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https://governamerica.com/issues/black-ops/22297-is-this-intelligence-group-responsible-for-the-q-anon-conspiracy-theory

is This Intelligence Group Responsible For The Q Anon Conspiracy Theory?

DetailsCategory: Black Ops & False FlagsPublished on Tuesday, 09 July 2019

:{William Craddick

}:Disobedient Media

May 28, 2019

The Q Anon saga has been without a doubt the most effective and fascinating conspiracy theory in recent history, incorporating many aspects of information warfare that have become commonplace since the political upheavals of 2016.

The theory, which posits that a group of benevolent government insiders are waging a war against evil “deep state” plotters attempting to overthrow President Donald Trump, is a Frankenstein of various themes that have pervaded conspiracy circles in recent years. Although some such as Wikileaks have speculated that intelligence organizations invented the conspiracy and other media outlets have delved into the identities of the individuals who first promoted it online, the wider responsible group was never investigated.

New research reveals that a loose network including an organization known as Joint Task Force – Make America Great Again (JTFMAGA) made up of intelligence whistleblowers, alternative media figures and individuals with a known history of virally spreading information online was most likely responsible for inventing “Q Anon.”

I. JTFMAGA

The front page of JTFMAGA’s website describes them as a group of “White Hat Deep State Patriots from the Intelligence, Military, Law Enforcement and Judicial Communities” who have formed a “supergroup of MAGA Counterstrike Patriots” to go after what they label as the “Black Hat Deep State.” A bizarre “Oath” calls for “Patriots” to defend the Constitution and contains a requirement for new recruits todefend Judeo-Christian values and vow to prevent atheism from becoming the “national religion.” Similarities between the Q Anon movement and 19th century religious end-times movements have been noted in the past after large numbers of Evangelical Christians were attracted to the conspiracy theory.

The group lists San Diego-based One America News (OAN) and the Gateway Pundit in a section of their front page labeled “Press.” They have interacted in the past with a number of media and online personalities known for promoting Q Anon including Jerome Corsi, Tracy Beanz (real name Tracy Diaz), Lisa Mei Crowley and YourVoice America.

Forum posters have openly wondered in the past if JTFMAGA is “team Q.” If they were not directly involved with creating the Q Anon concept, they certainly did everything they could to appeal to that specific demographic. What the entire enterprise appears to be is an attempt to fulfill Q’s prophecies about a secret team of insiders taking the fight to the enemies of Donald Trump and his followers.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of JTFMAGA is the large number of high profile individuals they have claimed an affiliation with since their emergence. The front and “Team” pages of the website state that their membership includes :{NSA :{whistleblowers William Binney,}::{ }:J. Kirk Wiebe:{ and former Republican House staffer }:Diane Roark:{. }:

The claimed involvement of Roark in a pro-Trump movement is strange given that she is known as a more establishment-prone }:supporter of Dick Cheney. All three were propelled to national attention in 2007 when their homes were all raided by the FBI as part of an investigation into leaks to the New York Times regarding illegal surveillance. Another NSA whistleblower arrested as part of the probe was Thomas Drake, who at one point was also listed on JTFMAGA’s website as a member. Ultimately the government’s case collapsed and the only charge that stuck was a single misdemeanor against Drake for “exceeding authorized use of a computer.”

II. Emergence And Promotion

JTFMAGA burst onto the scene in March 2018. Their introduction to the world relied on initial exposure from alternative media outlets. On March 20,One America News ran an interview with JTFMAGA spokesperson Robert Caron where he announced the formation of the team and their intention to distribute the first in a series of reports outlining what was described as illegal surveillance and other abuses which occurred during the 2016 US Presidential elections.:{ The next day on March 21, }OAN:{ ran a second report where William Binney was represented as the leader of JTFMAGA. The clip stated that there were over 100 members in the group and said their focus would largely be what was described as the Obama administration’s targeting of the Trump presidential campaign for surveillance.}:

On March 24, Gateway Pundit reporter Joshua Caplan posted an article covering OAN’s interview with Binney, again representing him as the leader of JTFMAGA. A second report run on the same day by Caplan centered around recently-hired National Security Advisor John Bolton’s intent to target “Obama holdovers” in the White House. Caplan has since departed Gateway Pundit and now works as the home page editor for Breitbart News.

During the same timeframe, OAN Host Jack Posobiec made a now-deleted tweet sometime in March 2018 where he implied his association with JTFMAGA and also stated that William Binney was working with the group. Screenshots taken of JTFMAGA’s website in 2018 showed that Posobiec’s photo was once included on the “Meet the Team” page.

It seems that JTFMAGA was in the planning stages some time before their emergence or the advent of Q Anon. Ex-CIA officer Kevin Shipp stated in a September 15, 2017 interview that he was working on a project with Binney, although he did not specify the nature of the project. 

Q Anon’s first post on the 4chan imageboard did not occur until early November 2017. Shipp went on to appear in a now-deleted press conference with Binney and Robert Caron that was posted sometime around May 2018. He has also previously given his opinion that the individuals behind Q Anon “appear legitimate” and spoken positively about the conspiracy to early Q Anon promoter Jerome Corsi.

III. Attacks Against “Q Anon” After JTFMAGA Rollout

As summer 2018 began, the Q Anon conspiracy was increasingly targeted and criticized due to its dramatic growth in popularity and the content it promoted. On May 27, Wikileaks endorsed the view of activist and Julian Assange supporter Suzie Dawson that Q Anon was a “pied piper” operation.

Dawson stated that she believed “Q Anon” was likely being run by a group with ties to intelligence services and noted the operation’s similarity to known playbooks employed by agencies which cooperate under the UKUSA Agreement popularly known as Five Eyes. She also noted that a previously disclosed NSA task force known as “Q Group” was responsible for targeting whistleblower Edward Snowden. The general consensus was that Q Anon has served as an effort to pacify and mislead the elements of the American right wing who supported Trump and might pose a threat to various government and non-state entities. This theory appeared to be confirmed when Q Anon began directing supporters to back US intervention in Iran around June 2018.

Wikileaks’ denouncement was followed by similar statements from other Trump supporters and administration officials denying that the Q Anon movement was legitimate. Individuals claiming inspiration from “Q” were involved in dangerous incidents like armed standoffs and arsons. Mainstream media outlets began to attack the conspiracy theory. By August 2018, NBC News ran an exposé where they identified a number of individuals who helped run the Q Anon persona on the 4chan and 8chan imageboards while reaching out to Youtubers for help generating initial publicity.

IV. Collapse Of JTFMAGA

Post-August 2018, JTFMAGA went through what appears to have been a fatal implosion.

On September 4, Jack Posobiec published aninterview and article on OAN where he identified notorious far-right online troll Microchip as one of the parties behind Q.

Microchip claimed that he had worked on the Q Anon project along with another troll who goes by the moniker of Dreamcatcher. The two left over disagreements with others involved regarding the direction of the project. He confirmed that the group named by NBC News had taken over some of the responsibilities for Q Anon and was likely still managing the online persona from the 8chan imageboard. Posobiec continued his campaign to debunk Q Anon from Twitter in the aftermath of his initial report.

This event triggered a storm of online scrutiny, some of which began to be directed towards JTFMAGA. Concerns were raised about the financial history of Robert Caron as well as fellow member and :{Veterans for Trump chairman:{ Joshua Macias.}:

Caron and Macias had formed a sister organization to JTFMAGA called }:Report for the President where they “collated evidence of obstruction and treason” in the form of reports to ostensibly present to Trump. A good number of the reports are hidden behind paywalls as the group does not appear to have sufficient funding. To promote the new launch, Caron and Macias had begun making appearances in early September 2018 onYourVoice America with hostAnn Vandersteel, who was recently disavowed by Trump’s re-election committee that she claimed to be working for as an advisor. Vandersteel and YourVoice America are notorious for their promotion of Q Anon. The September 4 interview was also promoted by Tracy Beanz on Twitter....

Report for the President’s “Meet The Team” page.

On September 8, Thomas Drake took to Twitter to disavow any connection to JTFMAGA or Report for the President, calling their integrity into question. Drake has periodically denied the beliefs of Q Anon supporters that he is “Q” due his trademark Q lapel pin which he says stands for “questioning authority.” Q Anon posted links to Drake’s denials in an apparent attempt to discredit JTFMAGA.

The same day, Kevin Shipp issued a statement on Twitter asking if JTFMAGA was “legitimate.” He also appears to have responded to email inquiries about his affiliation with the group with denials that he was involved. He has since deleted the tweet, likely because of the openly available evidence that he participated in a press conference for JTFMAGA andinterviews such as one he gave in April 2018 where he represented himself as involved with the group and plugged their website.

On September 9, media figures who had promoted JTFMAGA or their members began to disassociate. :{Jack Posobiec tweeted that he was not a member of the group or one of their sources despite the fact that he had strongly implied otherwise in March 2018}: when OAN was covering the creation of JTFMAGA. Tracy Beanz also attempted to distance herself from Caron and Macias.

William Binney seemed to double down. On September 9 he appeared in a video with Macias posted byReport for the President where he affirmed his support for initiatives like JTFMAGA. He additionally participated the following day in an interview with Ann Vandersteel onYourVoice America. A link to the YourVoice interview was posted by Q Anon to 8chan hours after it aired.....

Given the strife that has affected the international whistleblower world in recent years, it no surprise to see that JTFMAGA suffered similar conflicts which would eventually prove fatal. The Q Anon movement made a clear attempt to carve out their own niche in the hierarchy of the anti-establishment but was unable to escape political infighting.

VII. Conclusion

The significance of Q Anon was not merely the success of its spread, but the fact that it was a test run for new information warfare strategies seeking to cause information overload by mixing innaccurate propaganda with fact. This approach will likely prove an effective psychological warfare tool, but give censorship proponents strong arguments in their drive to ban “fake news.” Knowing that US intelligence figures may have been involved in creating and promoting the Q Anon persona should give observers extra food for thought as they study this phenomena in the future.

This entire chapter serves as a lesson to news consumers that separating fact from fiction can be difficult. Disinformation proponents are not always shadowy figures but sometimes can be trusted individuals who hold prominent positions with strong credentials. The damage wreaked by Q Anon has already been done. Going forward we must all be more vigilant to avoid allowing similar events to occur.

Disobedient Media Editor’s Note:Joshua Macias and Robert Caron are the original founders of JTFMAGA. It was Caron and Macias who were responsible for JTFMAGA’s creation as well as courting other individuals to lend legitimacy to the organization.

This article first appeared at Disobedient Media. Support their work and subscribe to their newsletter by going to their website at https://disobedientmedia.com.

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wikifluff

William Edward Binney[3] is a former highly placed intelligence official with the United States National Security Agency (NSA)[4] turned whistleblower who retired on October 31, 2001, after more than 30 years with the agency.

He was a high-profile critic of his former employers during the George W. Bush administration, and later criticized the NSA's data collection policies during the Barack Obama administration. In 2016, Binney said the U.S. intelligence community's assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election was false.[5]

Contents

Biography

Binney grew up in rural Pennsylvania and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the Pennsylvania State University in 1970. He said that he volunteered for the Army during the Vietnam era in order to select work that would interest him rather than be drafted and have no input. He was found to have strong aptitudes for mathematics, analysis, and code breaking,[6] and served from 1965 to 1969 in the Army Security Agency before going to the NSA in 1970.

Binney was a Russia specialist and worked in the operations side of intelligence, starting as an analyst and ending as a Technical Director prior to becoming a geopolitical world Technical Director. In the 1990s, he co-founded a unit on automating signals intelligence with NSA research chief Dr. John Taggart.[7] Binney's NSA career culminated as Technical Leader for intelligence in 2001. He has expertise in intelligence analysis, traffic analysis, systems analysis, knowledge management, and mathematics (including set theory, number theory, and probability).[8][9]

After retiring from the NSA, he founded, together with fellow NSA whistleblower J. Kirk Wiebe, Entity Mapping, LLC, a private intelligence agency to market their analysis program to government agencies.[10]

Kirk Wiebe and William Binney "have started a company (Pretty Good Knowledge[11]) with partners in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, to resurrect and do the kinds of smart things we thought we do with data back in the 1990s, because this government and the Deep State as well as the shadow government didn't want us doing that here. So we're over there doing this."[12]

Whistleblowing

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:William_Binney,_in_offices_of_Democracy_Now!_in_New_York_City,_4_May_2012..jpg)

Binney sitting in the offices of Democracy Now! in New York City on May 2012, prior to appearing with hosts Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez, and guest Jacob Appelbaum. Photo taken by Appelbaum.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seal_of_the_U.S._National_Security_Agency.svg)

National Security Agency surveillance

Map of global NSA data collection

Programs[[show]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Binney_%28intelligence_official%29#)
Legislation[[show]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Binney_%28intelligence_official%29#)
Institutions[[show]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Binney_%28intelligence_official%29#)
Lawsuits[[show]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Binney_%28intelligence_official%29#)
Whistleblowers[[show]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Binney_%28intelligence_official%29#)
Publication[[show]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Binney_%28intelligence_official%29#)
Related[[show]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Binney_%28intelligence_official%29#)
Concepts[[show]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Binney_%28intelligence_official%29#)
Collaboration[[show]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Binney_%28intelligence_official%29#)

In September 2002, he, along with J. Kirk Wiebe and Edward Loomis, asked the U.S. Defense Department Inspector General (DoD IG) to investigate the NSA for allegedly wasting "millions and millions of dollars" on Trailblazer, a system intended to analyze mass collection of data carried on communications networks such as the Internet.

Binney had been one of the inventors of an alternative system, ThinThread, which was shelved when Trailblazer was chosen instead. Binney has also been publicly critical of the NSA for spying on U.S. citizens, saying of its expanded surveillance after the September 11, 2001 attacks that "it's better than anything that the KGB, the Stasi, or the Gestapo and SS ever had"[13] as well as noting Trailblazer's ineffectiveness and unjustified high cost compared to the far less intrusive ThinThread.[14] He was furious that the NSA hadn't uncovered the 9/11 plot and stated that intercepts it had collected but not analyzed likely would have garnered timely attention with his leaner more focused system.[9]

After the NSA

After he left the NSA in 2001, Binney was one of several people investigated as part of an inquiry into a 2005 The New York Times exposé on the agency's warrantless eavesdropping program.[citation needed] Binney was cleared of wrongdoing after three interviews with FBI agents beginning in March 2007, but in early July 2007, in an unannounced early morning raid, a dozen agents armed with rifles appeared at his house, one of whom entered the bathroom and pointed his gun at Binney, who was taking a shower.

The FBI confiscated a desktop computer, disks, and personal and business records.[15] The NSA revoked his security clearance, forcing him to close a business he ran with former colleagues at a loss of a reported $300,000 in annual income. The FBI raided the homes of Wiebe and Loomis, as well as House Intelligence Committee staffer Diane Roark, the same morning. Several months later the FBI raided the home of then still active NSA executive Thomas Andrews Drake who had also contacted DoD IG, but anonymously with confidentiality assured.

The Assistant Inspector General, John Crane, in charge of the Whistleblower Program, suspecting his superiors provided confidential information to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), challenged them, was eventually forced from his position, and subsequently himself became a public whistleblower.

The punitive treatment of Binney, Drake, and the other whistleblowers also led Edward Snowden to go public with his revelations rather than report through the internal whistleblower program.[16] In 2012, Binney and his co-plaintiffs went to federal court to retrieve the confiscated items.[17]

Allegations on intercepts

Binney is known for making the claim that the NSA collects and stores information about every U.S. communication.[18] Binney was invited as a witness by the NSA commission of the German Bundestag. On July 3, 2014 Der Spiegel wrote, he said that the NSA wanted to have information about everything. In Binney's view this is a totalitarian approach, which had previously been seen only in dictatorships.[19] Binney stated that the goal was to control people. Meanwhile, he said that it is possible in principle to monitor the whole population, abroad and in the U.S., which in his view contradicts the United States Constitution.[19]

In August 2014 Binney was among the signatories of an open letter by the group Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity to German chancellor Angela Merkel in which they urged the Chancellor to be suspicious of U.S. intelligence regarding the alleged invasion by Russia in Eastern Ukraine.[20][21][22] In the open letter, the group said:

[A]ccusations of a major Russian "invasion" of Ukraine appear not to be supported by reliable intelligence. Rather, the "intelligence" seems to be of the same dubious, politically "fixed" kind used 12 years ago to "justify" the U.S.-led attack on Iraq.[21]

Russian Interference in the 2016 election

Further information: Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections

Binney claims the U.S. intelligence community's assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election is false, and that the Democratic National Committee e-mails were leaked by an insider instead.[23][24][25] He has appeared on Fox News at least ten times between September 2016 and November 2017 to promote this theory.[18][23][24] Binney said that the "intelligence community wasn't being honest here".[23] He has also been frequently cited on Breitbart News.[18] In November 2017 it was reported that a month earlier, Binney had met with CIA Director Mike Pompeo at the behest of President Trump.[23]

In July 2018, it was shown that Binney had been persuaded by a pro-Kremlin disinformant that the theft of the DNC emails was an inside job, and not the work of Russian agents (contrary to the findings of the US intelligence community).[26] The disinformation agent manipulated metadata in the files released by Guccifer 2.0 (whom the US intelligence community identifies as a Russian military intelligence operation) to prove that the documents came from a computer in the Eastern United States, not Russia.[26] 

Binney subsequently appeared multiple times on Fox News to advocate for his inside job theory.[26] Binney later rejected that the manipulated documents were valid and concluded that they did not support the inside job theory.[26]

Binney has said he voted for Trump in the 2016 presidential election, calling Hillary Clinton a "war monger".[27]

Role in apparent release of the Nunes Memo

On January 23, 2018, Binney made an appearance on the InfoWars news program[28] in connection with the Nunes memo, a Congressional document alleging irregularities in the application of the FISA Act, which at that time was not publicly available although its potential release was a topic of public debate.[29]

 During the show, host Alex Jones announced that Binney had been able to provide him with the actual memo, and the purported leaked document was shown on air.[30] However, this was in fact a public document that had been available on the website of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence since at least May 2017.[31][32] The actual Nunes memo was released February 2, 2018.[33]

Documentary film

Binney's story is recounted in A Good American, a documentary film.[34]

See also

Reference

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William Binney (intelligence official) - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › William_Binney_(intelligence_official)

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1.

William Edward Binney is a former highly placed intelligence official with the United States National Security Agency (NSA) turned whistleblower who retired on October 31, 2001, after more than 30 years with the agency.

Education‎: ‎Pennsylvania State University‎ (B.S., ...

Employer‎: ‎National Security Agency (NSA)

Born‎: ‎William Edward Binney; September 1943 ...

Known for‎: ‎Cryptography, SIGINT analysis, ‎whi...

Biography · ‎Whistleblowing · ‎After the NSA · ‎Russian Interference in ...

The FRONTLINE Interview: William Binney | United States of ...

https://www.pbs.org › pages › frontline › government-elections-politics › t...

:{:(style="border-color:#006621;;border-style:solid;border-width:5px 4px 0px;width:0px;height:0px;margin-left:3px;top:7.5px;margin-top:-4px;position:absolute;left:0px"):}:

1.

A 36-year NSA veteran, William Binney resigned from the agency and became a whistleblower after discovering that elements of a data-monitoring program he had helped develop -- nicknamed ThinThread -- were being used to spy on Americans. Binney spoke with FRONTLINE's Jim Gilmore on ...

CIA Head Met NSA Whistleblower About DNC Email Hack

https://theintercept.com › dnc-hack-trump-cia-director-william-binney-nsa

:{:(style="border-color:#006621;;border-style:solid;border-width:5px 4px 0px;width:0px;height:0px;margin-left:3px;top:7.5px;margin-top:-4px;position:absolute;left:0px"):}:

1.

Nov 7, 2017 - Mike Pompeo sought “facts” from NSA whistleblower William Binney, who says the 2016 theft of DNC emails was an inside job, not a Russian ...

William Binney - Bio, News, Photos - Washington Times

https://www.washingtontimes.com › Topics

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Latest news and commentary on William Binney including photos, videos, quotations, and a biography.

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crowdstrike bs:

In truth, Crowdstrike’s findings were never controversial among security experts, and they were later confirmed by FBI agents with access to the same evidence, as well as additional evidence Crowdstrike never had. In October 2018, Robert Mueller indicted 12 GRU officers for the DNC intrusion and hacks targeting John Podesta and the DCCC.

Today the secret server hoax is mostly confined to the very edge of the conservative fringe, though it’s made an appearance in court. Indicted former Trump campaign advisorRoger Stone has been using the theory to try and get evidence against him thrown out of court, even filing an affidavit written by William Binney, one of the conspiracy theory’s most dogged advocates.  Last week the federal judge overseeing Stone’s obstruction of justice case rejected his motion without ruling on the conspiracy theory itself.

Kevin Poulsen

Sr. National Security Correspondent

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