All of this time alone has me thinking; attempting to justify why I’m still fighting. Everyone around me is shielded with an impenetrable  layer of ignorance or tightly contained in the shackles of fear.

I only see the resistance in the dimensions of cyberspace; unable to experience it with my own senses.

Everyday I watch a news feed documenting the planet slowly spiral into oblivion. I open an inbox full of things not meant to be seen with people begging to please somehow let the world know about these injustices and atrocities. I read these in agony because I know the world doesn’t care and in fact, the world committed these acts.

I’ve been an activist for only a couple years yet I feel as though I’ve witnessed enough greed, corruption, darkness, lies, and secrecy to last a lifetime.

I wish I could forget everything. The stories, the images, the footage, the statistics, the literature; everything. For these things no longer give me the strength to continue fighting, only slowing aid me come to the realization that the outcome of this war was decided long ago when man created the atom bomb, the factory, the camera, the rifle, the plow.

There is a very small sliver of hope that has kept me from descending into complete distraught. I don’t know what it is or its source, but it’s there. Its there and refuses to leave, sometimes it talks to me. Just like the trees and the streams used to. Maybe they still do, but I’ve forgotten how to listen.

Phase One of “The Plan” initiated two months ago. Phase Two begins in November. This is our last shot before violent resistance is resorted to.

JFK said that those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. If “The Plan” fails, then the underground will make itself known way more than it already has. We saw a glimpse of it in the UK last month. It’s an army, a juggernaut. It will not be stopped until all of civilization burns.

I don’t know where this is going. I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. I don’t know if anyone even reads this obscure blog anymore; full of my ramblings and dissents. Executing “The Plan” here will either go really good or really bad. We’ll just have to see.

Someone once told me that I became a legend and helped people break more illusions with the machine than anyone they’ve ever seen. That this blog was a hub for the resistance. I don’t know what it, or I, have become now.

I don’t know how to conclude this post, so I’ll leave you with one of the greatest speeches ever recorded:

The group didn’t stop there. They also added a news story to the PBS “Rundown” section with an article titled “Tupac Still Alive in New Zealand”.

To top the night off, they leaked all of the PBS press passwords, station passwords, and MySQL root passwords on the group’s Twitter account. They also leak all of the PBS Frontline logins as well as their SQL database and network map disclosure.

After tweeting all of this information, the group tweeted:

@Sony is next. We haven’t forgotten.

This post will be updated as this story progresses.

The PBS staff and admin info has just been leaked.

As I’ve explained in two previous articles concerning the reasons for attacking the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other supporters of the Protect IP Bill, Anonymous has expanded their campaign against individuals, institutions, and organizations sponsoring the anti-Internet bill to a full spectrum, all out war.

As this article is being published, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce website is still down due to a Drupal exploit.

The CoC is not the only big website being downed at the moment. The Warner Brothers Music Group is being attacked and is down with a combination of a new weapon and the LOIC Hivemind, which is a voluntary botnet. The American Association of Independent Music website is also being targeted by the HIVE and is currently down as well. The Independent Film and Television Alliance is currently down as well via the new weapon. All which are sponsors of the Protect IP Bill.

A thank you note was issued by Anonymous to Senator Wyden for blocking the PROTECT IP Bill for the time being. A statement issued by Wyden says:

I understand and agree with the goal of the legislation, to protect intellectual property and combat commerce in counterfeit goods, but I am not willing to muzzle speech and stifle innovation and economic growth to achieve this objective. At the expense of legitimate commerce, PIPA’s prescription takes an overreaching approach to policing the Internet when a more balanced and targeted approach would be more effective. The collateral damage of this approach is speech, innovation and the very integrity of the Internet.

At least there’s one Senator that has some shred of knowledge on the U.S. Constitution.

Being an activist for several years now, I 100% condone and support the actions and attacks being orchestrated and executed by Anonymous. For many, including myself, the Internet is like a second home. We learn, share, read, laugh, and develop relationships with this revolutionary technology and we will be damned if it is to be censored or controlled in anyway shape or form.

The governments of the world control and own the land, water, food, air, production, industry, and genetic material. Cyberspace and information will not be stolen from us without a fight, and fight we will.

My previous articles have been called a “call to arms”. Although I don’t agree with that description, I will formally pronounce this post a call to arms:

To all those who take freedom of speech and information for granted, it’s time to fight and defend that right. To all those who enjoy the luxuries and education provided on the Internet, it’s time to take arms against the oppressive government: the United Corporate States of America. A land where you are free to do as you are told.

To all those who thought you lived in a democratic nation, it’s time to wake up an realize that you are not the ones voting on this bill, they are. It’s time to take action into our own hands, for if it wasn’t for Sen. Wyden, this bill would be that much closer to being implemented and used against the citizens of the world.

I call to all those who fight for their very humanity and freedom to join the attack. Yes, it is illegal and yes, there is a possibility you will get caught, but do you think those who create the laws that protect their precious economy and corporate entities would allow for an effective loophole that would combat them within the very framework that keeps them in power and grants them full spectrum dominance over your life and environment?

We are the new age pirates, the pioneers of the new world. Join us in the IRC at irc.anonops.in in channel #senloris and #operationpayback , and in one unified voice and force declare that we will not be their subjects and that we will not be exploited and abused to serve a system that we do not benefit from.

Together, we will become a fire that cannot be extinguished nor controlled, and will be spread to the far reaches of the planet. This is because WE ARE the Internet. We are the resistance. We are the insurgence. We are all Anonymous, fight for your right to remain so.

This is war. Load your cannons. Charge your lasers.

For the first time I can honestly and proudly declare:

We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us.

(Editors Note: I am a journalist and due to a variety of legal factors (I know I sound like a pussy but…) I’m obligated to say that I do not directly participate in Anonymous Operations. However, I do support what they do, illegal or not. IB4 the Feds.)

Late Thursday evening, the collective identified and used exploits on the site to take down the main page of the U.S. CoC and their web-based mail service. They used a Drupal exploit to gain access to the site’s content manager.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce wasn’t the only website targeted. Several Senator and organization websites were also taken offline from 6PM – 10PM EST via DOS. Senators targeted include Chuck Grassley, Lindsey Graham, and organizations such as the National Association of Theater Owners; all of which had shown their support for the Protect IP Bill.

In fact, I had the opportunity to watch Anonymous as they took down the Independent Film and Television Association website. They launched a DOS attack as I sat speaking with them and within minutes the website was dead and out of commission. The website is still down as I write this article.

When asked what they were going to do next, they responded that they will continue to attack until one of three things happen:

1. If they get bored. (Most likely.)
2. They find a more deserving target.
3. If the Protect IP Bill isn’t passed.

Of course, this is only the beginning. It was late and a lot of them were heading off to bed to get some sleep. However, come Friday morning the group is going to launch even more attacks. What exactly they will do is unknown. When asked they said that they will figure it out tomorrow and that it will be a “surprise”. Some Anons hope that there is some kind of leak of U.S. Chamber emails since their web-mail service was taken offline, but most Anons haven’t decided how they will move forward from here.

Anonymous and the CoC had already had a shaky relationship before the Protect IP Bill came to light. When Anonymous hacked into HBGary Federal and dumped over 71,000 corporate emails online for all to see a few months ago, the emails had shown that the CoC along with Bank of America, HBGary Federal, and various other intelligence firms were conspiring to spread disinformation about Wikileaks in an attempt to discredit the information that they were leaking.

This is a message to all those who wish to restrict the flow of information on and offline: They do not forgive. They do not forget. Expect them. They are Legion.

Come Friday, the hammer of Anonymous will be dropped on those in support of this bill in protest of those who think they have the right to control the Internet and who think they have jurisdiction in the landless void of cyberspace.

I live in the United States, more specifically the Mid-West, and it’s bitter sweet to see these mass protests and uprisings sweeping North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. On the one hand I can’t express the happiness I experience when I see photos of young men and women come together spontaneously and in one unified voice reject the status-quo and the State that put them in a position of helplessness within the economic and political climate that dictates their standard of living. On the other hand, all of this reminds me of the inactivity and idleness of the activist community where I live and in the United States in general. Sure, we had some great demonstrations in Wisconsin earlier this year for workers rights and the state capitol building was occupied for a few days. Even the police joined in the protest and made a speech within the occupied building, but nothing much has happened since then.There have been smaller demonstrations here and there, but nothing on the scope or scale of the protests in Africa, Middle East, or Europe. Our situation in the states are not so different than the one facing Europe, so why aren’t we doing more to combat these corporate thugs in the U.S.? The answer escapes me.

Tunisia, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, Iran, Libya, Syria, Turkey, England, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Spain, Greece, and probably even more countries have been protesting against the corrupt governments and corporations that control nearly every aspect of their lives as we speak. Hundreds of thousands of women and men have been organizing, mobilizing, and resisting the stranglehold of these despotic States. The media spins these demonstrations as something less than spectacular with their machine like objectivity and lack of emotional connection with their fellow sisters and brothers fighting to break free from state and corporate violence and control. We know different, and we know that this is only the beginning.

The media calls the uprisings in Africa and the Middle East the “Arab Spring”, but we know that this is more than a seasonal fad that will die out in a few months. The struggle will carry on, and get harder as the State tightens their grip to reclaim it’s control of the people. This is inevitable and unavoidable when you resist the dominant cultures and governments of occupation. That’s the name of the game, self preservation.

In the last eight or so months, we’ve also seen the resistance culture grow and engage the enemy in Europe. We saw this in England when the people reclaimed a piece of land in London the State has dubbed “Parliament Square” where students, social activists, and Anarchists demonstrated against the State’s agenda to raise tuition fees in universities. Later, they took control of the puppet’s Conservative Headquarter and ripped the place apart. For a moment, we achieved victory; the Anarchist flag was raised atop the enemy establishment. The pigs were overwhelmed, surrounded on all sides. As always, the feeling of freedom was short lived as the the riot police rolled in and broke up the party, but the resistance kept coming and coming; larger in numbers and support.

Most recently, we’ve witnessed spontaneous gatherings and demonstrations in nearly every major city in Spain. They organized not under the name of a movement, political ideology, religion, or specific group. They simply want to live in a world free from these corrupt puppet politicians and corporate bankers that terraform the planet in their industrial, dystopian vision. The people of Spain are not protesting for any kind of ideological cause, but rather protesting for their humanity. To take it back from those who profit from selling and exploiting it.

Tens of thousands of Spaniards have reclaimed lands in Madrid and have camped out there for days now. Discussion circles, reading groups, speaking platforms, information kiosks, storytelling sessions, musical festivals, and film showings have invaded the streets that were once populated by the consumer drones and business vultures. Our generation is reclaiming what has been taken from us long ago by the capitalist profiteers and socialist thieves. They’re demonstrating in a way that dick slaps the ruling class directly in the forehead for all to see, living life to the fullest and absent of their ruthlessly marketed products and standardized social mores. In a nutshell, every capitalists worst nightmare.

Greece has been fighting the war against the industrialized economy longer than most European countries. Less than a year ago, armed resistance against the Greek state was sparked as Anarchists began directly and physically fighting back the police to reclaim their land. Streets have been turned into literal battlefields as protesters lob Molotov Cocktails, small explosives, flares, and heavy objects at the corporate pigs also known as the police who uphold the criminal government. As Greece plummets further into debt, we are likely to see more street battles such as these in the months to come.

(Editors Note: As I finish this piece up, Al-Jazeera just put out a report describing protests forming in Georgia. The people gathered early today outside the parliament building in the Georgian capital Tbilisi. Riot police was quickly deployed injuring many protesters by using tear gas, water hoses, and rubber bullets.)

We’ve seen what happens when we organize in large numbers against these criminals. Every industrialized government has committed crimes against humanity and is responsible for the murder and exploitation of countless human beings, yet no one has been brought to justice and these establishments are still very much in power. We have more than enough evidence to justify their removal and dismantle the political and economic institutions that plague this planet, so why don’t we act upon them and take action against them?

The planet is at a tipping point politically, ideologically, economically, religiously, environmentally, etc. This moment right now, is the most exciting and dangerous time human beings have ever lived in. For too long has the world been under the control of the few, destroying everything they come into contact with. The system they uphold is a devastating and murderous one and we have every right to take it down. We have to take it down, or we will be forever its slaves.

What we are seeing across Europe is the infancy of the European Summer, or at least I hope so. As times get tougher and information becomes more accessible, people will begin to wake up and see that the paradigm that governs them is not in their best interest. This understanding will spread, and is spreading, to the far reaches of the world. And one day, we will emerge through the mist of tear gas and smoke victorious; that is, if there is a planet left to live on.

All of us need to understand the gravity of this and the risks involved. The more we fight back, the more the State will fight us back. They will arrest us, they will beat us, they will torture us, they will turn us against each other, they will kill us, but we must resist them. We have the right to choose how we wish to live in this life, not some politician whom you’ve never met.

If you’re reading this, you are the resistance. You have the tools, knowledge, and strength to reclaim all that’s been taken from you. Do not sit idly by as the world burns around you, fight with tools. Become the insurgence, the urban guerrillas in the concrete jungles and the ninjas of cyberspace.

There is a war going on for your mind. If you’re thinking, we are winning.

“If the court issues an order against the registrant, owner, or domain name, resulting from the DOJ-initiated suit, the Attorney General is authorized to serve that order on specified U.S. based third-parties, including Internet service providers, payment processors, online advertising network providers, and search engines. These third parties would then be required to take appropriate action to either prevent access to the Internet site, or cease doing business with the Internet site.”

The bipartisan PROTECT IP Act is sponsored by Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Christopher Coons (D-DE), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Herb Kohl (D-WI).

Sources close to the U.S Government say the bill has already gathered a lot of support among legislators, which is a worrying message for the relatively free-Internet as its known today.

This isn’t much of a surprise that many members of Congress support this bill due to the lobbying activities of organizations and corporations supporting this bill including the MPAA, Viacom, Mastercard, Sony, Disney, etc. As always, Congress is going to suck the corporate cock to support a broken economic system for a bill they do not understand.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is being targeted for it’s very outspoken support for this bill. The implications of such a bill is disastrous for all those who support and benefit from the free flow of information and freedom of speech. Anonymous is not the only group actively resisting this Draconian bill; Google has stated that they will not comply with the U.S. government if this bill is passed.

Google Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt, said in London on May 18th:

“If there is a law that requires DNS [domain name systems, the protocol that allows users to connect to Web sites], to do x,and it’s passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the president of the United States, and we disagree with it, then we would still fight it…If it’s a request, the answer is we wouldn’t do it; if it’s a discussion, we wouldn’t do it.”

Times are changing, and these industries that will make billions regardless of what is distributed on the Internet are doing everything in their power to maintain the status-quo; which is to basically shape and mold legislation to increase profits rather than protect civil liberties. It’s yet another example of American fascism, the merging of corporations and the state.

The Internet is changing everything from everyday life and communication, to markets and industry, to governments and policies. The Internet has made it easier for individuals to send and share information to one another, this includes music and films. If you don’t like people watching and enjoying your films and music freely online, then fuck off.

We live in a world now where people do shit because they love to do it, not to make a profit; and even those people make a pretty penny. I’ve known many documentary film makers who spend their own money to create a full length film and throw it up online for all to enjoy. They also have an option for people to buy it if they like it and wish to support that particular director’s future work. Guess what, people STILL buy their films. They also donate directly to them because they truly appreciate the work that they do and want to support it. That’s the future of economics. Voluntary and participatory.

If these corporations can’t or won’t adapt to this new world being put forward and implemented by the youth of the world, then fuck ‘em. They always preach to us about the so called “free market”, so why won’t they allow free people to determine how the market functions and what course it will take? It’s because they only like the free market when it equals massive profits for their businesses. They go crying and bitching to the federal government when shit doesn’t go their way when they loose a few bucks.

As pioneers of this new world, it’s our duty to resist and fight those who attempt to stop us. Whether you’re a journalist or blogger, or a participant of Anonymous, or the activists on the ground who protest against these corporate thugs and oppressive regimes and risk everything for freedom of information and speech, we are all in this battle together and we have a responsibility to protect our civil liberties.

This attack tomorrow will send yet another message to the pigs that run the state that we will not be another cog in the fucked up clock that these corporate entities attempt to preserve through their political puppets in Washington.

This is our world now and we will fight for it. Take it or leave it.

Reputation and image is everything in the lobbying world. That means, those with the worst reputations such as human rights violations and obvious corrupt governments are going to pay such PR firms as Qorvis a metric fuckton of money to make them look all nice and dandy for the rest of the world who isn’t being dissappeared to secret prisons or being tortured for criticizing their unelected leader. Equatorial Guinea pays Qorvis $55,000 per month and Saudi Arabian initially paid Qorvis $14 million per year back in 2002 to polish its reputation in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, though in recent years the latter contract has been much less lucrative. “These scumbags will pay whatever you want,” says the former insider. “You can charge retainers that are huge.”

As a result of the uprisings and mass protests sweeping the Middle East and north Africa, Qorvis has been kicking it into high gear to facilitate dissent of these despotic regimes. For example, the Oslo Freedom Forum’s email account was bombarded with messages, all crudely made from a simple template, arguing that Maarym al-Khawaja is an enemy of the Bahraini people and a “traitor.” Most of the U.S.-based fake tweeting, fake blogging (flogging), and online manipulation is carried out from inside Qorvis Communication’s “Geo-Political Solutions” division. Maryam al-Khawaja took the stage at the Oslo Freedom Forum last Tuesday and stunned the audience with her experiences of government violence in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The firm uses ‘”black arts” by creating fake blogs and websites that link back to positive content, “to make sure that no one online comes across the bad stuff,” says the former insider. Other techniques include the use of social media, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Information has become the new AK-47 of the 21st century. As information becomes more and more accessible to people from all over the world via social networking, the need for oppressive governments to control and/or stop the free flow of information being transmitted increases. As we saw in the aftermath of the Wikileaks U.S. Embassy cable leaks exposing corruption within many governments around the world, those with access to this information can make an informed judgement about the government that they live under and take action against them.

Qorvis Communication and their Geo-Political Solutions program is a blatant attack on all those who wish to express their discontent for their governments and the spread of useful information on the web.

In our research into the HBGary Federal emails hacked and leaked by Anonymous, we have found no direct connection between Aaron Barr and Qorvis Communications. However, this doesn’t mean that Qorvis did not have access to persona management software. The intelligence community has been very active in the social networking arena.

As I’ve cite many times in my Operation Metal Gear series, intelligence firms such as HBGary Federal have been developing software called “persona management” with partner firms such as Endgame Systems, TASC, Mantech, etc. and selling them to other intel firms or using them for U.S. government contracts. Chances are that HBGary wasn’t the only company creating this or similar software for corporate profit. Based on the activities Qorvis Communications has already conducted against bloggers and activists via social networking on behalf of the autocratic regimes they are hired by, it wouldn’t be too far of a stretch to speculate that this firm uses persona management technologies to serve their despotic masters.

Apple is one of the biggest capitalist gang-bangers on the planet. Everything from forcing their foreign slave-force in China to sign contracts telling them they’re not allowed to kill themselves to selling you piece of shit hardware on purpose so you come crawling back for a new product in 2 months, they’ve done it all. Anyone who has looked into the history of this company knows that Apple values profit more than human and non-human life. Since that’s the case, do you really think they are going to care about your privacy rights? Not if it means they can sell your information to third parties for monetary gain.

Every single piece of Apple hardware and software you own and have installed on your computer and/or phone sends and stores your information, including your exact location via latitude and longitude, insecurely to Apple. Why would they do this you ask? Well according to Apple’s general counsel Bruce Sewall – an ex-Intel lawyer – the reason for spying was to provide the high quality products and services that customers demand. (I didn’t know that consumers were demanding to be spied on. I must be out of the loop.) To do this they must spy on their customers to have comprehensive location-based information. Apparently if you are a Windows user running Safari 5 your computer is also being watched by Apple.

This is all explained in Apple’s private policy apparently, but who the hell reads those anyways?

Apple and HBGary Federal:

Apple is an entity of interest by virtue of conversations between that company and HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr involving the company’s interest in participating with a “team” for the purpose of competing for surveillance contracts put out by the U.S. government. This “team” would have centered around the federal contractor TASC as well as a smaller firm called Mantech. Apple is also under investigation by Congress due to revelations that the iPhone collects geographical locations of users.

This email was sent by Aaron Barr to his various partners in the intelligence industry:

(Sent to TASC execs Al Pisani, Chris Clair, Ray Heider, Irene Harris, and John Lovegrove)

“I had a very good conversation with Apple today on the phone. I am going to meet with them in person tomorrow. They are interested in being on the team. I am going to do a little research but the more I think about this model I think we also need to look for a smaller social networking company, maybe like a foursquare and also a social gaming company maybe like zynga, gameloft, etc. Just a thought. 

Aaron “

This email shows that HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr was in direct contact with Apple representatives and were interested in joining Barr’s “team”. This team Barr is referring to is an alliance of several major intelligence contractors for the United States government which includes HBGary Federal, Endgame Systems, TASC, SAIC, etc.

Barr goes on to brag about his new friends at Apple and Google in an email to a man named Jeff from Verizon:

“Hi Jeff,

Just checking in to see if you had a chance to review and get your initial feedback.  I put this together pretty quick because I wanted to get something in front of you to look at.  There are lots of pieces to think about that many people might not be thinking about, so I wanted to focus on those as discriminators.  We also have a significant set of relationships in the commercial space for IT infrastructure, service deployments, etc.  We have strong relationships with Google, Apple, Akamai, Zynga, etc.

Thanks,

Aaron”

Likewise I am having a hard time getting some other work done because my mind keeps going back to it.  Its a whole filler idea.  One of those that is a perfect idea for the evolution of the market.

Based on old work I am trying to get back I can probably get us in front of Apple and Google VC funders but thats about it for me.  I have to get out an updated outline for our social media course to Maria for Bank of the West but after that I am going to dedicated to write up a few pages on this idea.

And the emails go on and on, further demonstrating the intelligence industry’s relationship with Apple; nice and cozy.

Connection:

If you are looking to partner up with firms and companies that specialize in intelligence gathering, you’d be stupid not to get in touch with Apple. The iPhone is one of the most popular smartphones on the market right now and you can probably find some kind of Apple software on most computers today. If you’ve been keeping up with our Operation Metal Gear series, HBGary Federal has been working with numerous intelligence companies and agencies to develop persona management software to sway public opinion and control the flow of information on the Internet.

With Apple on the Aaron Barr dream team, they would already have an extensive database of information on file. Apple on the roster along with some of the biggest military/intelligence contractors in the world should be worrying every activist, journalist, and freedom loving human being out there.

We live in the information age. Fight with words and defend our right to free information, because our freedom of speech is under attack.

(Editors Note: Thank you Zee and m0rpeth and the rest of the Metal Gear team for compiling this information all nice and neat for meh!)

“Endgame Systems provides innovative software solutions to meet customers security needs in cyberspace. Our products include real-time IP reputation data, protection of customers’ critical information, proactive data analysis, and cutting edge vulnerability research. Endgame’s highly skilled workforce provides a full range of engineering services and solutions that raise awareness of emerging threats, and help prevent and respond to those threats globally. The company was founded by a proven leadership team with a record of success in the information security industry and is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.”

Endgame Systems provides offensive and defensive vulnerability research. Endgame was started by executives from ISS and CIA.

In October 2010, the company raised 29 million USD from Bessemer Ventures, Columbia Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), and TechOperators, for web-based malware detection services such as iPTrust, a “cloud-based botnet and malware detection service that collects and distills security data into a reputation engine”.

In February 2011, the company announced partnerships with HP and IBM to use their IP Reputation Intelligence service within HP’s TippingPoint Digital Vaccine service and IBM’s managed services offerings.

Executives:

Chris Rouland (CEO)
Email: chris@endgames.us
Phone: 404-781-2953

John M Farrell (VP)
Email: john@endgames.us
Mobile: 703.622.9025

Daniel S. Ingevaldson (COO)
dsi@endgames.us
Work: 404-781-2955
Fax: 404-781-2951
Mobile: 404-992-9449

Connecting The Dots:

Aaron Barr met Chris Rouland in December 2009 at a AFCEA conference and exchanged cards. Barr emailed Rouland on January 8th, 2010 stating,  “I would like to set up a call to talk about our companies capabilities and what we might be able to do together.”

Barr and Rouland held a meeting together on January 14th, 2010 from 3:00-3:30PM.

On January 19th, 2010, Barr met with John Farrell at the Greenberry Coffeehouse at 2:30PM.

After the meeting, Farrell emailed Barr saying, “Just confirmed other meeting for Wed morning. Can we do Tuesday afternoon or Wed afternoon with you and your CTO? Maybe Palantir after that. Thanks.”

Farrell emailed Barr on January 20th, 2010 saying, Aaron, “Yes, I will facilitate introductions to Bill Hornish, Splunk (former Mantech PM at State Dept) and John Williams, CEO, ProInfo (cauldron is their vulnerability analysis/management product I mentioned). I have attached their introductory briefs for your review. I have another company, ATS, but their product competes directly with Palantir. Also, LookingGlass CEO, Derek Gabbard, is someone who you should meet and discuss your model (see his attached whitepaper too).”

On February 17th, 2010, Brian Masterson of Northrop Grumman/Xetron emailed Barr with their thoughts on Endgame Systems and something referring to the “Patraeus call” made to Endgame Systems.

Barr then replied saying, “They keep telling me that if their name gets out in the press they are done.”

This can be confirmed by an email sent by Farrell saying,

“Our approach to this market is not based on public disclosures, PR and other marketing. We’ve been most effective with private sessions, restricted whitepapers and “word of mouth” within our customer/target market. I don’t see this changing anytime soon. As such, we’re very interested to work with you, but it needs to remain at a discrete level. Our company’s name needs to stay out of the public domain and we don’t want to be attributed for our research in public forums.”

Farrell goes on in another email sent to Barr, “Chris wanted me to pass this along. We’ve been very careful NOT to have public face on our company. Please ensure Palantir and your other partners understand we’re purposefully trying to maintain a very low profile. Chris is very cautious based on feedback we’ve received from our government clients.”

The email ends assertively, “Please let HBgary know we don’t ever want to see our name in a press release.”

Aaron Barr was contacted by executives from Northrop Grumman  asking about Barr’s “Team of 5” or the “Cyber Security Alliance Matrix”.. Barr responded by saying:

“Base: HBGary and Palantir
Options: Endgame Systems, Netwitness/Fidelis, Splunk

The important concept is getting all layers of the cyber environment into a useful analysis and incident response framework.

Palantir – Analysis Framework
HBGary – Malware/Endpoint data
Splunk – Data Mining
Netwitness or Fidelis – Network data
Endgames – external cyber environment data

One piece that is missing is the Social networking data.  We are working to set up discussions with a few companies that can help here.”

On January 27th, 2010, Aaron Barr contacted Matt Steckman from Palintir Technologies about teaming with Panlintir and Endgame Systems saying, “The combination of HBGary data with EndGame Systems data in the Palantir framework, specifically we are working scenarios around Project Aurora and GhostNet.  We have a lot of data on both.  Fortunately I know you already have significant data on Ghostnet.”

The Implications:

Endgame System’s top priority was to make sure that the press didn’t catch wind of anything that they were up to and that no one knew that they had any kind of connection with HBGary Federal and Aaron Barr. Chris Rouland stressed this numerous times.

The million dollar question is: Why?

First, we need to first examine the kind of software that Endgame has been developing, such as a project called “ipTrust”.

The ipTrust services gives organisations “useful and actionable” information they can use to keep their networks secure, Dan Ingevaldson, chief operating office of Endgame Systems, told eWEEK. ”With the events data, we know the exact IP address that was compromised, what it did, and when it occurred,” he said.

With this information in hand, ipTrust identifies and tracks botnets over the Internet without relying on any internal network data. There is no software or hardware for anyone to install; ipTrust’s Web-based technology monitors public IP addresses and stores all security-related event data, explained Ingevaldson.

All of this information is already in out in the public, but ipTrust’s applications is not. HBGary Federal was putting together a team of intelligence firms such as Endgame Systems in order to collaborate and cooperate on projects and contracts for the United States government. Endgame was working with a group of firms that specialize in data collection and analysis and Endgame specializes in IP address tracking, defending, assessing, and attacking. If you’re so called “alliance” is trying to develop persona management software that can collect data on and track specific target profiles of activists and journalists such as Wikileaks supporters etc, Endgame Systems would be the go to firm to help develop that kind of technology. It’s an essential component in the Metal Gear apparatus.

Call Them Out:

Endgame Systems managed to stay out of the spotlight for almost a year and a half as they develop this software that is being used as a weapon by corporate entities and governments at home and abroad against activists and journalists. Chris Rouland, the CEO of Endgame Systems, was very clear when he said that they never wanted to see their name in the press. Well Mr. Rouland, your number is up and we’re calling you out.

Repost, reblog, retweet, share, email, and link this article far and wide. Use this information in the article to do your own research, or call the CEO of a major DoD military contractor and ask him some questions of your own. Shit, email this article to him. Tell him The Homeless are calling him out and he needs to answer to the people and publicly inform those his software spies on.

This is the last thing that Endgame Systems would want for their image; to be remembered as the firm that aided HBGary in selling software that spies on American citizens. So that’s exactly what we are going to do.

Get Involved:

If you haven’t already, check out the ATH summary and interview on Operation Metal Gear and get involved in this crowd source investigation into the United States intelligence community.

SAIC was founded by Dr. J. Robert “Bob” Beyster in 1969 in La Jolla, California, as Science Applications Incorporated. He was Chairman of the Board until his retirement in July 2004, and also served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) until November 2003. DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) designated Dr. Beyster an Honorary Program Manager for his distinguished contributions to the agency over his career.

On November 3, 2003, Kenneth C. Dahlberg was named the CEO of SAIC, ending Beyster’s 30+ years of leadership. In 1967 he started his career with Hughes Aircraft, where he held various engineering, program management and leadership positions and served successively as president of three different corporate divisions. After Raytheon acquired Hughes in 1997, he became president and chief operating officer of Raytheon Systems Company. In 2000, he became executive vice president for business development and president of Raytheon International.

In fiscal year 2003, SAIC did over $2.6 billion in business with the United States Department of Defense, making it the ninth largest defense contractor in the United States. Other large contracts include their contract for information technology for the 2004 Olympics in Greece and from 2001 to 2005, SAIC was the primary contractor for the FBI’s unsuccessful Virtual Case File project. SAIC relocated its corporate headquarters to their existing facilities in Tysons Corner in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, near McLean, in September 2009.

In 2002, SAIC was chosen by the NSA to produce a technology demonstration platform for the agency’s Trailblazer Project in a contract worth $280 million. Trailblazer is a “Digital Network Intelligence” system, intended to analyze data carried on computer networks. Project participants included Boeing, Computer Sciences Corporation, and Booz Allen Hamilton. SAIC had also participated in the concept definition phase of Trailblazer, beginning March 2001.According to science news site PhysOrg.com, Trailblazer was a continuation of the earlier ThinThread program. In 2005 NSA director Michael Haydn told a Senate hearing that the Trailblazer program was several hundred million dollars over budget and years behind schedule.

Trailblazer is a NSA programme intended to analyze data carried on computer networks. It can be used to track communication methods such as cell phones and e-mail. According to science news site PhysOrg.com, Trailblazer was a continuation of the earlier ThinThread program. In 2002 a consortium led by Science Applications International Corporation was chosen by the NSA to produce a technology demonstration platform for the agency’s Trailblazer program in a contract worth $280 million. Project participants included Boeing, Computer Sciences Corporation, and Booz Allen Hamilton. The project was overseen by NSA Deputy Director William B. Black, Jr., a former SAIC employee.

SAIC had also participated in the concept definition phase of Trailblazer, beginning March 2001.In 2005 NSA director Michael Hayden told a Senate hearing that the Trailblazer program was several hundred million dollars over budget and years behind schedule.

A series of articles on the problems with Trailblazer was written by Baltimore Sun reporter Siobahn Gorman in 2006-2007. She received an award for this work from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Several anonymous NSA sources told Hosenball of Newsweek that the project was a “wasteful failure”

Connecting the Dots:

SAIC conducted very lucrative business with Booz Allen Hamilton back in 2002 along with Boeing and various other intelligence firms with the Trailblazer Project to analyze (spy) network data for the NSA. Essentially, Metal Gear software, or at least an important component of the Metal Gear apparatus. SAIC, Booz Allen, and Boeing seem to be key players who continually appear in our extensive research over and over again.

Pisani is an executive at TASC and seems to be the top level contact, first for the stripping of the Romas/COIN business (more on this in a later post), and later for the acquisition of the struggling HBGary Federal.

According to our latest research, TASC, Inc. describes itself as “a renowned provider of advanced systems engineering, integration and decision–support services across the intelligence, defense, homeland security and federal markets.” It’s also a major target of our investigation due to correspondence discovered between HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr and TASC executives Al Pisani and John Lovegrove which show collusion regarding efforts to establish surveillance capabilities for use on the American people via a project called Romas/COIN. Specifically, TASC and HBGary Federal were in talks with each other as well as Mantech executive Bob Frisbie on a “recompete” pursuant to “counter intelligence” operations that were already being conducted on behalf of the federal government by another firm, SAIC, with which they hoped to compete for contracts. The discussions occurred in early February of 2010. The COIN team that was to be built out of this does not seem to have developed, partly due to the discovery by Barr that SAIC had teamed up with Northrop Grumman to pursue the contract renewal.

In an email sent by Barr to Lovegrove and Pisani:

All, I am fairly certain that NG is teaming with SAIC for the recompete. This creates a significant challenge that we need to discuss.

Another e-mail sent to a half-dozen executives at TASC later in the year indicates that Barr met with Apple, which showed interest in joining “the team” for the purpose of establishing surveillance networks. Barr also notes that the team in question should consider utilizing the online game company Zynga for the purpose. Zynga has been cited by informants as being involved in surveillance and data modelling targeted at its customer base.

In another email sent by Barr to TASC execs Al Pisani, Chris Clair, Ray Heider, Irene Harris, and John Lovegrove:

I had a very good conversation with Apple today on the phone. I am going to meet with them in person tomorrow. They are interested in being on the team. I am going to do a little research but the more I think about this model I think we also need to look for a smaller social networking company, maybe like a foursquare and also a social gaming company maybe like zynga, gameloft, etc. Just a thought.

Zynga is a social network game developer located in San Francisco, California, United States. The company develops browser-based games that work both stand-alone and as application widgets on social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace. Arm The Homeless has already posted and extensive article on Facebook’s connections with the intelligence community/industry called “The Spying Machine”.

Seeing now that spying and gathering intelligence on American citizens and the poor, zombie-like players of such games as Farmville and Mafia Wars, why wouldn’t corporations such as Apple and SAIC jump on it? Profit is profit and that’s what corporations do; make profits by any means necessary.

If a system rewards individuals who invade your privacy and catalog everything you do online and off hundreds of times more than say school teachers or firefighters, that system is broken. Join Operation Metal Gear and show the people just how broken it really is.

Zee says “Hello world!”