the story of michael hastings is a fascinating one the story of what he was
investigating is perhaps even more important
on a car Gibson has been looking into this and and done some
some just brilliant reporting I
interesting piece over occupy dot com who killed Michael
ace teens and perhaps in my mind even more important why
Carl Gibson is on the line with us occupied I com is the website a car
welcome to the program
thanks for having me on Thomas consortia thank you can you up recap for our
listeners who may not be familiar with the name Michael Hastings
you know just the the elevator speech the the story in a capsule
sure Michael Hastings was a
use an investigative reporter for willie stern magazine
she offered a report in 2010 that there was responsible for General Stanley
McChrystal getting fired
jus overseeing all US and NATO forces in Afghanistan up until that point
and there was also the former commander at the Joint Special Operations Command
which encompasses army rangers may be sealed
general was not the reporter right yeah rate right and that and this reporter
got it by Michael hastens got him
got General Stanley McChrystal fired um he could be with his report
so then what happened yeah
still just about four months ago his brand new
2013 mercedes-benz C 250 cute
it was seen crossing the Melrose intersection in Hancock Park
neighborhood on Highland Avenue
and a witness who saw the crash from beginning to end said it doubts
three times accelerated rapidly and slammed into a paltry
were exploded almost on impact and he said even first responders couldn't even
approached the car
for a while because it kept exploding now this is that this is really weird
because
just before that happen you know Michael Hastings have he was actually trying to
get off the grid
he told his colleagues both feet in an email that he was working on a really
big story
and was gonna get off the radar for a while and he cited fears over federal
agents actually interviewing his close friend the fam so
there there might be an assumption that he was actually assassinated her that
his car was tampered with in some way
yeah LA Weekly the data profile
a Hastings and you his life just before the crash
date they have reported if for talking to his neighbor Jordana sector
him he was really close to you certificate and actually said that he
thinks was really scared and wanted to leave town
after he read about the PO che seizing a piece on record
and after reading about dollars that whatever which notably
he was convinced he was under surveillance many in fact the night of
the crash
p.m. unsuccessfully tried to borrow his neighbors bother because
he was afraid that his car had been hacked
hacked yet there's actually a computer science professor at UC San Diego who
hacked in the modern car systems from all manufacturers
and mostly smaller cars from 2008 and onward
are quick to the computer system so when you tap on your accelerator on your
break
you actually just telling a computer what you want the cardia in Sodus
professor did even savage
he figured out how to hack into one of these computer systems
from a thousand miles away and take over everything in the drive chain
including you know acceleration and brake and
you know it's really strange because michael is a friend a staff sergeant Joe
big
said that Hastings job like a grandma and all his friends and family said the
same thing
for him to be driving erratically like that was very out of character for him
Bella you know I whatever that Richard Clark
use a carrot terrorism chief under the Clinton and George W Bush
administration's
she actually said the at the end even if you have to post that a
the car that AC was driving and the crash itself
looked a lot like a car Cybertech a cyberattack
so okay so what was Michael Hayes teens investigating
that that either
was so big you that it drove him to some kind of insane suicide
or was so big that it cause somebody to hack his car
and kill him or was just coincidentally being investigated at a time that his
brand new Mercedes decided to
to freak out yet the store he was working on that he
told his colleagues about me and yes said that he was
trying to get the radar for was actually about CIA director John Brennan
in his capacity as the Obama administration's point man
for a for basically leading
the witch hunt on investigative journalist in this issue than
according to an email from Stratford which is a CIA connected
private security firm in one day many emails from structure
leaked by WikiLeaks and enter your email between
a stripper steps says and in fact confirms
that Brennan was behind us which handsome investigative journalist
so the store that a single working on family will know what we'll never get to
redefine offers another
other like here with his colleagues at least I was gonna try to finish it for
but if you really interesting to know when he thinks all this picture so much
and also why his car exploded in
in such a weird fashion because you know I had talked to a mercedes-benz Long
Beach dealer
who is certainly happened down that the brand new model CT $50k it's where
very well-built and in fact when they crashed
which for their like an accordion any engine with drop down to protect the
driver
whereas Hastings car exploded on impact and actually
ejected its engine 200 feet and their pictures that you know confirm
I where the engine and isn't the sort of thing where
you know a lawsuit against Mercedes for bad design or something like that would
provoke a
a really serious inquiry you know it was
I don't know if it was taken that route yet I never said he has been
you know they've been Chris have an Audi like a decade ago
member yeah I think your county by Volkswagen and a mad bomber phase 2i
don't know
but that overall German cars but I mean I already had a there was a you know
there is a story about a decade maybe was longer than that ago
where people were alleging that the cars were a
accelerating when they hit the brake and a
you know how DNA it up reengineering their computer system over and over and
over again at their sales took a really bad hit for year to 60 minutes to show
on it
ultimately in the conclusion was that people are actually
hitting the gas pedal thinking they were hitting the brake army
as far as anybody could tell and I think they redesigned the relationship with
the gas pedal and the break to each other
physically in space you know where your feet hit them yes to fix that problem
but I this was a the me it might have been 20 years ago was long time it was a
while ago I mean I might've been
you know when you were young and I think we were and attention but I remember
quite well
but he professor savage at UCSD specifically said that
this was something that applied all manufactures and that these manufactures
have acknowledged that cybersecurity something they didn't take very
seriously and
recognize that there are gone the whole vulnerabilities in the computer systems
where they can be accessed from the outside Ren
Ryan so where do we go with this information Carl Gibson
I would you know I would hope that more people like you Tom
and they're like Abby Martin on RT light RT last night
that more people in the media star to raise these questions because
when you just look a little closer at the official narrative a
you can feel poorly constructed it is and how many holes there are
the LAPD says there's no foul play but you know clearly looking into you
you know how the car exploded and the circumstances surrounding his death
and you know it just be a how how how
how are timed it was that you know he's working on the big story in an
it just seems right for to call this an open shirt cases really suspect in
another self
I hope that more people start asking a questions in
you know start to challenge this official narrative a little bit and push
back in
try to find out what really happened Michael Hastings if this is is genuinely
occurrence awkward moment
um is there somebody besides the government involved I mean
seventy percent the NSA's budget is outsourced to private contractors
couldn't have been that he seems was looking into a private corporation or
perhaps even a
a you know transnational corporation well I spoke with Jake you have
the Young Turks who is a close friend of Hastings and she said there that there
before and after the program waiting for the guest
they will talk a lot about you know a six-time embedded in Afghanistan
any mention it there were a lot of private contractors there who
really didn't like Michael at all in factor in his book she was approached by
a toddler being approached
I wanna stanley McChrystal's aides who is just you know children rather than
he said you know if we don't like what you read about a small will fly you down
to kill you
anything she did later ready said you know i'd never took it seriously can't
but I was around a he agreed the people whose job it was you
kill people then what would you imagine they're going to kill me
but I think I think a thing play he was on the front page
and like you day would have forced a lot of our military and intelligence budget
earth Alterra you know I'm million people like it was getting underway
access to all kinds of information yeah it's amazing pockets and you can read
over doctor fight icon thanks girl
I'll thank you