive info?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/deaths-disappearances-scientist...
Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because, for someone with any kind of security clearance, suddenly going out to the woods, if you don't normally go out to the woods, would be a major outlier from your highly-scrutinized and documented regular life; and so could easily lead the FBI to finding your buried gold, without having to get any kind of warrant.
The security scrutiny is really so thorough that taking up a new apparent hobby gets flagged? That’s impressive.
The answer is probably "Yes" if you work at CIA
Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because, for someone with any kind of security clearance, suddenly going out to the woods, if you don't normally go out to the woods, would be a major outlier from your highly-scrutinized and documented regular life; and so could easily lead the FBI to finding your buried gold, without having to get any kind of warrant.
How would they know you went out to the woods?
Smartphone will report it.
Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
> no explanation on what kind of expenses those could be I think it's pretty obvious the gold was to pay a bribe. The only thing I'm surprised about is the value. That's A LOT of money for a single pay-off or bribe. It seems more than what would conceivably be paid to an individual at once because spy agencies tend to prefer to pay-as-you-go with individuals. Each round of documents, actions or whatever gets a paymen…
Even more tantalizing is that it was probably a domestic bribe he was tasked with. Traveling internationally with hundreds of kg of gold is not very reasonable and I'd assume they have access to resources in other countries as needed. And we'll get all the answer, it'll just take 50 years, and then everything will probably make a lot more sense. Maybe even sooner if an administration finally gets the courage and brai…
> it was probably a domestic bribe
I did consider that for a minute but if it really was the CIA acting in any domestic capacity, I think they would have taken him down on some other pretext. Not that the CIA doesn't quietly do domestic spying, they just wouldn't let anything get to the media that might lead in that direction.
Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home
#220Really? Gold? Mr.Rush? … unbelievable what a surname can inflict on you