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Friday, March 3, 2017

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Thursday, March 2, 2017

Trump Taps Putin Critic for Senior White House Position Foreign Policy (blog) The Trump administration has offered a well-respected scholar and sober critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin the position of White House senior director for Europe and Russia, a White House official told Foreign Policy. The decision to hire Fiona ...

Fiona Hill - Google Search
Thursday March 2^nd, 2017 at 7:47 AM

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Trump Taps Putin Critic for Senior White House Position

Foreign Policy (blog)-1 hour ago

The decision to hire Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, for one of the government's top jobs dealing with U.S.-Russia ...

Trump Taps Putin Critic for Senior White House Position
Thursday March 2nd, 2017 at 7:42 AM

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The Trump administration is seeking to loosen some security requirements for hiring Border Patrol agents in order to meet a dramatic surge in immigration enforcement, according to internal memos obtained by Foreign Policy and analyzed by five current and former officials in the Department of Homeland Security.

Customs and Border Protection, part of DHS, is seeking approval to relax some stringent standards that have made it difficult for the agency to meet recruitment targets in recent years. That includes a request to potentially loosen congressionally-mandated requirements such as a polygraph, as well as an entrance exam and background check.

According to the five-page, Feb. 17 memo from CBP Acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan, changes to hiring standards are urgently needed if the agency is to expand as now planned from 19,627 Border Patrol agents to about 26,370. One former DHS official said the current requirements, especially the lie-detector test, are “insanely cumbersome,” and a big reason the agency has trouble recruiting compared with other law-enforcement agencies and even other immigration bodies within DHS, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“We do face headwinds,” McAleenan allowed, in an interview with Foreign Policy on Saturday. While declining to discuss internal planning documents, he emphasized, “Secretary Kelly has made it absolutely clear we are not going to lower standards to speed up our hiring.”

The memo estimates that even with the measures to accelerate hiring, it will take five years and cost about $2.2 billion to help fill out CBP’s ranks to meet President Trump’s quota.

“The taxpayer demonstrated in the November election very clearly that border security is a very important issue for them,” McAleenan told FP.

“The taxpayer demonstrated in the November election very clearly that border security is a very important issue for them,” McAleenan told FP. “The investments are justified to protect our communities.”

But some former officials said the plan, despite bland bureaucratic language, clearly suggests loosening requirements in order to ramp up hiring.

“Most of the measures are worded in terms that look neutral on their face,” Stephen Legomsky, former senior counsel to the Secretary of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under President Barack Obama, told FP after reviewing the memos.

“But because all of that is prefaced with how they need to make changes for the express purpose of enhancing their hiring ability, then obviously these things are meant to loosen those standards, not to tighten them,” he said.

And some current and former DHS officials and outside experts are concerned that lowering standards could allow the influx of less-qualified candidates who may be susceptible to corruption. CBP is uniquely targeted by drug-trafficking and other transnational organizations seeking out agents they can bribe — with money or sexual favors — to allow drugs, undocumented immigrants, or other contraband across the U.S.-Mexico border.

“We actually lived through this,” said Jay Ahern, a deputy CBP commissioner under George W. Bush, when the agency doubled in size. When reviewing tens of thousands of applicants, he said, mistakes are inevitable.

“If you start lowering standards, the organization pays for it for the next decade, two, or three,” Ahern said.

“If you start lowering standards, the organization pays for it for the next decade, two, or three,” Ahern said. (He did not review the memos.)

McAleenan’s memo is part of CBP’s effort to figure out how to meet the Trump administration’s increased immigration enforcement. In one of his first acts as president, Trump issued an executive order that mandated building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and beefing up enforcement by adding 5,000 additional Border Patrol agents, and 10,000 additional ICE officers, tripling their number. DHS Secretary John Kelly expanded upon the executive order with directives released on Feb. 21 that dramatically expand the pool of immigrants subject to deportation.

“CBP has insufficient agents/officers to effectively detect, track, and apprehend all aliens illegally entering the United States,” Kelly wrote in the directives, released three days after the internal CBP memo was stamped. He directed DHS department heads, such as McAleenan, to immediately begin the process of hiring, “while ensuring consistency in training and standards” and “subject to the availability of resources.”

In the memo, McAleenan described some of the changes CBP is considering — waiving the polygraph for some applicants such as police in good standing, making background investigations less stringent, and easing the entrance exam — as making CBP “more competitive.”

Some officials said the steps outlined are long overdue to reduce unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles and meet the staffing shortfalls at CBP; it is still 1,600 agents shy of its authorized strength, and turnover is prevalent. In the last budget cycle, CBP requested funding for 300 fewer officers than the prior year, preferring to upgrade old equipment than chase “unrealistic” hiring expectations.

In addition to the lie-detector test, CBP applicants undergo cognitive, fitness, and medical exams, as well as fingerprinting, financial disclosure, drug testing and background checks. Even veterans with security clearances have to undergo an additional security screening to be hired at CBP, the former DHS official pointed out.

McAleenan said Saturday CBP is also looking at better pay equity, incentivizing remote locations, opening up more opportunities for veterans, and continuing to streamline the hiring process. In the last two years, McAleenan said, CBP has reduced its hiring timeline from 400 days to 170.

But social changes, he added, have added to the hiring difficulty. “We’re dealing with an environment around law enforcement that’s challenging in our society right now,” he said. And marijuana legalization in some states “makes it challenging for young people to meet our standards.”

Yet the polygraph has become the biggest hurdle, officials and experts say. Two out of three CBP applicants fail — more than double the average rate for eight other law enforcement agencies, according to the Associated Press.

McAleenan observed in the memo that the lie-detector test “has been identified as both a significant deterrent and point of failure.” ICE, he noted, does not require a polygraph test, and that agency’s own drive to hire 10,000 more agents will “greatly hinder” CBP’s own staffing.

The polygraph “helps us insure our integrity,” and has helped identify cartel lackeys trying to infiltrate CBP, McAleenan said Saturday. But he’s looking for ways to ensure it’s not being used “as an investigative tool,” and to allow some applicants — such as former members of the military or other law enforcement agencies — to skip it.

“We’d like to have the flexibility to make those decisions, instead of having every single person who applies be subject to the polygraph,” McAleenan said.

“We’d like to have the flexibility to make those decisions, instead of having every single person who applies be subject to the polygraph,” McAleenan said. “But we’re going to make those decisions very carefully in balancing the risk against the benefits.”

Yet those tough standards, including a mandatory polygraph, were put into place by Congress in 2010, after Customs and Border Protection suffered acute growing pains during the Bush administration, when CBP doubled in size. Some Border Patrol agents didn’t complete background checks before they deployed to the frontlines, officials reported, and the agency saw an increase in cases of internal corruption, and questions over its use-of-force training following a spate of deadly incidents.

And problems have persisted. According to rights group Southern Border Communities Coalition, between 2010 and 2015, media reported 40 deadly incidents involving CBP, and only one agent was prosecuted. The former head of internal affairs at CBP, James Tomsheck, who declined to comment for this story, claims he was pushed out in 2014 because he fought against a “paramilitary” mindset and a culture of evading accountability for abuses. This week, the Supreme Court is hearing a case to determine whether parents of a Mexican teenager shot and killed by a CBP agent can sue.

The administration’s rush to beef up border security comes as illegal crossings into the United States from Mexico have sunk to their lowest levels in four decades; among Mexican immigrants, the flow has in fact reversed since 2009. Still, “we have not reached the level where we have more people than we need for the crossings,” McAleenan said.

The additional agents would primarily be placed in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, where the bulk of border traffic is today, as well as the Tucson and Yuma sectors in Arizona, but also at the northern border with Canada.

“In many ways, you know, the border is more secure than it’s ever been, we have fewer people trying to cross,” McAleenan said of the southern line. “But we still have significant risks, and we need to address them across the entire border.”

The moves, especially the staffing plans, have made Mexico nervous, even beyond the public pronouncements of President Enrique Peña Nieto and other officials, who rejected the new directives as “unilateral” and “inappropriate.”

The Mexican government reached out to CBP immediately after Trump’s Jan. 25 executive order with a number of questions over how carefully the agency selects, recruits, and trains agents, according to a separate series of emails obtained by FP.

While some former officials said Mexican and American counterparts frequently communicate over new directives, others described the correspondence as atypical, and indicative of increased tensions between the U.S. and Mexico over Trump’s rhetoric.

“It’s a bit unusual, but it’s a really unusual transition,” said David Martin, a former counsel for DHS and the Departments of State and Justice, and now a professor emeritus at the University of Virginia law school. “Particularly with the focus on immigration so early and so vehemently in the new administration.”

Photo Credit: John Moore / Staff

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Trump Taps Putin Critic for Senior White House Position - Foreign Policy (blog)
Thursday March 2nd, 2017 at 7:41 AM

Putin Trump - Google News

Foreign Policy (blog)

Trump Taps Putin Critic for Senior White House Position
Foreign Policy (blog)
The Trump administration has offered a well-respected scholar and sober critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin the position of White House senior director for Europe and Russia, a White House official told Foreign Policy. The decision to hire Fiona ...
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all 269 news articles »

Friday, February 17, 2017

The emerging narrative: Trump as The Survivor and Russia as The Threat - GS

The emerging narrative: Trump as The Survivor and Russia as The Threat - GS

Is Putin a "killer"? - GS | Kremlin angry over Fox News 'Putin's a killer' question BBC News-Feb 6, 2017 | Is it fair to call Putin a killer? Chicago Tribune-Feb 7, 2017 |

Is Putin a "killer"?

Is Putin a "killer"? - Google Search
Friday February 17th, 2017 at 11:54 AM

What Russians think when they hear 'Putin's a killer'

Washington Post-Feb 10, 2017

And then there were the remarks by President Trump this week when conservative television host Bill O'Reilly labeled Putin is “a killer.”.

Former US Ambassador To Russia Talks Trump And Putin
WBUR-Feb 9, 2017

Understanding Trump's embrace of 'the killer' Putin
Asia Times-Feb 10, 2017

Trump defends "killer" Putin: You think our country is so Innocent?
MINA-Feb 7, 2017

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Opinion-<a href="http://Philly.com" rel="nofollow">Philly.com</a>-Feb 12, 2017

Nikki Haley keeps the pressure on Russia. Meanwhile, Trump ...
Opinion-Orlando Sentinel-Feb 9, 2017

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Story image for Is Putin a "killer"? from Chicago Tribune

Is it fair to call Putin a killer?

Chicago Tribune-Feb 7, 2017

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses a press conference with the Hungarian Prime Minister at the parliament building in Budapest on ...

Kremlin angry over Fox News 'Putin's a killer' question
BBC News-Feb 6, 2017

PREVIEW: Trump Tells O'Reilly He 'Respects' Putin in Super Bowl ...
Highly Cited-Fox News Insider-Feb 4, 2017

'Unacceptable & insulting': Kremlin expects apology from Fox News ...
International-RT-Feb 6, 2017

Kremlin wants Fox News to apologize for calling Putin a 'killer'
In-Depth-Los Angeles Times-Feb 6, 2017

When Asked About Putin Being “a Killer,” Trump Responds, “What ...
Blog-Slate Magazine (blog)-Feb 5, 2017

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Fox News' O'Reilly Refuses To Apologize For Calling Putin 'A Killer'
Friday February 17th, 2017 at 11:53 AM

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Fox News television presenter Bill O'Reilly has refused to say he was sorry after the Kremlin demanded an apology for describing Russian President Vladimir Putin as "a killer."

"Apparently the Putin administration in Moscow [is] demanding that I, your humble correspondent, apologize for saying old Vlad is a killer," O'Reilly said on his U.S. television show broadcast late on February 6.

"So I'm working on that apology but it may take a little time.... Might want to check in with me around 2023," he said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had earlier called O'Reilly's comments "insulting and impermissible," and insisted that Putin was due an apology from "such a respectable television network."

Peskov was responding to O'Reilly's quip that "Putin's a killer" during an interview on February 5 with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump responded: "There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country's so innocent?"

Kremlin opponents say Putin was behind killings of critics such as journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead in 2006, and politician Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down in February 2015, as well as 1999 apartment building bombings that killed hundreds of people in Russia.

Based on reporting by Fox News, Variety, and dpa

Is Putin a "killer"? - Google Search
Friday February 17th, 2017 at 11:53 AM

Is Putin a "killer"? - Google Search
Friday February 17th, 2017 at 11:52 AM

The Kremlin, for its part, demanded an apology from Fox — and got a sarcastic reply from O'Reilly instead. Something that has fallen by the wayside in all these exchanges, though, is the question of how fair it is to call Putin a killer. It's not a trivial question. Putin is not a bloodthirsty, Stalin-like dictator.Feb 7, 2017

Is it fair to call Putin a killer? - Chicago Tribune

<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/.../ct-" rel="nofollow">www.chicagotribune.com/.../ct-</a>putin-kills-enemies-journalists-poison-20170207-story.ht...

LEONARD COHEN - The Future (from Natural Born Killers) - YouTube
Friday February 17th, 2017 at 10:58 AM

Uploaded on Feb 3, 2011

Clips from the Official Video (NOT THE FULL VIDEO) .................................

Lyrics ...........

RUSSIA and THE WEST - РОССИЯ и ЗАПАД: Trump as the product of German Intelligence | Трамп: Германская многоходовка 2016 - Google Search
Friday February 17th, 2017 at 10:04 AM

RUSSIA And THE WEST - РОССИЯ И ЗАПАД

Trump as the product of German Intelligence | Трамп: Германская многоходовка 2016 - Google Search

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Трамп: Германская многоходовка 2016 - Google Search

Trump as the product of German Intelligence - Google Search

the reason aztecs died out genetic studies - Google Search

News - 9:39 AM 2/17/2017

Трамп: Германская многоходовка 2016

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Трамп: Германская многоходовка 2016 - Google Search
Friday February 17th, 2017 at 9:31 AM

Story image for Трамп: Германская многоходовка 2016 from Росбалт.RU

Меркель ставит на предсказуемость

Росбалт.RU-Nov 16, 2016

Однако «эффект Трампа» на выборах грозит их схему разрушить. ... должен способствовать диалогу в германском обществе. ... В итоге и возникла сложная многоходовка, которая в теории должна устроить всех. 3629 ... в 2016 году голосования в земельных парламентах (ландтагах), есть ...

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Россиские хакеры атаковали аналитиков Трампа

"Русский Еврей"-Nov 10, 2016

Сразу после победы Трампа хакерская группа Cozy Bear атаковала американские исследовательские центры, сообщает Reuters.

Story image for Трамп: Германская многоходовка 2016 from Полит.ру

В Ирландском море найдена поврежденная 100 лет назад ...

Полит.ру-Oct 20, 2016

В Ирландском море в процессе прокладки нового электропровода на морском дне была обнаружены германская подлодка UB-85, ...

В Калуге в конце 2017 года начнут производить контейнеры под ...

Полит.ру-Dec 28, 2016

Губернатор Калужской области Анатолий Артамонов и генеральный директор германской компании «ЭЛА Контейнер ГМБХ» Гюнтер ...

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trump press conference 2/16/17 - YouTube
Friday February 17th, 2017 at 8:49 AM