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Featuring throwback Rockford Peaches uniforms, the Arizona Batbusters are introduced at opening ceremonies for the 2017 NSA Southwest World Series at Pioneer Park on Wednesday, July 26, 2017, in Prescott. (Les Stukenberg/Courier)

Over 300 players dawning uniforms from 27 different clubs calling Arizona and its surrounding states home gathered for opening ceremonies of the 2017 NSA Southwest World Series on Wednesday night.

Home to many youth softball tournaments throughout the summer and national championship contests in years past, Pioneer Park in Prescott featured standing room only with parents and family members applauding their hometown teams in preparation for a four-day event beginning today.

Dale Pool, tournament director for the Southwest World Series, said for the Prescott area, this weekend not only brings great economic impact to the community, but a chance for the young players to make lifelong memories.

For the girls, this gives them the chance to see teams from other states, California, Nevada, or from around the state. They may meet again in other tournaments, or play in college, Pool said, adding its fun to see some of the same players return to Prescott every year.

Its wonderful to see these girls grow, not only as players, but as individuals and the great sportsmanship that they display, Pool said.

One team stood out in particular Wednesday night, wearing throwback Rockford Peaches uniforms from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, featured in the movie, A League of their Own.

Peyton Bradshaw, 15, of the Arizona Batbusters said wearing the Rockford Peaches uniforms is a tribute to the women who came before them.

As for their own chances of winning this weekends tournament, Bradshaw said her teammates are looking forward to kicking butt.

We need to go in, play hard, and focus on winning, Bradshaw said.

The Arizona Batbusters open the Southwest World Series with a pair of games in the early Thursday morning as they face AZ As Demarini Elite at 8 a.m. and Storm Fastpitch at 9:30 a.m.

Quad City Clovers third baseman Brena Lankford, 13, was the 2017 recipient of the National Softball Associations $1,000 college scholarship Wednesday night.

I was shocked. I couldnt believe it. I was really happy, Lankford said after hearing her name called over the loud speaker.

The Clovers open the tournament with a 9:30 a.m. contest Thursday against the Firecrackers.

Lankford added this years Southwest World Series gives her team a chance to take a break from the regular grind of club softball travel and just play ball.

Its fun with all the girls, and were pretty good, Lankford said. Its local, so fun.

Brian M. Bergner Jr. is associate sports editor and a columnist for The Daily Courier. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Periscope and SoundCloud at @SportsWriter52, or on Facebook at @SportsAboveTheFold. Reach him at bbergner@prescottaz.com or 928-445-3333, ext. 1106.

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NSA Southwest World Series gets underway Thursday in Prescott - CVR News

Indias national security adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval might not have much room to maneuvre when, and if, he sits down with Chinese officials on Thursday or Friday to start a conversation to resolve the military stand-off near the Sikkim border.

Doval landed in Beijing on Wednesday afternoon to attend a BRICS security summit and is scheduled to meet President Xi Jinping on Friday along with his NSA counterparts from the BRICS countries, including Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa.

But the focus will be on whether Dovals separate meetings with Chinese officials, including state councilor Yang Jiechi, will be able to resolve or at least begin to ease -- the Donglang (Doklam) standoff, which is now into its second month.

What is likely to complicate the situation further is the Peoples Liberation Armys (PLA) 90th anniversary on August 1.

A Chinese academic indicated that there is unease and anger within the PLA hierarchy about allowing foreign troops on Chinese soil even as the worlds largest armed forces gather to mark their raising day.

Donglang is under Chinas control but claimed by Bhutan. Beijing has repeatedly said it belonged to China from ancient times.

According to reports, President Xi Jinping the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPEC) and the chairperson of the Central Military Commission -- will observe the war games at Zhurihe Combined Tactics Training Base, 400km northwest of Beijing in Inner Mongolia, on August 1.

The PLA will certainly not be comfortable with the message that will go out if trespassing Indian troops continue to be present in Donglang while Xi -- the all-powerful Communist party general secretary -- is observing PLAs wargames on its birthday.

Its easier to shake a mountain than the PLA, Wu Qian, spokesperson for the ministry of national defence (MoD), said Monday.

Referring to Wus comments, the countrys official news agency, Xinhua, said, ...these words illustrated Chinas unwavering resolution to build a stronger army and guard the countrys sovereignty.

The Chinese academic indicated the possibility of a disaster if Indian troops dont withdraw before the day.

Doval would have been aware of this when he arrived here.

It is one of the longest-running face-offs between the militaries of India and China in recent history and the one in which Beijing has been most aggressive in decades.

The show of belligerence from China has so far comprised three main acts strong statements from the ministry of foreign affairs (MFA) and the MoD, a constant salvo of hostile editorials and articles from state-controlled media outlets and the calibrated release of information, photos and videos of military exercises in and around the Tibet Autonomous Region

Doval seems to have little scope to maneuvre as Beijing has made it clear what it wants for the standoff to end: withdrawal of Indian troops.

So far, foreign minister, Wang Yi has been the highest ranking Chinese politician to have commented on the military impasse.

Wang told reporters in Bangkok earlier this week that the problem was very straightforward.

...Even Indian officials publicly said that Chinese soldiers didnt enter the Indian territory. In other words, Indian side admitted (crossing) into Chinese territory.

Hu Shisheng, director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceanian Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said the tension will be quickly reduced once Indian troops pull out from Donglang.

This time, China and its top leaders feel humiliated badly by Indias adventurism and invasion, he said, adding, How can China withdraw? It (the standoff) is in Chinese territory according to the 1890 treaty (signed between Chinas Qing dynasty and British India).

Dovals visit is important in the run-up to the BRICS summit to be held in Chinas Xiamen city in the first week of September, which will be attended by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

On Friday, the five heads of security delegations from the BRICS countries will formally meet to discuss on global governance, counter-terrorism, cyber security and energy security, international and regional hotspots, and national security and development.

--

Read more:
Doklam standoff: NSA Doval in Beijing amid PLA unease over Indian 'trespass' - Hindustan Times

A former top U.S. Justice Department official and a former federal prosecutor have joined Reality Winners legal defense team in the National Security Agency leak investigation.

Joe Whitley, who served as the acting associate U.S. attorney general during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, is a partner with the Atlanta law firm of Baker Donelson. He also worked as the U.S. Department of Homeland Securitys general counsel and served as a federal prosecutor in Georgia. Joining Whitley is Matthew Chester, a former assistant U.S. attorney who works for the same law firm in New Orleans.

They are teaming up with John Bell and Titus Nichols of Bell & Brigham in Augusta. The attorneys joined the case after First Look Media, the parent company of The Intercept online news outlet, announced this month that it would help Winners legal defense. First Look said its Press Freedom Defense Fund would provide $50,000 in matching funds to Stand With Reality, a nonprofit campaign to support Winners case through advocacy and fundraising.

RELATED:Owner of The Intercept assisting accused NSA leakers legal defense

The U.S. Justice Department has accused Winner of leaking to The Intercept a top-secret NSA report about Russias meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The Intercept published the report, which says Russian military intelligence officials tried to hack into the U.S. voting system just before last Novembers election.

A federal grand jury has indicted Winner, 25, on a single count of "willful retention and transmission of national defense information. She faces up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Winner, who is being held in the Lincoln County Jail, has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Winners mother, Billie Winner-Davis, released a statement to Stand With Reality about the new attorneys joining her daughters defense team.

I am very excited about Mr. Whitley joining Realitys defense team, she said, as he appears to have extensive experience. His background with homeland security should be helpful.

Originally posted here:
Former prosecutors join accused NSA leaker's legal defense team - MyAJC

YourObserver.com

Former NSA executive becomes author in Lakewood Ranch YourObserver.com A line out of his bio says Harb, who worked 39 years with the National Security Agency (NSA), "applied a wide variety of analytic and language skills and techniques to the production of high-value intelligence" and that he "managed large complex ...

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Former NSA executive becomes author in Lakewood Ranch - YourObserver.com

The FBI and National Security Agency improperly searched, stored and distributed raw intelligence on Americans, according to recently declassified documents about the controversial Section 702 surveillance program.

The documents, released earlier this month in response to a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), reveal specific violations that the FBI and NSA disclosed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) or the Justice Department's national security division during President Barack Obamas time in office, between 2009 and 2016.

Reviewing the documents, The Hill found more than 90 incidents that specifically cited an impact on Americans, who are not supposed to be affected by 702 surveillance. Many of the incidents involved multiple people, multiple violations, or extended periods of time, the newspaper noted.

One analyst ran the same search on an American citizen every work day for a period of time in 2013 and 2014.

In 2015, the NSA issued a report that included the name of an American whose identity was not foreign intelligence, according to one incident report. The agency eventually discovered the error and recalled the information.

There were several other instances where names of Americans were improperly shared with other intelligence agencies without being redacted, violating minimization procedures. The information had to be recalled and purged after the fact, according to The Hill.

CIA and FBI received unminimized data from many Section 702-tasked facilities and at times are thus required to conduct similar purges, one report said.

The FBI disclosed three instances of improper disseminations of US persons identities between December 2013 and February 2014.

Though the law requires the NSA to notify other intelligence agencies within five days if and when it wrongly disseminates information about Americans, the documents showed that the average notification time was 19 days, and in some cases took as long as 131 business days.

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The NSA says the mistakes amount to less than 1 percent of surveillance intercepts through the Section 702 program, which was established by Congress in late 2008.

The National Security Agency has in place a strong compliance program that identifies incidents, reports them to external overseers, and then develops appropriate solutions to remedy any incidents, NSA spokesman Michael Halbig told The Hill. Quite simply, a compliance program that never finds an incident is not a robust compliance program.

We believe that, particularly when compared with the overall level of activity, the compliance incident rate is very low, Alexander Joel, head of the Office of Civil Liberties, Privacy and Transparency for the director of national intelligence, told The Hill.

Oversight and compliance procedures intended to safeguard Americans are robust and effective, the FBI said in a statement. Section 702 is vital to the safety and security of the American people. It is one of the most valuable tools the Intelligence Community has, and therefore, is used with the utmost care by the men and women of the FBI so as to not jeopardize future utility.

The ACLU, which obtained the documents on July 11 after filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, is not convinced.

The NSA claims it has rules to protect our privacy, but it turns out those rules are weak, full of loopholes, and violated again and again, said Patrick Toomey, an ACLU attorney in New York who was involved in the FOIA litigation.

What were now seeing is a history of the NSA not being able to police itself, Neema Guliani, ACLU chief legislative counsel, told The Hill. All of this raises questions about whether the procedures the agencies have put forth are really being followed in all cases.

Shortly before the end of his term in office, in January 2017, Obama "eviscerated" the previously existing limits on sharing of raw NSA intelligence with domestic law enforcement agencies. The full effect of that decision will not be known until the next NSA compliance report, due in April 2018.

Read more from the original source:
Memos reveal new details of NSA & FBI illegal spying on Americans under Obama - RT