The following is an excerpt from my New York Times bestseller "Stonewalled," which recounts the government intrusions of my computers. More excerpts to follow.[hr]
| Big Brother |
My Computerโs Intruders
"Reeeeeeeeeee.โ
The noise is coming from my personal Apple desktop computer in
the small office adjacent to my bedroom. Itโs starting up. On its own.
โReeeeeee . . . chik chik chik chik,โ says the computer as it shakes itself awake.
The electronic sounds stir me from sleep. I squint my eyes at the clock radio on the table next to the bed. The numbers blink back: โ3:14 a.m.โ
Only a day earlier, my CBS-issued Toshiba laptop, perched at the foot of my bed, had whirred to life on its own. That too had been untouched by human hands. What time was that? I think it was 4 a.m.
Some nights, both computers spark to life, one after the other. A cacophony of microprocessors interrupting the normal sounds of the night. After thirty seconds, maybe a minute, they go back to sleep. I know this is not normal computer behavior.[hr]
A diverseย group of Constitutional free press and privacyย advocates is supporting Attkisson v. Dept. of Justice/FBI to fight the government computer intrusions. Clickย here to support.
[hr]My husband, a sound sleeper, snores through it all. Half asleep, I try to remember how long ago my computers first started going rogue. A year? Two? It no longer startles me. But itโs definitely piquing my curiosity.
Itโs October 2012, and Iโve been digging into the September 11
terrorist attacks on Americans at the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya. Itโs the most interesting puzzle Iโve come across since the Fast and Furious gunwalking story, which led to international headlines and questions that remain unanswered.
Solving these kinds of puzzles is probably the challenge that drives me most. Thereโs nothing like an unsolved mystery to keep me at the computer or on the phone until one or two in the morning. Most mysteries can be solved, you just have to find the information. But too often, the keepers of the information donโt want to give it up . . . even when the information belongs to the public.
Now my computers offer a new mystery to unravel. I already had begun mentioning these unusual happenings to acquaintances who work in secretive corners of government and understand such things. Connections Iโd met through friends and contacts in the northwest Virginia enclaves. Here, so many work forโor recently retired fromโone of the โalphabet agencies.โ CIA. FBI. NSA. DIA. Theyโre concerned about what Iโm experiencing. They think somethingโs going on. Somebody, they tell me, is making my computers behave that way.[hr]
CBS News confirms Attkisson's work computer remotely attacked.
[hr]Theyโre also worried about my home phone. Itโs practically unusable now. Often, when I call home, it only rings once on the receiving end. But on my end, it keeps ringing and then connects somewhere else. Nobodyโs there. Other times, it disconnects in the middle of calls. There are clicks and buzzes. My friends who call hear the strange noises and ask about them. A CBS lawyer reviewing a story with me asks, half-jokingly, โIs your phone tapped?โ My whole familyโs tired of it. Verizon has been to the house over and over again but canโt fix whateverโs wrong.
On top of that, my home alarm system has begun chirping a nightly warning that my phone line is having โtroubleโ of an unidentified nature. It chirps until I get out of bed and reset it. Every night. Different times.
Iโm losing sleep.
[hr]Click here to support:ย Sharyl Attkisson 4th Amendment Litigation Fund[hr]
Iโm the one who tries to get information from the keepers and I can
be relentless. That kind of tenacity doesnโt always make friends, not even at CBS News, which has built an impressive record for dogged reporting in the tradition of Edward R. Murrow, Eric Sevareid, and Mike Wallace. But thatโs okay. Iโm not in journalism to make friends.
My job is to remind politicians and government officials as to who they work for. Some of them have forgotten. They think they person- ally own your tax dollars. They think they own the information their agencies gather on the publicโs behalf. They think theyโre entitled to keep that information from the rest of us andโmake no mistakeโ theyโre bloody incensed that we want it.
The Benghazi mystery is proving especially difficult. The feds are keeping a suspiciously tight clamp on details. They wonโt even say how long the attacks went on or when they ended. What they do reveal some- times contradicts information provided by their sister agencies. And some of the most basic, important questions? They wonโt address at all.
For months, the Obama administration has dismissed all questions as partisan witch-hunting. And why not? That approach has proven successful, at least among some colleagues in the news media. Theyโre apparently satisfied with the limited answers. They arenโt curious about the gaping holes. The contradictions. Theyโre part of the club thatโs decided only agenda-driven Republicans would be curious about all of that. These journalists donโt need to ask questions about Benghazi at the White House press briefings, at Attorney General Eric Holderโs public appearances, or during President Obamaโs lim- ited media availabilities. It might make the administration mad. It might even prompt them to threaten the โaccessโ of uncooperative journalists. Other journalists simply think it would be rudeโmaybe even sillyโto waste time pursuing a topic of such little consequence.
There are so many more important things going on in the world. But still, Iโm curious.
What did the president of the United States do all that night
during the attacks? With Americans under siege and a U.S. ambas- sador missingโlater confirmed deadโwhat actions did the com- mander in chief take? What decisions did he make?
Iโm making slow but steady progress in finding answers to some of the mysteries. Some of my sources are in extremely sensitive positions. They say lies are being told. Theyโre angry. They want to set the re- cord straight. But they canโt reveal themselves on television. It would end their careers and make them pariahs among their peers. Little by little, with their help, Iโm piecing together bits of the puzzle.
Those involved in the U.S. response to the attacks tell me that the U.S. government was in sheer chaos that night. Those with knowledge of military assets and Special Forces tell me that resources werenโt fully utilized to try to mount a rescue while the attacks were under way. Those with firsthand knowledge say that the governmentโs interagency Counterterrorism Security Group wasnโt convened, even though presidential directive requires it. Others whisper of the State Department rejecting security requests and overlooking warning signs in the weeks leading up to the attacks.[hr]
A diverseย group of Constitutional free press and privacyย advocates is supporting Attkisson v. Dept. of Justice/FBI to fight the government computer intrusions. Clickย here to support.
[hr]There are those in government who donโt like it that the sources are talking to me. โWhy are they speaking to reporters,โ they grumble to each other, โrevealing our dirty laundry, telling our secrets?โ These are powerful people with important connections.
I start to think that may be why my computers are losing so much sleep at night.[hr]
More excerpts to come... [hr]
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