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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: New domestic intel plans 1. NSA 'Protection' for Commercial Computer Networks This is an NSA project that gives it control of commercial computer networks, ostensibly to protect the systems from hackers. The Baltimore Sun reports that "the plan calls for the NSA to work with the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to monitor....networks to prevent unauthorized intrusion, according to those with knowledge of what is known internally as the "Cyber Initiative." What are these "networks?" Apparently, any internet or intranet used by a business designated (or self-designated) as "critical infrastructure." That is a vast and poorly defined category. As usual, DNI Mike McConnell is said to be coordinating the "initiative," which DHS will operate with personnel from NSA and other intelligence agencies. "If you're going to do cybersecurity, you have to spy on Americans to secure Americans," said a former government official familiar with NSA operations. "It would be a very major step." According to the Sun, per a "senior intelligence official," "the NSA's new domestic role would require a revision of the agency's charter. So, why is this "iniative" underway, apparently without Congressional authorization to change the scope of its authority? 2. Domestic Geospatial Intelligence This is project turns the gaze of spy satellites and other surveillance assets inward, collecting "geospatial intelligence" (images and a varitety of data) of the United States and sharing that information with a long list of domestic government agencies, from FEMA to the Department of the Interior to local law enforcement. Not mentioned in the press, but inherent in satellite technology is the ablity to use RFID chips as tracking devices. The project would be run by a new office in DHS called the National Applications Office (NAO). NAO was already well underway when NSA and DHS officials testified about the scheme to a House Committee, which promptly ordered it put on "hold," until members could learn more about the program's privacy protections. From the hearing testimony I heard, there are no meaningful protections; just a small internal oversight office and no external oversight. Government Computer News summarizes the program this way: "The NAO marks a dramatic expansion of prior domestic use of satellite imagery that raises very significant constitutional, legal and organizational issues," the [Congressional] representatives wrote. 3. Control of Commercial Satellite Imagery A project for NSA control of public access to all imagery of the United States - commercial, foreign or otherwise. An American intelligence boss has hinted at curbs on commercial satellite imagery to prevent its use by enemies of the USA . So writes The Register, a U.K. publication. Quoting from an AP story, The Register attributes the following comment to Vice Admiral Robert Murrett, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the agency in charge of U.S. government satellite imagery. "I think we may need to have some control over things that are disseminated. I don't know if that means buying up all the imagery or not. I think there are probably some other ways you could do it," he said. Well, there's always bullying, the method of choice in the Bush administration. The Register theorizes: Just what other ways these might be - especially in the case of non-US organisations disseminating images from non-US satellites - was not made clear. Diplomatic pressure or international law could often be brought to bear, no doubt; and if a future US government felt the need were urgent enough it could resort to electronic/information warfare or even shooting down troublesome satellites, like the Chinese. 4. NSA development of computer malware This project, developing compuer worms more fiendish than anything previously known, sounds like a companion project for NSA's scheme to control commercial networks. A project aimed at developing defences against malware that attacks unpatched vulnerabilities involved tests on samples developed by the NSA. The ultra-secretive US spy agency supplied network testing firm Iometrix with eight worms as part of its plans to develop what it describes as the industry's first Zero-day Attack Test Platform. (ChannelRegister) But... Other security experts were more skeptical about whether it was taking the right approach. "You don't need to write viruses to test security technologies. There's no shortage of new malware. Also you examine existing stuff and study techniques," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. (ChannelRegister 5. Increasing use of RFID, GPS and other tracking technology Projects like the domestic geospatial project have the potential to become even more invasive as radio frequency identification (RFID), GPS and other tracking technology is incorporated into objects citizens typically carry with them, everything from cellphones to ID badges. As Wikipedia explains: Most RFID tags contain at least two parts. One is an integrated circuit for storing and processing information, modulating and demodulating a (RF) signal and can also be used for other specialized functions. The second is an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal. That transmitting antenna allows the RFID potentially one day to be tracked by satellites, drones or air craft, in some cases, in real time. The use of RFID chips in U.S. passports is already underway, another so-called counterterrorism measure. But, the chipped passports already have been hacked. Nevertheless, DHS is determined to continue with the project. 6. Congress' "Protect America" wiretapping law The full impact of the "Protect America Act," Congress' hurried August revision (at the administration's urging) of U.S. wiretapping law, is just now becoming known. Wired Magazine offers this summary: In short, the law gives the Administration the power to order the nation's communication service providers -- which range from Gmail, AOL IM, Twitter, Skype, traditional phone companies, ISPs, internet backbone providers, Federal Express, and social networks -- to create possibly permanent spying outposts for the federal government. These outposts need only to have a "significant" purpose of spying on foreigners, would be nearly immune to challenge by lawsuit, and have no court supervision over their extent or implementation. Abuses of the outposts will be monitored only by the Justice Department, which has already been found to have underreported abuses of other surveillance powers to Congress. We must not forget, either, those border fences and mass detention facilities; or Operation FALCON. Some will argue that all of these capabilities are necessary and appropriate in a world of terrorism. But, it is not necessary to also eliminate external oversight mechanisms, as this administration habitually does. Take for example, the Department of Homeland Security, where some of the new projects will be based. The Homeland Security Act gives the Secretary, DHS, authority to override the Inspector General to shut down investigations and withhold information from being released outside the agency. To get away with that, the Act had to amend the Inspector General General Act. Also, per the HSA, the Secretary, DHS, answers only to the President, and there is no provision for judicial review of the Secretary's decisions. Read it and weep. Consider that, under President George W. Bush, an alarming number of inspectors general are themselves under investigation. Like the eight U.S. attorneys whose firings have captured the attention of Congress, several inspectors general have recently drawn the administration's fire for putting principle before politics. (The head of the General Services Administration went so far as to call its inspector general a "terrorist.") So now is a good time for Congress to consider changes in the law to make it easier for principle to prevail. (LATimes Clearly, some reform is needed. So, why is Bush threatening to veto a Congressional bill that would strengthen the Inspector General Act - the primary mechanism for internal oversight of federal agencies? Conclusion Supporters of domestic intelligence projects argue that honest people don't fear oversight; criminals do. But, honest people should fear 'oversight' by anyone who rejects oversight themselves. The light of justice must shine equally upon everyone, or it shines for no one. The lack of meaningful oversight is sufficient cause to ban all such programs. The projects underway by the Bush administration (largely with Congressional consent) are like the walls of a prefab fortress being lowered into place while citizens stand in the center. When the last wall has settled, we may for a time feel safe. But, with the structure already in place, a criminal administration need only turn the key in the door, locking in citizens faster than they could react to stop it. Thus, a fortress becomes a prison. Thus, a free country becomes a Myanmar.
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