James Clapper, together with Leon Panetta, wrote a letter to Congress final month warned that a number of proposed payments to rein in Massive Tech may carry unintended penalties.
AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
A high-profile coterie of former US army and intelligence officers who tried to discredit The Submit’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop computer at the moment are being accused of taking cash from Massive Tech to unfold “misinformation” about antitrust laws, The Submit has discovered.
In an open letter circulated to members of Congress final month, former US safety brass, together with Leon Panetta and James Clapper — who served as protection secretary and director of nationwide intelligence within the Obama administration, respectively — warned that a number of proposed payments to rein in Massive Tech may carry unintended penalties.
The antitrust payments goal to power a revamp of the enterprise fashions of Google and Meta, the dad or mum firm to Fb and Instagram, and probably break them up.
However the open letter claims they might “hinder America’s key expertise corporations within the struggle towards cyber and nationwide safety dangers emanating from Russia’s and China’s rising digital authoritarianism.”
Each Panetta and Clapper beforehand signed a letter portraying The Submit’s Hunter Biden reporting as seemingly Russian “disinformation,” claiming that they had been “deeply suspicious that the Russian authorities performed a major function on this case” and that it could possibly be “Russia attempting to affect how Individuals vote on this election.”
Panetta, Clapper and a number of other different ex-national-security officers, together with Mike Morell — who served as appearing CIA director underneath President Barack Obama and likewise signed the Hunter Biden letter — claimed in final month’s letter that the Russian atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine, had been proof that corporations similar to Google and Meta shouldn’t face better regulation within the US lest they “improve our adversaries’ capabilities.”
‘Misinformation’
Outspoken critics of Massive Tech, together with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), observe that Clapper, Panetta and a number of other different of the letter’s signatories uncared for to say that they work for teams funded by tech corporations, together with Google, Meta and Amazon.
“These signers are eager to have Massive Tech censor so-called misinformation, but these letters themselves are filled with it,” Grassley advised The Submit. “They needed to manage the narrative then like they wish to management it now: by eradicating all competitors for Massive Tech monopolists and censors.”
Buck, who’s pushing a bipartisan invoice that will break up Google’s advert enterprise, likewise mentioned observers ought to comply with the cash when “previously essential folks” defend highly effective pursuits.
“I’m not going to query the integrity of anybody particularly,” Buck mentioned. “However you need to have a look at funding and the way that gives motivation.”
“There's a cottage trade of previously essential individuals who obtain cash to take positions on essential points,” he added.
Some critics say it’s really Massive Tech that poses the best risk to nationwide safety. They observe that Google has labored with the Chinese language army, that Apple saved information on Chinese language servers and shared buyer information with the Chinese language authorities and that Fb has additionally shared data with the Chinese language authorities.
Based on a research revealed Friday, Google, YouTube and Microsoft’s Bing extremely rank Chinese language propaganda shops in search outcomes.
‘Laughable’
“Any try for these corporations to behave like they're involved about nationwide safety whereas trying to do enterprise with China is completely laughable,” Garrett Ventry, a former aide to Grassley, advised The Submit. “Antitrust reform is all about creating competitors which might encourage corporations like Google and Apple to step up their privateness and safety features to compete for shoppers’ enterprise.”
Whereas Clapper and Panetta are the most important names on the letter, different signatories embody Jeh Johnson, Jane Harman, Michael Rogers and Frances Townsend.
Panetta and Clapper declined to remark. The opposite signatories didn't reply to requests for remark, aside from Morell, who couldn’t be reached.
As intelligence director underneath Obama, Clapper developed a detailed relationship with tech corporations together with Google and Fb, which turned over consumer information to the FBI underneath his watch.
He’s now a “distinguished senior fellow for intelligence and nationwide safety” on the Middle for New American Safety, a suppose tank that has acquired six figures’ price of donations from Google, Fb and Amazon.
Panetta, who was CIA director underneath Obama and White Home chief of employees underneath President Invoice Clinton, is a senior counsel at Beacon World Methods, a agency that serves quite a few Massive Tech purchasers together with Google.
Morell is a senior counsel at Beacon. Previous to working for Obama, Morell labored for the CIA underneath President George W. Bush and wrote a ebook defending using waterboarding, sleep deprivation and different torture methods used by the company underneath Bush.
Panetta, Townsend and Morrell additionally despatched a separate antitrust letter that circulated about six months in the past.
Buck dismissed the letters as a feeble try and clamp down on laws.
“It’s Massive Tech’s final gasp at attempting to vary a number of votes,” he mentioned, “they usually’re gonna lose.”
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