Date: Mar 02, 2011 Author: Joan McCarter Source:
Aaron Barr's departure as CEO of HBGary Federal represented the latest twist for the company and its Sacramento affiliate, HBGary Inc. A spokeswoman for the Sacramento company confirmed the resignation.
According to numerous reports, Barr's company, which is based in Colorado and Washington, D.C., proposed conducting a disinformation campaign against critics of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The plan was presented to the chamber's law firm, but the chamber says it wasn't aware of it.
The plan was aborted after the hacker group Anonymous stole tens of thousands of e-mails from both HBGary and HBGary Federal -- and posted many of the messages on the Web.
The Chamber, by the way, is basically lying by denying any knowledge of the plot—the e-mails released by Anonymous show that beyond much doubt.
Upping the pressure on the Chamber, House Dems have called for an investigation of the scheme.
Now that the severity of the plot has come into focus, Congress may soon get involved. Today, 20 House Democrats, led by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), called for an investigation into the ChamberLeaks scandal, noting that Hunton & Williams appear to have orchestrated “a ‘dirty-tricks’ campaign that included possible illegal actions against citizens engaged in free speech.” Johnson wants to examine whether these “subversive techniques” which were discussed in the leaked emails were "developed at U.S. government expense to target terrorists and other security threats."
Indeed, ThinkProgress’ report detailed how the tactics revealed in this plot are “typically reserved for use against terrorist groups.” After all, Johnson notes, “it is deeply troubling to think that tactics developed for use against terrorists may have been unleashed against American citizens.”
The letter, which is being sent to the chairmen of four relevant House Committees— Oversight and Government Reform, Judiciary, Armed Services, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence—notes that beyond the political ramifications of the Chamber’s lobbying firm targeting opponents, federal crimes may have been committed as well....
With Republicans in control of the House again, we might see a replay of the infamous "basement" Conyers hearings, when Rep. John Conyers was forced to hold an inquiry into the false WMD claims the Bush administration used to take us into Iraq in an unofficial hearing in a basement room of the U.S. Capitol. It seems hard to believe that the House GOP would let allow the Chamber to become the subject of an investigation into federal crimes.
