2 Years After Michael Hastings' Death: Promised Story on CIA Director Brennan Remains Unpublished

June 18, 2013 investigative journalist Michael Hastings died aged 33 in a fiery car crash in Los Angeles. The circumstances of his death, the powerful enemies he had made, the yet unpublished stories he was investigating at the time all led to much speculation here on ATS and elsewhere.






On July, 8 2013 ATS member GrantedBail wrote:

CNN aired a never before seen interview of Michael Hastings and his wife last night. CNN host John Avlon said that Elise Jordan is going to finish the last piece Michael Hastings was working on, which was a book on John Brennan of the CIA.

link (ATS)


Beginning of August 2013, about 7 weeks after Hastings' death his widow Elise Jordan said on TV:

"There will be published his profile of John Brennan in an upcoming issue of Rolling Stone, uhm, probably in a couple of weeks"

Rolling Stone To Publish Michael Hastings' Profile Of CIA Director John Brennan


Some days later we got this tidbit:

Matt Farwell, who often worked with Hastings as his writing partner and who is finishing Hastings’s final story for Rolling Stone

WhoWhatWhy


So, to sum it up:

3 weeks after Michael Hastings' death CNN host John Avlon said that Elise Jordan is going to finish the last piece he was working on, which was a book on John Brennan of the CIA. Another 4 weeks later Jordan says a profile of Brennan (based on Hastings' investigations) is going to be published in Rolling Stone Magazine "probably in a couple of weeks". And from another source we learn that the author that is going to finish Hastings' final story for Rolling Stone is Matt Farwell.

We could in theory be looking at three separate items:

- a book about Brennan by widow Elise Jordan based on Michael Hastings' investigations
- a profile of Brennan in Rolling Stone Magazine based on M.H. material
- Hastings' final story again for Rolling Stone finished by Matt Farwell


Now, 2 years later: no book, no profile, no final story in a magazine...



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For some context check out this timeline I made back in 2013:

May 20 - Hastings states on TV: "...government, 'we declare war on you...'

May 20 - Snowden arrives in Hong Kong with 4 laptops giving him access to top-classified US secrets

Jun 3-7 A Hastings associate was contacted sometime between June 3rd - 7th by at least 2 agents reportedly representing the FBI for information regarding Hastings' investigation of NSA related topics

Jun 5 - Greenwald breaks the NSA story in an exclusive on the Guardian

Jun 7 - Hastings LAST article: Why Democrats Love To Spy On Americans - LAST SENTENCE of this article is:


Perhaps more information will soon be forthcoming.




Jun 8 - "Intelligence officials overheard joking about how NSA leaker should be 'disappeared' after handing classified documents to press"

Jun 9 - Snowden is identified as the NSA-whistleblower behind Glenn Greenwald's story in the Guardian

Jun 12 - Hastings twitter feed goes silent

Jun 17 - Snowden: "Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped."

Jun 17 - Hastings mails a friend: "I'm on a big story, and need to go off the radar for a bit"

Jun 18 - Hastings contacted WikiLeaks lawyer Robinson, saying that the FBI was investigating him.

Jun 18 - Michael Hastings disappears in car accident

Jul 17 - Michael Hastings National Security Reporting Fellowship announced by Buzzfeed. A $100,000 Reward To Uncover Foul Play?


A version of this timeline with links and pics can be found in this post from 2013:

link (ATS)

Scroll past the text version!

I was just thinking about him. Sad, really sad. His memory has all but faded out of existence. As they say, mess with the bull....

Don't expect anything to come out. Dead men don't tell tales....usually.

a reply to: MindBodySpiritComplex

Since no one wants to say it, I am gonna be the fool that opens his mouth.

Full Blown revolution is needed and if government won't step down then revolution by force should be executed

a reply to: PredatorCrackling

What does that have anything to do with this thread? Find your revolution elsewhere, Ché.

On-topic: I never really followed this story when it broke, but I do remember hearing that his final story was to be finished and published. It is mighty odd (though not unsurprising) that it hasn't been.

a reply to: admirethedistance

I can understand various sources trying to put his untimely death down as deep intrigue and, thus, make him a legend, but by all indications his death was a direct result of his own actions. Snowden still walks.

If anyone had taking up the story and was finishing the story, it is likely that he/she would have by now stepped forward and stated as much, or a manager or publisher would have made that announcement for them.

Michael Hasting was the real "Enemy of the State" like the movie played by Will Smith. Obviously hastings came upon some information that the Government did not want to be public. The actions taken to ensure secrecy are down right scary, Although I believe some state secrets, need to be kept from the public for National Security. I believe Hastings had information that would have lead to public outrage against the NSA, FBI, CIA, many Government officials, and even the President.

Have been looking a bit around the web for any other "2 years after" news about Michael Hastings. So far I could only find one news source directly referencing this anniversary:

RADI OWHOWHATWHY: MICHAEL HASTINGS MYSTERY DEATH 2ND ANNIVERSARY—LATE JOURNALIST MUSES ON PRESIDENTIAL RACES


The only other item that pops up is that Netflix dropped an astonishing $60 Million on a project based on Michael Hastings' The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan:

Netflix earlier this month spent $60 million to acquire Brad Pitt’s Afghanistan war satire War Machine.

The film, produced under Pitt’s own Plan B production shingle, is based on the 2012 book The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan by journalist Michael Hastings. Pitt is set to play Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan who was famously forced to resign after making disparaging remarks about Vice President Joe Biden and the Obama administration in a 2010 Rolling Stone article.

If accurate, the $60 million investment by Netflix represents the company’s biggest investment in a single original project to date.

NETFLIX DROPS $60M ON BRAD PITT’S AFGHANISTAN WAR SATIRE


Makes me wonder: is Netflix CEO Reed Hastings related to Michael Hastings?

I will update this post if I find other news items.

originally posted by: admirethedistance
a reply to: PredatorCrackling

What does that have anything to do with this thread? Find your revolution elsewhere, Ché.

On-topic: I never really followed this story when it broke, but I do remember hearing that his final story was to be finished and published. It is mighty odd (though not unsurprising) that it hasn't been.

You never really followed this story. Thats why you dont understand the revolution.

a reply to: MindBodySpiritComplex

This man was a hero and journalists should model themselves after him. But.........TPTB have control of the mainstream media and hire idiots and pundits. FOX,CNN,MSNBC,PBS,BBC,RT,CBS,ABC are all controlled at this point in time and space.




Eventually the facts will come out and we will see this man was silenced.

Thanks for the update on this. Had wondered what's been going on, sad news really, almost if a following story has been silenced. Typical of these situations. Will be checking on the Netflix info. Hopefully something comes of it.

Hastings had arrived in Los Angeles from New York the day before the accident, with his brother scheduled to arrive later the day of the crash "as his family was attempting to get [Hastings] to go to detox," the report stated.

Hastings was believed sober for 14 years, but had recently begun using drugs again in the past month or so, according to the coroner's office, based on interviews with family members.

Coroner, family link Michael Hastings to drug use at time of death

His death prompted numerous conspiracy theories, most suggesting that the famed journalist may have been killed while chasing his next big story.

The FBI said that Hastings was never under investigation by the agency.

"At no time was journalist Michael Hastings ever under investigation by the FBI," the agency said in a statement.

I don't suppose anyone has ever thought to contact the people involved and ask if a story or if not, why not. I suppose if the government is censoring it we'll never hear about the censors but that's still better than leaving it open.

a reply to: MindBodySpiritComplex

I remember this story. The only things I remember about his work was that he did articles for Rolling Stone and had snooped hard into some Lt. Col.'s business involving Afghanistan. A kind of Bradley Manning type of thing. Scandalous, kind of, but ultimately mostly boring. At least to me LOL

But after hearing about the connection WikiLeaks and the timing of the Snowden story, I can only surmise that he was somehow connected with Greenwald and Assange and was somehow going to publish another aspect of the Snowden files that was not released through Greenwald. I do recall the car accident and that his car was one of those newer ones where the computer could be tampered with.

Also, didn't Assange have to get emergency-evacuated out of Ecuador some months back due to severe illness? Hmm...

originally posted by: corsair00
Also, didn't Assange have to get emergency-evacuated out of Ecuador some months back due to severe illness? Hmm...

Assange isn't in Ecuador, he's in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London which is a fairly tiny apartment. He was sick but he couldn't leave for medical treatment without being arrested.

Note that he's completely willing to leave and face his charges, but he wants a guarantee that he won't be extradited to the US, which should be easy since he's not subject to US laws. No one is willing to give him that guarantee though.

www.mirror.co.uk...

WikiLeaks has claimed the CIA planned to hack cars and trucks to carry out assassinations. The secretive organisation said the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency used the phone's geolocation software to tap into vehicle control systems in modern cars.