surveillance | intelNews.org

News you may have missed #0064

August 11, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US battling CIA rendition case in three courts. Useful legal status summary of the case of Binyam Mohamed and four other former or current CIA detainees, who allege they were tortured at Guantánamo Bay.
Iran purges Intelligence Ministry officials. More information on an apparent purge in the ranks of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and National Security, which we first noted a few days ago.
US Pentagon monitoring Twitter, YouTube. Newly released government documents show the US military is monitoring activity on popular websites such as YouTube and Twitter to scrutinize and react to coverage of “high-profile events”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Binyam Mohamed, CIA, extraordinary rendition, Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, Iran, lawsuits, Ministry of Intelligence and National Security of Iran, News, news you may have missed, social networking, surveillance, torture, Twitter, United States, US DoD, YouTube

Charges finally announced in Colombia wiretap scandal

August 4, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Alvaro Uribe

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Colombia’s chief prosecutor has finally announced criminal charges against ten former government officials accused of spying on political opponents of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. As intelNews reported in April, Colombia’s Administrative Department of Security (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, or DAS) suffered one of the most extensive purges in its history, when 22 (later joined by 11 more) of its detectives were fired for illegally wiretapping several public figures. Those targeted by the wiretaps included the chief of the Colombian National Police, minister of defense Juan Manuel Santos, former President Cesar Gaviria, supreme court judges, prominent journalists, union leaders and human rights campaigners. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alvaro Uribe, Cesar Gaviria, Colombia, Colombian Chief Prosecutor’s Office, Colombian National Police, communications interception, DAS (Colombia), Jorge Noguera, Jose Miguel Narvaez, Juan Manuel Santos, News, political policing, surveillance, warrantless communications interception, wiretapping

News you may have missed #0052

August 2, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Expert says US Army’s spying on activists was illegal. Eugene R. Fidell, a military law expert at Yale Law School, says the spying by the US Army against two activist groups in Washington state, which was revealed earlier this week, appears to violate the Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law that prohibits the use of the US Army for conventional law enforcement activities against civilians.
German court rules spy services withheld information –again. Germany’s highest court has concluded that the government illegally withheld information from investigators probing into alleged spying on parliamentarians by Germany’s intelligence services (BND). Last week the BND was found to have withheld information from a parliamentary inquiry into the BND’s role in the detention of two Muslims from Germany at a US prison in Afghanistan.
Nearly 2.5 million have US government security clearances. The US Government Accountability Office estimates that 2.4 persons currently hold security clearances for authorized access to classified information. This number does not include those “with clearances who work in areas of national intelligence”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with BND, domestic intelligence, Eugene R. Fidell, Germany, News, news you may have missed, Posse Comitatus, security clearance, surveillance, United States, US Army, US Government Accountability Office, Yale Law School

News you may have missed #0051

August 1, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Instigator of Church committee hearings speaks about domestic intelligence. Christopher Pyle, the American whistleblower who in the 1970s sparked the Church Committee hearings on intelligence activities, has spoken about the recent revelations of US Army personnel spying on activist groups in Washington state. Pyle provided interesting historical context linking domestic espionage in the 1960s and 1970s with current developments in the so-called “war on terrorism”.
Declassified US President’s Daily Brief is reclassified. The CIA says that extracts of the President’s Daily Briefing (PDB) that were declassified in 2006, during the prosecution of former vice presidential aide Scooter Libby, are “currently and properly classified”. PDB declassifications occur extremely rarely.
Australian intelligence to focus on cybersecurity. David Irvine, the recently appointed director of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, has identified cyberespionage as “a growing national security risk”.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with ASIO, Australia, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Christopher Pyle, Church Committee, CIA, cybersecurity, David Irvine, declassification, domestic intelligence, News, news you may have missed, President's Daily Brief, surveillance, United States, US Army, US Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, War on Terrorism, whistleblowing

FOIA request reveals US Army spying on activists

July 29, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Eileen Clancy

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
US government documents released through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by activists in Washington state have helped unmask a US Army informant operating amidst their ranks. John Towery, a member of the US Army’s Force Protection Service at Fort Lewis in Washington, claimed to be an anarchist named “John Jacob” in order to join Students for a Democratic Society and Port Militarization Resistance. He then spied on the groups on behalf of several regional and federal government agencies, including Immigration Customs Enforcement, Joint Terrorism Task Force, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and the US Army. This is the latest in a long line of similar incidents, which inevitably point to a systematic campaign of domestic intelligence gathering against antiwar groups. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with domestic intelligence, Eileen Clancy, FBI, FOIA, Fort Lewis, Immigration Customs Enforcement, John Jacob, John Towery, Joint Terrorism Task Force, News, political activism, political policing, Port Militarization Resistance, Posse Comitatus, Students for a Democratic Society, surveillance, United States, US Army, US Army Force Protection Service, US Department of Homeland Security, Washington state

NSA spying more aggressive than ever, says Bamford

July 26, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

James Bamford

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The US National Security Agency (NSA) has for the first time in its history appointed a “director of compliance”, whose office will supervise the lawfulness of NSA’s communications surveillance and other spy activities. The Agency, America’s largest intelligence organization, which is tasked with worldwide communications surveillance as well as communications security, has appointed John DeLong to the new post. But in a new column for Salon magazine, James Bamford argues that the gigantic agency is still overstepping its legal framework in both domestic and international spying. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2008 Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act, communications interception, data mining, domestic intelligence, James Bamford, John DeLong, News, NSA, NSA Director of Compliance, operation STELLAR WIND, surveillance, Terrorist Surveillance Program (STELLAR WIND), Texas Cryptology Center, United States, Utah

Memo reveals Italians are listening in on confidential G8 discussions

July 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Berlusconi

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
London-based newspaper The Financial Times says the Italian organizers of the G8 summit are covertly listening in on confidential discussions between participating leaders. The paper bases its allegation on a leaked Italian memo it received “from a senior official, who requested anonymity”. According to the memo, the hosts of the summit, which is taking place in the Italian city of L’Aquila, are breaking strict diplomatic protocol by having a team of aides secretly monitor the confidential proceedings through concealed surveillance devices. The paper claims that the monitoring appears to be aimed at “transmit[ting] quicker advice” to Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is officially chairing the summit. But it also alleges that the leaked memo, which was authored by the Italian organizers and addressed to the monitoring team shortly prior to the summit, points to the emergence of a split among the hosts, some of whom are concerned that the monitoring operation “amount[s] to spying”. Shortly after The Financial Times aired the allegations, a spokesman for prime minister Berlusconi categorically denied that there was any covert monitoring going on on the part of the G8 summit organizers. The summit is scheduled to end later today.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with diplomacy, eavesdropping, G8 Summit, Italy, L'Aquila (Italy), News, Silvio Berlusconi, surveillance

DC surveillance house still outside Russian embassy

April 10, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Secret camera

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Almost exactly a year ago, MSNBC’s Jim Popkin showed how easy it was to detect an FBI surveillance post at a house outside the Russian embassy in Washington, DC. The post operated out of what initially appeared to be a residential property located directly across from the Russian embassy building. Watching closely late in the afternoon, however, three video cameras could be seen operating from inside the three opaque skylights in the roof of the house. It took minimal background research for Popkin to confirm the FBI connection to the property. One of the Bureau’s counterintelligence agents associated with the operation, and listed as a resident of the property, had even identified himself as “clerk [but] really a spy” in a publicly available database. Now Cryptome has published recent photographs of the house, which confirm the earlier MSNBC story and show that the opaque skylights are still in place in the roof of the residential property. One of the photographs shows an empty lot by the side of the property, which readers with background in surveillance and will undoubtedly find intriguing.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with consular monitoring, counterintelligence, FBI, News, Russia, Russian embassy in the US, surveillance, United States, Washington DC

Austin activist reveals himself to be FBI informant

January 6, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Brandon Darby

In the days just prior to last year’s Republican National Convention in St. Paul, two activists from Texas used a rented U-Haul trailer to transport dozens of homemade shields, helmets and batons to Minnesota’s capital. The two activists, David McKay and Bradley Crowder, presumably intended the homemade protection gear to be used in street demonstrations during the RNC. They were eventually intercepted by St. Paul police officers who appeared to know what the two men were hauling. The officers, who did not use a warrant, proceeded to smash the trailer’s lock and seize its contents. This incident appears to have failed to convince McKay and Crowder of the obvious existence of an informant in their ranks. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 2008 Republican National Convention, Bradley Crowder, Brandon Darby, Common Ground Relief, David McKay, domestic intelligence, FBI, informants, Minneapolis Republican National Convention Welcoming Committee, News, political policing, Scott Crow, surveillance, United States

Analysis: Political policing in the war on terrorism

December 1, 2008 by intelNews Leave a comment

Today’s revelation from Minneapolis that the Ramsey County Sheriff’s office infiltrated groups planning civil disobedience actions during the 2008 Republican National Convention should come as no surprise. The infiltration of the Minneapolis Republican National Convention Welcoming Committee by three undercover operatives of the local police department’s Special Investigations Unit is indicative of a recent pattern of intensification of surveillance of mostly lawful domestic political groups by US intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Joseph Fitsanakis outlines the general picture in “Political Policing in the War on Terrorism”. [JF]