US Claims “National Security” to Cover Up Embarrassing Deal with Con Man
Posted: February 20, 2011 Filed under: income inequality, Psychopaths in charge, Social Security, The Bonus Class, U.S. Economy, U.S. Military, U.S. Politics, We are so F'd | Tags: Angelo Mozilo, Banksters, con man, Countrywide, Dennis Montgomery, Fraud, Justice Department, national security, software 10 CommentsAccording to the politicians running things in our country these days, paying fair salaries to teachers, social workers, and firefighters is irresponsible because it runs up the deficit. Paying Social Security to old folks is driving the country into bankruptcy. But when the feds pour millions of dollars down the drain because they get duped by a con man, that’s a national security secret.
Dennis Montgomery, Con Man
From The New York Times:
For eight years, government officials turned to Dennis Montgomery, a California computer programmer, for eye-popping technology that he said could catch terrorists. Now, federal officials want nothing to do with him and are going to extraordinary lengths to ensure that his dealings with Washington stay secret.
In fact, the Justice Department has argued in court that if they had to reveal the embarrassing details of what happened, it would damage national security. That could be true if revealing how dumb our public officials and “intelligence” experts are puts our country in danger….
Mr. Montgomery and his associates received more than $20 million in government contracts by claiming that software he had developed could help stop Al Qaeda’s next attack on the United States. But the technology appears to have been a hoax, and a series of government agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency and the Air Force, repeatedly missed the warning signs, the records and interviews show.
Get this, Montgomery convinced U.S. intelligence wizards that he had designed some software that could detect secret Al Qaeda messages concealed in Al Jazeera broadcasts! ROFLOL! That’s reminds me of the days when religious nuts used to claim they could detect Satanic messages in rock ‘n’ roll music by playing it backwards.
Montgomery also told the CIA that his magic software could “identify terrorists from Predator drone videos” and pick up sounds from submarines. And the CIA geniuses bought Montgomery’s tale hook, line, and sinker. As a result of the government’s involvement with this grifter, there was
…an international false alarm that led President George W. Bush to order airliners to turn around over the Atlantic Ocean in 2003.
The software led to dead ends in connection with a 2006 terrorism plot in Britain. And they were used by counterterrorism officials to respond to a bogus Somali terrorism plot on the day of President Obama’s inauguration, according to previously undisclosed documents.
OMG, my sides are splitting from laughter! And on top of all that,
C.I.A. officials…came to believe that Mr. Montgomery’s technology was fake in 2003, but their conclusions apparently were not relayed to the military’s Special Operations Command, which had contracted with his firm. In 2006, F.B.I. investigators were told by co-workers of Mr. Montgomery that he had repeatedly doctored test results at presentations for government officials. But Mr. Montgomery still landed more business.
In 2009, the Air Force approved a $3 million deal for his technology, even though a contracting officer acknowledged that other agencies were skeptical about the software, according to e-mails obtained by The New York Times.
Angelo Mozilo, Fraudster
Hold onto your wallets, I think President Obama is going to have to ask us “small people” to “sacrifice” some more to make up the difference. Meanwhile, Mr. Montgomery will very likely get away with his fraud, just like Countrywide’s Angelo Mozilo, formerly of Countrywide, and every other fraudster and bankster who comes down the pike. Don’t worry, though, “sacrifice” is good for you, your parents, and your children and grandchildren.
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Ohhhh, this reminds me of all those records that were played backwards with the Satanic messages on them. Didn’t this guy have to show proof? Too funny!
Funny in a really painful, expensive way…
Thank you for frontpaging this, BB. This is really so bad and depressing I have to laugh about it, too. “National security”? Yeah that’s really keeping our country secure, covering up the fact that they wasted money on trying to detect Al Qaeda messages in Al Jazeera broadcasts.
I just remember Obama and Axelrod screaming “transparency” and “show me your tax returns” in 2008.
We are so f’d.
How about they made planes turn around and grounded European flights? I remember when that happened.
@ BB, I remember that too.
Jeez. I mean just, jeez, and holy hand grenade of Antioch!
This is what happens when those in charge of buying technology have no idea how that technology works or what it can really do. And the bosses are too arrogant to listen to their underlings. Or the political atmosphere in the government is so overbearing and corrupt that the underlings are afraid of saying anything. This reminds me of the Finno-Russian war in 1939. The Russian generals and higher command were terrified to tell the politburo that they were losing to a ragtag army of Finns. So they kept doing stupid things, unable to adjust.
It’s come to sad days when I’m comparing our government to Soviet Russia.
Oh my. The lunatics are running the asylum, and we have to pay the bills. Meanwhile we have fundamentalists telling us they should not have to pay for legal medical procedures they disagree with, and Rummy telling us that Congress is sending the DOD billions of dollars every year that the DOD doesn’t even want.
Seems to me we have a clue of where to begin government spending cuts: how about all of those government officials that can’t tell the difference between intelligence and lack if it. These folks have been employed since the Bush days and it’s time to tell them to pursue other opportunities and spend more time with their families.
Hmmm, need to cut costs? how about we follow Sophie’s advice and get rid of the incompetence and end the two wars that are totally bankrupting our country and killing many good people.
We could then focus on reality