warrantless communications interception | intelNews.org

NSA bugging more widespread than thought, says ex-analyst

November 26, 2009 by intelNews 3 Comments

Wayne Madsen

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A former NSA analyst and US Navy intelligence officer has alleged that the National Security Agency’s (NSA) domestic spying program was more widespread than originally thought, and that it was authorized by the Bush Administration prior to 9/11. Wayne Madsen, who authors the Wayne Madsen Report, says the NSA consulted with US telecommunications service providers about aspects of its STELLAR WIND program in as early as February 27, 2001, several months prior to the events of 9/11. STELLAR WIND was a massive domestic surveillance program involving spying on US citizens. Under the guidance of the office of the US Attorney General, the NSA was systematically allowed to circumvent the standard authorization process under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court, composed of 11 federal judges, and thus conduct what is known as warrantless wiretapping within the United States, which is illegal. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bush Administration, domestic intelligence, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, James Bamford, News, NSA, operation STELLAR WIND, Russell Tice, telecommunication service providers, Terrorist Surveillance Program (STELLAR WIND), United States, warrantless communications interception, Wayne Madsen, whistleblowing

Senator says Obama employs Bush tactics on spy secrecy

October 14, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Russ Feingold

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A Democratic senator has alleged that the Obama Administration is copying the Bush Administration’s tactics by “stonewalling and road blocking” Congress on intelligence issues. Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), the only Senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act during its first vote, said during a nomination hearing on Tuesday that he suspects the White House is still withholding information from Congressional intelligence panel members. Feingold voiced the allegation during the nomination hearing in Congress of David Gompert, incoming deputy director of national intelligence, who will serve under director of national intelligence Dennis C. Blair. In recent months, Senator Feingold has emerged as one of the most vocal Democratic critics of the Obama administration’s policies on intelligence and security. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bush Administration, David Gompert, Dennis Cutler Blair, Dick Durbin, DNI, domestic intelligence, intelligence oversight, News, NSA, Obama Administration, Russ Feingold, Silvestre Reyes, surveillance, telecommunication service providers, US Congress, US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, USA PATRIOT Act, warrantless communications interception

News you may have missed #0129

October 5, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Romanian communist spy boss dead at 80. General Nicolae Plesita, who directed Romania’s Securitate during the country’s communist period, has died. While heading the Securitate’s foreign intelligence service, from 1980 to 1984, Plesita hired the Venezuelan-born operative Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, known as Carlos the Jackal, to assassinate Romanian dissidents in France and bomb the US-owned Radio Free Europe offices in Munich, in 1981. In 1998, Plesita revealed that he had orders from the Romanian government to find temporary shelter for Carlos in Romania after the RFE bombing.
Settlement reached in DEA-CIA spying dispute. A tentative settlement has been reached in a lawsuit brought 15 years ago by a former US Drug Enforcement Administration agent who accused a CIA operative of illegally bugging his home. In a court filing, lawyers for the government and the DEA agent said they “had reached an agreement in principle to settle the underlying litigation”. See here for previous intelNews coverage of this case.
Federal judge denies request for CIA secret documents. Hundreds of documents detailing the CIA’s defunct overseas secret detention program of suspected terrorists, including extreme interrogation methods have remained secret after U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein on Wednesday refused to release them “in order to protect intelligence methods and sources”. The ACLU argues that the CIA secret program was illegal under international and US law, that it involved the torture and deaths of some inmates, and therefore should not be shielded from public view.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with ACLU, Alvin K. Hellerstein, assassinations, black operations, Burma, Carlos the Jackal, CIA, Cold War, DEA, declassification, Departamentul Securităţii Statului (Romania), Eastern Europe, Germany, government secrecy, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, lawsuits, Munich (Germany), News, news you may have missed, Nicolae Plesita, Radio Free Europe, Romania, secret prisons, Securitate (Romania), torture, Venezuela, war on drugs, War on Terrorism, warrantless communications interception

News you may have missed #0126

October 3, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

Cyber spying increasing in the US, says new report. The Office of the US National Counterintelligence Executive’s annual report says that cyber attacks against US government and business targets “proliferated in fiscal year 2008”. The report also states that Blackberries and iPhones belonging to government and business personnel are becoming major targets by foreign cyber spies.
Analysis: The case for a US National Declassification Center. There is no argument about the fact that the US government’s declassification system simply doesn’t work. The way around the problem is to establish a centralized National Declassification Center, according to a National Archives and Records Administration white paper.
New Colombian spy agency forbidden from conducting wiretaps. Technically, the scandal-prone Administrative Department of Security (DAS) is no more in Colombia. The new agency, which is expected to replace DAS, will not be allowed to tap telephones, a function that will be solely entrusted to the police force. We’ll have to wait and see about that.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Analysis, Colombia, communications interception, cyberespionage, DAS (Colombia), economic espionage, News, news you may have missed, Office of the US National Counterintelligence Executive, US National Archives and Records Administration, warrantless communications interception, wiretapping

News you may have missed #0114

September 23, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US Senate Democrats seek stronger wiretap law. Led by Russ Feingold (WI) and Dick Durbin (IL), the Senate group proposes stronger safeguards and higher standards of judicial oversight for surveillance activity, including withdrawing immunity to telecom companies that participated in warrantless communications surveillance during the Bush Administration.
South Korean spy agency in trouble over expenses. The scandal-prone National Intelligence Service of South Korea is being scrutinized again for spending billions of wons in unaccounted “special activities”.
Movie script tells story of British police detective turned KGB spy. Daniel Craig and Jude Law are said to be in the running to play the lead role in a new film about the story of John Symonds, a British former police detective who worked for the KGB from 1972 until 1980. In 1981, when he approached MI5 and MI6 and offered to turn into a triple agent for the UK spy services, he was dismissed as a fantasist.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bush Administration, Cold War, communications interception, corruption, Dick Durbin, double agents, espionage, honey traps, intelligence budget, John Symonds, KGB, MI5, MI6, National Intelligence Service (South Korea), News, news you may have missed, operation STELLAR WIND, Russ Feingold, South Korea, telecommunication service providers, Terrorist Surveillance Program (STELLAR WIND), UK, United States, USSR, warrantless communications interception

Colombia to dismantle scandal-prone spy agency

September 22, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Semana cover

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Colombia’s Administrative Department of Security (DAS) is to be dismantled and most of its 6,000 employees are to be transferred to the country’s other law enforcement agencies, according to Colombian officials. The decision was announced last Friday by DAS director Felipe Muñoz, who said that a new organization would be established to replace the corrupt and scandal-prone agency. A day earlier, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe said that a flood of recent scandals involving DAS had forced him to consider eliminating the agency. Earlier this year, the Colombian government was forced to fire 33 DAS agents for illegally wiretapping the phones of several public figures Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alvaro Uribe, Colombia, communications interception, corruption, DAS (Colombia), Felipe Muñoz, News, warrantless communications interception

News you may have missed #0111

September 20, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Obama supports extending USA PATRIOT Act domestic spy provisions. The move confirms the US President’s support for the Act, whose warrantless communications monitoring provisions he approved with his Senate vote in 2008.
Poland jails alleged Belarusian spy. The man, known only as “Sergei M.” was sentenced Wednesday to five-and-a-half years in prison by a Warsaw district court for spying against Poland between 2005 and 2006. Meanwhile in Belarus four local army officers are still on trial, accused of spying for Poland.
Tolkien was trained as a British spy. Novelist JRR Tolkien, whose day occupation was in linguistics research, secretly trained as a British government spy in the run up to World War II, new documents have disclosed.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Barack Obama, Belarus, cryptology, domestic intelligence, espionage, JRR Tolkien, linguistics, News, news you may have missed, Poland, Sergei M., UK, USA PATRIOT Act, warrantless communications interception, World War II

Colombian security agency intensifies illegal wiretaps, intimidation

September 4, 2009 by intelNews 1 Comment

Semana cover

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
You would think that right after the most extensive purge in its modern history, Colombia’s Administrative Department of Security (DAS) would scale down its illegal activities. But, according to the country’s leading weekly publication, Semana, illegal intelligence activities by DAS agents have intensified in recent months. In its lead article this week, the magazine says it has in its possession recordings that prove DAS continues to monitor the communications of politicians, journalists, human rights activists, union officials, and even Supreme Court Judges. Earlier this year, the Colombian government was forced to fire 33 DAS agents for illegally wiretapping the phones of several public figures, including 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. It this week’s report, Semana says that DAS operatives are now being used by the government to intimidate members of Congress, who may have to vote in a possible referendum to permit President Alvaro Uribe to run for a third term, which is currently unconstitutional. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Alvaro Uribe, Colombia, communications interception, DAS (Colombia), News, United States, warrantless communications interception

News you may have missed #0077

August 24, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

US military to stay in Philippines. This probably partly explains the frequent visits to the Philippines by US intelligence officials in recent weeks.
Egypt begins trial of 26 alleged Hezbollah spies. Egypt began the trial on Sunday of 26 men suspected of links with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and accused of planning attacks inside Egypt.
Obama administration renews efforts to quash wiretap lawsuit. The Obama administration is again urging a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by now-defunct Saudi-based charity, Al-Haramain, against the Bush Administration’s post-9/11 warrantless wiretapping scheme.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Al-Haramain, Bush Administration, Egypt, espionage, Hezbollah, lawsuits, Lebanon, News, news you may have missed, Obama Administration, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, United States, warrantless communications interception

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 #0045

July 28, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Ex-CIA, -NSA director defends warrantless wiretapping. Michael Hayden, who was director of the CIA from 2006 to 2009 and of the NSA from 1999 to 2005, has penned an article in The New York Times, in which he says that the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program helped the US intelligence community “connecting the dots, something for which we were roundly criticized after Sept[ember] 11 as not sufficiently doing”.
US House intelligence panel member calls for new Church Committee. Rush Holt (D-NJ) a senior member of the US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has called for a resuscitation of the Church and Pike investigations into intelligence practices of the 1970s.
BBC radio launches series on MI6. The BBC’s Radio 4 has launched today a new three-part series examining the 100-year history and operations of MI6, Britain’s foremost external intelligence agency. The programs, which can also be listened to online, include interviews with senior intelligence officers, agents and diplomats.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 9/11, Church Committee, CIA, MI6, Michael Hayden, News, news you may have missed, NSA, operation STELLAR WIND, Rush Holt, Terrorist Surveillance Program (STELLAR WIND), UK, US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, US House of Representatives Select Committee on Intelligence (Pike Committee), US Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, War on Terrorism, warrantless communications interception, wiretapping

Wiretap whistleblower shunned by US Congress, media

July 21, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Mark Klein

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Those of you who have been following the ongoing revelations about STELLAR WIND, the National Security Agency (NSA) warrantless wiretapping scheme authorized by the Bush Administration in the wake of 9/11, will know about Thomas M. Tamm. Tamm was the Justice Department official who in 2005 first notified The New York Times about the existence of the project. But Tamm was not the only whistleblower in the case. He was joined soon afterwards by another insider, Mark Klein. Klein had just retired from AT&T as a communications technician when he read The New York Times revelations about STELLAR WIND. As soon as he read the paper’s vague description of the NSA project, Klein realized he had in his possession AT&T documents describing exactly how the company shared its customers’ telephone communications with the NSA, through a secret room at the AT&T Folsom Street facility in San Francisco. To this day, Klein remains the only AT&T employee to have come forward with information on STELLAR WIND. But, apparently, nobody cares. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with AT&T, AT&T Folsom Street facility, communications interception, Dianne Feinstein, James Bamford, Mark Klein, National Security Agency, News, NSA, operation STELLAR WIND, San Francisco, telecommunication service providers, telecommunications, Terrorist Surveillance Program (STELLAR WIND), Thomas M. Tamm, United States, US Department of Justice, warrantless communications interception, whistleblowing, wiretapping

News you may have missed #0032

July 19, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Russian spy devices found on Norwegian shores. A Russian spy buoy used for monitoring ship traffic in international waters has been discovered on a shore in Arctic Norway. Apparently, it’s the third of its kind found on Norwegian shores this year.
Analysis: Who is the CIA allowed to kill? Some aspects in the recent CIA assassination squad controversy point to the possibility that the plan “imposed no geographical limitations on the agency’s actions”. This raises the likelihood that the program would have violated national sovereignty.
Revisiting ECHELON: The NSA’s clandestine data mining program. Jason Leopold speculates that the NSA’s ECHELON program may have helped facilitate the Bush Administration’s domestic spying efforts after 9/11.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 9/11, Arctic circle, assassinations, Bush Administration, CIA, covert operations, domestic intelligence, ECHELON, maritime intelligence, maritime surveillance, News, news you may have missed, Norway, NSA, Russia, United States, warrantless communications interception

Attorney behind NSA domestic wiretapping defends his views

July 17, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

John Yoo

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The former US Justice Department lawyer who authored legal memos sanctioning the legality of the Bush administration’s secret wiretapping program has defended his views. John Yoo, who on 9/11 was a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, has penned an article in The Wall Street Journal, in which he voices disagreement over a recently published US government report that criticizes the wiretap program’s secrecy and dubious legal basis. The report was authored by the Offices of Inspectors General of the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, CIA, NSA, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It says that the Bush administration’s decision to keep NSA’s domestic wiretap program secret even from senior Department of Justice and intelligence officials hampered the broader intelligence community’s ability to use the program’s output, and subverted the government’s ethical standing in the so-called “war on terrorism”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Bush Administration, communications interception, FBI, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John C. Yoo, News, NSA, Office of Legal Counsel, operation STELLAR WIND, Terrorist Surveillance Program (STELLAR WIND), United States, US Department of Justice, War on Terrorism, warrantless communications interception, wiretapping, World War II

News you may have missed #0029

July 16, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Iranians revolting against Nokia for alleged spying complicity. Consumer sales of Nokia handsets in Iran have allegedly fallen by up to 50%, reportedly because of the company’s membership in the Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) partnership. As intelNews has been pointing out since last month, NSN allegedly helped supply the Iranian government with some of the world’s most sophisticated communications surveillance systems.
Analysis: Why NSA’s Einstein 3 project is dangerous. This editorial argues that US President Barack Obama’s decision to proceed with a Bush administration plan to task the National Security Agency with protecting government computer traffic on private-sector networks is “antithetical to basic civil liberties and privacy protections” in the United States.
New US government report says Bush secrecy hampered intelligence effectiveness. A new report from the Offices of Inspectors General of the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, CIA, NSA, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence, says that the Bush administration’s decision to keep NSA’s domestic wiretap program secret seriously hampered the broader intelligence community’s ability to use the program’s output.