The U.S. threatens to withhold intelligence from the UK if Guantánamo torture info is revealed [UPDATE] [UPDATE II]

[BUMPED]

we must be hiding some fairly inflammatory and incriminating stuff...

Evidence of how a British resident held in the Guantánamo Bay detention camp was tortured, and what MI5 knew about it, must remain secret because of serious threats the US has made against the UK, the high court ruled today.

The judges made clear they were deeply unhappy with their decision, but said they had no alternative as a result of a statement by David Miliband, the foreign secretary, that if the evidence was disclosed the US would stop sharing intelligence with Britain. That would directly threaten the UK's national security, Miliband had told the court.

un-friggingly-believable...

[UPDATE]

this story is evidently not going to go quietly into that good night and it damn well shouldn't either...

In a scathing judgment, Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones said the evidence, and what MI5 knew about it, must remain secret because according to Miliband, the American threats meant "the public of the United Kingdom would be put at risk".

The judges made clear they were unhappy with their decision, but said they had no alternative as a result of Miliband's claim. Their ruling revealed that Miliband stuck to his position about the threat to the UK even after Barack Obama signed orders two weeks ago banning torture and announcing the closure of the Guantánamo Bay prison camp.

Last night Miliband seemingly backtracked on his office's submission, saying there had been no threat by the US to break off intelligence co-operation. "It's American information and it is for the Americans to decide whether to publish their information," Miliband told Channel 4 television.

Clive Stafford Smith, director of Reprieve, the legal charity and human rights group which acted for Mohamed, said last night: "The US is under a legal duty to investigate the crime of torture, not to suppress evidence that it happened ... For the foreign secretary to give in to these illegal demands by the Bush administration is capitulation to blackmail, pure and simple."

[UPDATE II]

the aclu weighs in (and they ain't happy)...

The American Civil Liberties Union, which has generally been harshly critical of President George W. Bush and praiseworthy of President Barack Obama, has fired a torpedo across the Obama bow.

After the British High Court ruled that evidence of a British resident's rendition and harsh interrogation at the Pentagon's Guantanamo Bay prison must remain secret because of threats made by the Bush administration to halt intelligence sharing, the Obama Administration offered a terse statement seemingly expressing support to the BBC.

"The United States thanks the UK government for its continued commitment to protect sensitive national security information and preserve the long-standing intelligence sharing relationship that enables both countries to protect their citizens," a spokesman said.

In response, the ACLU's executive director, Anthony Romero, shot off a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking the Obama Administration to clarify their position. Romero also issued a sharply-worded three sentence statement to the press, saying Obama has now offered "more of the same."

"Hope is flickering," Romero said in a statement. "The Obama administration's position is not change. It is more of the same. This represents a complete turn-around and undermining of the restoration of the rule of law. The new American administration shouldn't be complicit in hiding the abuses of its predecessors."

if this stands, my already-wavering hopes for the obama presidency are poised to go up in smoke...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Parsing the news: al Qaeda - alive, well, and working on WMD

the shameless, ceaseless, fear-mongering machine continues its 24/7/365 operation...

After a U.S. airstrike leveled a small compound in Pakistan's lawless tribal regions in January 2006, President Pervez Musharraf and his intelligence officials announced that several senior Al Qaeda operatives had been killed, and that the top prize was an elusive Egyptian who was believed to be a chemical weapons expert.

But current and former U.S. intelligence officials now believe that the Egyptian, Abu Khabab Masri, is alive and well -- and in charge of resurrecting Al Qaeda's program to develop or obtain weapons of mass destruction.

Given the problems with previous U.S. intelligence assessments of weapons of mass destruction, officials are careful not to overstate Al Qaeda's capabilities, and they emphasize that there is much they don't know because of the difficulty in getting information out of the mountainous area of northwest Pakistan where the network has reestablished itself.

But they say Al Qaeda has regenerated at least some of the robust research and development effort that it lost when the U.S. military bombed its Afghanistan headquarters and training camps in late 2001, and they believe it is once again trying to develop or obtain chemical, biological, radiological and even nuclear weapons to use in attacks on the United States and other enemies.

sources: "Pervez Musharraf and his intelligence officials," "current and former U.S. intelligence officials"...

qualifications: they "believe"; they "emphasize"; they "don't know"; they "say"...

disclaimers: "problems with previous U.S. intelligence assessments"; "difficulty in getting information out of the mountainous area of northwest Pakistan"...

fear-mongering bottom line: "chemical, biological, radiological and EVEN NUCLEAR WEAPONS to use in attacks on the United States..."

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Look out...! Larisa's on the Bhutto case...!

and when larisa's on the case, the big boy cover-up quickly starts to fall apart...

While President Musharraf initially declined help from the British in investigating the assassination of Mrs. Bhutto, pressure from a distrusting public and a crumbling explanation caused a turnaround this week. An agreement was reached allowing the British to conduct their own investigation, and police from Scotland Yard arrived over the weekend.

US intelligence officials say, however, that very little evidence will be found, especially if investigators are looking for the suspected shooter. Three former US intelligence officials have told Raw Story that not only is the gunman dead, he was likely the actual target of the suicide bomber.

According to a former high ranking US intelligence official, who wishes to remain anonymous due to the delicate nature of the information, the US intelligence community understands the gunman to have been killed in the blast following Mrs. Bhutto's assassination.

"He was killed, probably not knowing that the suicide bomber was there," said this source. "We don't know for sure if the two men arrived together. We do know that the assassin died in the explosion, and was probably meant to."

Several other US intelligence officials concur that the bomber was likely "inserted" to "clean up" evidence of the shooting, including eliminating the gunman.

there's so many nasty little sidelights to the bhutto story, it ain't even funny, but i really do like the way that larisa's pulled 'em all together...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

John Bolton uses the Karl Rove tactic on the Iran NIE

you all know the karl rove tactic, i'm sure... that's where, on the biggest public platform you can find, using the biggest megaphone around, you point-blank accuse someone else of doing precisely what you routinely do yourself... it's jaw-droppingly effective because it's the essence of the "BIG LIE..." when you hear it, you can only shake your head and marvel at the incredible chutzpah of someone who could lie like this... here's one of the principal "POLITICIZERS" of intelligence in the entire world, one of the neocon vampires who lied us into an illegal war in iraq, accusing people in the intelligence community of POLITICIZING intelligence... it's breathtaking...

I really think the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have to look at how this NIE was put together because there are a lot unexplained points in here. […]

I think there is a risk here, and I raise this as a question, whether people in the intelligence community who had their own agenda on Iran for some time now have politicized this intelligence and politicized these judgments in a way contrary to where the administration was going. I think somebody needs to look at that.

so, WTF does having "their own agenda" mean...? is that an agenda that calls for NOT wanting to go to war...? NOT bombing another country back into the stone age...? does "contrary to where the administration is going" mean "contrary to death and destruction"...?

please, dear lord, spare me from this kind of man and this kind of thinking...

(thanks to think progress...)

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Bomb-crazy Podhoretz sees conspiracy in Iran NIE

here was the thought i offered yesterday about norman podhoretz' reaction to the release of the nie stating that iran was not pursuing nuclear weapons...

talk about a gut shot to darth and his bomb-mad buddy, norman podhoretz...

here's podhoeretz today...

Podhoretz — who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004 — aired a nasty conspiracy theory yesterday, attacking the authors of the NIE and accusing the intelligence community of deliberately “leaking material calculated to undermine George W. Bush:”

I must confess to suspecting that the intelligence community, having been excoriated for supporting the then universal belief that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, is now bending over backward to counter what has up to now been a similarly universal view (including as is evident from the 2005 NIE, within the intelligence community itself) that Iran is hell-bent on developing nuclear weapons. […]

But I entertain an even darker suspicion. It is that the intelligence community, which has for some years now been leaking material calculated to undermine George W. Bush, is doing it again. This time the purpose is to head off the possibility that the President may order air strikes on the Iranian nuclear installations.

well, ya know, norm - can i call you norm? - i agree with you... i believe the intelligence community was doing exactly that, releasing the nie to undermine george bush and throw a monkey wrench into the insane plans of this administration to engage us in another illegal war...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

HOT from the NYT: U.S. intelligence says Iran NOT working on nuclear weapons [UPDATE: "A miracle"]

and HASN'T been since 2003... holy crap...! talk about a gut shot to darth and his bomb-mad buddy, norman podhoretz... THIS oughta cause a tsunami among the rest of the neocons too...

A new assessment by American intelligence agencies concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains on hold, contradicting an assessment two years ago that Tehran was working inexorably toward building a bomb.

The conclusions of the new assessment are likely to be major factor in the tense international negotiations aimed at getting Iran to halt its nuclear energy program. Concerns about Iran were raised sharply after President Bush had suggested in October that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to “World War III,” and Vice President Dick Cheney promised “serious consequences” if the government in Tehran did not abandon its nuclear program.

The finding also come in the middle of a presidential campaign during which a possible military strike against Iran’s nuclear program has been discussed. The assessment, a National Intelligence Estimate that represents the consensus view of all 16 American spy agencies, states that Tehran’s ultimate intentions about gaining a nuclear weapon remain unclear, but that Iran’s “decisions are guided by a cost-benefit approach rather than a rush to a weapon irrespective of the political, economic and military costs.”

wow...! somebody in u.s. intelligence must be damn tired of being asked to sling bullshit or this would never have seen the light of day...

here's the white house spin from stephen hadley, spinner extraordinaire...

Today’s National Intelligence Estimate offers some positive news. It confirms that we were right to be worried about Iran seeking to develop nuclear weapons. It tells us that we have made progress in trying to ensure that this does not happen.

But the intelligence also tells us that the risk of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon remains a very serious problem. The estimate offers grounds for hope that the problem can be solved diplomatically — without the use of force — as the Administration has been trying to do. And it suggests that the President has the right strategy: intensified international pressure along with a willingness to negotiate a solution that serves Iranian interests while ensuring that the world will never have to face a nuclear armed Iran.

'scuse ME...?!?! "solved diplomatically — without the use of force — as the Administration has been trying to do...??" you're a bald-faced liar, hadley... we would ALREADY have bombed iran, probably with tactical nukes, and the middle east would ALREADY be engulfed in mass destruction, had there not been so much resistance and very likely covert sabotage WITHIN the administration ranks... the only reason there has been ANY diplomatic effort at all is because that resistance left little choice...

[UPDATE]

ray mcgovern's take...

For those who have doubts about miracles, a double one occurred today. An honest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran’s nuclear program has been issued and its Key Judgments were made public.

With redraft after redraft, it was what the Germans call “eine schwere Geburt”—a difficult birth, ten months in gestation.

i'm still thinking that some people in the intelligence community are working feverishly to short-circuit what i'm sure is the still-very-much-alive plan to bomb iran... commenter ed from liberal doomsayer thinks it's about a feeble attempt to burnish bush's "legacy..." i disagree... while i think that's precisely the spin that hadley is attempting to put on it, i think this juicy little revelation caught the white house completely flatfooted and, now that it's out there, there isn't a damn thing they can do about it except pretend they're all for it...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Softening us up for government control of the internet

with the internet being pretty much the last uncontrolled (note: i DIDN'T say un-TAPPED) means of individual expression and unfiltered news left, it's obviously only a matter of time before governments put a halt to that too... mettle has posted regularly on this blog about content filtering using packet sniffing technologies, the kind of technology that will allow the internet to be controlled and access restricted to those with the most money (and the most power)... another way that it's going to happen is under the guise of national security, namely, protecting the security of the internet infrastructure...

bet on it... it's on its way...

A "cyber cold war" waged over the world's computers threatens to become one of the biggest threats to security in the next decade, according to a report published on Thursday.

About 120 countries are developing ways to use the Internet as a weapon to target financial markets, government computer systems and utilities, Internet security company McAfee said in an annual report.

Intelligence agencies already routinely test other states' networks looking for weaknesses and their techniques are growing more sophisticated every year, it said.

Governments must urgently shore up their defenses against industrial espionage and attacks on infrastructure.

"Cybercrime is now a global issue," said Jeff Green, senior vice president of McAfee Avert Labs. "It has evolved significantly and is no longer just a threat to industry and individuals but increasingly to national security."

remember... it's for your own good...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Insider Sabotage

We know telcom immunity conspiracy is not about to go away. We know that these conspirators are going to pile on at that exact moment when they try and ram this through. The trail signs suggest that it might coincide with that distraction which is being run by FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin, with his plan for further media concentration, by Christmas. Plan on every distraction that they engineer into play, to be compelling.

DU points us to this article in The Hill:

'I think it's very important that the courthouse not be closed so there can be a judicial determination to see if there have been any violations of privacy rights', Specter said. 'I think the telephone companies were good citizens, and should not suffer from what they did. And my idea is to have the government substituted as the party.'"

So then why not simply float another corporate welfare bail-out bill, after the fact? Because what Specter proposes is putting up a wall of professional liars, con men, swindlers, cheats and frauds between the People and justice.

Let us not forget what the federal government thinks of a level playing field: They frequently seize all assets of criminal defendants upon arrest in order to assure that defendants cannot pay for lawyers. And that doesn't even begin to describe how government rigs the system in order to assure that they prevail, ad nauseum.

Senator Specter, I respectfully remind you that you traded for your office, as previous chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in exchange to the Executive for promising obeisance to him. Buying and selling of office is repugnant. Betraying the American People to the 5th Estate along the course of events with results that end in the privatization of the Internet, is onerous.

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

(AT&T) Mark Klein On Olbermann

(h/t DU)

from profmarcus' previous post:

These are court documents containing information provided under penalty of perjury by an eye witness and participant in the operation."

That in a nutshell is why we must not accede to telcom immunity - All involved would continue with the lie that maybe only a total of 100 people's communications were monitored. We must have discovery.

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

More on Mark Klein, the Narus Intercept Suite, telecom immunity, and domestic surveillance

i am re-posting the majority of a post i put up last july... given mark klein's testimony in opposition to telecom immunity (see earlier post), in which he refers to the narus intercept suite, i think it's well worthwhile to revisit that technology, which is probably tracking my keystrokes as i type this...

here [kevin at cryptogon] is talking about the information the att whistleblower, mark klein, revealed about what he helped att install in one of their main network switching centers in san francisco...

This is arcane information. It will not be easy for laypeople to understand. But… For those of you who want names, model numbers, techniques, and locations all related to how, IN FACT, They are watching EVERYTHING we are doing online, this is it.

The only reason this is public is because Mark Klein, an ATT engineer who participated in building the secret NSA infrastructure, outed it. There can be no idiotic commentary about “conspiracy theories” or “paranoia” with this. These are court documents containing information provided under penalty of perjury by an eye witness and participant in the operation. The expert analysis provided by J. Scott Marcus–which was just unsealed today—is, quite literally, shocking. For those of us who just knew this was happening, but couldn’t put our fingers on how, well, now we know.

I’ve followed publicly available information on NSA for about fifteen years and I’ve never seen anything like this. The capabilities of this system are awesome and terrifying.

When you read J. Scott Marcus’ analysis, it will become very clear to you why NSA and ATT wanted that thing sealed. Oh my, that is a good one.

So, how does NSA do it?

A company called Narus has developed the NarusInsight Intercept Suite: a purpose built network surveillance system that is capable of analyzing (in real time) ALL of the data passing through the largest network nodes in existence. This system is capable of applying sophisticated targeting rules to the traffic, as well as recording entire, individual sessions for later analysis. According to the Narus website:

These capabilities include playback of streaming media (i.e. VoIP), rendering of web pages, examination of e-mail and the ability to analyze the payload/attachments of e-mail or file transfer protocols. Narus partner products offer the ability to quickly analyze information collected by the Directed Analysis or Lawful Intercept modules. When Narus partners’ powerful analytic tools are combined with the surgical targeting and real-time collection capabilities of Directed Analysis and Lawful Intercept modules, analysts or law enforcement agents are provided capabilities that have been unavailable thus far.

here's a screenshot from narus' website...

kevin is absolutely right... there's no tin-foil hat wearing here... this is real shit and validates what i've been saying for years...

i've assumed for years that every electronic transaction i conduct on any network not directly controlled by me is subject to sniffing (and further analysis if it contains significant words, phrases, or code strings)... recently, i've come to suspect that part of the purpose for getting us to do everything electronically is precisely so that it CAN be sniffed... there's damn little now that can't be obtained or tracked...

we really need to wake up and smell the coffee, folks...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Virtually no daylight between Democrats and Republicans

booman expresses his serious frustration with democratic inaction on phase II of the pre-war intelligence investigation... remember that...? i had quite honestly forgotten...

Remember when Harry Reid was Minority Leader and he used some procedural move to shut-down the Senate until the Republicans would agree to move forward with Phase II investigation over pre-war intelligence? How's that Phase II investigation going now that Harry Reid controls the Senate?

Still, another Intelligence panel Democrat, Dianne Feinstein of California, said the status of the Phase II investigation was a “good question.” Feinstein said she has not “been at a meeting where it’s come up. But I can’t make every meeting.”

[Intelligence Chairman Jay] Rockefeller said last week that the investigation is “chugging along very nicely,” but quietly, “without pyrotechnics,” a reference to the fights of recent years.

Not so, said Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, the top Republican on the Intelligence panel. “They haven’t scheduled any time on it,” he said.

The Phase II investigation is supposed to focus on two things: "examining the role of the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans and...contrasting the statements of public officials with what the intelligence community was saying at the time."

The Democrats' excuse is that they are working on more pressing matters, like the FISA bill...which they passed out of committee last week with retroactive immunity for the telecommunications corporations.

The FISA bill is important, but not nearly as important as holding the criminals that got us into this catastrophic war accountable. The Dems are more concerned with covering the ass of the Establishment than they are with getting us out of this war.

i got chewed out royally last january by a woman friend of mine who does serious legwork for the dems in a rural county... i was expressing dismay that the new democratic congress wasn't picking up the ball in nearly the way i had hoped... she hit the ceiling and told me i was being unreasonable, that i needed to give them some time, that they had a strong "first 100 days" agenda and that they were getting things in place to make sure it all happened...

my expectation, which i now see to have been pure fantasy, was that a dem congress would take serious, forceful steps to remedy a downhill luge run to an authoritarian state... i was heartened when the investigations under waxman, conyers and leahy got rolling, although i still couldn't understand why, with clearly impeachable offenses just sitting out there beckoning, we weren't taking that step... then came the white house and doj stonewalling of congressional committee requests, followed by the subpoenas, followed by more stonewalling... and now...? crickets chirping...

the inaction on phase II is part and parcel of the whole pattern that's emerged, the truly horrifying part of which is that there's virtually no daylight between the dems and the r's... is the 2008 election, a democratic president and a stronger democratic presence in congress going to remedy this...? color me highly dubious...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

The Bourne Ultimatum and Blackbriar ain't just big-screen fiction

i took myself to the bargain matinee movie this afternoon, altho' $6.50 ain't what i call a "bargain matinee" price... guess i'm gettin' old...

anywayz, it was the bourne ultimatum, a flick i've been wanting to catch that i didn't get around to seeing when it came out in buenos aires... the action is good but i was much more interested in the technology and black ops showcase that i knew would be on display, and it didn't disappoint... however, as is distressingly typical these days, it's so very easy to move from hollywood to hard core reality in the blink of an eye... case in point...

George W. Bush has transformed elite units of the U.S. military – including Special Forces and highly trained sniper teams – into “death squads” with a license to kill unarmed targets on the suspicion that they are a threat to American military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to evidence from recent court cases.

Though this reality has been the subject of whispers within the U.S. intelligence community for several years, it has now emerged into public view with two attempted prosecutions of American soldiers whose defense attorneys cited “rules of engagement” that permit the killing of suspected insurgents.

with precious few modifications, this was the plot premise of the movie... golly gee... why am i not surprised...?

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Everything's so secret, we don't even know our OWN NAMES!

not exactly, but we're getting there fast...

Lawyers for the Bush administration encountered a federal appeals court Wednesday that appeared deeply skeptical of a blanket claim that the government's surveillance efforts cannot be challenged in court because the litigation might reveal state secrets.

[...]

Deputy Solicitor General Gregory G. Garre was forced to mount a public argument that almost nothing about the substance of the government's conduct could be talked about in court because doing so might expose either the methods used in gathering intelligence or gaps in those methods.

think progress has compiled some of the astonished reactions of the three-judge panel...

The three judges on the court were unsatisfied with the argument, offering various stinging comments and rebuttals:

- “Is it the government’s position that when our country is engaged in a war that the power of the executive when it comes to wiretapping is unchecked?” asked Pregerson.

- “This seems to put us in the ‘trust us’ category. ‘We don’t do it. Trust us. And don’t ask us about it,’” said Judge M. Margaret McKeown.

- “Every ampersand, every comma is top-secret?” queried Judge Michael Daly Hawkins about a withheld document.

- “”Are you saying the courts are to rubber-stamp the determination of the executive of what’s a state secret? What’s our job?” asked Pregerson.

- “I feel like I’m in Alice and Wonderland,” observed McKeown.

When Deputy Solicitor General Greg Garre argued that “other avenues” than the court system were the proper forum for complaints about government surveillance, Pregerson shot back: “What is that? Impeachment?”

this kind of administration nonsense simply cannot be allowed to stand... it's long past time to toss this kind of totalitarian approach into the trash where it belongs...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

total surveillance

When "critical" black projects are killed, they have this nasty habit of not going away, but rather first being renamed. (According to Wikipedia, the Total Information Awareness (TIA) Program was renamed to the Terrorism Information Awareness Program in May, 2003.) If renaming doesn't work, programs seem to get shuffled around and relocated elsewhere. If that doesn't work, they appear to be broken into smaller pieces.

In the case of the TIA in relation to the Infosphere, that is really not a big problem as the information is literally part of the "Global Information Grid". So tools that find and stitch together the disparate information can be physically half-a-world apart. Much of intelligence work is already farmed out to private corporations anyway.

In fact, Wikipedia names SAIC executive Brian Hicks together with former United States National Security Advisor John Poindexter, as approaching the DoD with the Total Information Awareness idea.

[W]e will direct every resource at our command—every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every tool of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every weapon of war—to the disruption of and to the defeat of the global terror network." -- President Bush Address to a Joint Session of Congress Sept. 20, 2001

As stated stated by Glenn Greenwald...

UPDATE: Here is a snapshot of the United States from 2000-present. The Bush administration whispers something to "journalists." They repeat it uncritically on their front page. Other "journalists" read it. They believe it uncritically and then repeat it. With nothing else required, it becomes "fact"...

OK, let's start with 2000 then, with: "Protecting the Homeland -- Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on DEFENSIVE INFORMATION OPERATIONS", 2000 Summer Study, Volume II.

And then onto: GIG - Information Assurance Architecture.

"GIG" is "Global Information Grid" (the Infosphere)
"IA" is "Information Awareness" --> "Information Assurance"
"Information Awareness Office" --> "Information Assurance Directorate"

It seems that the aerospace industry has a keen interest in surveillance. Boeing bagged a virtual border fence contract and Lockheed Martin has undertaken the the FBI's new Sentinel main contract, after the Virtual Case File and Trilogy fizzled.

Here and here and here are several additional links that go to showing the extent of the programs early on.

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

The technology behind NSA spying

i'm continuing to poke around kevin's cryptogon site, again thanks to mettle's pointing me in that direction, and i am increasingly impressed with the amount and quality of information he has available there... well, "impressed" isn't really the right word... "horrified" might be more apt...

here he's talking about the information the att whistleblower, mark klein, revealed about what he helped att install in one of their main network switching centers in san francisco...

This is arcane information. It will not be easy for laypeople to understand. But… For those of you who want names, model numbers, techniques, and locations all related to how, IN FACT, They are watching EVERYTHING we are doing online, this is it.

The only reason this is public is because Mark Klein, an ATT engineer who participated in building the secret NSA infrastructure, outed it. There can be no idiotic commentary about “conspiracy theories” or “paranoia” with this. These are court documents containing information provided under penalty of perjury by an eye witness and participant in the operation. The expert analysis provided by J. Scott Marcus–which was just unsealed today—is, quite literally, shocking. For those of us who just knew this was happening, but couldn’t put our fingers on how, well, now we know.

I’ve followed publicly available information on NSA for about fifteen years and I’ve never seen anything like this. The capabilities of this system are awesome and terrifying.

When you read J. Scott Marcus’ analysis, it will become very clear to you why NSA and ATT wanted that thing sealed. Oh my, that is a good one.

So, how does NSA do it?

A company called Narus has developed the NarusInsight Intercept Suite: a purpose built network surveillance system that is capable of analyzing (in real time) ALL of the data passing through the largest network nodes in existence. This system is capable of applying sophisticated targeting rules to the traffic, as well as recording entire, individual sessions for later analysis. According to the Narus website:

These capabilities include playback of streaming media (i.e. VoIP), rendering of web pages, examination of e-mail and the ability to analyze the payload/attachments of e-mail or file transfer protocols. Narus partner products offer the ability to quickly analyze information collected by the Directed Analysis or Lawful Intercept modules. When Narus partners’ powerful analytic tools are combined with the surgical targeting and real-time collection capabilities of Directed Analysis and Lawful Intercept modules, analysts or law enforcement agents are provided capabilities that have been unavailable thus far.

here's a screenshot from narus' website...



kevin is absolutely right... there's no tin-foil hat wearing here... this is real shit and validates what i've been saying for years...

i've assumed for years that every electronic transaction i conduct on any network not directly controlled by me is subject to sniffing (and further analysis if it contains significant words, phrases, or code strings)... recently, i've come to suspect that part of the purpose for getting us to do everything electronically is precisely so that it CAN be sniffed... there's damn little now that can't be obtained or tracked...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Identifying the thought criminals

commenter mettle pointed me to a post in a - new-to-me - online news resource that i almost wish i hadn't read...

kevin, the mind behind cryptogon, posts on Simulex Inc.’s Synthetic Environments for Analysis and Simulation system...

There’s really no way to know how many ways this system is already being used against us. I tried to think about it for a few minutes and it’s mind boggling. “How isn’t it being used?” is probably a more interesting question. If the Architect was interested in tools that could help him more effectively run the Matrix, he’d have Simulex reps on the phone ASAP.

[...]

We must assume that They are using the full spectrum of surveillance information to try to PREDICT HOW EACH OF US IS LIKELY TO BEHAVE ON A DAY TO DAY BASIS. Where we go. What we buy. Where we travel. Which routes we take. Etc. All of these things can be broken down into a kind of moving average that wiggles around between an upper band and a lower band, kind of like a standard deviation from a mean. Stay within the bands, and the Magic 8 Ball probably won’t bother to flag your profile for closer analysis by some genius at the Terrorist Screening Center.

Obviously, most of us aren’t worth the attention of a human analyst, and They know it. Most of the sheep just go with the herd. They do what they’re told, shop at WalMart, pay their taxes, go to church, the end. More educated sheep read Business Week or the New York Times, etc. Within a fairly wide range of activities, it’s no more complicated, for the vast majority of the people out there, than the way pool balls behave as they bounce around the table and each other.

This is a key point, so I’m going to emphasize it:

These systems would excel at finding the artifacts, the outliers, the people who haven’t internalized the programming, but continue to act “normal.”

It would identify the thought criminals.

this is part of the comment i posted on mettle's comment...

it's not that i haven't been on the same wavelength, albeit intuitively, for a long time, but it's another experience entirely to read someone who is so obviously intelligent and - seemingly - playing with a full deck, spell it out so clearly... i've got cold chills down my back...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

The UK's Serious Organized Crime Agency hasn't shared any info with Interpol about the recent failed terrorist attacks

WTF...?!?!

The head of Interpol said Monday that Britain's anti-terrorist efforts are "in the wrong century," pointing out that authorities in London had not shared any information from the investigation of three failed car bomb attacks and had not made good use of a passport database.

"We have received not one name, not one fingerprint, not one telephone number, not one address, nothing, from the UK, about the recent thwarted terrorist attacks," Ronald Noble, Interpol's secretary general, said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. television.

"My view is that the U.K.'s anti-terrorist effort is in the wrong century," Noble said.

eyeball THESE stats...

Noble said Britain — like most countries — has so far failed to take advantage of Interpol's list of 7 million lost or stolen passports. However, he said Britain was now testing systems to access the database, and said he hoped that would be working within months.

Switzerland, he said, checks the database 300,000 times per month, and typically gets 100 hits on stolen or lost passports.

Britain now checks the database about 30 times a month, and the United States use it 80 times per month, he said.

absolutely unbelievable... the uk is only NOW "testing systems to access the database...?!?!" and check out which uk government office is responsible for liaison with interpol...

[A] Home Office spokesman said the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) "as the U.K. arm of Interpol, consults Interpol databases and performs searches on behalf of U.K. law enforcement, in addition to which U.K. police forces have direct secure access to Interpol databases."

oh, yeah, they're SERIOUS, all right, about as serious as the u.s. who generates only 80 hits per month...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Cheney's lies

robert greenwald's brave new films has another hit on their hands...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Insistence on accountability for intelligence programs inches forward

i'm not even sure "inches" is the right term... seems to me this falls into the same category as subpoenas and the iraq war funding proposal... the administration is going to do what they goddam well please... any legislation that has provisions they don't like, they will taser congressional republicans into opposing, and then, if they actually do get passed, will simply obviate with a signing statement...

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has demanded a legal review of the CIA's detention and interrogation program for terrorism suspects as part of its version of the fiscal 2008 intelligence authorization bill.

also...

• [T]he panel called for the president to make public the costs of the national programs whose budgets make up almost three-quarters of the roughly $48 billion proposed for intelligence collection and analysis next year.¹

• [A]ll panel members be notified of such briefings [the most sensitive operations, such as the warrentless domestic wiretapping involving terrorism suspects] and be told about the "main features" of such intelligence activities, including covert actions.

• Joined the House in requiring a study of the impact of global climate change on national security.²

• Increased the maximum penalty for intentionally disclosing the name of an undercover intelligence officer or agent from 10 to 15 years.

• Required the president to provide all President's Daily Briefs that deal with Iraq, from the last four years of the Clinton administration through March 19, 2003, when the U.S.-led coalition began its invasion of that country.³

• Called for presidential nomination and Senate approval of the deputy CIA director as well as the directors of the National Security Agency, which collects electronic intelligence; the National Reconnaissance Office, which designs, builds and manages intelligence-gathering satellites; and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which collects and analyzes imagery.⁴

• Found that the number of personnel in the intelligence community has grown by 20 percent since the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and recommended that additional growth be halted pending further study.

naturally...

¹ The Bush administration has strongly opposed such a disclosure.

² While House Republicans opposed this provision, Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) supported it.

³ [T]his requirement was described by the panel's Republican vice chairman, Sen. Christopher S. Bond (Mo.), as "the most problematic provision in the bill."

⁴ The White House has said it opposes a similar provision in the House bill.

our shadow government...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

A domestic spying timeline

TPMmuckraker, always in the thick of it, offers a reader's narrative timeline of the domestic spying program for the period october 2003 through june 2004... it's a good backgrounder for what's getting the reality-based community up in arms today...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments